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Wikimedia Product/Contribution taxonomy/Master inventory walkthrough

< Wikimedia Product | Contribution taxonomy

This is a step by step walk through that will guide you through each detail of the master inventory. The master inventory is part of the Contribution Taxonomy project.

Please see the "Key to codes of the master inventory" to make your navigation easier. There are definitions for codes, and basic assumptions that will make it easier to understand as you explore.

Start by identifying your motivation or goal:

Motivation / Goal and Activities

  • Wikipedia workflows start with a motivation or goal. For example, you could start with one of these motivations / goals:
    • I want to make Wikipedia better
    • I want people to know about XYZ
    • I want to educate the world
    • I want to hang out with people
    • I want to improve myself / learn something
    • I want to promote my brand / etc
    • Someone else wants me to take part
    • I just want the world to burn
    • I was reading anyway
    • I heard about this on XYZ
  • After identifying your motivation or goal, choose an activity that will help to satisfy your motivation / goal:
    • Moderation / Mediation and governance
    • Curation / Creation
    • Collaboration
    • Learning

Now, open the master inventory and look at the "workflows" tab.

Focus

  • Next, decide what to focus on. You can see options listed (for the scope of this original) project in column A.

Decision

  • Once a focus is chosen, then, decide what action to take in column B, named Decision.

Tasks and workflows

  • Next, choose a task from column C. Each task can be done through a number of workflows which you can see in column D, named workflows. Choose between workflows based on your understanding of the task.

Steps

  • Each workflow (column D) is broken down into one or more steps (column W)
    • Each step can be done by a different person. In some cases, all steps can be done by the same person.
    • Each step is numbered based on the point in the sequence. Step 1 happens first, then 2, then 3, and so on. Not all steps will exist on all wikis.
      • Some steps have alternatives, which are shown as different sub-steps, for exaple, 1a, 1b, 1c.  (also in column W)
      • Not all alternatives will exist on all wikis.
      • Only one sub-step is taken at a decision point; if the user needs to do two different things, they are different steps.
      • Some steps are optional and might often not happen. These are shown in square brackets, like "[2.]".

Tools

  • Tools are listed in column X. The contents of this column describes the tools or activity needed to accomplish the step listed in the previous column.
  • The tools column describes more about workflows. Here are the details about notations in this column:
    • Workflows that end in steps are marked "ends", or if they convert to a different sequence of steps, they are marked as “Transfer to other workflow”.
    • Sometimes workflows will "end" with optional follow-up tasks that could still be done.
    • Some steps can be done multiple times by multiple people, like "Comment in the discussion".
    • Where the same step is done but a different page/template is used for a process based on the local wiki/language, that counts as the same step.
    • If the decision is different, the step is shown as an alternative in the Tool column.
    • Some steps can be done either "manually" in one or more ways, or via a special tool. These are split out as different rows, in the Tool column.

Wiki Needs

  • Some steps require the wiki is configured in a special way or has a specific gadget/tool (marked in column “Wiki needs”). You can see these details in column AR.

User needs and User rights

  • Some steps require special user real-world or off-wiki attributes like having e-mail set up. These are marked in column AS as "User needs". There are also, sometimes, special on-wiki user rights which are marked in column AT, as "User rights".

Which Wiki? (Columns Z - AD)

In these columns you can see which workflows happen on which listed Wikipedias, and how many times they happen on those wikis.

  • If a step takes place on a wiki, it is marked it with " ✅"
  • If it can happen but it's rare, it is marked with " 🤷🏽"
  • If it doesn't happen at all, it is marked with " 🚫".
  • Not all workflows will exist on all wikis.
  • Each workflow is rated with roughly how many times it happens a day on each wiki (marked in column R, S, T, U, V as  ~ # a day).
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