Hey @RHo we hired a firm in India to complete some offline evaluative
research already - could do the same here if it makes sense.

Hi @atgo – yes, that sounds like a great option! I'll write up a skeleton research plan so we can discuss and see if it's workable.

Sounds good. What timing were you picturing?

Timeline for the prototype to be ready - before Christmas 2017.

hey @atgo – being a little less conservative on time estimates, looks like we can have an initial prototype ready for testing at the end of July.

Thanks @RHo. That does seem like a long lead time :)

Let me know when/how you want to connect about getting the research done.
Depending on who we're targeting as end-users, it may require more lead
time. Also our contracts process takes time.

hi @atgo (also + @Dbrant and @JMinor) – just put together an research outline at https://docs.google.com/document/d/11FOW-Fp3-fUPagcW2zPxKvTC_HaCV9R9Gmm38MF-yRU
Take a look and perhaps we can discuss in a meeting if it is sufficient detail to start talking to the external research group?

Sounds great, let's chat about this on Wednesday!

Full set of recommendations can be found in https://goo.gl/vUQQMJ

High level findings

• Utility is conditional to pack size & specific subjects - the concept was well received by participants, but practically their usage was quite conditional to being able to download packs for specific subject areas rather than our hypothesis that users would want the ‘whole’ of Wikipedia.
• Understanding of the feature was generally good when users reviewed onboarding and promotional information, but the term 'packs' was still somewhat unclear until users started using the Offline Library
• More clarity/details about the amount storage used by the Offline Library was desired by some users (internal vs external, file-size units, free-space for download)
• The call to action to "Add to my Offline Library" was not clear to many users as being the same action to search through available offline packs for download
• Whilst searching for article packs was easy, some users wanted to view more relevant packs and see more information upfront
• More error-prevention or assurance desired by some users that they were not unduly using data
• Most users accessed the Offline Library through tapping on the 'Main page' button in the downloaded pack details rather than through search whilst offline or via the main Explore screen
• Many users were confused that they had to be offline in order to restrict searches only to Offline Library packs
• Some users wanted Reading lists and Offline Library to be integrated into one place for offline content

Tasks to create/update:

Content-related items

• Offer more specialized content topics for article packs
• Offer smaller-sized article packs
• Clearer messaging on the date version of packs
• Allow incremental/version updates to packs
• Consider incorporating ‘Reading Lists’ and ‘Offline Library’ into one place in the navigation

Marketing/User-education

• Re-consider the term 'article packs'
• Update app onboarding
• Make promotion of the feature more contextually-relevant - e.g., promote the feature to users when they first go offline

Usability on the ‘Offline Library’ screen

• Clearer visual display of storage information data T173082
• Clarify the internal and external storage space being used by the packs
• Allow user to choose whether to download to external or internal storage
• Display storage space and file size in appropriate units T177879
• Clarify/Make more prominent the “Add to offline library” action

Usability: Searching article packs

• Add a clearer visual indication in Offline library list for already downloaded packs
• Surface relevant article packs more clearly by filtering to relevant languages by default
• Add more advanced sorting capabilities (sort by size, date, popularity, etc)
• Include more info about packs in the initial Offline Library list view

Error prevention & recovery

• Fix error conditions when downloading and opening packs T179070
• Improve error messaging T179071
• Prevent data-usage waste by showing messages when storage is insufficient
• Prevent accidental use of paid mobile data:
  • As a setting T173417; and/or
  • as a warning T163596

Usability: Downloading packs

• Provide clearer details of on/offline status [T163595]
• Provide an explicit offline mode [T164756]
• Provide ability to pause/resume downloads T178161
• Make the option to share via USB/external storage clearer/more prominent
• Provide an ability for user to download and read article packs on Desktop/Laptops

Usability: Using article packs

[x ] Improve format of “Main page” across all article packs T179205

• Improve use of the Explore feed to access the Offline Library:
  • (a) Incorporate individual “Main page” cards for downloaded packs directly from the Explore screen when they are offline;
  • (b) Improve the offline search bar and Offline Library ‘card’ so that it is clear the Explore feed is usable and that search works (but is restricted to available offline content only).
• Add clearer messaging in the Offline Library about use of packs in an offline state

Make promotion of the feature more contextually-relevant - e.g., promote the feature to users when they first go offline

This might be a nice suggestion but I guess it would make the 'Offline Library' feature hard to discover for reasons similar to why the users weren't able to discover that the search and Explore feed are usable with Offline Library, They weren't told about it loudly. The possibility of a user seeing the Explore feed when he's offline and thus seeing the promotion might be more for data-conscious users but I don't think the feature is only intended for them. People who aren't up-right data conscious might be equally interested in the feature only if they were told about it loudly. So, it might be better to do it the usual way.

Thanks for the comment @Kaartic - just to clarify this point is not about only providing contextually-relevant only promotion, but doing so as well as other ways we would market the feature.