This task proposes a new view that enables people to see, and potentially refer back to, the pages they visited during a specific "session." [i]
The core of this proposal is about enabling people who visit/read Wikipedia to more clearly see and remember the time they spend here and the impact that time has on them. E.g. Do you remember learning something new? Do you remember being inspired? Do you remember the moment where decided to go to your library’s website and borrow a book? etc.
Stories
As someone who regularly reads Wikipedia and finds themselves traveling down/through rabbit holes, I want to be able to more easily remember what I thought about/felt/did during these moments, so that I can more easily:
- Refer back to a page I visited and have since forgotten the name of
- Learn about and understand myself by seeing and making sense of the paths/lines of curiosities I've followed over time [ii]
- Discover opportunities for me to learn something new
Open Questions/Provocations
- 1. When might people visit the page/place this task is suggesting we create?
- When I am deciding what book to read next, I might visit this page, filter it by "articles about books," and see what articles I've read about books in the past ___ day(s)/month(s)/year(s) and see which – if any – resonate with me in that moment. [iii]
- When I am planning a trip, I might visit this page, filter it by "articles about/related to physical place(s)" so that I can see whether there are any places I'd like to be sure to see [iv]
- 2. How might this page provide to people who visit and use Wikipedia differently? E.g. People who visit Wikipedia intermittently (every few days/weeks/months). People who visit Wikipedia with specific learning objectives in mind (they are doing a research for a paper/report/etc.)?
- 3. What new possibilities / opportunities could this page/place create? E.g. Might this be a place to read content related to what you'd previously explored, but had not yet discovered?
- 4. What might people come to this page seeking to learn?
- "What categories (read: topics) have I been reading the most pages within?"
- "Of the biographies I've read, what percentage have been about women/men/etc.?"
Background
This idea is inspired, in part, by work the Wikipedia iOS app, Google Chrome (chrome://history/journeys), Apple Photos, Google Photos, etc. are doing to help people store/make memories within these tools/services
| Wikipedia iOS app | Chrome's "Journeys" page | Apple Photos |
|---|---|---|
 |   |  |
References
i. TBD what "session" would need to means in this particular context for people to perceive the pages they visit within each to stand out in their minds as a cogent memory
ii. A bit deep, I know! Tho, this is true of my experience and maybe others'?
iii. This use case was prompted by me reading en: The Social Construction of Reality, adding it to the reading list I maintain outside of Wikipedia (in Apple Notes), and thinking, "Huh, wouldn't it be nice if Wikipedia would remember this for me."
iv. This use case was prompted by reading about Kengo Kuma's work and thinking, "If I ever visit Japan, I'd like to visit a structure/environment/place Kuma designed."