Hi all! As 2022 draws to a close, I wanted to post the last updates of the year so let's dive in!
Native American Heritage Month roundup
In November, we celebrated Native American Heritage Month (NAHM), highlighting rich culture and history of Native Americans. Working with the Native American Media Alliance, we explored the nuances of Storytelling and Storytellers through a series of events, including the NAHM Panel and a Roundtable hosted by the fellows from the Native American Media Alliance Feature Film Writer’s Lab.
We also wanted to highlight IPs that tell the stories of indigenous people from global perspectives! The blog features an interview from Doane Tulugaq Avery, a film writer of Iñupiaq descent, whose works often focus on feminine, queer, and Indigenous character-driven narratives. We wanted to find out what Storytellers and Storytelling meant to her - please do read the interview in the blog!
Extension Review Nomination
Read the Extension review nomination blog
A highly requested feature is to be able to nominate extensions to be featured on the platform. Once a quarter, we will conduct reviews into which extension should be enabled next. Fandom users will be able to suggest extensions to be enabled. There are lots of extensions to choose from and to submit one for review, you can post a link to it from the relevant MediaWiki.org page, eg, https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Thanks.
Suggest an Extension to be added to the platform
We will then move to a public voting stage after suggestions are entered to select a winner - you can vote as many times as you'd like! We'll provide another update at the top of the year with what nominations made it through. We will continue with quarterly nominations throughout 2023. This quarter's suggestion period closes on December 21 so be sure to get your suggestions in!
Technical Updates: December 16, 2022
Read the December 16 Tech Update blog
Picking out some key areas in this edition of the tech update, though please do check out the blog for more!
Code freeze - This is the final technical update of 2022 as we enter a code freeze to get ready for MW 1.39 announced earlier this year. I will have updates for you all on this in 2023!
Link colour - with the addition of mobile theming and contrast checking, releasing soon is that links may now be underlined if they have less than a 1.5 contrast rating with the surrounding body text. We can fix if it comes up!
Discussions Post/Reply history - This has proven more complex and roll out to all communities has been delayed until next year.
Advanced Mobile Contributions (AMC) - We're still on track to have AMC enabled by default in early 2023. As a reminder, if you want to enable advanced mode, go to your settings page on the mobile site and select "Mobile options".
Preferences resetting - There is currently an issue where preferences are resetting for some users - we're aware of this and set up a log to see if we can track down when these issues are happening.
The blog features a lot more as well, please do check it out!
Admin Plus Update
Read the Admin Plus Update blog
Admin Plus was an initiative released earlier this year, designed to help admins learn new skills and also gain badges from this that could be used on resumes, LinkedIn, or wherever you want. This benefits individual admins, and now these can benefit the wiki as a whole!
If all admins have completed the three A+ courses, the wiki could qualify for A+ Wiki status. Find out more about this on the Admin Plus help page. A+ Wiki status helps show community members admins are committed to creating a safe space for users. There are other perks including prizes to be won - check out the blog for more details!
Note: From December 21 to January 4, Admin+ quiz submissions & A+ Wiki applications will not be reviewed. Please feel free to submit quizzes & applications during this time, but they will not be reviewed until the new year.
That just about wraps it up! Have a fantastic and safe Christmas all! :D