Visual Analytics for Sustainability and Climate Change/Tool
Test the updated visualization tool for articles related to sustainability and climate change.
Credits of the visualization tool
[edit]Participatory design links
[edit]- We started from a a list of proposed features by Wikipedia volunteers and experts, a set of user interface sketches was developed.
- Initial live pilot version (2025) : https://giovannipro.github.io/wikipedia-climate-change/
- All designs may be found in the category: c:category:VIZWP
- Recording of the participatory design workshop held on 29 September 2025.
- Co-design activities: First iteration - Propositions and comments on the first iteration of the tool. It ran in the period September — December 2025.
- Second prototype focused on articles related to sustainability and climate change
- Last version released : https://impact-visualizer.wmcloud.org/topics/23#bubble
Second iteration
[edit]It started on January 2026.
According to the feedback collected through the First iteration, the survey, and a set of interviews to expert, we selected the following features to be implemented in the second iteration:
- 1.1: Filter by quality assessment
- 1.2: Read the terms occurring frequently within an article
- 1.5: Compare different linguistic versions of all the articles
- 1.6: Compare the articles at date A and date B
- 1.7: See the articles' list and timelines
General comments
[edit]Technical implementation
[edit]
Done The Impact-visualizer tool doesn’t allow the user to easily access the full list of articles considered. It would make sense for example that the first « box » (994 Total articles) allow to download a csv of all 994 articles. Anthere (talk) 19:28, 20 March 2026 (UTC)CSV export now available- Done
Incoming links values are not captured - Anthere (talk) 19:31, 20 March 2026 (UTC) - It was noted that the quality assessment filter currently works for the English Wikipedia but fails to function for other linguistic versions.--HedestaD 14:03, 13 April 2026 (UTC)
- To prove the impact of edit-a-thons, the tool should allow users to export data as wikitext. --HedestaD 14:03, 13 April 2026 (UTC)
- Florence: Users ask how they can help to translate the tool in other languages
- Florence: Users find great the number of options to upload their own lists, but have lot’s of feedback about it. For example, they suggest the easiest tools to use be mentionned first and the more advanced last. They also suggest that on each tool page, there is 1) a short explanation of what this tool is and 2) a link to it. For example, on the page pile page, there is only an entry box to enter a page pile number. But users may have never heard of page pile, have no idea what this is about and no idea where to access it. The testers in the workshop only really recognized the option « upload content by category ».
- Florence: Users asked where the displays on the main page come from and how do other search appear here (hint: those are hard set by the dev, but I guess all those questions or comments are heading in the same direction... )
- Florence: users asked if they could integrate content from the Event Tool
- Florence : users asked if that tool worked on other projects, such as Wiktionary or WikiSource
Visual display
[edit]- Done
Accessibility of the displays is poor. In particular colors are too similar (Already mentioned during iteration 1) - The displays need to be screenshotable by the users (to easily share in reports for example). That means some attention should be put on display credits somehow
There is a suggestion to create "minimalistic" and "advanced" levels of visualization to help beginners navigate the tool more easily. --HedestaD 14:03, 13 April 2026 (UTC)- Florence: Users report the home page of the tool should be improved to explain what this tool is about and better understand what the 5 « sub tools » below exactly show and how they differ.
Other comments
[edit]- The tool is named "Visual Analytics for Sustainability and Climate Change" but it's general purpose and could be used for all sorts of things so I'd suggest to rename it to sth broad and descriptive like "Wikipedia visualization tool » - Prototyperspective (talk) 23:37, 17 March 2026 (UTC)
- Florence: Users ask for the tool to work with non English articles to be displayed on the first feature
1. Articles' overview
[edit] | The feature allows user to get an overview of the articles. It includes the filters by quality assessment and protection type.
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Comments and suggestions related to the first visual (the general overview)
[edit]Technical implementation
[edit]From Florence Anthere (talk) 19:42, 20 March 2026 (UTC)
- Done
increase the font size of the axis legend - Done
change « publication date » in « creation date » in the list of « horizontal axis » options. Also put a capital letter to « image » in that list - in the hover box related to an article, it is not so clear that the second line is the creation date. What about simply treating it like the other elements in that box, with « creation date:xx » ?
