**About Me****Personal Information**
Name: Vrushti Mody
MediaWiki user: VrushtiMody
Location: India
Time Zone: UTC+5:30
Typical working hours: 17:00 - 1:00
Technical Blog: https://blog.vrushtimody.me/
**Motivation**
I was introduced to open source software recently and felt like it is the best way to learn, explore and contribute to the community. On digging deeper, I learnt about several open Source initiatives, Google Season of Docs being one of them.
Upon reviewing the organisations, the project ‘Audience research and user experience’ targeting understanding the wants and needs of the fellow community struck a chord with me. The Wikimedia community has been really supportive ever since I joined the chat and sent my first email.
I want to set foot to this amazing open source culture and hopefully learn and grow as a technical writer during the process.
**A Pilot Survey to Define Utility of Technical Documentation for Wikimedia Users and Creating a Set of Recommendations for Better User Experience **
**Project Outline****Introduction**
While we know that good technical documentation is essential to ourthe community of volunteer developers, there is still a lot that we do not know about our audiences and their needs.
Consumer behavior has changed over the period of time. Today users often google or watch youtube videos versus reading technical documentation. This project is meant to help us gain a better understanding of who is using technical documentation on MediaWiki and Wikitech, how they are responding to the current documentation, and what their wants and needs are for better technical documentationsupport. The results of this project will help us build a technical content strategy that works for ourthe users and delivers real value to themof Wikimedia to support their requirements.
**Deliverables**
- Understanding loopholes in existing documentation**Objective**
- FixingTo understand the target audience and sample populutility of the documentation.
- Working on participant demographicsTo identify enhancements needed to make it more useful and robust.
**Review of Literature**
- Categorise the problems with existingPreliminary review of technical documentation suggests :
- Design the basic structure for the survey keeping in mind validity,To study issues reported by the clients
Support team members reference technical documents all the time, and they are the first to receive user complaints, as well. reliabilitySo, replicability and generalizabilitya cross-team communication channel needs to be open and allow quick back-and-forth data exchange.
- Create targeted questions for the surveyTo conduct periodic surveys to obtain user feedback
- Study questionnaires availableMethodology
- Brainstorm on how to Incentivise the survey for greater reachThe methodology I follow will have 3 phases.
- Use of wikitech-I for the surveyPhase 1:
- Analysis for hosting the survey (Google form, Survey monkey, hosted site, etc)Identify a survey tool for randomised trial
Defining sample size for the pilot study
Identify methods for data collection and meeting sample size
- Incorporate existing feedback into the analysis (eg, Did you find it helpful button)Identify inclusion exclusion criteria for the survey participants
- Carry out primary analytics to obtainDefine valid and invalid survey resultsponses
- Use advanced statistics to obtain secondary resultsPhase 2:
Stretch GoalTo qualify the subjective data into broad categories to have better user experience for each category of user
Phase 3:
- Analysis and observations
Work on pop-ups such as rating the documentation on clicking the back or close buttonStandard statistical tools will be used for studying the outcomes
- Discussion
Discussing the current findings to that of those available from previous literature review will help in better insights and outcomes from the study.
Limitations:
The sample population is one of the biggest limitations of their survey. Other limitations may include biased questions in the survey, lack of data, etc.
**Mentors**Deliverables **
Review Literature available
Identify survey tool to best meet the study objective
Defining ways of reaching out to the target population to improve the survey validity.
Conducting a survey (following up with the users to get responses)
Observation and analysis of the data
Statistical evaluation of the data as applicable
Discussion and summary of the study
**Mentors**
Sarah R. Rodlund
Alex Paskulin
Zulip will be the primary mode of communication with my mentors. Wikimedia’s IRC channels and Email will be used for discussions with the community.
Discussions about specific tasks will happen in the comments section of the Phabricator tasks.
**Discussion**
This project is broadly divided into two phases:
- Creating a survey for understanding the user preferences
- Obtaining insights from the survey
**//1. Creating a survey for understanding the user preferences//**
//Why is it needed?//
> Technical Documentation survey is integral in obtaining customer feedback about the technical documents of a project. Not only does it provide an in-depth understanding of the product usage, but also helps point out things that might not be evident initially. As it happens, when making a product, we get so involved in it, we are not able to look at it from different perspectives. This is where a technical documentation survey makes the job easier. Insights from customers are essential to determine areas where improvement is needed.
Obtaining insights from the survey
//My methodology//1. Creating a survey for understanding the user preferences
The survey I will make will help achieve the following goals. I will also describe the methodology to be used to achieve that goal and why it is needed.Why is it needed?
