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Future of Language Incubation/Modern Features for Incubator Wikis

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Task T376772

Modern Features for Incubator Wikis

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Hypothesis statement: If we provide production wiki access to 5 new languages, with or without Incubator, we will learn whether access to a full-fledged wiki with modern features such as those available on English Wikipedia (including ContentTranslation and Wikidata support, advanced editing and search results) aids in faster editing. Ultimately, this will inform us if this approach can be a viable direction for language incubation for new or existing languages, justifying further investigation.

Implementation Plan

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Implementation will be a collaborative effort across several departments, including Language and Product Localization, Research, Product Analytics,Data Persistence SRE, and Community Programs. The process involves the following steps:

  1. Identify a set of test wikis in Incubator (maximum 5 as per selection and inclusion criteria suggested above).
  2. Obtain approval from the Language Committee for the new wikis to graduate from the Incubator.
  3. With the help of the WMF SRE team, create the wiki in production infrastructure (along with transfer of content from the incubator) so that the community can quickly move on to editing on the production wiki.
  4. Monitor content growth progress of these prioritized wikis on the production wiki vs. the Incubator, based on a measurement plan.
  5. Review the status at the end of a 3-month pilot period to determine whether any changes are needed for the wikis.

Selection Criteria

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The goal is to replicate a controlled experiment as closely as possible. For wikis that meet the minimum selection criteria, the wikis will be categorized into various similar clusters, based on following variables:

  • Edits and new pages created in content namespace in the past 3 months
  • Average number of monthly active editors in the past 3 months
  • Time spent by language on incubator (until 30 June 2024)

The number of clusters will be equal to the number of treatment units (which is 5 in this case i.e. languages will be given production wiki access). From each cluster, a language will be randomly selected to receive the treatment (i.e. receiving a production wiki). Ideally, we would want to get confirmation of the language before sampling them, but given the practical considerations, the languages will be confirmed post sampling. If any of the selected languages decline to participate, we will re-run the sampling for that group, without replacement.

Post sampling, the project steering committee and the Language Committee should give their final approval for the list of languages. During this phase, it is required to ensure at least following:

  • Is a valid language that could potentially graduate some day.
  • The set represents a good mix of various regions across the world.
  • No other major concerns with the language having a production wiki.

For an incubating project to be included in the sampling, the following minimum criteria must be met:

  • is a Wikipedia
  • at least 2 active editors in the last 3 months
    • apart from the project maintainers & members of Language Committee
  • at least 30 edits in the last 3 months
  • either RTL or LTR language
    • excludes: sign languages, vertically written etc.

Full details are available in this report

Timeline

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January–March 2025

  • Analyze editing activity on pilot wikis.
  • Discuss next steps for the following year with stakeholders and share the results through relevant channels.

October–December 2024

  • Production wikis are set up, and features are being added to them.
  • Selected wikis are invited to edit.
  • Continue to monitor wikis for their activity and provide general onboarding support.

July–September 2024

  • Identify a set of test wikis based that meet the selection criteria.
  • Obtain approval from the Language Committee for the new wikis to graduate from the Incubator.

March–June 2024

  • Gather feedback on recommendations from WMF engineers and stakeholders.
  • Refine and develop recommendations, and identify experimental ideas for them.
  • Define selection criteria for pilot wikis and a measurement plan.

December 2023–March 2024

  • Discuss key questions on language onboarding with stakeholders.
  • Document initial recommendations for future discussions.
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