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Wazeopedia is the new name for the Waze community wiki, and also the project name for converting the existing wiki into the new framework. First announced in Jan, 2015, the project is being spearheaded by wonderlerm (PM [Help])   a member of Waze staff. Wazeopedia will contain a unique individual wiki instance for each local community, as well as another instance to host global content. Content will be able to shared across the wikis, maintaining the collaboration while allowing the reader an insulated experience.


Framework

The Wazeopedia will be separated into a group of sister wikis. These individual wikis will function on their own, yet also be able to share resources with each other.

The individual wikis inside Wazeopedia will be structured as follows:

  • A Global wiki containing content that is valid everywhere, and not subject to local variation. This includes interface guides, global rules, and best practices, etc.
    • A Commons wiki will host a repository of images and other resources which may be easily used by any of the other wikis. This will prevent a lot of duplication of the same resources for each wiki.
  • A separate Local wiki for each country / local community which wishes to have its own wiki, representing their unique guidance.

Global wiki

DO NOT EDIT ANY GLOBAL PAGE WITHOUT PRIOR GLOBAL CONSENSUS. Please make sure you follow the protocol for editing global pages, as well as the Waze wiki editing etiquette

The Wazeopedia Global wiki will be built of carefully selected content that is useful for all the local Waze editing communities around the world. Each local community is free to include global content into its own pages. This can be done in the original English, or by creating a modified, translated, or interpreted derivative.

Since the Global wiki pages may be reused by any community, it is imperative that they maintain a Global perspective, and reflect global consensus. Therefore any edits to a Global wiki page must follow the protocol for editing global pages, as well as the Waze wiki editing etiquette.

All content in the Wazopedia Global wiki will be verified and maintained for accuracy by a combined group of Wiki Masters and Champs, with assistance from staff. The Champs will also ensure the content is relevant to the global community and not biased to only certain local communities.


Nominated pages for global wiki

As of June 2015 the Wazeopedia Global wiki site is not yet available. However, the Wiki Masters team which has been tasked with building the new Wazeopedia has examined the pages in the existing Waze wiki, and nominated a comprehensive list of pages which were already global in nature to be included in the Wazeopedia Global wiki.

Each page which has been nominated for the Global wiki will have the {{GlobalMark}} template placed at the top to clearly identify it to the reader as a Global nominee.

While a great deal of effort has been extended to build an accurate inventory of existing wiki pages which have global relevance, mistakes are inevitable. The people parsing the pages to determine if they are globally relevant, are usually not the authors of the page, and may not even be familiar with discussions about the page. It is entirely possibly for a page which was only ever intended for a local community audience to be nominated for the global wiki, or for a page intended for a global audience to have been missed and not be nominated.

To provide feedback and discuss a page which either; you think should have been nominated for the Global wiki, or a page which has been nominated for the Global wiki process that applies to existing pages, pease visit this forum thread. You can ask questions there, and alert the global wiki team to any concerns you have.


Inventory list of global nominees

The complete list of current pages nominated for global Wazeopedia can be viewed either on the list for Category:Wazeopedia Global Page, or in this Google Sheet.

Page style and location

Choosing a namespace

 
  • draft/revise in user
  • variable or not intended for search results in template
  • main is only for finalized, which can be consumed individually, and would make sense in search
  • Wazeopedia for wiki admin


Nuggets

Pages in the Global wiki are designed to be reused in whole or in part by the local wikis. Some local communities may wish to use only portions of a page, and fill in the rest with local guidance, or interpretation. Some portions of a page may not be relevant to certain local communities. To enable other pages, and Local wikis to easily transclude, or translate only selected portions of a page, Global wiki pages are broken down into smaller individual pieces. We refer to these smaller pieces of knowledge as nuggets.


When viewing the global page a user will see a seamless flow of content, with all the Nuggets displayed together. When building a local wiki page, the local community may choose to utilize some of the global content. In such a case the local editor could string together some of the global Nuggets with some locally generated content, and display it as one cohesive page.

