Dear Wikimedia Team,
I am Prastut Kumar, a CS undergrad hailing from India and currently pursuing my Bachelors in Computer Science and engineering from VIT University, Chennai Campus.
Wikipedia has always been a source of knowledge for people like me hailing from nations where information, valuable information cannot be found.
"Knowledge shared is knowledge earned".
Most of the time, while browsing through wiki, I have always thought of donating but couldn't due to economic reasons. But as I was going through GSOC voila! I found wikipedia there and also having separate design section! I wish to contribute to the design and aesthetics of the wikimedia project and gain essential skills to pursue my career as a web developer-cum-UI/UX expert.
I know, I know GSOC has started. But there might be some opportunities which would still be open for a guy like me. I should make this very clear that I am solely contributing for the sake of contributing, not with any expectations attached to it.
My question to you guys is, from where do I start contributing? How do I begin?
Regards Prastut
Hi Prastut,
MediaWiki (The software Wikipedia uses), is open source, so we accept contributions from anyone willing to contribute. There is no need to be part of GSOC or OPW. The main thing that such programs provide, is a little bit of money, and a lot of structure, which some people find helpful in getting involved.
There's some basic information on how to get involved at https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/How_to_become_a_MediaWiki_hacker . What the best thing for you to do at the start depends on what sort of skills you have, and where your interests lie. A common good starting point is to find a really easy bug, and try to fix that. There's a list of bugs that some people think are on the easier side at https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/maniphest/query/o1M_232KG9W4/#R , and some more ui-ish ones at https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/search/query/I3ZF1q6NBul0/#R (Be warned, that anyone can mark a bug easy, so sometimes hard bugs get mislabeled as easy, so don't be afraid to try a different bug if the first one you pick seems harder than it looks).
Another good approach with open source, is to find something that bothers you about the software currently, and try to fix it (The "so-called" scratch an itch approach).
I also strongly encourage you to (if you're not already) subscribe to wikitech-l mailing list. This is the general mailing list for mediawiki development. I also encourage you to frequent the #mediawiki irc channel on irc.freenode.net. People at #mediawiki can be very helpful if you run into any problems, and you can learn a lot from just passive listening.
Cheers, bawolff
On Tue, Jun 9, 2015 at 7:40 AM, Prastut Kumar kr.prastut@gmail.com wrote:
Dear Wikimedia Team,
I am Prastut Kumar, a CS undergrad hailing from India and currently pursuing my Bachelors in Computer Science and engineering from VIT University, Chennai Campus.
Wikipedia has always been a source of knowledge for people like me hailing from nations where information, valuable information cannot be found.
"Knowledge shared is knowledge earned".
Most of the time, while browsing through wiki, I have always thought of donating but couldn't due to economic reasons. But as I was going through GSOC voila! I found wikipedia there and also having separate design section! I wish to contribute to the design and aesthetics of the wikimedia project and gain essential skills to pursue my career as a web developer-cum-UI/UX expert.
I know, I know GSOC has started. But there might be some opportunities which would still be open for a guy like me. I should make this very clear that I am solely contributing for the sake of contributing, not with any expectations attached to it.
My question to you guys is, from where do I start contributing? How do I begin?
Regards Prastut
Design mailing list Design@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/design
Hi Prastut! Thank you for your interest in contributing to Wikimedia.
What Brian said, plus https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Annoying_little_bugs#Design
Please go through the tasks marked as Design+Easy, and feel free to post your questions about a task in the task itself. If you still need more generic help, this list is definitely the right place for designers to ask questions about design.
On Tue, Jun 9, 2015 at 10:03 PM, bawolff bawolff+wn@gmail.com wrote:
Hi Prastut,
MediaWiki (The software Wikipedia uses), is open source, so we accept contributions from anyone willing to contribute. There is no need to be part of GSOC or OPW. The main thing that such programs provide, is a little bit of money, and a lot of structure, which some people find helpful in getting involved.
There's some basic information on how to get involved at https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/How_to_become_a_MediaWiki_hacker . What the best thing for you to do at the start depends on what sort of skills you have, and where your interests lie. A common good starting point is to find a really easy bug, and try to fix that. There's a list of bugs that some people think are on the easier side at https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/maniphest/query/o1M_232KG9W4/#R , and some more ui-ish ones at https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/search/query/I3ZF1q6NBul0/#R (Be warned, that anyone can mark a bug easy, so sometimes hard bugs get mislabeled as easy, so don't be afraid to try a different bug if the first one you pick seems harder than it looks).
Another good approach with open source, is to find something that bothers you about the software currently, and try to fix it (The "so-called" scratch an itch approach).
