I'm actually at another conference right now - so I am limited in how much I can
answer right now. :)
I do not think there are answers to who is coordinating it - beyond that the programme
committee has been tasked with making sure it happens.
As far as how it fits into the larger scheme of things - I think the Hackathon at
Wikimania has become the main developer hangout and working part of the conference. Also
our best chance to do hands on with newbies, meet in person to discuss complex projects,
and spend a few hours collectively hammering out code.
I don't think it will matter where the folks organizing it are from - the folks
organizing last year were not in the DC area (although many of us were out there several
times beforehand anyway - so there was certainly familiarity.
As for me - I'm once again serving on the Wikimania programme committee - so basically
doing my part to make sure the Hackathon comes together and that developers have good
representation in workshops, etc. :) So I'm in a position to help whomever is running
it, but I like the idea of mixing up who the primary people are so we can get variety in
Hackathon programming - although maybe folks would prefer consistency. I'm open to
thoughts on that, obviously. :)
I don't personally think it matters if the Hackathon coordinator is involved with
other parts of Wikimania, is local, is staff or volunteer, or is a Borg queen - I think
the main qualifier is a developer that can organize and willing to lead conversations on
coordinating the event, and then helping make sure things run smoothly the day of. We had
volunteers, staff, and a consultant helping with it last year.
Okay - so that was more info than I thought I'd have time to share. :)
-Greg aka varnent
PS. God help us if we ever find a varnent in Hong Kong or elsewhere. As my partner can
attest to - one of me is one too many already.
___________
Sent from my iPad. Apologies for any typos. A more detailed response may be sent later.
On Jan 24, 2013, at 1:10 PM, Quim Gil <qgil(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
On 01/23/2013 10:46 PM, Gregory Varnum wrote:
Greetings,
Wikimania is six months away - and in terms of planning - that means
it is right around the corner.
As such, folks involved with programme and Hackathon organizing are
very interested in any ideas that WM developers may have for this
year's Hackathon.
Please contribute them on-wiki -
https://wikimania2013.wikimedia.org/wiki/Hackathon/Brainstorming
Or if that is just too much wiki for today - feel free to email me
and I'll make sure it gets posted. :)
Thank you! -greg aka varnent Wikimania 2013 Programme Committee /
geek helping with Hackathon
Thank you!
Before jumping to the Wikimania website, could you share your own thoughts and lessons
learned from last Wikimania Hackathon? Feedback from any other participants is welcome as
well.
URLs with feedback are welcome too! There are the valuable
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikitech-l/2012-July/062065.html
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikitech-l/2012-July/062066.html
As an outsider (not for long) the main concerns I see are:
* No local tech contact specifically interested in the Hackathon found so far. Who is the
varnent of Hong Kong 2013? And what is your role this year, by the way? Good to see you
involved!
* Personally no idea about the Hong Kong Wikimedia tech / MediaWiki community.
* Far from US & Europe, unclear how many usual suspects of this community will make
it.
* Unclear (to me, still) actual purpose, goal and fit with the rest of Wikimania.
Before having this framework more clear, it is difficult to jump to specific ideas at the
Wikimania website, other than wlan should work well, we need plugs in each table and so
on. :)
--
Quim Gil
Technical Contributor Coordinator @ Wikimedia Foundation
http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User:Qgil
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