User:MMiller (WMF)/sandbox

Design

While the "structured task sketch" section above contains some quick initial sketches to demonstrate the idea behind structured tasks, this section contains our current design thinking. To look into the full set of thinking around designs for the "add a link" structured task, see this slideshow, which contains background, user stories, and initial design concepts.

Comparative review

When we design a feature, we look into similar features in other software platforms outside of the Wikimedia world. These are some highlights from comparative reviews done in preparation for Android’s suggested edits feature, which remain relevant for our project.

• Task types – are divided into five main types: Creating, Rating, Translating,  Verifying content created by others (human or machine), and Fixing content created by others.
• Visual design & layout – incentivizing features (stats, leaderboards, etc) and onboarding is often very visually rich, compared to pared back, simple forms to complete short edits. Gratifying animations often compensate for lack of actual reward.
• Incentives – Most products offered intangible incentives grouped into: Awards and ranking (badges) for achieving set milestones, Personal pride and gratification (stats), or Unlocking features (access rights)
• Users motivations – those with more altruistic motivations (e.g., help others learn) are more likely to be incentivised by intangible incentives than those with self-interested motivations (e.g., career/financial benefits)
• Personalization/Customization – was used in some way on most apps reviewed. The most common customization was via surveys during account creation or before a task; and geolocalization used for system-based personalization.
• Guidance – Almost all products reviewed had at least basic guidance prior to task completion, most commonly introductory ‘tours’. In-context help was also provided in the form of instructional copy, tooltips, step-by-step flows,  as well as offering feedback mechanisms (ask questions, submit feedback)  

Initial wireframes

After organizing our thoughts and doing background research, the first visuals in the design process are "wireframes". These are simply meant to experiment and display some of the ideas we think could work well in a structured task workflow.

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  Giving more explanation the first time the newcomer uses the workflow than on subsequent times
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  Explaining why the task is worth doing
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  Teaching concepts through checklists
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  Letting users disagree with algorithms and generate useful data in the process
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  Encouraging the newcomer to move on to more impactful tasks and learn more
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  Providing opportunities to learn the more powerful editing tools
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  Guardrails against low-quality contributions
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  Rewarding good work