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Submissions/The future of Wikimedia User experience

From Wikimania 2010 • Gdańsk, Poland • July 9-11, 2010


Information

This is an open submission for Wikimania 2010.


Title of the submission
The future of User experience at Wikimedia
Type of submission
Panel
Author of the submission
Guillaume Paumier
E-mail address
gpaumierreplace thiswikimedia.org
Country of origin
USA
Affiliation
Wikimedia Foundation
Web page
http://usability.wikimedia.org
Abstract
MediaWiki is the wiki software that runs Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, and all the other Wikimedia wikis. Over the years, the design of MediaWiki has been solely driven by software developers. This has caused an unfortunate technology-based approach of the front-end and the features (implemented or missing), relying mostly on the implementation model. The consequence is that the interface & features are too far from the users’ mental model. The Wikipedia and Multimedia Usability projects have tried to address the most pressing concerns resulting from this hiatus between the software and the users’ expectations.
The Wikimedia Foundation recently decided to invest further in User Experience (UX). A systematic approach is indeed necessary in order to improve the usability of Wikimedia projects, and the experience of our users, perennially. Good, usable design needs to happen before the actual implementation of any feature, in the early stages of the product (or component) development, in order to avoid "duct tape fixing".
The goal of this panel is to offer the community an opportunity to engage in a dedicated, general Q&A session about user experience with the UX team. We will discuss the future of User experience at the Wikimedia Foundation, the general direction we are following and the short- and longer-term projects we plan to work on.
The tentative members of this panel are: (ordered alphabetically)
  • Danese Cooper, Chief Technology Officer, Wikimedia Foundation
  • Erik Möller, Deputy Director, Wikimedia Foundation
  • Guillaume Paumier, Product Manager - Multimedia Usability, Wikimedia Foundation
  • Howie Fung, Senior Product Manager, Wikimedia Foundation
  • Parul Vora, Interaction Designer - Wikipedia Usability Project, Wikimedia Foundation
  • Priyanka Dhanda, Code maintenance engineer, Wikimedia Foundation
  • Roan Kattouw, Software developer, Wikimedia Foundation
  • Trevor Parscal, Lead Front-end Developer, UX Programs, Wikimedia Foundation
Track
Infrastructure
Will you attend Wikimania if your submission is not accepted? Yes

Interested attendees

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  1. Meeso 03:09, 18 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
  2. CaptainSwing 21:35, 18 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
  3. Malpern 00:48, 20 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
  4. --Ravidreams 07:10, 20 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
  5. LA2 10:59, 20 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
  6. El Ágora 21:28, 20 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
  7. Multichill 12:52, 24 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
  8. Jean-Frédéric 19:11, 27 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
  9. Kocio 12:00, 2 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
  10. Lecartia 18:21, 8 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
  11. GlimmerPhoenix 17:38, 10 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
  12. VasilievVV 18:21, 10 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
  13. Pdhanda 18:20, 15 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
  14. Nevinho 17:31, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
  15. --Ivanmartinez 22:14, 21 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
  16. Cdani 11:58, 27 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
  17. Zack 03:20, 2 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
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