Community-Driven Insights: Enhancing Wikipedia's User Experience

The project was led in collaboration with the Wikimedia Foundation aiming to develop a new editing feature in the edition process on Wikipedia. This initiative was driven by the goal of refining the editing experience, making it more intuitive and aligned with Wikipedia's standards and guidelines. The project was unique, as it targeted a community that had not previously interacted with the Wikimedia Foundation. This interaction was key to understanding the community's specific editing needs and expectations from the platform.

The major challenge in this project was engaging with a community that was self-made and had never interacted with the Wikimedia Foundation. The task required delicate handling of the community's established dynamics and sensitivities. Achieving genuine, unfiltered feedback was crucial, but it necessitated an approach that was both respectful and tactful, considering the community's unfamiliarity with Wikimedia's processes and the sensitivity of discussing their editing experiences and expectations.

To tackle this challenge, I led a qualitative research consisting of eight in-depth interviews, each lasting approximately an hour. These interviews were carefully structured around a four-part script, co-created to ensure comprehensive coverage of all relevant topics. The script was designed to facilitate a comfortable and open dialogue, encouraging participants to share their honest opinions and experiences. The process involved meticulously planning and conducting each interview, ensuring that the insights gathered were both representative and insightful.

The culmination of this project was a detailed 40-page presentation that meticulously captured the community's feedback. This document not only highlighted the positive aspects and potential areas of improvement for the feature but also offered a window into the community's broader experience with Wikipedia. The feedback led to several recommendations aimed at enhancing the feature, improving the overall user experience on the platform, and addressing the unique challenges and motivations of the community in their volunteer contributions to Wikipedia.

The report was presented to the Head of Product to implement the recommendations in the product. The tech team commented that it was useful to them to understand better the reality of the users and to hear feedback towards what they're building.

This outcome was a testament to the effectiveness of the research approach in drawing out valuable insights that could significantly influence feature development and user experience strategies.

Feedback from Mick Raish, Design Lead at the Wikimedia Foundation:

"Sandra was a pleasure to work with. She demonstrated a high degree of professionalism and diligence while conducting a complicated interview study in a space that she was initially unfamiliar with —specifically, Wikipedia editors in French-speaking West Africa. She conducted interviews in French and prepared an excellent research report in English for her English-speaking stakeholders. I sincerely look forward to our next collaboration"

This project underscored the importance of understanding and respecting community dynamics when introducing new features. The iterative research and design process proved essential in creating a tool that genuinely met user needs. Additionally, the study provided an opportunity to evaluate the significant impact Wikipedia has on education in French-speaking West Africa. Moving forward, I will continue to prioritize user engagement and feedback, ensuring that future projects are both user-centric and impactful.