Page Curation/screencasts

One of the things we've realized in talking with new page patrollers is that, in the absence of any real coherent UI, everyone has tailored their own custom interface from scripts, browser plugins, etc. This has its good and bad points, but it's also meant that we at the WMF can't actually examine the interface most of your are using, because we don't have it.

Any good software design effort starts with understanding what people are doing now. So, we're hoping that a few of you could send us screencasts of yourselves doing NPP. Here's specifically what we'd like you to do:


 * 1) Begin recording a screencast of your NPP session.  I think 10-15 minutes would be about right, but feel free to take more or less time as you see fit.
 * 2) Clearly state your username, so we can easily link your comments with your video.
 * 3) Start doing NPP.  Spend about the first half of the time moving slowly, talking through the process and explaining what you're doing, why you chose that specific tool, what you like/dislike about it, and any other options you tried in the past.  If you're using gestures or other off-screen interface elements, describe them.  Also tell us about what you're looking for in the article, the policy decisions you're making, and your thought process.  If you suspect copyvio, tell us what feature triggered that suspicion; if something seems like spam, what's spammy about it?  Show us your process.
 * 4) Spend the rest of the time running through NPP in your usual way.  This gives us an idea of the pace at which things happen, how long specific steps take, etc.  Don't try to go faster or slower than you normally would here.  The idea is to understand where the bulk of the time and effort go, so we can streamline that process.
 * 5) Wrap up the video.
 * 6) If you're using the usertesting.com tool, upload the video per the instructions below.  If you're using your own tool, send your video (the whole file, or a link if it's really big) to me at ian@wikimedia.org.
 * 7) Send any additional comments you have in an email to ian@wikimedia.org.
 * 8) Feel free to post a link to your video and your comments as a followup to this message.  This is encouraged, but a video of one's personal computer is, well, personal, and I want to protect your privacy as well.

If you want to user the usertesting.org tools (this is the quickest/easiest route if you don't already have screencasting software), follow these handy instructions from Jorm:


 * 1) Go to our usertesting.com launch page.
 * 2) Click the "start" link (it's the only link available)
 * 3) * Do not close this tab or window. It's okay to background it, but don't close it.
 * 4) The Java applet may require rights to run.  Grant the rights as needed.
 * 5) A few moments later, a "box" interface will appear.  Resize it to contain your entire work area (either your entire desktop or all the tools you use at once)
 * 6) Press the red button in the lower left of the interface to begin recording.
 * 7) A countdown will start.  Once the countdown has finished, the recording has begun.
 * 8) Speak aloud your thoughts as you work. This is very important.
 * 9) When you are finished, click the "Done" button (down near where the start button was)
 * 10) The browser window (that you didn't close earlier) will then refresh with a screen cap from your session and ask you to upload the file.
 * 11) Click "Upload this file".  The upload will begin.  This may take a while.
 * 12) You'll be presented a list of screencasts.  The filenames will be datestamps.  Please note which one is yours and list it below, if possible.

If you have your own screencasting software, feel free to use it, and send your video and comments to ian@wikipedia.org. If you can't get the usertesting.com stuff to work (it's still quite beta) or you just want to get some screencasting software anyway, here's a list of tools, and here's another one.

Once we've received what seems like a representative sample, I'll compile all videos, we'll look them over, and we'll let you all know what we've learned.