Wikimedia Apps/Team/Android/Communication/UsertestingJuly2021

Background
The Android team is working to improve communication systems in the Android app. We currently support all notifications and alerts in the Android app.

However, when users are in the app, notifications are not easily discoverable; FY 2021-2022 we seek to improve this experience.

Our July 2021-September 2021 update will improve the in-app discoverability of notifications and enhance notifications on the lockscreen. By December 2021, we will enhance the notification home center to build an intuitive inbox and interface. We will design and build with consistency of Android system elements in mind to ensure that the feature feels at home on its platform.

July 2021 through December 2021 focuses on logged-in users that have made at least one edit, however we will build on our preliminary work from the months priorto enhance alert awareness for logged-out users in the beginning of 2022. We plan to explore onboarding experiences to communication tools for users that are logged out. This will be in addition to other positive reinforcements and onboarding workflows for logged-in users.

Prior to making further changes to notifications and messaging in the app, we want to gain an understanding of intuitive placements, features and workflows for our users in the app.

This project page serves as our means for collecting initial user research. We ask that participants in our research comment on this discussion talk page with their responses to the protocol below or email us at android-support@wikimedia.org.

Research questions

 * When asking a user to check their notifications, in the app, where do they click?
 * Find out about how discoverable the various entry points presented are for notifications
 * What flows and actions do users expect when they have push turned on vs. those that have it turned off?
 * What are the expectations of what a user will see if they click a bell vs. an inbox and what are the tradeoffs for consolidation?
 * Do users believe elements of the user talk page should be in the notification center?

Primary Feedback Audience
We welcome feedback from all current and prospective Wikipedia editors. However, we are especially interested in hearing how our tools potentially impact:


 * English Wikipedia editors in India with visual impairments
 * Hindi Wikipedia editors
 * Arabic and French Wikipedia editors in Morocco, Egypt, DR Congo and Mali
 * English Wikipedia editors in Nigeria
 * Indonesian Wikipedia editors
 * Female and Non-Binary Japanese Wikipedia Editors

Protocol
1) Discoverability: Imagine that you opened your Wikipedia app to check your notifications, which version of the app makes it clearest to you that you have a new notification? Additionally, please describe where on the screen you would tap to access your notifications. Please rank the variants by discoverability of of the notification icon / button.

Variant A 👇

Variant A = Introducing a notification bell in the app bar (this is the current design recommendation)

Pros:


 * Positioning could be applied for the entire app here
 * Consistency with other platforms (Desktop, Mobile)

Cons:


 * Search field gets smaller
 * Tabs and notifications might be misleading

Variant B 👇

Variant B = Adding a notifications list item to the overflow menu

Pros:


 * It is just another menu item in the overflow menu, low effort solution
 * Could be expanded with links e.g. Watchlist, User Profile, History or Notifications

Cons:


 * Notifications are hidden behind an unclear “More” icon (similar issues as a hamburger navigation icon)

Variant C 👇

** Variant C = A consistent app navigation (and removal of the toolbar in the article)

Pros:**


 * A consistent navigation throughout the app, users always know where to find things
 * More menu item would only show contextual items on the respective screens.

Cons:


 * Bloated “More” menu in the article view, similar to Chrome on Android — is hiding everything good information architecture?
 * Hesitant to go with this approach as we made major improvements to the article view based on usability tests

2) Iconography: What information would you expect when tapping on each of the three icons below? Please describe your thoughts.

Variant A: Bell iconography 🔔

3) To better serve a Mobile context, we consider distinguishing important from unimportant notifications. What would you add or remove to this list of prioritized notifications below? Here’s an overview of the notification types just in case.


 * 1) Mentions
 * 2) Messages on your talk page
 * 3) Reverted edits
 * 4) Thanks

4) The screen below visualizes the idea of separating important notifications. “All” would list all notifications in one place, similar to how notifications are displayed on Mobile Wikipedia. What are your general thoughts on this concept of prioritizing notifications in the Wikipedia on Android app? Is the information presented, presented in a way that feels efficient or understandable to you?

5) Looking at the illustration above, would you prefer to see 'All' of your notifications or 'Prioritized' notifications as the default tab? Please describe your thoughts.

6) What other functionality for the notifications view would you appreciate? Please rank the following feature ideas by priority:


 * A) A quick way to filter notifications by language version of Wikipedia
 * B) A quick way to filter notifications by project (e.g. Wikipedia, Commons, Wikidata)
 * C) A quick way to filter notifications by type (e.g. only show mentions)
 * D) Grouping of notifications (e.g. if someone received 2+ “Thanks” for an article edit, should it be grouped)
 * E) Search functionality for both new and archived notifications
 * F) Enhanced notification preferences, e.g. fine tuning which notifications you receive (related to question #7 below)
 * G) Notifications for the Watchlist
 * H) Customizable swipe left / swipe right actions (Example: Gmail → Settings → General settings → Mail swipe actions)
 * J) Easy access to archived notifications

7) Are there any notification preferences currently missing in the app? The current version of the app offers to enable/disable the following notifications: System, Milestone, Thanks, Revert, Talk page, Login and Mentions. Check out the screen below to see the current experience:

8) We are currently optimizing flows when users are receiving a notification. The idea is to lead people to the right place without detours. We also intend to provide an easy way to respond to messages right after receiving a notification. In the images below, you’ll see different notifications examples with one constant: a reply field to directly get in touch with the user that has sent a message on a talk page or reverted and edit. What are your thoughts around this way to react / respond after receiving a notification? Do you feel as though the information presented is of high value to you?

9) We currently plan to incorporate an interface for quick reactions / default replies after tapping the aforementioned “Reply” field. In the screen below, you’ll see one of the explorations representing the concept of quick reactions. What are some common replies or phrases you use when interacting with other editors on wiki?

10) Let’s chat about push notifications. We’re currently taking measures to make sure crucial Wikipedia notifications are seen in- and outside the Wikipedia app. As we pursue this, we are exploring notification reminders (e.g. receive daily notifications about a revert until the notification is marked as read). Notification reminders will be able to be modified through user settings. How would you feel about such functionality to make sure you aren’t missing important notifications? Please choose one of the answers below and let us know why chose it.

A) Yes, I’d love to see this functionality.

B) No, I don’t like this functionality.

C) I don’t know.