Wikipedia Zero

Wikipedia Zero overview
Wikipedia Zero is an initiative of Wikimedia Foundation to enable free mobile access to Wikipedia in developing countries, sometimes referred to collectively as the Global South. The objective of the program is to reduce barriers to accessing free knowledge -- two of the largest barriers being cost of data usage and network speed.

This initiative is based on partnerships with mobile operators, whereby the operator agrees to deploy a version of Wikipedia in a way that their users do not need to pay for data access. Often Wikipedia Zero will be one component of several initiatives with a mobile operator. For example, an operator may want to launch our Android app, put a Wikipedia RSS feed or WAP link in their portal, integrate an SMS service, and then roll out Wikipedia Zero with a specific marketing campaign.

Features and benefits
Functionally, Wikipedia Zero, hereafter referred to simply as Zero, will offer a view of mobile Wikipedia with images turned off. This, on average, decreases the amount of data transferred by 50%. When users turn on images or click on external links, they will be warned about incurring data charges before continuing. Another version of the service will include links for individual images, and users will be warned when they click on an individual image link, in addition to external links.

There will be a persistent banner showing the operator's name. The contents of the banner will be text only, with exact text to be negotiated with the operator (eg, "Free access from OperatorName").

Two clear benefits of Zero are zero cost to users, enhancing accessibility, and enhanced speed, which is a valuable benefit for all mobile users (though it is possible to disable images at any time on the mobile site). A related benefit is that the marketing by operators to promote the service will enhance user numbers and usage of Wikipedia, including to many who have had no or limited desktop access.

The variables
There are several variables to consider in how Wikipedia Zero is deployed, which will differ among mobile operators:


 * how traffic can be isolated as zero-rated
 * the population of handsets and their capabilities
 * the current popularity of Wikipedia
 * how mobile content services are typically consumed
 * how operators will market Wikipedia Zero

Most of these variables differ considerably between regions and countries. For this discussion, the regions will be India, Southeast Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and South America.

Zero-rated traffic
Identifying traffic to be zero-rated can be based on a range of IP addresses representing some part of the operator's web traffic, and a Wikipedia Zero landing page with some form of session tracking by URL.

In cases where there is no need to distinguish between paid and free traffic, or if the operator can specify an IP address range specific to free traffic, we can deliver that operator's version of Zero based on their IP addresses. In this case, we need to consider the data analysis requirements of identifying such traffic in usage data logs.

If an operator has both paid and free traffic in the same IP address range, we need to add the method of a specific landing page and tracking mechanism. This would be a specific start page, such as zero.wikipedia.org, from which we track users and also identify the operator by incoming IP address. This landing page satisfies the general use case of an operator linking certain traffic to the free version, or telling its users to use a specific starting point.

If the operator will track URLs in order to whitelist them or to implement a billing policy, then we will provide the format of the URL for that operator. The tracking URL will be the normal Wikipedia mobile URL with an identifier appended, consisting of a path and query string. Tracking via URL is a reliable and simple way to facilitate analysis of usage data.

In summary, a mobile operator must provide a range of incoming IP addresses and we will provide the landing page address and format of URL's specific to that operator. We also request that operators provide usage data, but we will perform logging and analysis as well.

It will be possible for operators to view online and request an update to their IP address range.

Usabiility issues of landing page
In general, having a Zero-specific landing page is a useful feature and we can leverage this for anyone who wants to access an image-less mobile version. It is true that anyone can disable images at any time on the normal mobile site; however, it is also true that if someone goes to this page from a mobile network that is not one of our partners or via WiFi, we need to deliver a sensible user experience.

Therefore, when a user goes to zero.wikipedia.org and is not coming through a mobile operator's known IP address range, we will deliver the image-less Zero site but with no heading banner. If the user turns on images, there will be no warning about data charges.

Another issue related to the Zero landing page is the tracking payload that is appended to subsequent URLs. To facilitate billing, we could append a query string including the word "zero" to subsequent URLs. For example:

en.m.wikipedia.org/?=zero

In addition to the usability and billing issues, there are two other considerations:


 * Partner stats
 * Internal analytics

For both of these purposes, it may be helpful to append a particular session ID to URL's which includes a simple way to identify the mobile operator.

Finally, there is a major usability issue regarding default languages on the landing page. Every country has a unique preference for languages (and sometimes regions within countries), and the main Wikipedia portal page, i.e., www.wikipedia.org, is quite unusable on mobile phones.

Here is a stats page that provides a country-specific breakdown of Wikipedia use by language:

Page views by country

This leads us to a general usability initiative called country-specific portal page.

Country-specific portal page
A general usability initiative in the mobile roadmap is to replace the main portal page, www.wikipedia.org, with a country-specific portal page. Since that portal overlaps in function with the Zero landing page, we will use that feature idea here and expand it slightly for carrier-specific use.

The design of the country-specific portal page includes three sections:


 * search bar, using the main language of the country by default
 * alternate languages, showing the next most popular languages that together with the main language, account for 95% or greater usage (with the exception of India)
 * a selection drop-down for all languages in the usual "alphabetical" order

This provides much greater ease of entry into Wikipedia use than the normal portal page. In addition, we want to identify a particular carrier in order to deliver a specific version of Zero. As mentioned above, we will match the incoming IP address against the IP addresses provided by carriers.

Identifying the carrier then directs how tags are assigned to an incoming request. This is described in detail here.

Other variables
All of the other variables together will form the specific approach of each mobile operator. If most handsets are not capable of net access, then USSD and SMS take prominence. If most handsets are relatively capable feature phones and SMS services are saturated, then an operator may feel that J2ME apps are the best way to get market traction. A promotion around new Android devices may dictate participation with our Android app. If Wikipedia is not currently popular on mobile devices, an RSS feed of Today's Featured Article makes sense to begin building awareness, and steering people to Zero.

The variety of situations across regions means we must be flexible with a range of services and approaches.

WAP view
The WAP version of the mobile site must be re-configured in general. Users accessing the mobile site from phones with only a WAP browser will see the site in a WAP-specific format. Currently that format is not optimal for small screen sizes and limited data access.

With Zero, the WAP version will include the operator heading banner and warning banner and should follow the same formatting principles of the main WAP view, once they are established.

New WAP view is an open enhancement bug, 31714.

Other operator services
In summary, the range of services that operators can deploy are:


 * RSS feed of Today's Featured Article or In the News
 * Wikipedia Zero
 * Android app
 * J2ME app for basic article browsing
 * USSD/SMS article search and limited delivery

The first three will be developed internally. The second two will be developed with partners.

It is possible that an operator may want Wikipedia Zero as a J2ME app.

Local content
Trending articles in a region, whether in another language version or the English version of Wikipedia, is an important consideration in making Wikipedia relevant in many parts of the world, especially on mobile devices. If a mobile operator provides a feed of Today's Featured Article, it should be based on local content or local interests. Sometimes that can be satisfied by a non-English language version, sometimes not.

What we need is a mechanism for providing trending articles in a given region.