Talk pages consultation 2019/Structure and updates

Consultation structure
This consultation will have a "hub-and-spoke" structure, with a central hub located here on mediawiki.org ("Talk Page Consultation central"). Over the course of the consultation, multiple participant groups will have discussions on other wikis and in off-wiki settings, and then contribute notes and findings back to TPC central. Some participant groups will participate through the whole process, others may participate for a limited time (especially if they're in real life/meet-ups). Everyone can follow along and participate at TPC central (language permitting).

Phase 0: Planning
This is a planning phase, starting now! During this phase, we will:


 * Publicly announce the project, and invite questions and ideas from the Wikimedia community
 * Set up TPC central documentation structure
 * Create list of wikis and user groups for initial outreach
 * Establish code of conduct guidelines
 * Begin retrospective process for StructuredDiscussions/Flow, Liquid Threads and wikitext workflows, collect important documentation
 * Begin outreach to participant groups
 * Invite volunteers to facilitate discussions, and participate in other ways
 * Create schedule for phase 1

Phase 1: Collect information
Where: mw:Talk:Talk pages consultation 2019, plus volunteer participant groups

When: mid-February to March

During this phase we will solicit open feedback from a wide range of individuals and groups about their experiences with talk pages or alternative tools. Questions will include:


 * When you want to discuss a topic with your community, what tools work for you, and what problems block you?
 * What about talk pages works for newcomers, and what blocks them?
 * What do others struggle with in your community about talk pages?
 * What do you wish you could do, but can't due to the technical limitations?
 * What are the important aspects of a "wiki discussion"?

Phase 2: Trade-offs and prioritization
Where: mw:Talk:Talk pages consultation 2019, plus volunteer participant groups

When: Starting in March 2019 (tentative)

Some ideas generated during phase 1 may be mutually exclusive. Some ideas might work better for some purposes or some kinds of users. We'll have to talk about which problems are more urgent, which projects are most closely aligned with the overall needs and goals of the movement, and which ideas we should focus on first.

Discussions about these trade-offs will be moderated by the Wikimedia Foundation, guided by our decision criteria, listed below.

Space for unexpected discoveries
Within the scope of this project, all the options are on the table. There are no hidden agendas. We don't know all the things, and we don't know what we might learn. We need to accept these "unknown unknowns".

The schedule of this consultation may change because of these unexpected discoveries.

Phase 3: Review potential direction
Where:  mw:Talk:Talk pages consultation 2019, plus volunteer participant groups

When: May 2019 (tentative)

We invite everyone back to the central page on MediaWiki.org to review the emerging direction for this project.

Feb 14, 2019
The scope of this week's meetings was primarily around how to announce the TPC project and to whom. A wide net is the most desirable that reflects a varied array of user experience levels and wikis. As such, there isn't one method of communication about the TPC project that will work across the board. The following was proposed:


 * Potential "soft" launch this week of the announcement, reaching out to teahouses, newcomer groups, and niche communities. This is partly due to launching late in the week, as the preference is to be on-hand to respond to comments as much as possible. This is also because the more wide-spread banner will not launch until next week at the earliest.
 * Ambassadors from niche communities may be asked to disseminate the announcement to their communities.
 * Sherry will handle outreach to some, such as GLAM/edu.
 * For third-party MW sites, may have yo reach out for a mailing list
 * The banner, as mentioned, will hopefully launch at the beginning of next week and last for a week, as is the typical lifespan of banners.
 * Benoît may have to schedule a meeting with Seddon in order to get this posted earlier rather than later.
 * A more aggressive communications push will happen in the coming week focusing more on Village Pumps.
 * Tracking of outreach will be kept on the communications subpage.
 * A live "office hours" event might be of some use, so will give it a try at some point (TBD). If it goes well, will keep doing it, but if not, will shelve. This would likely take the form of a YouTube stream paired with an IRC channel for chat.

Feb 5, 2019
We're excited to overhaul this page and present more information about how this talk page consultation will work over the next several months! Have a read of this project page, which includes information the structure, timeline, and decision-making criteria. To shape this documentation we've discussed this consultation with Wikimedia Foundation staff: both executive leadership as well as an open staff working group. We want this process to be aware of the past while pragmatically working toward the future, allowing for all voices to be heard equally.

See the § Participate section above to get started and help us make this a successful endeavor. Thank you! 🚀

Previous
See updates from before February 5, 2019 at Talk pages consultation 2019/Status updates.