Grants:IdeaLab/FAQ or Q&A section
Audience edit
Who are the people you want to introduce Wikipedia to? edit
This can be useful in general for all the people who have internet access and regular users of it but do not use Wikipedia.
- Students ranging from primary school kids to research scholars
- employees who get less time to spend on reading an article completely
- amateurs in any field who do not have professional knowledge about the topic they are looking for
In what languages do they search for information, online or otherwise? edit
English or any language the article is available in
In what ways does this group communicate with each other? edit
Different social networking sites such as Facebook, WhatsApp etc
What are some reasons this group would use Wikipedia? How would they benefit from it, or what would they find useful? edit
Students reading their textbooks or any online article may get a query and will turn to Wikipedia as in many of the cases this contains most authentic information with reliable sources. But comprehending the entire article and finding the solution for their query can be difficult for many users. This can be the case of a student going through a science article as well as an amateur investor trying to understand the terms used in finance or economic sector and many others.
Project idea edit
What language Wikipedia projects will you promote to new readers? edit
English, Telugu
How will you communicate with new readers? Will you be communicating with them online, in-person, or both? edit
I can invite new readers to form online groups in sites like Google hangouts etc to clear different queries regarding how to use Wikipedia and its new features effectively.
Describe your idea to engage new readers. How might it be implemented? What will you tell people about Wikipedia? edit
Problem edit
Many students or amateurs use online sources to get their queries clarified on any subject. When a person searches for their query in Google or other major search engines they will be directed to Wikipedia article related to the query. But the Wikipedia article gives the entire theory about the topic starting from its history or background to its evolution over time and so on.
For instance when one wants to know "is time travel possible?" they will be directed to this page [Time travel wikipedia article] where the article starts from the definition of time travel to it being used in science fiction to Quantum physics and so on. This is very useful for the professionals or semi-professionals but it will be intimidating for amateurs or non-professionals.
Solution: an FAQ or Question and Answer section edit
So in this case, if an FAQ or a Q&A section exists, one can post the question directly and can be answered by people having knowledge about the topic in simple language. They can even cite the paragraph regarding that query in the article or any different source.
This will help in more people engaging in Wikipedia and will also allow article authors to know if any important sub-topic related to the article is missing or the if article needs to be edited for more clarity or if more facts or formulas to be added.
Ease of implementation edit
Similar to different sections in an article like References, Primary sources a new section 'FAQs' or 'Q&As' can be added. A new help page can be added explaining it and a new notification can be displayed on all the articles regarding this. This does not need additional resources just a little more space in each article.
edit
When the page views are improved we can see if the changes are impactful or not. A certain 200 to 300 articles which have complex theory or explanations but which people frequently need to look into them can be chosen. These articles can range from topics that are very simple(that are useful for primary school students) to complex topics such as "Twin paradox" (which requires some knowledge of relativity). Page activity can be monitored on these articles and if improvement is observed this can be extended to all articles.
Do you think you can implement this idea? What support do you need? edit
Since this idea is to modify the Wikipedia article structure, I alone cannot implement this. This needs to implemented by Wikipedia technology staff
Get Involved edit
About the idea creator edit
A Bachelor of Technology under-graduate student specialized in Electronics and Communication Engineering. In addition, I have knowledge of different programming languages and experience in Machine Learning.
Participants edit
Endorsements edit
Expand your idea edit
Would a grant from the Wikimedia Foundation help make your idea happen? You can expand this idea into a grant proposal.
No funding needed? edit
Does your idea not require funding, but you're not sure about what to do next? Not sure how to start a proposal on your local project that needs consensus? Contact Chris Schilling on-wiki at I JethroBT (WMF) (talk · contribs) or via e-mail at cschilling
wikimedia.org for help!