- Done
for the display « x axis: publication date » (which I think should be « creation date », not « publication date »), I found it disturbing that the scale was different year by year (2025 space is VERY short on the scale whilst 2004 is very long). I think that it would be best to have time be at scale rather than distributed according to number of articles in the year. Current visualization is misleading in my opinion. - Done
when doing mouse-over entries, it is very difficult to select those targetted by the « filter » because the color is not very different from those not filtered but also because the « Infobox » appearing is exactly the same from a filtered to a non-filtered. So we may be looking at a non-filtered instead of the filtered without really noticing. How could that be made more obvious ? My own feeling would be to use a different color between those filtered and those non filtered of course. But are there other options ? In any cases, right now... is not user friendlyLooks better... - the legend does not explain what those vertical dots over or below an article are about. What does that mean ?
- on the side of the visual, there is a little three dots allowing to save the visual. Well... the output is utterly insufficient :) No title, no licence, no date etc. This will need to be improved for the next round.
From Prototyperspective (talk) 23:30, 17 March 2026 (UTC)
- Done
Could you please enable to see the labels of the articles directly in the visualization without having to hover over them? This is also useful/needed for image exports (which can be a main way this tool gets used). For example, articles with over 500 pageviews and less than 6 images- Show label tick box added Anthere (talk) 09:37, 11 June 2026 (UTC)
- Done
Is there any way to get a permalink to the configured visualization?- Preferably even with the same zoom state so the same area is visible. As with the labels displayed in image exports this would enable sharing.
- Very strongly support that request. Anthere (talk) 15:12, 8 April 2026 (UTC)
_with_over_500_pageviews_and_less_than_6_images.svg){kind=link}
- Done
When limiting files via Quality assessments or any other way, please enable hiding the filtered-away dots instead of just greying them out. They clutter the chart, make things hard to see and especially make it difficult to hover over the right dot. - When limiting files via Quality assessments or any other way, please add a button to zoom to the scale at which all dots can be seen if not automatically zooming to it.
- Done
Florence: there is a bug when filtering max range page view to a lower figure, the display then propose negative value and center the graph around 0. Must be fixed. Anthere (talk) 09:37, 11 June 2026 (UTC) - Florence. Users asked if there is a limitation in the number of entries the system can deal with. Anthere (talk) 09:37, 11 June 2026 (UTC)
- Florence: several users asked if the visualization was actually being updated live... and if not... how it could be updated (now, that’s a very good question...)
- Florence: Users asked that visualisation by « number of references » be added. Is that technically possible ?
- Why is the disambig page "English" included in the default visualization? Seems like there's some bugs
- I have not been able to see that. Nor in the Search system, nor on csv the list of articles Anthere (talk) 15:18, 8 April 2026 (UTC)
- There were iirc also some other items that shouldn't be there by the way. Probably more can be found over time; don't know if they're all caused by issues with the delimiter in the import CSV and mistagged articles (wikiproject tags that don't fit). You don't see the item "English" when you enter it in the search? I still see it in the default visualization (that I linked above) when I enter that in the search (visible when limiting the Y axis to 2000 daily views). Prototyperspective (talk) 18:24, 9 April 2026 (UTC)
- By the way further feedback/issues on the talk page here. Prototyperspective (talk) 18:25, 9 April 2026 (UTC)
- On a related topic... some users reported that changing filters sometimes « remove » the chosen vizualisation chosen. This needs to be tested to understand better what happens. Anthere (talk) 09:37, 11 June 2026 (UTC)
Visual display
[edit]- Iolanda: it would be interesting to see the percentage of stubs among the whole set of articles.
From Florence Anthere (talk) 19:42, 20 March 2026 (UTC)
- Done
too much space is dedicated to the quality assessment and protection filters (it should be reduced). The controllers for the axes should stay above the chart. - Florence: users asked to consider adding below the table the number of articles selected (filtered)
- Florence. Users report that the legend below is not visible enough and they still struggle to understand what the different blue colors are about (dark blue, light blue, and circle)
- Florence. Users asked if the color of the bubble could be related to the « article quality » color
- Florence. Users asked if it could be possible to reinitialized filters to « standard » version. Could be all filters. Or could be quality status filters (like a check box, select all or select none)
- Florence: A user asked if it could be possible to REMOVE an article from the visualization
From Florence Anthere (talk) 19:42, 20 March 2026 (UTC)
- I do not really see the point of the i in a circle « see an overview of articles with their statistics » above the chart. What is the point?
