Wikimedia.org/2012 proposal

Wikimedia.org is currently a portal with logos to our projects.

Just brainstorming. More on the talk page.

This page is a brainstorming proposal for the following idea:

• Change meta's name to www.wikimedia.org
• Merge various cross-project content into www.wikimedia.org
• Use namespaces to create semantic structure
• Spend UI/UX resources to make simple design changes across the board to improve usability / discoverability of information

Why

• Current wikimedia.org is arguably ineffective use of central brand portal
• Simple, memorable address
• Opportunity to create clean design and information architecture
• Opportunity to sensibly merge various wikis into a single multi-purpose wiki. Benefits of the sensible merge are:
  • In day-to-day use, it's easier to search one wiki for a document, than two. For instance, many outreach materials live on Meta, in addition to those on Outreach.
  • …

Why not

Check out the talk page for discussion about possible negative consequences. Nutshell:

• Need to protect Meta as its own unique space with distinct culture, content & community

Wikis to supersede

• meta.wikimedia.org (renamed)
• strategy.wikimedia.org
• outreach.wikimedia.org
• Perhaps: Subsets of various other wikis

Namespaces

• Research: for research projects
• Proposal: for proposals/ideas
• Grant: for grantmaking
• Outreach: for outreach hub and planning pages
• Bookshelf: for outreach resources (outreach:Bookshelf type stuff)
• Report: for reports
• Archive: for documents kept for historical interest only

Perhaps:

• Event: for events
• Wikimania: for Wikimanias
• Tech: for technical pages spread across mediawiki.org/wikitech.wikimedia.org/labsconsole.wikimedia.org which aren't strictly related to MediaWiki development and documentation.
• Journal: for a peer-reviewed Journal

Process

• Rename meta.wikimedia.org to www.wikimedia.org (meta URLs should redirect) -- see considerations in bugzilla:19986 and check which ones would apply here
• Start copying content from merged wikis using cross-wiki import
• Any extensions used on wikis need to be supported on the new wiki; i.e., Strategy has DPL enabled.
  • Liquid Threads content will either have to be flattened, or Liquid Threads enabled on a per-page basis
• At point of no return, mark merged wikis as read-only and add prominent "we've moved" message
  • Key pages (or all pages) should have cross-wiki automatic redirect enabled. Brochures, external sites, etc. advise newbies to go to certain key pages; upon their first arrival, they should not have to contend with a UI problem. For instance, outreach:GLAM/Newsletter (and redirects that point there) are linked in many places on the web, in private email messages, etc. GLAM personnel seeking the newsletter should not have to deal with a soft redirect when they first enter the site.
• Identify key entry points (main page, namespace indexes, etc.) and iteratively implement redesigns