Hi all,
It gives me great pleasure to (finally) share with you the evaluation report of the *Techstorm* 2019*. Though the Techstorm was organized in November 2019, other priorities came to play for the organisational team due to the global pandemic, but over the past festive season and after, we finally found the time to finish up our evaluation report.
Please go to the pdf-file on Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wiki_Techstorm_2019_evaluatie.pdf to read more about the vision behind the Techstorm, the goals of the event, our metrics and, last but not least, our lessons learned.
A new Techstorm 2021 is in the Dutch chapters' annual plan, but if Covid regulations will not permit these gatherings we will ask WMNL to include a Techstorm in the annual plan 2022.
Keep techstorming every one!
Vriendelijke groet, Ciell
* *Techstorming* is like brainstorming in a technical environment. The Wiki Techstorm 2019 https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wiki_Techstorm was held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on the *22nd & 23rd of November 2019*.
Hi Ciell,
I did a pass over your report and I want to share a few thoughts with you and the rest of the team.
* First: Thank you so much for organizing another Techstorm in 2019 and writing/sharing this report. Increasing the diversity of those who choose to participate in the Wikimedia projects is important and your knowledge sharing is immensely helpful.
* 63 participants is a really good number. Congratulations! I also appreciate that you set a high bar for the target distribution of attendees. Ambitious (but not over-ambitious) targets can help us grow and learn. One thing we learned (in 2020) when organizing Wiki Workshop [1] was that when there is no fee for registration, we get twice the actual number of participants registering. Something you can consider is to allow for more registrations than what you can physically accommodate (to a limit), with the understanding that there will always be some no-shows/cancellations.
* I have a suggestion for how you conduct the survey: consider doing it during the event and dedicating 15-min time to it. I understand some people may prefer to take their time and do it later, but by asking people to do it right there, you may get a higher response rate. (Chasing folks after the event for surveys is not fun for either side.;)
* Core organizing team size: Looking at the 2019 team, I totally agree with you. A few more volunteers at the core level will be very helpful. They also can make it more fun as you can bounce ideas back-and-forth with them and collaborate. :)
* For 2021: consider a virtual event if a physical one is not possible and if you have bandwidth to work on it. A lot of people are isolated because of the pandemic and they look forward to finding ways to connect with others, learn new skills, etc.
I want to close this email by thanking you all again. I also want to thank you personally, Ciell, for the spirit of collaboration and fun you bring to the projects you get involved in, and your dedication to community building. What you all are doing is not easy, especially as numbers won't do justice to the impact of the work. Thank you for keeping up and organizing this event.
If there is something I can do to support you, please reach out.
Best, Leila
-- Leila Zia Head of Research Wikimedia Foundation
On Mon, Feb 8, 2021 at 7:56 AM Ciell Wikipedia ciell.wikipedia@gmail.com wrote:
Hi all,
It gives me great pleasure to (finally) share with you the evaluation report of the Techstorm* 2019. Though the Techstorm was organized in November 2019, other priorities came to play for the organisational team due to the global pandemic, but over the past festive season and after, we finally found the time to finish up our evaluation report.
Please go to the pdf-file on Commons to read more about the vision behind the Techstorm, the goals of the event, our metrics and, last but not least, our lessons learned.
A new Techstorm 2021 is in the Dutch chapters' annual plan, but if Covid regulations will not permit these gatherings we will ask WMNL to include a Techstorm in the annual plan 2022.
Keep techstorming every one!
Vriendelijke groet, Ciell
- Techstorming is like brainstorming in a technical environment. The Wiki Techstorm 2019 was held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on the 22nd & 23rd of November 2019.
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
Thank you very much for your thoughts and suggestions Lea! I'll be sure to pass them on to the rest of the team.
Personally, I think the strength of the Techstorm is its very personal approach: this is where the Techstorm actually differs from a 'normal' hackathon. I am afraid this will not work in an online environment and would rather wait an extra few months to be able to organize it again as a physical event. I think the one thing we all are learning from COVID is to practise patience: for some things there simply is no good online substitute.
But I am not the only person on the team, and this surely needs to be discussed in a broader way. WMNL is having an online Wiki Saturday this Saturday for all interested volunteers about the activities in the annual plan, and this surely will be a talking point.
Vriendelijke groet, Ciell
Op ma 8 feb. 2021 om 23:04 schreef Leila Zia lzia@wikimedia.org:
Hi Ciell,
I did a pass over your report and I want to share a few thoughts with you and the rest of the team.
- First: Thank you so much for organizing another Techstorm in 2019
and writing/sharing this report. Increasing the diversity of those who choose to participate in the Wikimedia projects is important and your knowledge sharing is immensely helpful.
- 63 participants is a really good number. Congratulations! I also
appreciate that you set a high bar for the target distribution of attendees. Ambitious (but not over-ambitious) targets can help us grow and learn. One thing we learned (in 2020) when organizing Wiki Workshop [1] was that when there is no fee for registration, we get twice the actual number of participants registering. Something you can consider is to allow for more registrations than what you can physically accommodate (to a limit), with the understanding that there will always be some no-shows/cancellations.
- I have a suggestion for how you conduct the survey: consider doing
it during the event and dedicating 15-min time to it. I understand some people may prefer to take their time and do it later, but by asking people to do it right there, you may get a higher response rate. (Chasing folks after the event for surveys is not fun for either side.;)
- Core organizing team size: Looking at the 2019 team, I totally agree
with you. A few more volunteers at the core level will be very helpful. They also can make it more fun as you can bounce ideas back-and-forth with them and collaborate. :)
- For 2021: consider a virtual event if a physical one is not possible
and if you have bandwidth to work on it. A lot of people are isolated because of the pandemic and they look forward to finding ways to connect with others, learn new skills, etc.
I want to close this email by thanking you all again. I also want to thank you personally, Ciell, for the spirit of collaboration and fun you bring to the projects you get involved in, and your dedication to community building. What you all are doing is not easy, especially as numbers won't do justice to the impact of the work. Thank you for keeping up and organizing this event.
If there is something I can do to support you, please reach out.
Best, Leila
-- Leila Zia Head of Research Wikimedia Foundation
On Mon, Feb 8, 2021 at 7:56 AM Ciell Wikipedia ciell.wikipedia@gmail.com wrote:
Hi all,
It gives me great pleasure to (finally) share with you the evaluation
report of the Techstorm* 2019. Though the Techstorm was organized in November 2019, other priorities came to play for the organisational team due to the global pandemic, but over the past festive season and after, we finally found the time to finish up our evaluation report.
Please go to the pdf-file on Commons to read more about the vision
behind the Techstorm, the goals of the event, our metrics and, last but not least, our lessons learned.
A new Techstorm 2021 is in the Dutch chapters' annual plan, but if Covid
regulations will not permit these gatherings we will ask WMNL to include a Techstorm in the annual plan 2022.
Keep techstorming every one!
Vriendelijke groet, Ciell
- Techstorming is like brainstorming in a technical environment. The
Wiki Techstorm 2019 was held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on the 22nd & 23rd of November 2019.
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l
New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
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