In the Wikimedia Foundation's 2017–2018 Annual Plan, Program 5 for Audiences is to "Increase current editor retention and engagement".
We are seeking to understand and address our larger wikis communities’ extensive backlogs of work, and provide better monitoring, workflow and communication experiences. Identifying ideal contribution tasks is complex and slow, and monitoring changes has similar issues. Recommending specific contributions for users to make has been shown to increase engagement, when trialled with Content Translation. Some community-developed tools show demand for tasks, like FixMeBot from Labs, and on-wiki portals like the English Wikipedia's backlog page. This lack of support is particularly a key growth inhibitor on established communities (those with more than 2,000 monthly active contributors).
There are three goals with their desired outcomes:
Goal 1: Recommend where new and tenured users can contribute (T171980)
Outcome 1: We understand and begin addressing the issues our larger wikis' communities are facing with extensive backlogs of work.
Goal 2: Give better ways to monitor contributions (T171981)
Outcome 2: Reviewing contributions is more accessible, efficient, and productive.
Goal 3: Provide better workflow and communication experiences (T171982)
Outcome 3: We understand and begin addressing the issues our communities are facing with their processes to collaborate on content and conduct concerns ("workflows") whilst better supporting existing users of structured discussions.
See also: