[Foundation-l] 80% of our projects are failing

Mon Dec 1 12:20:27 UTC 2008

Hoi,
I am sure that you and I have learned to create new articles. In the
usability study, people who were completely new to MediaWiki were asked to
perform well described tasks. All testsubjects were unable to create new
articles. They did nothing wrong, they just could not figure out how to do
this.

These tests were recorded on video and analysed by usability experts.
Consequently the results are relevant and provide the best explanation that
I have had so far why so many of our projects are failing. The good news is
that the issue that has been identified is one that we can remedy. The even
better news is that the UNICEF developers have created extensions that have
been proven to make a difference. We only have to understand their results
and apply the knowledge gained. Obviously we will want to ensure that this
software complies with our standards, but this is something that we have the
expertise for. This is a clear win-win situation as UNICEF stands to gain
their functionality adopted by the WMF and consequently have less of a
maintenance issue.
Thanks,
       GerardM

2008/12/1 Amir E. Aharoni <amir.aharoni at gmail.com>

> On Sun, Nov 30, 2008 at 10:43 PM, Gerard Meijssen
> <gerard.meijssen at gmail.com> wrote:
> > At Wikimania 2008 a presentation
> > was given by developers from UNICEF who had done proper usability
> studies.
> > They found that 100% of their newbie testsubjects were not able to create
> a
> > new article.
>
> They must have done something wrong.
>
> If they are right, then it must be an illusion that Wikipedia has
> several millions of articles.
>
> I find the creation of a new article very easy. On the other hand,
> adding a link somewhere that says "create a new article" won't hurt.
>
> --
> Amir Elisha Aharoni
>
> heb: http://haharoni.wordpress.com | eng: http://aharoni.wordpress.com
> cat: http://aprenent.wordpress.com | rus: http://amire80.livejournal.com
>
> "We're living in pieces,
>  I want to live in peace." - T. Moore
>
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