This method also allows the same small piece to be displayed on multiple pages, while only truly existing in one source location. This makes maintaining the content accuracy easier, since when it changes, it only has to be updated in one place.


Using Nuggets for the content will also help efforts for those who are translating the content into other languages for the local wikis. When the global page is updated, the Local Wiki Masters won't have to study the entire page to update the translation. They will only need to update the translation of that individual nugget. Additionally with the introduction of new tools to track when a translation is outdated, the system will be able to automatically indicate to a reader which section of page (based on which nugget) is now out of date.


Process for creating nuggets

Each nugget should be a distinct small piece of knowledge content. It should be a whole thought, able to be read alone. It doesn't need to explain an entire topic but should be one full distinct aspect of the topic. A Nugget might be the contents of one section of a wiki page as a good rule of thumb. You may even split one section into a few Nuggets depending on the content.


Each Nugget should be saved as a separate subpage to the parent page it will be primarily displayed on. Each Nugget subpage should be named with a descriptive but short title. For example a nugget going to be used on this page (Wazeopedia:Wazeopedia) should be save as Wazeopedia:Wazeopedia/<Nugget title1>.


To then transclude (display) this nugget in the main parent page you would use the code {{[[:Template:/<Nugget title1>|/<Nugget title1>]]}}. You don't need to specify the parent page in the code since you're transcluding a subpage of the page you're on.

If you want to transclude (display) a Nugget from a different page, you will have to use the full page name, and if the page is in the main namespace it must be preceded by a colon (:). For example this page transcludes the wiki etiquette Nugget from the Waze etiquette page using the code {{[[::Waze etiquette#Wiki changes|:Waze etiquette#Wiki changes]]}}.

Cautions and pitfalls of using nuggets

Nuggets are designed to be transcluded (displayed) on other pages primarily, they must therefore be coded with transclusion in mind to ensure they display as desired when viewed directly and from other pages using them.


Because Nuggets are being transcluded, they follow the same rules as templates do, and have some of the same cautions.

  • A pipe character (|) is used in template wiki markup code to define a new parameter in the template. When transcluded these can interfere with the parsing and cause unexpected output.
    • The solution is to either use the character code &#124; to output a visual pipe character which does not affect the code. If you need the actual pipe character to be output (for example as part of a table syntax or a parser function), then you must use the {{!}} template.
  • Similarly an equals sign (=) is used as an operator in templates, and parser functions. You may use the {{=}} template to display and = which is not an operator. This is commonly needed in deep URL links. For more complex usages please see the template documentation.

Converting from the existing wiki

The Wiki Masters are currently editing all of the pages nominated for the Global wiki to meet the standards of the Wazeopedia Global wiki. This is a slow process, as there is a great deal of content to work on.

The majority of these pages which have been nominated for the Wazeopedia Global wiki were heavily biased to the United States, and some other English-speaking local communities. This is because most of the English content wiki was primarily edited by American editors. As part of the preparation for, and the conversion process to move these pages to the Wazeopedia Global wiki, they will have to "globalized". To "globalize" a page the Wiki Masters working with the Global Champs will remove any information specific to the local communities, and replace it with globally relevant information instead.

These local communities will have to decide if they want to either maintain the current page as is, or adopt the new global version for their local community as well.

If they want to maintain the original page, the Wiki Master team will offer to work in tandem with the local editors to make a copy for them before any "globalization" is performed. The local editors may choose to make the copy and separate it from the global page on their own.


Protocol for editing global pages

Any edit to the wiki should follow the rules of Waze wiki editing etiquette, edits to the Global wiki must also follow this protocol.

