User:Thijshijsijsjss/PTMoMNBM/WikiFeed

What is it?

An app for your mobile device reading RSS feeds from our community wiki. A user downloads and installs the app, logs in with any valid user account, and is able to select any type of feed they want to watch. They could do this in the app. Also, they can enable alerts, alerting them on specific wiki updates.

Why make it?

The wiki is a content feed. I notice myself checking the recent changes all the time, partially triggered by a feeling akin to 'doomscrolling'. In contrast to more conventional media platforms, a wiki is seemingly archaic, static, factual and 'uninteresting' to our dopamine dependent brains. WikiFeed comments on this.

Aside, it has practical use cases, too. Currently it is possible to view the revision history of specific pages on the wiki itself, and view a feed of recent changes. This is convenient information to have. However, sometimes you want this information outside of the wiki. For example:
    1. A pop-up notification on your phone when a specific page is altered
    2. Display up-to-date content from a specific set of pages

Feed of recent changes on this wiki

Workflow

[I'm unsure whether the intention for this section is describing the workflow making the project, or using the project. I will go for the former]
The workflow consists of four stages: research, coding, designing, polishing. They are described in more detail in the Timetable section.

RSS feed with recent changes

Timetable

1 day of research into the mediawiki api: what can we extract and how?
1 day of research into the development platform: what is a suitable suite for developping for mobile?
1 day getting familiar with this suite, playing around, prototyping some tests 
2 day to get the core functionality working
    - compiling feeds
    - selecting feeds
    - switching between feeds
    - adding to feeds
2 days for the design
2 days for polishing and adding nice-to-have features

Rapid prototype

A very rapid prototype made with Processing, just to get a feel for extracting the feed through external software, and displaying it there.

XML xml;

void setup() {
  xml = loadXML("https://pzwiki.wdka.nl/mw-mediadesign/api.php?action=feedwatchlist&wlowner=USER&wltoken=TOKEN");
  //println(xml);
  XML[] items = xml.getChildren("channel")[0].getChildren("item");

  for (int i = 0; i < items.length; i++) {
    println("Now printing a new item!");
    String title = items[i].getString("title");
    println(items[i].getContent());
    println();
  }
}

Prossessing output for user Thijshijsijsjss

Previous practice

WikiBabble: a project that uses the community wiki as a messaging platform. It plays with the dynamics of personal and intimate chatting on an inherently public platform. WikiFeed can be an extension to this project, serving alerts like most instant messagers do.

TL;DR: a project in which logged and unlogged activities of and surrounding the community server chopchop are compiled, annotated and displayed on an E-reader. In the making of this project, we considered using a collection of wiki pages to store information. This would have made use of the feature that any user can edit any page.

Finally, I'm an avid user of this wiki, and would like to explore more possibilities with it. In particular, I have kept a diary that I have been told reads as quite intimate. WikiFeed could explore these 'intrusive tensions' even more.

Relation to a wider context

awef

Useful links:

Feed of USERNAME's watchlist:
https://pzwiki.wdka.nl/mw-mediadesign/api.php?action=feedwatchlist&wlowner=USERNAME&wltoken=TOKEN
TOKEN is obtained by logging in to the wiki > preferences > Watchlist > Manage tokens

Feed of changes of a specific page:
https://pzwiki.wdka.nl/mediadesign/PAGENAME?action=history&feed=rss
e.g. https://pzwiki.wdka.nl/mediadesign/Main_Page?action=history&feed=rss

Feed of all recent changes:
https://pzwiki.wdka.nl/mw-mediadesign/api.php?action=feedrecentchanges&feed=rss