- It is really not a big deal, but I think we should change the description at the top, that currently says "The top 1000 most popular articles from April 2025: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Climate_change/Popular_articles ». BECAUSE we actually tweaked that list... and it is not the list of the top 1000 most popular articles...
Other comments
[edit]- Jeanne Noiraud (talk) 17:07, 5 June 2026 (UTC) : I do not really understand how articles are selected in the first place. Is it based on Wikipedia's categories ? Wikidata ? The topic builder ? What are the limitations of the selection process ? (It would be nice to have this mentionned somewhere so that we know the data sources).
- Florence: Users appreciated the glossary icon and its content and think it should be further expended
Comments and suggestions related to the second visual
[edit]Evelyn: The possible ways to improve the articles should be strictly related to the status of the article itself. For example, in the case of a stub, as a possible contribution we can include to improve it.
- Hopefully, the suggestions work better now. Anthere (talk) 09:58, 11 June 2026 (UTC)
- Florence. The system is not picking up the number of images well. See for example https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_United_Kingdom_heatwaves. The system says 11 pictures. I actually see less than that in the article. And the reason is that it picks up the 5 tiny visuals of the « portals ». I do not think it should pick up the visuals used for navigation through the portals. This is not giving a fair representation of whether an article is illustrated or not.
Florence: at this point in time, the green box with recommendations makes no sense at all. It is not good for the reputation of the tool.; For example to take again the example of the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_United_Kingdom_heatwaves, it suggests to « remove the warning tags » whilst at the same time stating on the left that there are no warning tags. This really need to be discarded or to provide real suggestions.
- Fixed
- Florence. I have been able to find very few peacock terms in fact. And when I did... I was not super convinced... the two cases I found were « top » and « significant ». Hmmmm
- Florence: we have a major issue on the size of the talk page. It only captures the size of the CURRENT talk page, neglecting the fact that some articles talk pages have sometimes very long archives. Example, cattle is reported very short in size... but there are 5 pages of archives. I am not sure this can be easily fixed technically, but the output is certainly misleading unfortunately, making the visualization data moot.
- Lucas: The suggested "green list" of contributions must be strictly contextual; for example, if an article has no warning tags, the tool should not suggest removing them. If a new user removes a warning tag without knowing in what circumstances it must be done, the tool would be responsible for suggesting a harmful action.
- Correct. We need to add a little text of explanation here. Would probably need to explain this suggestion list is AI generated - Anthere (talk) 09:56, 11 June 2026 (UTC)
- Lucas: Also on the "green list", maybe the incorporation of Microtask Generator's functionality could make much more concrete suggestions.
- Guess what... it is exactly based on that !!! Same minds Lucas. The info come from it. But a text to credit it is required. Anthere (talk) 09:56, 11 June 2026 (UTC)
- Lucas: The word cloud is visually engaging but technically misleading as it lacks the "story" or context behind the terms. The system should distinguish between general terms and hyperlinked words, perhaps using different colors to differentiate relevant information.
Support Florence: I find the suggestion of displaying a cloud of the hyper linked words excellent. To be explored and improved;
- Lucas: The current grey font and blue text may be problematic for users with visual impairments or lead to confusion regarding what is a clickable link.
- Support Florence. I would suggest either change the set of colors entirely. Or provide the ability for users to toggl with two colors set
Lucas: Adding a glossary or legends for specialized terms like "quality assessment" and "protections" is essential for non-expert users.
- done Anthere (talk) 09:56, 11 June 2026 (UTC)
- Lucas: Hyperlinking words within the word cloud to other articles would help users understand connections and explore related content Also, showing "red links" (missing articles) within the visualization is necessary to identify content gaps and missing connections.
- I like the idea of! Anthere (talk) 09:58, 11 June 2026 (UTC)
- Done
Lucas: When filtering articles by quality assessment, the colors of the globes could be color-coded the same way as the quality status of the articles to improve accessibility.- Support. Agreed. Several users mentionned that too during workshops. Needs discussion. Florence.