1Technical Documentation survey is integral in obtaining customer feedback about the technical documents of a project. Not only does it provide an in-depth understanding of the product usage, but also helps point out things that might not be evident initially. As it happens, when making a product, we get so involved in it, we are not able to look at it from different perspectives. This is where a technical documentation survey makes the job easier. Identify objectives
I will start with my hypothesis with a clear idea in my mind of the information that is required.nsights from customers are essential to determine areas where improvement is needed. I plan on using one of the available questionnaires that best suits our description from sites like SurveyMonkey, This will establish various parameters of the survey like: the purposeQuestionPro, the rating scale to be used and what can make the data actionable.
etc.
2. Determining Sample TargetObtaining insights from the survey
The two main factors to consider here are:Understanding Participant Demographics
What is the target population?Understanding and categorising the sample population based on demographics will help understand which category of people need what kind of help w.r.t the documentation
What is the minimum number of responses needed from said population to establish the survey as reliable enough.
3. Making the questionnaire
- The survey will begin with a title and a short abstract outlining the purpose of the survey in a manner that is easily understandable and not using jargon or explaining the complexities of the survey. It will also inform the participant of the confidentiality of the survey and its overall length with average time taken to complete it.Preliminary Analysis
- Questions will be framed in simplePreliminary analyses on any data set include checking the reliability of measures, direct and unambiguous language.evaluating the effectiveness of any manipulations, Each question will be measuring at least one thingexamining the distributions of individual variables, in an unbiased mannerand identifying outliers.
- The questions will be concise and clear. Extra instructions will be added where necessary. Care will be taken to keep the level of language low, without being condescending while still achieving our goalThis would be helpful to briefly understand the problems to work towards existing solutions.
- Response categories will be kept clear, discrete and will avoid usage of words that do not clearly define the parameter. For example, a range will be used instead of responses like “often” and “sometimes”.Secondary Analysis
- General instructions will be provided to respondents at the start of a new section along with specific instructions to aid in the completion of a particular question.The secondary analysis will help get a broader perspective w.r.t results of the survey. Two of the many tests that would be used are Hypothesis analysis and correlation analysis
- Only one question will be asked at a timHypothesis Testing: Hypothesis testing in statistics is a way to test the results of a survey or experiment to see if they have meaningful results. It is basically testing whether the results are valid by figuring out the odds that your results have happened by chance. If your results may have happened by chance, the experiment won’t be repeatable and so has little use. In the real world, it’s tough to get complete information about the population. Hence, we draw a sample out of that ispopulation, two parameters will not be merged into one question which can create confusion for the respondents as to which parameter is to be kept in mind while responding.
- Biased questions will be avoided.he results of the survey in this case and derive the same statistical measures. Thus it is important to find out if there is enough statistical evidence in favour of a certain belief, or hypothesis, Questions like “What did you like about this feature” will be avoided as they inherently assume that the respondents liked the said feature in the first placeabout a parameter. Such questions will be framed as a yes/no question which will then proceed to ask why or why did not the respondent like said featureHypothesis analysis will be used to determine if the results of a survey are statistically significant to confidently say that those results are indicative of the user experience of the product in general.
- It is important to understand that all questions will not be relevant to all respondents.Correlational Analysis: Correlation Analysis is a statistical method that is used to discover if there is a relationship between two variables/datasets, and how strong that relationship may be. It will be used to analyse quantitative data gathered from the survey, to identify whether there are any significant connections, Hencepatterns, filter questions will be used to allow respondents to bypass questions not relevant to themor trends between the variables.
**//2. Obtaining insights from the survey//****Tentative timeline**
- //UnderstaCommunity bonding Participant Demographics//period (7th - 25th August)
Understanding and categorising the sample population based on demographics will help understand which category of people need what kind of help w.r.t the documentationAnalyze the project in detail with my mentors.
- //Preliminary Analysis//
> “Preliminary analyses on any data set include checking the reliability of measures, evaluating the effectiveness of any manipulations, examining the distributions of individual variables, and identifying outliers.”
This would be helpful to briefly understand the problems to work towards existing solutions.Discuss about:
- //Secondary Analysis//How often the tasks should be reviewed.
The secondary analysis will help get a broader perspective w.r.t results of the survey. Two of the many tests that would be used are Hypothesis analysis and correlation analysisShare schedules and decide on a weekly/daily workflow.
Hypothesis Testing:
> “Hypothesis testing in statistics is a way to test the results of a survey or experiment to see if they have meaningful results. It is basically testing whether the results are valid by figuring out the odds that your results have happened by chance. If your results may have happened by chance, the experiment won’t be repeatable and so has little use.”
In the real world, it’s tough to get complete information about the population. Hence, we draw a sample out of that population, the results of the survey in this case and derive the same statistical measures. Thus it is important to find out if there is enough statistical evidence in favour of a certain belief, or hypothesis, about a parameter. Hypothesis analysis will be used to determine if the results of a survey are statistically significant to confidently say that those results are indicative of the user experience of the product in generalTools and resources that can be used.
