Topic on Talk:Wikimedia Developer Summit/2018/Writing Tips/Examples

Summary by Cscott

"Highly structured" format added to the examples, pending review by program committee.

Cscott (talkcontribs)

A more structured format was suggested by Sarah R as well, which might be more suitable for non-native speakers. I've edited her example a little bit to remove actual technical content:

Title: Embracing a new era with partially riped tomatoes

Background: Recent progress with on-demand tomato ripening using Ethylene gas has opened an exciting possibility for our project. We no longer have to ship fully-ripened tomatoes and risk bruising and spoilage.

Advice:

(1) Cooperate with the industry on developing ethylene ripening technology.

(2) Begin to ship partially ripened tomatoes which third-parties can ripen on-demand.

(3) Evaluate the impact: what happens when most consumers want the partially-ripened tomato product. Should we eliminate the divisions between the partially-ripened and fully-ripened products? Should we invest R&D in improvements to ripening technologies to stay on top of this trend?

Cscott (talkcontribs)

As discussed on another thread, I worry that terse proposals might lose the unconscious "writing contest" when evaluated by the Program Committee, so I'm reluctant to endorse this abbreviated format w/o feedback from the program committee. OTOH I agree that the bullet-point format might make it easier for those who feel uncomfortable writing a traditional essay-style argument.

SRodlund (WMF) (talkcontribs)

@Cscott I agree with this format and the thought that the more structured format provides a more supportive framework for folks who are not as comfortable writing in English.

I am going to move it and add it to your "unofficial" examples now until the program committee provides additional guidance.