Wikimedia, the foundation behind Wikipedia, introduced the new app this week. The home screen has been redesigned from the ground up to expose you to more interesting content. It is focused on “Explore,” a showcase of noteworthy articles divided into several feeds that each surface different kinds of content.
At the top of the home screen, you’ll find the “In the news” feed. This is curated by community members and includes articles and photos relevant to current news stories. News from across the world will be eligible for inclusion in this section, accompanied by links to Wikipedia articles applicable to each story.
Below the news feed, you’ll find five trending articles that represent the most viewed content on Wikipedia each day. These are accompanied by a single featured article and featured picture picked daily by editors from the community. Wikimedia said the picture will be “bold,” a striking image to provoke thought.
As you continue to progress through the home screen, you’ll enter the “Because you read” feed. This highlights articles recommended for you, based on content categories you’ve been reading previously. Wikipedia will intelligently find related articles you’re likely to find interesting, based on your previous viewing.
Finally, the home screen includes a “continue reading” option, to pick up where you left off in articles you’ve begun to read, a “Today on Wikipedia” section to take you to the Wikipedia main page and a “Randomizer” feature that displays a randomly selected article taken from the entirety of Wikipedia.
Beyond the home screen, the updated app also includes a more prominent search bar with voice search support, the ability to download articles for offline reading and enhanced support for sharing articles to social media apps. You can now do this natively from within the Wikipedia app.
The new app represents Wikipedia taking its reputation as the most complete online encyclopaedia into a new direction. Rather than waiting for you to search for an article, it now delivers its content to you.
Content in the Explore feed is displayed in cards that are visually similar to Google Now’s interface. In some ways, Explore is comparable to Google Now itself, displaying selected content that is relevant to each user. It could also be likened to news aggregators like Flipboard and StumbleUpon, as well as social network news feeds like that of Facebook. The Wikipedia app is now a starting point to find interesting content, a new role for the encyclopaedia.
By also becoming a news provider, Wikipedia can increase user engagement and get people to visit more frequently. It is well-placed to go beyond what most news services offer, capable of surfacing detailed and contextually relevant supporting information to explain the background of current stories.
“Wikipedia has been there for the past fifteen years when you needed to search a quick fact, research a topic, or settle a bet. But what about when you’re looking for something interesting to read on the metro, or have a few minutes to browse while you’re on break?” said the Wikimedia Foundation. “The Wikipedia app for Android has been redesigned to not only help you find the information you need now, but also to provide interesting, recommended Wikipedia content to dive into when you have a bit of spare time.”
To power the update, Wikipedia has had to develop a new way to retrieve content from its servers. It has created a new backend service that provides the articles displayed in the Explore feed, intelligently delivering stories that will interest each reader.
This new service is now available for any developer to use. App creators can build their own apps capable of displaying content from Wikipedia’s Explore view, allowing other news aggregators, information services and content hubs to display the same rich media to their users.
The Wikipedia app is available now on the Google Play Store. It makes the vast quantity of articles in the online encyclopaedia more accessible to the millions of mobile users, evolving the service into a gateway to emerging and interesting stories that’s comparable to Google Now, Flipboard and Facebook.