2. Language version comparison
[edit] | The feature allows user to compare an article in multiple linguistic versions. It includes the button to translate the missing articles.
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Comments and suggestions
[edit]Technical implementation
[edit]- Lucas: Measuring article size solely by bytes could be misleading for languages like Spanish that use templates to share excerpts; measuring the final HTML would provide a truer representation of content volume.
- Lucas: The tool must clarify where the translation link leads; if it directs to the Content Translation tool, it needs to automatically select the target language to be effective.
Florence: the bubbles are all the same. They should be reflecting the actual information as in the View article tab. There is nothing to compare...Florence: clicking on a translation link does not work- Florence: when I click on the detail display box, it currently provides with the following information: Article size, lead section, discussion size, Images, Editors, Edits, Total linguistics versions. So... logically... the total linguistic versions should be... the same number for all of them. The entire line should logically display the same value. But in some cases « Sustainable Energy », it displays different figures. Which is odd... but in any cases, normally, it should logically be the same value for all languages ? now... I checked and indeed... this is not always the same number... Which means a mess on WikiData. But ultimately... I am not convinced that this line brings much to the table so I suggest it should be removed.
Visual display
[edit]- Done
Florence: the user should be able to rearrange the order of the columns, eg, French first, Spanish last etc. - Lucas: To improve comparison, we should swap the table matrix by organizing columns by information type and linguistic versions by lines.
- Lucas: The tool lacks a "sort by" feature for critical metrics like the number of references, edits, or geographical location.
- Lucas: Users need a filter to select specific languages for comparison, such as viewing only Italian and English
- Done
Florence: the feature needs to provide more options to filter and display the elements. Currently, it is only ordered by alphabetic order, with filters related to quality assessment. We already know quality assessment does not work in all languages, so this is hardly a good system to filter things. Only left is alphabetical order, which is insufficient for large corpus of data. I suggest adding more displaying options, such as « last date of update » and/or « number of edits » or « size of article ». - Florence: what happens with the articles which have been added to the corpus... but not yet assessed ? Are they displayed at all ?
- Florence: I suggest you underline the article title on the left of the display to invite users to click on them
Other comments
[edit]...
3. Time travel
[edit] | The feature allows user to see the evolution of an article over a selected period of time.
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Comments and suggestions
[edit]Technical implementation
[edit]...
Visual display
[edit]- Lucas: The left side of the comparison is redundant if the right side already illustrates the trajectory over time.
- Lucas: Instead of two separate frames, a single graph using color-coded overlays (e.g., one color for the past and another for the present) would make the comparison much more intuitive.
- Lucas: Article names must be hardcoded into the graph or export file.
- Lucas: There is a major concern regarding coordinated scales; if one article grows by 800 bytes and another by 60,000, the smaller change may become invisible and make the data useless for comparison.
- Lucas: The tool should show the percentage variation or "delta" when a user hovers over the trajectory lines to help them understand the magnitude of change.
- Lucas: A "creation date" option for comparison would be more useful than only allowing arbitrary date selections. What if a user tries to select a date in which the article didn't even exist?
Other comments
[edit]...
4. Topic-Builder
[edit] | The features helps to collect articles in a topic using AI. The final list from the Topic-Builder can be imported into the Impact Visualizer |
More specifically: Topic Builder is an MCP server that helps an AI assistant map out every Wikipedia article belonging to a subject — categories, WikiProjects, index pages, and the edges in between — and export the result as a CSV for the Wiki Education Impact Visualizer.
LINK: https://topic-builder.wikiedu.org
Comments and suggestions
[edit]- Excellent ! Here is a set I was able to generate and import. Anthere (talk) 07:51, 27 May 2026 (UTC)
- Pretty cosmetic, but how can we « edit » the description (which is fairly horrible in the tool, or the personal dashboard
- How can we import editors ?
5. Onboarding for novel users
[edit] | The onboarding features introduces new users to the visualization tool, guiding them through its main features and interaction possibilities.
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Comments and suggestions
[edit]...
Further resources related to the tool
[edit]- (diff) EduWiki Workshop on Using the Programs & Events Dashboard
- EduWiki Workshop/Home
- Topic Builder: https://topic-builder.wikiedu.org