Click expand to read the Waze wiki editing etiquette
  • Any controversial or mapping guideline change should be brought up in the forum before making it in the Wiki. Once a consensus is reached, the change can be made. If a controversial change is made without following this guideline that change should be reverted until it is approved through this process.
  • All content in the Wiki shall not use any words or language that would be considered degrading, demeaning, condescending, or otherwise uncivil.
  • All discussions around edits and changes in forums and private messages will be made in a civil, non-confrontational manner. Words can be misinterpreted so always assume good faith in their definitions and true purpose before assuming otherwise.
  • Waze Wiki pages generally contain guidance and information for other users and editors. Be sure to identify information that may be speculation or inference. Avoid pure opinion with no evidence. Avoid discussions of desired operation, which should only go into the appropriate forums.
  • Do not place questions in the Wiki without discussion in the Wiki Updates forum first.
  • Do not create pages outside the scope of Waze operation or products.
  • Before creating a new page in the Main Wiki namespace, consider creating a page in your own user namespace and then offer up the content in the forum to be considered. There are times when similar pages or content already exist and this prevents multiple pages with the same content making maintenance of the Wiki much more difficult.
  • If another editor makes a recommendation about a change you made in the Wiki, at least consider the suggestion. It is possible their experience may exceed your own, or it may not. When it cannot be resolved, bring the concern to the forum for further discussion to get other input.
  • Do not blank or delete all content from a page you did not create without discussing it in the forums or with the original page creator.
  • Now that the Wazeopedia project is released and the USA has a dedicated wiki, the spelling on the USA wiki will be based on US English spelling variations.
  • Any editors who continue to violate any of these etiquette recommendations will be subject to a minimum 24-hour banning from editing in the Wiki. Continued violators will be subject to longer bans.
This list is also presented in the Waze forums.

Purpose

The purpose of the protocol is to protect the global wiki from premature changes, or changes which do not represent a Global consensus. Because these pages may be transcluded into numerous other local wikis, and because there may be local translations of the pages which are monitoring these pages for any updates, it is very important that any changes to these pages are perfected before they are published.


The protocol summarized

  • Any edit which changes the meaning of the existing content - even if the change is just a clarification compliant with the original intent of the authors - must first be presented in the forum.
    • Simple edits which do not change the content meaning at all (e.g. punctuation, simple typos, removing the 's' from https URLs) do not need to be posted to the forum. These should be explained in the edit summary.
  • Every edit must be based on a previous consensus posted in the public Wiki Updates and Discussion forum.
    • Edits based on a private consensus (because the information used to reach the decision is proprietary, or the decision is made by Champs to protect the maps / wiki), should still first be publicly announced in the wiki updates forum, to allow the public to provide feedback. This feedback can provide an alternate perspective, or inform the private audience of special situations they had not considered. The private audience (Champs, Wiki Masters) may choose to consider this feedback, and use it to refine or adapt their consensus. Ultimately it is the decision of the Champs whether to modify their decision based on the feedback, or to move forward and publish their edit.
  • After a consensus is reached (in private or public), and a resulting edit is being made, there should be an announcement in the public forum. The forum post should summarize the consensus which was reached, and describe the edit being made. This also lets others know that a guideline, interface fact, or statement, etc., is being changed.
    • Simple edits which are made to clarify a pages meaning so it more clearly reflects a previously achieved consensus, should still be announced with the rationale in the forum as well. However since there is already consensus for their meaning, they don't need to wait to build consensus again. They can make the change as soon as they announce it.
  • Edits which alter formatting, deal with and affect templates, might break tranclusions, or links, or otherwise affect the technical integrity of a page should be tested in a user page first, and generally should include oversight from "technical Wiki Masters".

Protocol flowchart

Click on this thumbnail to enlarge

Enforcement

There is a team of Wiki Moderators who will patrol the Global wiki pages and ensure that any changes which are made have followed this protocol. In the new Wazopedia changes will not be visible to regular users until after the moderators approve them. In the current wiki until the upgrade to Wazeopedia is completed the moderators will monitor pages nominated for the Global wiki, and may have to revert changes which don't follow this protocol, until they conform to this protocol.

If an edit is made which does not follow this protocol, the moderators will hold the edit until it is agreed upon using this protocol. The moderators will begin a discussion in the proper forum to facilitate this process if the editor failed to so first.

Local wiki

explain purpose of local wiki, content management authority and responsibility, WM tools, global will redirect to local at every opportunity