I also strongly encourage you to (if you're not already) subscribe to wikitech-l mailing list. This is the general mailing list for mediawiki development. I also encourage you to frequent the #mediawiki irc channel on irc.freenode.net. People at #mediawiki can be very helpful if you run into any problems, and you can learn a lot from just passive listening.
Cheers, bawolff
On Tue, Jun 9, 2015 at 7:40 AM, Prastut Kumar kr.prastut@gmail.com wrote:
Dear Wikimedia Team,
I am Prastut Kumar, a CS undergrad hailing from India and currently
pursuing
my Bachelors in Computer Science and engineering from VIT University, Chennai Campus.
Wikipedia has always been a source of knowledge for people like me
hailing
from nations where information, valuable information cannot be found.
"Knowledge shared is knowledge earned".
Most of the time, while browsing through wiki, I have always thought of donating but couldn't due to economic reasons. But as I was going through GSOC voila! I found wikipedia there and also having separate design
section!
I wish to contribute to the design and aesthetics of the wikimedia
project
and gain essential skills to pursue my career as a web
developer-cum-UI/UX
expert.
I know, I know GSOC has started. But there might be some opportunities
which
would still be open for a guy like me. I should make this very clear
that I
am solely contributing for the sake of contributing, not with any expectations attached to it.
My question to you guys is, from where do I start contributing? How do I begin?
Regards Prastut
Design mailing list Design@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/design
Design mailing list Design@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/design
Hey Prastut,
Glad to hear you want to contribute. As Bawolff mentioned
MediaWiki (The software Wikipedia uses), is open source, so we accept contributions
from anyone willing to contribute There is no need to be part of GSOC or OPW.
I think he has also mentioned few queries on phabricator which will sort of out design tasks.
Getting to know what projects are being worked on is also another way for you to get context on things you can contribute to.
Editing department projects https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Editing Search department projects and info https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Discovery
Some more resources related to design contributions
Micro design improvements https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Micro_Design_Improvements How to give design feedback https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Design/How_to_give_design_feedback Whole Design workboard https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/tag/design/
Also feel free to get in touch with individuals on design team or on design channel on IRC (#wikimedia-design) if you have any questions!
Thanks, Nirzar
On Tue, Jun 9, 2015 at 1:03 PM, bawolff bawolff+wn@gmail.com wrote:
Hi Prastut,
MediaWiki (The software Wikipedia uses), is open source, so we accept contributions from anyone willing to contribute. There is no need to be part of GSOC or OPW. The main thing that such programs provide, is a little bit of money, and a lot of structure, which some people find helpful in getting involved.
There's some basic information on how to get involved at https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/How_to_become_a_MediaWiki_hacker . What the best thing for you to do at the start depends on what sort of skills you have, and where your interests lie. A common good starting point is to find a really easy bug, and try to fix that. There's a list of bugs that some people think are on the easier side at https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/maniphest/query/o1M_232KG9W4/#R , and some more ui-ish ones at https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/search/query/I3ZF1q6NBul0/#R (Be warned, that anyone can mark a bug easy, so sometimes hard bugs get mislabeled as easy, so don't be afraid to try a different bug if the first one you pick seems harder than it looks).
Another good approach with open source, is to find something that bothers you about the software currently, and try to fix it (The "so-called" scratch an itch approach).
I also strongly encourage you to (if you're not already) subscribe to wikitech-l mailing list. This is the general mailing list for mediawiki development. I also encourage you to frequent the #mediawiki irc channel on irc.freenode.net. People at #mediawiki can be very helpful if you run into any problems, and you can learn a lot from just passive listening.
Cheers, bawolff
On Tue, Jun 9, 2015 at 7:40 AM, Prastut Kumar kr.prastut@gmail.com wrote:
Dear Wikimedia Team,
I am Prastut Kumar, a CS undergrad hailing from India and currently
pursuing
my Bachelors in Computer Science and engineering from VIT University, Chennai Campus.
Wikipedia has always been a source of knowledge for people like me
hailing
from nations where information, valuable information cannot be found.
"Knowledge shared is knowledge earned".
Most of the time, while browsing through wiki, I have always thought of donating but couldn't due to economic reasons. But as I was going through GSOC voila! I found wikipedia there and also having separate design
section!
I wish to contribute to the design and aesthetics of the wikimedia
project
and gain essential skills to pursue my career as a web
developer-cum-UI/UX
expert.
I know, I know GSOC has started. But there might be some opportunities
which
would still be open for a guy like me. I should make this very clear
that I
am solely contributing for the sake of contributing, not with any expectations attached to it.
