Submissions:2025/Enhancing Collaboration on Wikipedia: Participatory Design of Communication Support Tools
This submission has been noted and is pending review for WikiConference North America 2025.
Title:
- Enhancing Collaboration on Wikipedia: Participatory Design of Communication Support Tools
Type of session:
- Edit-a-thons or Workshops (30-120 min)
Session theme(s):
- Future of Wikipedia
Abstract:
This interactive workshop invites experienced Wikipedia editors to test and shape emerging tools designed to support communication in large-scale, community-driven collaborations. As part of an ongoing research project exploring socio-technical interventions in Wikipedia's deliberation spaces, we will present a set of prototype tools informed by large-scale data analysis and editor interviews.
Participants will engage in guided tool demonstrations, usability feedback sessions, and structured group discussions aimed at identifying unmet communication needs. The workshop’s goal is to ensure that the tools we develop align with editors’ real-world workflows and needs—particularly in high-stakes deliberative settings such as Articles for Deletion and policy discussions.
The target audience is active wikipedia editors and administrators, especially those involved in community deliberation (e.g., AfD, RfC, ANI), community organizers, tool developers, and researchers interested in online collaboration.
Goals of the Workshop
- Demonstrate early-stage communication support tools developed through data-driven and interview-based research.
- Collect feedback on the usability, perceived value, and fit of these tools within Wikipedia workflows.
- Identify additional pain points and opportunities for improving communication support.
- Foster a collaborative design conversation between researchers and Wikipedia editors.
Expected Outcomes
- Actionable feedback to guide tool development and refinement.
- A prioritized list of additional communication challenges to explore.
- Stronger collaboration between research teams and community members.
Author name(s):
Wikimedia username(s):
- User:Cristian_at_CornellNLP, User:Laerdon
Affiliated organization(s):
- Cornell University
Estimated length of session
- 1 hour
Will you be presenting remotely?
- I will present in-person
Okay to livestream?
- Livestreaming is okay
Previously presented?
- No
Special requests:
- Room with a projector.