Reading/Multimedia/Media Viewer/Release Plan



Here is our proposed release plan for Media Viewer, a new tool for browsing multimedia content which is now in beta on Wikipedia and other MediaWiki sites.

This new tool is being developed by the Wikimedia Foundation's multimedia team, to support these goals:
 * Provide a richer multimedia experience, to match user expectations
 * Display images in larger size, on the same page where you click
 * Reduce confusion when users click on thumbnails

We are grateful to all the community members who helped create this tool, through a series of discussions held in 2013 on multiple channels. We now invite other Wikimedia community members to test the beta version, give us more feedback -- and help bring it to more users in coming months.

We are now working on beta version v0.2 of Media Viewer, with a focus on better user interface, faster image load, more file info and attributions, still images only -- as well as improved 'Use this file' tools (e.g.: share, embed, download).

We plan to release this version gradually out of beta, starting with limited tests on a few pilot sites in coming weeks. Based on pilot test results, we plan a wider release of Media Viewer v0.2 next quarter.

The proposed plans below are for discussion purposes. We expect to adjust these plans based on community and team feedback.

Releases
We propose to test and deploy Media Viewer gradually, in several separate releases:

Pilots
Test Media Wiki by default on a few pilot sites with smaller, tech-savvy communities.


 * First Pilot
 * MediaWiki.org


 * Next Pilots - 1st batch
 * Catalan Wikipedia (proposal: accepted √)
 * Hungarian Wikipedia (proposal: accepted √)
 * Korean Wikipedia (proposal: accepted √)
 * English Wikivoyage (proposal: accepted √)


 * Next Pilot Candidates - 2nd batch
 * Czech?
 * Estonian?
 * Finnish?
 * Hebrew?
 * Polish Wikipedia? (proposal)
 * Romanian?
 * Slovak?
 * Thai Wikipedia (proposal: : accepted √)
 * Vietnamese Wikipedia?

During these first pilots, we will study the impact of Media Viewer on these two fronts:
 * Community: how are editors responding? what are readers saying in the survey? is the overall feedback favorable?
 * Performance: how fast do images load? any slowdowns during peak hours? is the overall performance acceptable?

Note that the pilot list is still being finalized. If you are interested in being a pilot site, please contact us.

Large Wikis
Based on pilot test results, we plan wider releases on larger wikis:
 * Wikimedia Commons
 * Dutch Wikipedia
 * English Wikipedia
 * French Wikipedia
 * German Wikipedia
 * Italian Wikipedia
 * Japanese Wikipedia
 * Portuguese Wikipedia
 * Russian Wikipedia
 * Spanish Wikipedia
 * Swedish Wikipedia
 * Other sites?

Our release schedule will be based on our pilot results and new findings at each stage of deployment. If this product performs well and meets user needs, we may accelerate the deployment pace -- or we may slow it down for some sites, as needed.

All Wikis
If all goes well with the large wiki releases, we would turn on Media Viewer by default for all other wikis, a few weeks later.

Timeline
These tentative release dates are now being discussed with our team and community:
 * April 10 - First limited pilot release: Enable by default on MediaWiki.org
 * April 17 - Second limited pilot release: Enable by default on a few small pilot sites (batch 1: Catalan, Hungarian, Korean and Wikipedias, English Wikivoyage)
 * April 24 - Third limited pilot release: Enable by default on a few small pilot sites (batch 2: Czech, Estonian, Finnish, Hebrew, Polish, Romanian, Slovak, Thai, Vietnamese)
 * May 1? - Fourth limited pilot release: Enable by default on first large pilot sites TBD
 * May 7? - Fifth release: Enable by default on more large sites TBD
 * May 15? - Sixth release: Enable by default on all wikis

Note these are tentative target dates for our release schedule. These dates may change based on community or development team feedback.

Launch Tips
To prepare for a smooth release of Media Viewer, we invite community champions for each site to consider the following localization tasks:

Translations
Make sure that the UI for Media Viewer has been translated well in your language, as well as related documents, such as this 'About Media Viewer Page'. And if you think your community would benefit from this help page, we invite you to translate the relevant sections in your language as well.

Local Test page
Prepare a local test page or gallery to make it easy for users to try out this tool with a variety of images. This could simply be copied over from this demo page, but you may want to consider adding more local photos.

Local Discussion page
Prepare a local discussion page where people can give feedback in your language. This could be inspired by this main discussion page for this product.

Local Announcements
When the above tasks are complete, we invite you to announce the release on your site. This is a good opportunity to invite folks to test Media Viewer while it is still in beta, so we can address any key issues before launch. This announcement could be inspired by this draft below.

Feedback updates
If possible, post regular updates from your local discussion on our our main discussion page for Media Viewer on MediaWiki.org. It would be best if these updates were posted in English on that page — if not, you could do this in your language on a corresponding talk page like this one.

Thanks for helping make Media Viewer a success in your community!

Announcement
Here is the announcement draft which we invite you to adapt when introducing Media Viewer to your community.

Feel free to edit or shorten it as needed for your purposes. This announcement will also be posted by the Wikimedia Foundation on Commons, English Wikipedia and a few other large sites later this week.

Introducing Media Viewer


We are happy to announce the upcoming release of Media Viewer, a new tool for browsing multimedia content on Wikipedia and other Wikimedia sites.

Today, viewing images on our sites can be a frustrating experience for casual users: when you click on a thumbnail in an article, you are taken to a separate page where the image is shown in medium size and surrounded with a lot of text information that can be confusing to readers. Media Viewer aims to improve this viewing experience by showing images in larger size, as an overlay on the current page. To reduce visual clutter, all information is shown below the image, and can be expanded at a click of a button. Read more below.

This new tool was developed by the Wikimedia Foundation's multimedia team in recent months -- and they now plan to gradually release this tool in coming weeks -- starting with a few pilot tests this month, with wider deployments next month.

How it works
With Media Viewer, you can click on any image thumbnail to see it in large size, without visual clutter. You can see the file name and author credits at the bottom of the screen -- and view more information in an expandable panel below the image. You can also expand the image to full screen, for a more immersive experience -- or browse through all images in an article or gallery by clicking on the next and previous arrows. The 'Use this file' tool makes it easier to share images with your community, add them to articles or download them for your own purposes -- with full attribution to contributors.

User response and usability studies so far suggest that Media Viewer provides a richer multimedia experience, right where people expect it. They tell us they can see the images more clearly, without having to jump to separate pages -- and that the interface is more intuitive, offering easy access to images and metadata.

How you can help
Can you help us test Media Viewer in coming weeks, before it is released on your site? To try it out, log in to your Wikimedia site and click on the small 'Beta' link next to 'Preferences' in your personal menu. Then check the box next to 'Media Viewer' in the Beta Features section of your user preferences — and click 'Save'. Then click on any thumbnail image on that site to see it in the Media Viewer. For more info, check out these testing tips.

Try out Media Viewer and let developers know what you think on this discussion page. If you find any technical bugs, please [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=MediaWiki%20extensions&component=MultimediaViewer report them here on Bugzilla]. Over 20,000 other beta testers have now enabled Media Viewer around the world. Here is an overview of the feedback they have kindly given us to help improve this tool. Many of their suggestions have now been implemented, as part of the development team's current development cycle.

The multimedia team is grateful to all the community members who helped create this feature, through a series of roundtable discussions held in 2013, over multiple channels. To participate in future discussions, you are invited to join the multimedia mailing list. They look forward to more collaborations with you in coming weeks, so we can all improve Media Viewer together -- and provide a better experience to our users!

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