Submissions/Tech news

This is an accepted submission for Wikimania 2014.

Submission no. 5045

Title of the submission: “Tech News”: Fighting technical information overload for Wikimedians

Type of submission: Presentation + discussion

Author of the submission: Guillaume Paumier

E-mail address: gpaumierwikimedia.org

Username: m:user:guillom

Country of origin: France

Affiliation: Wikimedia Foundation

Personal homepage or blog: https://guillaumepaumier.com

Abstract

Wikimedians regularly complain that they were not notified of a specific change or new feature that broke their workflow. And yet, in a movement as transparent as Wikimedia, where almost every document, code change and mailing list is public, the problem is rarely the lack of information. We know the information we're looking for is out there; the problem is how to find it without being overwhelmed, and how to find it before it has consequences for us.

One way to fight information overload is to provide a carefully-selected summary of technical changes, based on their expected impact on Wikimedians. That's why, every week, tech ambassadors now assemble, simplify and translate "Tech News," a curated newsletter then delivered to hundreds of subscribers across wikis.

Created in May 2013 after wide consultation, Tech News is assembled by monitoring many sources of information (code changes, mailing list messages, Bugzilla tickets, etc.), selecting those that are likely to impact or interest many Wikimedians, and simplifying them so they're understandable even for people without deep technical expertise.

With now more than 300 subscribers, Tech News has become the primary means of following recent and upcoming technical changes for many Wikimedians. Written in simple, non-technical language, it's entirely translated to about a dozen languages every week, and delivered to subscribers across wikis in their native language if available. This is notably done through an array of processes, documents and tools that we've developed to ensure quality, efficiency and continuity.

This talk will provide some historical context, and present the process and tools used to assemble and deliver the newsletter every week. It will also be an opportunity for Wikimedians to get involved and discuss how to further improve the newsletter so it better meets their needs.

Track: Technology, Interface & Infrastructure

Length of session: 30 minutes

Will you attend Wikimania if your submission is not accepted?: Yes

Slides or further information (optional): This talk will be adapted from the long-form blog post of the same name posted in January that should give an idea of the presentation's content. Original, more recent content will be included as well.

Special requests: None at the moment

Interested attendees

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Quiddity (talk) 20:36, 12 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Elitre (talk) 13:19, 20 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]
I will be your session host Edwardx (talk) 18:01, 31 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Birgit Müller (WMDE) (talk) 13:22, 4 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Tar Lócesilion (talk) 15:25, 4 August 2014 (UTC) maybe[reply]
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