Growth/Newsletters/19



Welcome to the nineteenth newsletter from the Growth team!

The Growth team's objective is to work on software changes that help retain new contributors in mid-size Wikimedia projects.

Structured tasks

 * Suggested links are tested at more than 10 wikis. Based on the feedback received, we have decided to work on some improvements before releasing it to more wikis.
 * Prototype for our next feature, Suggested images, are available. These prototypes have been tested by newcomers, in English and Spanish.

Structured tasks

 * "Add a link" is the team's first structured task. It uses machine-learning to suggest wikilinks as easy edits for newcomers.  It was deployed in May 2021 on four Wikipedias and then in July on eight more Wikipedias after we evaluated the initial results.  So far, we've seen a high level of engagement from newcomers and received valuable ideas for improvement from the communities that have the feature.  We'll work with more communities to deploy it as we make improvements.
 * "Add an image" is the team's second structured task, currently in development. It is an editing task that suggests images from Commons for unillustrated Wikipedia articles.  After multiple community discussions and tests, we've decided to build a first iteration to learn whether newcomers can be successful with the task.  We'll first deploy it only to a few pilot Wikipedias.  The project page contains links to interactive prototypes, and we are very interested to hear thoughts from community members on this idea as we build and test the early versions.Add an image Concept B prototype 2021-10-22.png

News for mentors

 * The Mentor dashboard is available at our pilot wikis: Arabic, Czech, and Bengali Wikipedias. It will soon be available at a few more volunteering wikis, as a test.
 * At wikis where the mentor dashboard is deployed, a new filter is available for mentors. They can monitor their mentees' activity in Watchlist and RecentChanges.  For privacy reasons, this filter can't be accessed by someone else than the mentor itself. This filter only filters mentees assigned to the mentor.  This filter is not visible for people who are not listed as mentors

News for mentors

 * The mentor dashboard is a new page for mentors to view their mentees, see their progress, and take other mentor-specific actions. It is currently available on Arabic, Czech, and Bengali Wikipedias, and will soon be available at a next set of wikis as we continue to test.
 * For wikis with the mentor dashboard, a new filter is available in RecentChanges and Watchlist for mentors. Mentors can filter those feeds to the activity done by their mentees, so they can help support their mentees' work.

Community configuration

 * Communities can configure how Growth features behave at their wiki, by editing Special:EditGrowthConfig . This special page is editable by interface admins.  At this page, community members can add a list of volunteer mentors, ready reply to newcomers' questions.

Community configuration

 * Communities now have the ability to configure how Growth features behave on their own wikis. This can be done by administrators at Special:EditGrowthConfig.  At this page, community members can add a list of volunteer mentors, alter the templates used for suggested edits, update help links, and more.

Scaling

 * The wikis that have Growth features deployed have been part of A/B testing since deployment, in which some newcomers did not receive the new features. Now, all of the newcomers on 21 of the smallest of those wikis will be receiving the features.
 * All versions of Wikipedia now have Growth features (except zh, for techniclal reasons).
 * English Wikipedia now gives the features to 25% of newcomers. This is done to test how mentorship would interfere with existing workflows.
 * Now that Growth features are available at Wikipedia, the Growth team considers to work with other projects. Some Wikisource users have expressed some interest in getting Growth features.

Scaling

 * We are proud to announce that all Wikipedias now have the Growth features! Thank you to all the community members who helped the team build the features and bring them to their wikis.  The only exception is Chinese Wikipedia, for technical reasons.
 * English Wikipedia is undergoing a test in which 25% of newcomers receive the Growth features. The results from this test will be part of a discussion of how to proceed on that wiki.
 * Now that the Growth features are available on Wikipedias, the team is considering how to extend them to other projects. There is currently a discussion about implementing them on Wikisource.

News for communities

 * A Deployment table has been created to track the different deployments at the wikis.
 * The Growth team has published a translatable a FAQ. You can find there the most common questions we hear from community members and our replies.
 * Interface translations are important for newcomers. Please help for your language, by [ https://translatewiki.net/w/i.php?title=Special:Translate&group=ext-growthexperiments&language=&filter=&action=translate translating or copyediting] interface translations for the Growth features.
 * Help:GettingStarted was a feature developed in 2013, which directed newcomers to articles that needed editing. We recently removed this feature from all wikis, because it has been replaced by the Growth features.

News for communities

 * The Growth features were recently used in a test amongst Latin American donors to give donors the opportunity to learn to edit. You can see the results here.
 * This deployment table now exists to track which Growth features are deployed on various wikis. COMMENT FOR TRIZEK: I see that this table is not updated; it only contains only about 100 wikis.  Do you still want to include it?
 * This translatable FAQ contains answers to the most common questions about the Growth team work.
 * Interface translations are important for newcomers. Please help your language by translating or copyediting interface translations for the Growth features.
 * Help:GettingStarted was a feature developed in 2013, which directed newcomers to articles that needed editing. We recently removed this feature from all wikis, because it has been replaced by the Growth features.

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