Wikimedia Apps/Team/iOS/Communication

Introduction
Communication is the backbone of collaboration on Wikipedia. The iOS team is looking forward to bringing a more fully featured set of communication and talk page tools into the app.

Currently, there is a mix of native and non-native iOS talk page experiences. During this project we are looking to update the existing native user talk page and add native article talk pages so that contributors, across experience levels, can intuitively and confidently communicate with one on iOS and across platforms.

Talk Pages
The focus will be on the following design themes:

Timeliness & spatial awareness: Where and when is the conversation happening? How might we design features that help Wikipedians (new or old) to have a better intuitive sense of the activeness/freshness of a conversation? How might design help to facilitate better, civil and more timely conversations across Wikipedia?

Modernization, not complete transformation: Improve, don't replace. Talk pages belong to the Wikipedians who use them. How might we honor and respect the years of community work that have gone into the evolution of Talk pages, while improving their utility and civility for all?

Below are screenshots of the current article talk and user talk pages:

Research
Since the Android and Editing teams have worked on talk pages previously, their work was looked into as well as existing research about different Wikipedia namespaces in the beginning of this project. The aim of the research was to map the talk page ecosystem and better understand who uses the pages. The research was consolidated into personas, task model diagrams and journey maps that included the experience of senior editors as well as readers. The senior editors were grouped by different social roles they play on Wikipedia such as: moderator, topic expert, wordsmith, policy guide and page architect.

The team made the decision to primarily focus on a target audience of editors who were considered to be ‘moderators’. These community members help discussion flows without getting too involved, perform and summarize administrative tasks and ask questions of other editors. These type of contributors would do tasks like approve or refuse other editor requests.

Design Exploration
Different iOS talk page designs are being explored, where many of the components are being adapted from the Editing and Android teams talk page research and designs. The new designs  intend to:


 * Provide a bigger visual distinction between article and user talk pages.
 * Show editors more detailed information on topic pages
 * Better indicate when threads are active or inactive
 * Test different types of threading for nested replies

Below are some examples of early potential designs that show a) an article talk topic page b) a reply screen in default and black reading mode and c) a menu with additional actions.

Usability Testing
Usability tests are being ran for early iOS designs to test the following:


 * The title and header of the pages
 * The menu, tab and navigation bar content
 * Page threading and replying

We are currently collecting feedback from experienced editors to test early article talk and user talk page designs via a survey. The survey includes early mockups (drawings) of the talk page and asks your opinion on the different elements. If you would like to give feedback that will guide the future designs on iOS please complete a short survey under the following link: ​​ https://wikimedia.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9GBcHczQGLbQWTY

Testing and feedback
For this project we will be testing prototypes earlier and testing more frequently. If you are interested you can:


 * Participate in our usability testing by emailing us at: [email].
 * Any feedback is very welcome on Talk:Wikimedia Apps.
 * You're welcome to become a beta tester.

Notifications
Push notifications and in-app notifications are now available via the Wikipedia iOS app. For frequently asked questions about notifications in the app, please visit the iOS FAQ page.

The inclusion of notifications in the iOS app makes it easier for editors who use iOS devices to be notified about new messages and alerts that they have, without having to voluntarily open the app or website to check. Throughout this work, we aimed to ensure that the usability of notifications is clear and did not disrupt editors' existing flows. We built this feature with consistency with iOS system elements in mind, to ensure that the feature feels at home on its platform.

To learn more about this project, please visit the Notifications project page.

Research
This project built off of the work of the Editing and Android teams for notifications. For this project the iOS team focused on improving the mapping of notification types. Additional research was conducted via an unmoderated diary study with experienced editors. For more information about the diary study, please visit the Notifications project page.

Anatomy of a notification
Our work on notifications comprises of three core components:


 * System (iOS) native push notifications
 * In-app Notification Center
 * Ensuring notifications are actionable

System level

 * Lock screen: Appears on the lock screen of the device. Supports tap through and detail view.
 * Banner: Appears at the top of the screen for a few seconds while the device is in use, then disappears. Supports tap through and detail view.
 * System notification center: Notifications that are not acted on (dismissed or tap through) are
 * Badging: Appears on app icon.

In-app level

 * Notification center: A space within the app where unread and archived notifications and alerts are available to logged-in users.
 * Notification message: String and links sent from the server to the app, which is shown in system level notifications and in the app-level notification center.
 * Notification message primary link: Primary action associated with the notification, tapping on a notification in the in-app notification center will push to this page.
 * Notification message secondary links: 2-3 secondary links, accessible through the in-app notification center or through the system notification detail view.

Designs
Below are designs for each of the three component areas. Significantly more design details and background are available on this Phabricator ticket and subtasks. For detailed mock-ups of designs please see Figma.

Testing and feedback
Once the internal build was ready, usability tests were run to ensure that all elements of the feature are understandable and actionable. The target audiences included:


 * 1) New editors who may have never seen a notification from Wikipedia before
 * 2) Experienced editors (to ensure that the feature meets the expectations they may have from using notifications on desktop)

With these two distinct groups in mind, our aim in testing was to perform an unmoderated usability test of just the in-app features with new users followed by an unmoderated longitudinal study (weeklong diary study, with a webform and follow-up questions) with current editors.

If you would like to read more about the findings of these studies, please visit the Notifications project page.

Any feedback you have on Notifications is very welcome, please visit: Talk:Wikimedia Apps.