Mentoring kit - Let’s think about it!

Map Editors Community Mentoring
1

Hey all,

We would like to hear your thoughts on our planned Mentoring tool kit!

As you all know the Mentoring program is an important program for new editors engagement, map safety and community longevity. Up until today, we supported this program with the mentoring feature in the WME which allows you to find new editors in your area, and make the first connection with them.

We believe that now is the time for us to extend our support in this program. We would like to provide you with a tool kit that will help you with the effort around mentoring.

What this tool kit is going to contain?

We would like to hear from you!

What you think should be there? What do you need for improving your mentoring experience as mentors and as mentees?
Your ideas can vary from editing tutorials to presentation skills, to whatever comes to your mind.

Please share your ideas here, as a comment to this post, as we would like to have a conversation, and get to hear everyone’s opinion on the suggestions.
We will collect your ideas, and we will share with you what can be done, and will work on providing you with the requested assets.

Best,
Hezi
On behalf of the communities team

2

Videos, Quizzes, meetups, swag, Slides etc.

3

Be able to assign mentees to a mentor, who are older than one month old.

4

My thoughts on the current mentoring scheme are mostly in the previous post, covering the process of finding and encouraging mentees. https://www.waze.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1953&t=313300

Some additional points which I have made elsewhere are:

The mentee does not get any obvious benefit from being in the scheme. Could someone being mentored get some extra rewards – double points? Bonus points on reaching set levels?

To encourage mentors to give up valuable time they would have spend editing and earning edits / points and work with the mentees, they also need to get some reward. A point for each of the edits done by a mentee would be a good start. However, they need to earn these, just adding a whole load of mentees and then not working with them and providing help and guidance should not be rewarded. Realistically, there should be a maximum number of mentees any mentor can work with and actually be doing a good job. Get the mentees to score the Mentors on how good they are?

It is important to be able to communicate with the mentee while they are actually editing, something currently missing. The chat in the WME is no use as it is too public, does not store the history of the chat and every time you refresh the screen you lose the chat. For a new editor, the chat wants to be away from the general view, just between the mentee and mentor, to encourage them to ask questions without either the embarrassment of asking a silly question in public or having someone else butt into the conversation.

As far as a “Toolbox”, currently there is nothing for general use that I am aware of. I have made a couple of powerpoint presentation style introductions to Waze editing which I have posted on the UK mentoring forum and I encourage all new editors to read these before doing too much. These do not contain anything that cannot be found elsewhere, but I have tried to pick out the basics and put this in an easy to digest format. Telling a new editor to go and read the Wazeopedia is far too much to take in at the beginning.

I think there should be a “standard” worldwide introduction presentation for new editors. Then other presentations could follow on, gradually increasing their knowledge in easily understandable building blocks. These more advanced stages can then also cover the region specific issues for each country. As an experienced editor it is very easy to forget just how confusing Waze editing can be when you first start. Things we take for granted are not obvious to a new editor.

It would be nice to have some simple, short video clips showing some of the basic editing functions, as watching a short video is sometimes easier then reading how to do it in text. These could then be added into presentations to help with the explanations.

I have always thought that it would be great if each script writer would make a simple video clip showing how their script works and all of its features. I would bet many of us use parts of many scripts without understanding their full capabilities. Again, these could be incorporated into a training presentation, as there are many add-on scripts that are indispensable to using the WME productively. It is rare that a new editor gets past their first 1000 edits without needing to add a script or two.

As far as I am concerned, I mentor new editors from day one until they reach about 5000 edits, by which time I consider them knowledgeable enough to go it alone and ask any questions on the general forum. I would be interested to hear what other mentors consider the correct end of mentoring time.

It would be very useful to have a definitive list of what a new editor can do and what they can’t so we can explain this. I am often asked and so far have never found a clear answer.

  1. Places, how many do they need to add or amend and have approved before they can add them without needing approval. What happen if one gets rejected, does this count against them? Does adding a new one or amending an existing one count the same.
  2. They can add road segments and connect them to L1 roads, but can only delete ones they have made (and have not since been changed by anyone else), not others. What is the point at which they can delete any L1 road segment.
  3. Some new editors seem to earn several hundred edits in a day or so, other seem to be limited to low numbers each day for the first few days. Again, understanding the rules behind this would be useful to explain it to the new editor.
  4. Any other restrictions placed on new editors we should be aware of.

Also, regarding these restrictions, are these fixed or, in the case of a very good new editor, is it possible for the mentor to request the restrictions be lifted early?

