Topic on Talk:Wikipedia Education Program/Dashboard/FAQ

Hi

Erica asks CLs to have an eye on that FAQ. Here is my feedback, I hope it will help!

Who are you targeting with that extension? I don't understand if it is people who already use Wikimedia projects. If not, there is sometimes some information missing about the culture and tools we use (what are editathons, notifications or OAuth, for example?)

Is it relevant for people who don't know the project to know it is Ruby on Rails tool as first information. :)

On the third section, you should add links to all roles, because people may want to know more about.

Do you plan to add a section about how to activate that extension?

I've also added some links, HTH

Thanks, @Trizek (WMF) for your feedback, and your additional linking.

A few things come to mind that perhaps could be clarified or improved based on your questions:

• This is a separate piece of software that will run on Labs or on a production server (TBD exactly, AFAIK) that communicates with Wikimedia projects through OAuth. It's not an extension, in my limited technical understanding of such things. In my understanding, it will not be "rolled out" or "activated" on a per project basis like traditional MediaWiki extensions typically are, since it is separate software and uses API calls and OAuth, etc. Activation/roll out will be gradual testing followed by socialization and training. We'll have a better idea of what this looks like when we have a working minimum viable product to start testing.
• Ruby on Rails isn't relevant to everyone, yes. But I think this first stab at an FAQ is aimed at community members who are invested in this tool, with varying degrees of technical knowledge. The fact that it is not a MediaWiki extension and a standalone piece of software is important. Perhaps some of the technical specification stuff could be pushed to the bottom for those who are curious. Good point to consider as we revise and iterate.
  • Further documentation for program and event organizers and participants will be needed, for sure. I don't assume this FAQ would be helpful for those audiences as users.
• Another audience consideration (perhaps our primary one) is people who are familiar with the education extension (the existing MediaWiki extension, in the true sense of the word), which will be depreciated. They are owed an explanation that shows what we have tried (and arguably failed) to do there, and how this tool should be an opportunity to move forward.

In sum it's more an FAQ on history, rationale and decision making, less of an FAQ for users wanting to use the tool. I hope the focus can shift to the latter as development continues!

Thank you Tighe, you answered all my questions.

Based on the target you mentioned, I don't see anything to change because I'm not familiar with that community of users.

• Communities targeted by the MVP should be listed in section 6 or 7 (nice catch).
• The various roles should link to some page detailing what those mean (which I can't find right now); anyway, we probably want to distinguish between the ones available in the MVP and others which may be added later?

This sentence sounds weird: "The Wikimedia Foundation is working on hacking the WikiEd Dashboard during the month of February". It's half formal and half slang.