My question to you guys is, from where do I start contributing? How do I begin?
Regards Prastut
Design mailing list Design@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/design
Design mailing list Design@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/design
On Wed, Jun 10, 2015 at 4:18 PM, nirzardp@gmail.com nirzardp@gmail.com wrote:
Hey Prastut,
Glad to hear you want to contribute. As Bawolff mentioned
MediaWiki (The software Wikipedia uses), is open source, so we accept contributions
from anyone willing to contribute There is no need to be part of GSOC or OPW.
I think he has also mentioned few queries on phabricator which will sort of out design tasks.
Getting to know what projects are being worked on is also another way for you to get context on things you can contribute to.
Editing department projects https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Editing Search department projects and info https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Discovery
also https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Reading :)
Some more resources related to design contributions
Micro design improvements https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Micro_Design_Improvements How to give design feedback https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Design/How_to_give_design_feedback Whole Design workboard https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/tag/design/
Also feel free to get in touch with individuals on design team or on design channel on IRC (#wikimedia-design) if you have any questions!
Thanks, Nirzar
On Tue, Jun 9, 2015 at 1:03 PM, bawolff bawolff+wn@gmail.com wrote:
Hi Prastut,
MediaWiki (The software Wikipedia uses), is open source, so we accept contributions from anyone willing to contribute. There is no need to be part of GSOC or OPW. The main thing that such programs provide, is a little bit of money, and a lot of structure, which some people find helpful in getting involved.
There's some basic information on how to get involved at https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/How_to_become_a_MediaWiki_hacker . What the best thing for you to do at the start depends on what sort of skills you have, and where your interests lie. A common good starting point is to find a really easy bug, and try to fix that. There's a list of bugs that some people think are on the easier side at https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/maniphest/query/o1M_232KG9W4/#R , and some more ui-ish ones at https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/search/query/I3ZF1q6NBul0/#R (Be warned, that anyone can mark a bug easy, so sometimes hard bugs get mislabeled as easy, so don't be afraid to try a different bug if the first one you pick seems harder than it looks).
Another good approach with open source, is to find something that bothers you about the software currently, and try to fix it (The "so-called" scratch an itch approach).
I also strongly encourage you to (if you're not already) subscribe to wikitech-l mailing list. This is the general mailing list for mediawiki development. I also encourage you to frequent the #mediawiki irc channel on irc.freenode.net. People at #mediawiki can be very helpful if you run into any problems, and you can learn a lot from just passive listening.
Cheers, bawolff
On Tue, Jun 9, 2015 at 7:40 AM, Prastut Kumar kr.prastut@gmail.com wrote:
Dear Wikimedia Team,
I am Prastut Kumar, a CS undergrad hailing from India and currently
pursuing
my Bachelors in Computer Science and engineering from VIT University, Chennai Campus.
Wikipedia has always been a source of knowledge for people like me
hailing
from nations where information, valuable information cannot be found.
"Knowledge shared is knowledge earned".
Most of the time, while browsing through wiki, I have always thought of donating but couldn't due to economic reasons. But as I was going
through
GSOC voila! I found wikipedia there and also having separate design
section!
I wish to contribute to the design and aesthetics of the wikimedia
project
and gain essential skills to pursue my career as a web
developer-cum-UI/UX
expert.
I know, I know GSOC has started. But there might be some opportunities
which
would still be open for a guy like me. I should make this very clear
that I
am solely contributing for the sake of contributing, not with any expectations attached to it.
My question to you guys is, from where do I start contributing? How do I begin?
Regards Prastut
Design mailing list Design@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/design
Design mailing list Design@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/design
Design mailing list Design@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/design
On 6/10/15, Jon Robson jrobson@wikimedia.org wrote:
On Wed, Jun 10, 2015 at 4:18 PM, nirzardp@gmail.com nirzardp@gmail.com wrote:
Hey Prastut,
Glad to hear you want to contribute. As Bawolff mentioned
MediaWiki (The software Wikipedia uses), is open source, so we accept contributions
from anyone willing to contribute There is no need to be part of GSOC or OPW.
I think he has also mentioned few queries on phabricator which will sort of out design tasks.
Getting to know what projects are being worked on is also another way for you to get context on things you can contribute to.
Editing department projects https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Editing Search department projects and info https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Discovery
My advice would actually be to not get too caught up in what each department is doing, and more figure out which things you want to work on and do that regardless of where it falls in the WMF hierarchy.
Personally, I have trouble keeping straight which department is responsible for what in our brave new re-org'd future ;)