That’s all I can think of at the moment, but hopefully should give you something to consider and hopefully stimulate some discussion.

Ian

5

Rank 1 Locks

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Thanks for that. I did not consider these restrictions as Locks. This answers some of my points, others still need answers. :smiley:

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I find the most useful thing in getting a young editor started is helping them find their way to the community channels. As the WME chat is basically unused in our country, an intuitive way to link them to the community Discord channel would be most valuable.

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I think it would be great to look at it from a new editor’s perspective and understand what they may need.
Often they are looking for:

  • Instructions on how to edit the map.
  • Find info on ranks, points, permissions, rules, and promotions.
  • Find a wiki or a reference page to learn certain topics, such as adding and updating places.
  • Learn to navigate Waze forums, where to post etc.
  • Be a part of programs such as iOS and Android beta program(s)
  • Learn how to use native WME tools and 3rd party scripts.
    Therefore, a great tool kit should include videos, slides, images that are short but informative, links, and references to wiki (local) pages.

Also, Mentoring Kit can be divided into various parts for editor rank, beta, scripts, etc. Its data maintained by Waze staff, volunteer editors, and scriptwriters.

It would be great if the mentoring Tool Kit shows the mentees’ progress and allows mentors to add comments.

9

While I agree that getting a new editor into the local community is very important, I am frustrated by the need to use other 3rd party software to do it. I know discord, slack, hangouts and others are used by the various groups around the world, but it should not be necessary. Waze should provide and support anything needed by the world wide editing community. The forum should be the first point of contact and a good live chat with local “rooms” or sub groups needs to be added to fill the current gap. This is not just needed for mentoring, but is a basic part of forming a united community of editors.

10

Hi Hezi,
In Brazil we have a mentoring program that has worked well. We have a specific worksheet for each type of mentoring (basic edtis or Area Manager). This spreadsheet was created based on a spreadsheet used in the USA. Orbitc helped us with this.

In this worksheet we have the basic concepts that we think a new editor needs to know to help with the edits and cause less damage to the maps, while learning and she also guides the mentor with the most important topics that should be covered. We still need to improve something, but it has worked very well so far.

videos, tutorials etc? it would be great, it would make our life as a mentor much easier, since we already use it on a daily basis. Incorporating everything into the tool would be a great gain. But I see a big problem. There is no point in putting all the tutorials, all the wonderful videos if we can’t talk to the new editor. Currently the tool allows us to send an email and we don’t know if at least the mentee received or read it. The tool fails at this point. When we send a private message from the forum, the response rate is higher than the email that is sent from the tool.

My main suggestion is to improve this initial communication. Since we sent this email and we don’t know if the new publisher received it or not.

Perhaps an idea is to put a giant pop-up when the new mentee logs in to WME so that he will only be able to edit if he responds to the message. He / she can answer yes or no, whatever, after all, no one is obliged to participate in mentoring. But, we mentors, we need an answer. If yes, perfect, we got a new editor, if not … life goes on and we will spend energy with another mentee. But the answer is important.

Another suggestion would be the possibility of inserting mentors that we guide, but that were “captured” in another way within the community, such as forum and direct contact by private message, that is, that were not inserted from the current tool.

Another thing that makes me a little bit uncomfortable. In my editor profile it is described that I have 14 mentors, but I have never even managed to get in touch with these mentors. That is, the information is false. I have 2 active mentors and they signed up for our Brazilian program and the contact was made through the forum.

That’s it for now. I am going to consult the Brazilian mentors and if I have any other different suggestions I will bring them here.

hug to everyone.

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Could you share that worksheet?

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In Portugal, almost all of the current top active editors (including myself) were introduced to heavy editing after being invited to Slack, and informally mentored. This process has been going on for several years.
Usually, each new editor (picked up and invited after we detected errors in map edits) was accompanied by an L3 editor or above, that could teach and check edits as they where being made.
The process, more than correcting errors, is centered in teaching the new editor to think in the whole process of mapping and fine tuning of the edits. General rules first and then the tricks and details.
After the current process of mentoring has been introduced, the only change is that mentor and mentee have pressed a button to connect each other. All the mentoring takes place at Slack

So, IMO, more than a kit, we need an instantaneous way to communicate with the mentee. Being able to share screenshots, files and chat without delay. Establish a bond…
Think that if a new editor is reaching for the mentor for a specific edit doubt or unlock, for instance, and the response is delayed, he may loose the enthusiasm and shut down WME.

