Background
Following the open letter from the Commons Photographers User Group to the Wikimedia Foundation, the Foundation began to explore ways of better meeting the needs of Commons users and contributors.
The Community Tech team hosts a bi-annual Wishathon to make some progress on open Wishes by the Communities. In 2022, there was a Larger Suggestion to support Commons. This was a design project generated for the Wishathon.
In the open letter, some priorities were defined for working on the platform, and we hope this research from a user experience standpoint can inform an understanding of usability and needs of the platform.
Research questions and goals
- What is the experience of Wikimedia Commons like for new users?
- How do volunteers conduct routine image tasks in Wikimedia Commons (e.g. uploading an image, updating the descriptions of an image, etc.)?
- Gather and analyze users' impressions and comments.
- Identify areas that are clear and understandable, and potential areas for improvement.
Research plan
This was an unmoderated remote based-task test, conducted using usertesting.com, to recruit participants and record sessions. The test was conducted with 5 newcomers.
Three tasks were requested from users:
- the first task consisted of giving them a different image each and asking them to upload the file to Wikimedia Commons.
- the second task was about searching for an image,
- the third task was about adding a category to an existing file.
To see the complete research plan, you can go here.
Analysis
The analysis of this test was made in video form. You can watch the video with insights, user quotes, and video clips here.