Correlational Analysis:
> “Correlation Analysis is a statistical method that is used to discover if there is a relationship between two variables/datasets, and how strong that relationship may be.”
It will be used to analyse quantitative data gathered from the survey, to identify whether there are any significant connections, patterns,Bi-weekly and daily project reports.
Create the required tasks and subtasks or trends between the variables.
Tentative timeline
Community bonding period (7th - 25th August)
Week 1 (26th August - 1st September)
Identify a survey tool for randomised trial (Phase 1)
Week 2 (2nd - 8th September)
Defining sample size for the pilot study (Phase 1)
Identify methods for data collection and meeting sample size (Phase 1)
Week 3 (9th - 15th September)
Identify inclusion exclusion criteria for the survey participants (Phase 1)
Define valid and invalid survey responses (Phase 1)
Week 4 (16th - 22nd September)
To qualify the subjective data into broad categories to have better user experience for each category of user (Phase 2)
Week 5 (30th September - 6th October)
Identify portals like slack channels and google groups,etc to send the survey to relevant users. (Phase 2)
Week 6 (7th - 13th October)
Host the survey (Phase 2)
Week 7 (14th- 20th October)
Follow up with the users. Collect information from sources other than the survey (Phase 2)
Week 8 (21st - 27th October)
Follow up with the users. Collect information from sources other than the survey (Phase 2)
Week 9 (28th October - 3rd November)
Follow up with the users. Collect information from sources other than the survey (Phase 2)
Week 10 (4th - 10th November)
Use standard statistical tools to study the outcomes of the survey. Conduct Primary and secondary analysis (Phase 3)
Week 11 (11th - 17th November)
Use standard statistical tools to study the outcomes of the survey. Conduct Primary and secondary analysis (Phase 3)
Week 12 (18th - 24th November)
Discussing the current findings to that of those available from previous literature review will help in better insights and outcomes from the study (Phase 3)
Week 13 (25th - 29th November)
Past Contributions
- T181946 (Update Screenshots for the "Huggle" software iWork on the user manual on mediawiki.org)
Other Commitmentsproject report
Post GSoD
Work as a volunteer for Wikimedia
**Past Contributions**
T181946 (Update Screenshots for the "Huggle" software in the user manual on mediawiki.org)
T29650: Update Install/Upgrade documents on mw.org: Manual:Upgrading and Manual
**About Me**
I am a final year undergraduate student, pursuing B.Tech. in Computer Engineering from NMIMS University, Mumbai, India. I believe that, Open source projects are a great way of developing quality products by working together with other developers. I have always wanted to contribute to open source projects to give back to the Community. Wikimedia supports many projects like Wikipedia, Wikibooks, Wiktionary, Wikiquote and many more which I have been using for a long time. So while going through the GSoD organizations list, when I came across Wikimedia I knew it was the organization I wanted to apply to. Participating in GSoD will help me meet the community, exchange ideas, learn new skills and grow as a technical writer. I see GSoD as an opportunity to play a small role in the open source community and contribute to the organisation that I love.
I am a curious person who enjoys figuring out the building blocks of the world and rearranging them to build something even better. I have experience working with Markdown, Git, Github, etc
Contributing to this project, would help me improve my technical writing skills and create better and more usable documentation by the community at large.
**Other Information**
To know more about me, you can visit my personal site: www.vrushtimody.me
All my projects are hosted on https://github.com/vrushti-mody
**Bibliography:**
[1]https://medium.com/level-up-web/technical-writing-as-a-part-of-user-experience-2cfd97554d09
[2]https://comtechp7.hypotheses.org/files/2017/10/Compelling-documentation-a-way-to-improve-the-user-experience-1.pdf 01/06/2020
[3]https://comtechp7.hypotheses.org/files/2015/11/2013-OceaneFrancCeliaGoiset.pdf 09/06/2020
[4]https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/usability-of-technical-documentation/
[5]https://www.deque.com/blog/user-documentation-important/ 12/06/2020
[6]https://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2016/08/creating-user-friendly-documentation.php 16/06/2020
[7]https://medium.com/@tonichang03/making-a-better-user-experience-for-using-technical-documentation-9e8d2b38d392#:~:text=It%20provides%20an%20insight%20into,of%20their%20length%20and%20scope. 22/06/2020
[8]https://infopros.com/software-documentation-and-training-case-study/ 24/06/2020
[9]https://infopros.com/public-utility-case-study/ 29/06/2020
[10]https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/technicalwriting/chapter/casestudy-costpoorcommunication/ 30/06/2020
[11] https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SL3PGY2 01/07/2020
[12] https://www.questionpro.com/survey-templates/technical-documentation/ 04/07/2020