About the kit:
- Localized videos about edits

  • Community awareness (some history of Waze and the role of the community)

Best

13

Of course.
What is your email?

14

Here in Ireland, we don’t run a mentoring programme as such (we’re a bit small for that), but we do contact new editors directly and offer them help. The message includes all the standard resources we have for guidance and engagement: the forum, the Ireland-specific section of the forum, Wazeopedia sections covering our country-specific practices (such as road naming), more global Wazeopedia pages, the Slack instance we have for the community, email addresses for contacting our CM team, the Google Hangout for the country, the form for requesting AM areas, and a few other things.

The forum post we use (with all of the resources) is here.

++David \ davidg666

15

Thank you all very much for your comments.
over all it seems like you have got great ideas here.

We will go over everything in depth, and I will share with you our next steps.

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rafaelcintron@gmail.com

17

There is one specific error with the current process that can probably be fixed fairly easily.

When you add a new editor to the mentee program, a message is added to their personal profile page noting that they are being mentored and who is doing it.

When an editor being mentored gets to the point where they no longer require mentoring, either they progress beyond needing this help or they give up editing, it is very easy to remove them from my list of mentees.

However, removing them from my list of mentees does not remove the message on their personal profile page noting that they are being mentored. This also needs to be removed at the same time they are removed from the mentee list.

I currently have 32 Ex-mentees in the UK who still show the note that I am mentoring them even though I removed them from my list some time ago.

18

As a completely brand-new editor (1 edit!), I am thrilled so see that you all are thinking of this. And if anyone would like a real-time peek into the mind of someone who is trying to figure this all out, reach out and I’d be happy to share.

I’ve been using Waze 8+ years. I had never thought of editing the map - or even how it happens - until this week when I reported a non-existent turn and a volunteer editor reached out to me. Within a day, it was fixed by them; too cool, I thought. Links in the email I received led me to Wazeopedia, which I started reading voraciously (the fact that I’m on vacation helped…). Got plugged into Discord and introduced myself to local folks.

But despite following hyperlink after hyperlink, I must say that what would really be helpful is:

(1) A list of “here’s a few things to try first as a brand new editor, and how to do them.” Yes, I found a list somewhere in Wazeopedia, but it sort of seems unrealistic when you live in a well-established area. I’m going to lose interest fast if my task is to go hunting for roads that are misspelled. Sounds like high-effort, low-yield activity to me.
(2) I’ve been told that “places” will likely need some updating, and although I’ll need to get these reviewed by someone else at first, it’s a good place to start. This will probably make sense to me in a short time, but I could ask many follow-up questions just in response to that seemingly simple statement.
(3) Although there’s definitely been an outpouring of advice to post on discord any questions I have, which is much appreciated, there can certainly be an inhibition to asking a whole group of super experienced folks questions that I KNOW are beyond simple. Instead of cluttering the channel, I’ll be more inclined to think that the answers to my questions are buried somewhere in the tomes of documents online — but this comes at a cost of valuable time. Having someone (ie, a mentor or two) who is willing to take a look at the map with me (whether in real-time or not), help find things for me to tackle, and then take the questions that I’m bound to have would be invaluable, it seems.

I’m actually incredibly impressed by what I’ve seen so far in the WME community. Incredible dedication and a massive amount of knowledge and information sharing. I’m involved in other volunteer efforts that also require “on-the-job” technical knowledge and experience with ladders of advancement, mentoring new folks, etc. I’m excited by the idea that this community is similar, and I look forward to seeing how this all goes.

Best,
Jim

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Hi Jim and welcome to the crazy world of Waze and map editing. :smiley:
Waze is a world wide navigation system and there are quite a few “local variations” and so it is important you get your information from other editors in your own community. As you mention Discord, I would assume you are somewhere in the US, as they are the main users. The ROW / International editors rarely use this and tend to use the main Waze forum and Slack as the discussion platforms.
Go on Discord and introduce yourself and you will soon get lots of advice (some good, some likely to be not so good, but interesting none the less). Waze editors are a friendly bunch and like nothing more than helping the newbies to get settled in.
Even in well established cities, there is always more to do and so you will soon get shown how best to improve the map in the areas you drive in. It does not take too long to get past the Level 1 status.
I hope you enjoy it and become part of the world wide team.

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As another new editor, this is a great list of things that would be nice to have when you are new. Discord and Wazeo are both a great resource, but a pared down noob guide (with a how-to video or slide show) would get new editors started in the right direction and primed for mentoring.