Hi all,

We wanted to give a quick update on the happenings that wrapped up the last two days of the Wikimedia Technical Conference https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Technical_Conference/2018, in Portland, Oregon.

*Wednesday https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Technical_Conference/2018/Schedule#Wednesday_24_October_2018, October 24, 2018:* The third day of the event started out with two sessions concentrating on:

- mapping our data and content pipeline (notes https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eb6omjp0MF4bsfvnr-bWzsK7O3EyUVSO_JmdY7nJ_kY/edit, ticket https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T206070) - identifying and extracting data trapped in our content (notes https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dnNQTvbRFkYdM1q-eNGnARVDnQI49OLRV2YUcFABKso, ticket https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T206073) - Determining use cases and requirements for the APIs that we build ( notes https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pFQvlcFZ4AdJjvnxH5YPOFqloOpB_rORfgrmiNRZX1w, ticket https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T206072) - Identifying the requirements and goals for the parser (notes https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Technical_Conference/2018/Session_notes/Identifying_the_requirements_and_goals_for_the_parser, ticket https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T206066)

We then had a lovely lunch with a mid afternoon break to take a group photo, and then more interactive sessions on:

- Choosing the technologies to build our APIs (notes https://docs.google.com/document/d/1q9ATHXdR-KPZdjYaq8q2kwRC9wAhCTdmBjR4i3Z3aF4, ticket https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T206074) - Identifying the requirements and goals for dependency tracking and events (notes https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Technical_Conference/2018/Session_notes/Identifying_the_requirements_and_goals_for_dependency_tracking_and_events, ticket https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T206068) - Two sessions on storage: - Identifying our storage and search use cases (notes https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Technical_Conference/2018/Session_notes/Identifying_our_storage_and_search_use_cases, ticket https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T206076) - Building our storage systems for flexibility and scale (notes https://docs.google.com/document/d/17q8cvEx3tK1Ek0vM9OasqugaCTkaMvLxGN4KlgSWBRg, ticket https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T206079) - Two sessions on frontend development: - Improving frontend testing and logging (notes https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Technical_Conference/2018/Session_notes/Improving_frontend_testing_and_logging, ticket https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T206077) - Standardizing front-end development tooling (notes https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LEFWE5MJfhl2fHzqHiijmnX6PJEk1GRhkOMUowJYMqw, ticket https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T206078)

And, then as previous days, we ended the afternoon with finishing up documentation from the day, taking pictures of the sessions and then uploading and posting on wiki. The group photos are yet to be uploaded, but I'm sure it'll be well worth the wait; check out the media https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Wikimedia_Technical_Conference_2018 that has already been uploaded to Commons, as you can.

*Thursday https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Technical_Conference/2018/Schedule#Thursday_25_October_2018, October 25, 2018:*

The final day of the event started off exploring the core topic of architecting our code for change and sustainability in the future:

- Layers/components/libraries (notes https://docs.google.com/document/d/16NwfSJuj7fc2da1fOJM_sqKMdioHN1qPQavydGLDxic, ticket https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T206080) - Concepts (notes https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jY-MrwrGLKqX922obwFoYj0C_JdxFCH9Vtf4w4gHr-8/edit, ticket https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T206084) - Stand-alone services (notes https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Technical_Conference/2018/Session_notes/Architecting_Core:_stand-alone_services, ticket https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T206082) - Extension interfaces (notes https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jMMxPv98GZwrnt4KGxG5RlOTGFYRrIwXfKg5bqCNhgs, ticket https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T206081)

The final session of the day grouped folks up to go through the steps needed to take in order to develop a road map (notes https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lIyXEMf5BMKlA8cjq_bqT3wNsTyg4PSxNEJkf7lfThM, ticket https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T206085) that highlighted the need for collaboration in order to figure out what features or goals we want to aspire to do, what decisions need to be taken and then the follow-up actions to take to ensure the new features or goals are a success.

We closed out the event with many attendees talking about what they learned over the last 4 days. We also heard a few words from Toby Negrin, on behalf of Victoria Coleman, to thank everyone that traveled so far, including all the Foundation department folks, WMDE, Community members and other MediaWiki experts from around the globe. Toby also gave a lovely shout out to the Program Committee https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Technical_Conference/2018#Program_Committee (TheDJ, Birgit, Greg, Joaquin, Kate, and Corey) and the Organizing Team https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Technical_Conference/2018#Organizing_Team (Rachel, Deb, Lauren, and Irene) along with our fabulous and dedicated scribes (Nick, Michael, and Irene). Corey Floyd took the time to thank everyone as well and mentioned that the week's discussions, action items and gaps will be throughly reviewed and will identify the teams that will work on them to achieve our 3 to 5 year goals.

With lots of chatter, we finished up the week with another round of notes and documentation sprint to allow folks to add their comments, notes, uploads to Commons and Phabricator. Many of the notes have already been added to the wiki session notes pages https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Technical_Conference/2018/Session_notes, but several more are still in the process of being converted into wiki format and may take a few more days (as everyone returns home).

More random and fun images (see more uploads https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Wikimedia_Technical_Conference ):

- dots and pens https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dots_Sharpies_and_Postits.png - symbols https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:TechConf_symbols.png that we used - a session held in the fireplace room https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimedia_Tech_Conf_-_Session_-_Making_curation_and_contribution_mechanisms_equitable_and_consistent.jpg - napkin https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WMTechConf2018-crave_catering.jpg from the caterers that kept us well fed and hydrated - leftover notes https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WMTechConf2018-white_board_notes_from_a_random_session.jpg on a white board - and a sassy unicorn https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WMTechConf2018-unicorn.jpg, goat stickers https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WMTechConf2018-four_goat_stickers.jpg, team photo https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WMTechConf2018-Program_and_Organizing_teams.jpg, and a new mascot https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WMTechConf2018-maybe_the_next_mascot.jpg design

In the coming days, we will send out a survey to get event feedback that will tie directly into the planning for our next Wikimedia Technical Conference. Thanks again to all that participated, in person and virtually! It was an intense and completely interactive conference that sparked a ton of discussions and collaboration!

Cheers,

Deb

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deb tankersley

program manager, engineering

Wikimedia Foundation