2024:Program/Hackathon
This year, the Wikimania organizers are hoping to bring closer developers, editors, wiki-functionaries with advanced rights, and staff.
The Wikimania Hackathon is a working event where Wikimedians from around the world meet to co-work on Product and Technology problems. This includes discussions, coding, user testing, and more! We will have a dedicated space for you to work in and collaborate with others on your projects.
The Wikimania Hackathon will take place at the Wikimania venue, running concurrently with the main program, from Thursday, 8 August (the second day of the conference) to Saturday, 10 August. The opening ceremony of the Hackathon will be held on Wednesday, 7 August in the Warsaw room.
Program / Schedule
Hackathon Opening Ceremony
The kickoff to this year's Wikimania Hackathon will happen on Wednesday, August 7 at 12:15pm to 1:15pm, local time (CEST, UTC+2). Grab your lunch plate and join us in the Warsaw room! The opening session will not be recorded or live-streamed. Volunteers are needed to help take notes and find links, please add your name to the Phabricator task.
During the opening ceremony, we will introduce you to this year's Hackathon. Then, participants will have a chance to spend the remaining time (with an open mic) to talk about their projects. If there are people who are in need of collaborators, they can also briefly announce what they are doing and what they need help with. Others can simply announce an offer of help in their area of expertise.
Hackathon space
The main Hackathon space (the Voore room, see the floor plan) will remain available until the venue closes (probably around 9pm each night) on 8 and 9 August.
Lightning Talks
Lightning talks will be held in the auditorium on August 8 and 9, from 3:30pm – 5:00pm local time (CEST, UTC+2). We highly encourage you to participate!
Hackathon Closing Showcase
The Wikimania Hackathon Closing Showcase will be held on Saturday, August 10th in the Kyiv Auditorium (floor plan) from 3:00pm to 4:30pm, local time (CEST, UTC+2). Hackathon participants will each take a maximum of two minutes to showcase their (completed or not yet finished) projects concisely and in a way that is understandable to non-technical Wikimania attendees. After the Hackathon closing showcase, the official Wikimania closing session will be held in the main hall, starting at 5pm.
- Etherpad for the showcase projects
- Livestream of the Hackathon Closing Showcase
Initiative Areas
We warmly encourage Wikimania attendees to talk about initiatives that the Wikimedia Foundation teams are working on. We'll have tables setup in the venue - almost all of them will be in the foyer area and two will be in the Hackathon room (Voore). These tables will have people available to chat with during lunch on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
User Experience & Design/Research (in the Hackathon space - Voore room)
- We are working on improving the user experience for readers, editors, and functionaries, as well as introducing a new Codex design system for Wikimedia products. Come talk to us to participate in usability research, ask us about using Codex, or whatever questions you have about UX and Design research!
- This particular initiative will only be available Thursday and Friday afternoons in the Hackathon room (Voore) and all day on Saturday, also in the Hackathon room (Voore).
- Stop by the Charts (the successor of Graphs) table to learn about the project underway to bring back data visualization capabilities to the wikis. We're happy to show you our latest prototype and address any questions or feedback you have.
- The Language Support track table will focus on addressing small, language-specific technical requests across various Wikimedia projects to support new and existing language communities. We'd love to talk to and collaborate with interested volunteers to work on technical tasks, organize technical sessions, and run a support help desk!
- The Product & Technology Advisory Council (PTAC) will bring technical contributors and Wikimedia Foundation together to co-define a more resilient, future-proof technological platform. We are seeking candidates for our 1-year pilot of this council, and are keen to learn about the biggest challenges and opportunities that this council should address.
- This particular initiative will only be available on Friday, during lunchtime in the foyer.
- The table will be an open forum for discussion about the Community Wishlist. We will also provide a space and guidance to help you write and submit a wish!
- Come talk to us about the future of the MediaWiki platform, how we're working to make feature development easier, what challenges we're focusing on, and the improvements that we've already made!
- This particular initiative will only be available on Thursday and Friday, from 11am to 12:30pm, in the foyer
- Come learn how the Wikimedia Foundation researches and hosts machine learning and AI models, our on-platform infrastructure for model hosting and description (Lift Wing), and ways that AI is applied in existing and new products for contributors and readers of Wikimedia projects.
Reading the wikis: Vector 2022, dark mode, and more on Web and Apps
- Come talk to us about the interface and reader-focused features! Representatives from the Web and Apps teams will be here to answer your questions on skins, the reading interface, and recent projects such as dark mode, Vector 2022, and more. In addition, we'll be happy to discuss the future of our work and our focus to make browsing and donating across wikis easier.
Developer Corner (in the Hackathon space - Voore room)
- We'll have a table labeled Developer Corner in the Hackathon room for Wikimania. What can our experts help you with?
- Small bugs that can be fixed easily
- Looking at bugs that appear hard to fix
- Chatting about feature requests
- General coding questions
- We’ll also help out by adding in new Phabricator tasks, editing existing tasks, and tagging appropriate groups / people using: Wikimania-Hackathon-2024
Preparing for the Hackathon
- Registration | If you've already registered for the main event, you're all set – no need for a separate registration.
- Participants list | You may add yourself to the Hackathon participants list. Listing yourself is completely voluntary.
- Projects | Feel free to add your own projects or browse and comment on others' Hackathon projects on our event's Phabricator work board. As the event date approaches, more projects will be added, so remember to check back regularly for updates and new opportunities. Let's collaborate and make this Hackathon a great success together!
Volunteering opportunities
The Wikimania Hackathon is an event run for and by its participants, and is therefore running its own volunteer program. Everyone attending the Hackathon can take as much personal responsibility to co-create the event and improve it as they like. Below you will find some pre-defined ways in which you can help make the event better for everyone. If none of these volunteer roles sound like a good fit for you, you can find small ways to help. A core principle of our Hackathons is that if you see a problem, be part of the solution to fix it. If someone has a question, help them answer it. If someone looks lost, help them find their way.
- Help us document the event - Be a note-taker or link finder during the opening and closing sessions.
- Event Photography and group photo - Coordinate your efforts and upload your photos of the event to commons.
- Be sure to read the specific 2024 Wikimania photography policy
- Wikimania Hackathon Commons Category: Wikimania 2024 Hackathon
Communicate
The following channels are traditionally used to connect with other participants; some of them are more or less active throughout the year:
- The chat room is bridged across three different networks; you can join using whichever service you prefer (you only need to be in one):
- Telegram: Wikimedia Hackathon group
- Matrix: #wikimedia-hackathon:matrix.org
- IRC channel: #wikimedia-hackathon connect
- The hashtag
#wmhackon Mastodon, Twitter, and other social media
Media
- Social media hashtag:
#wmhack
Code of Conduct for technical spaces
To ensure a positive and inclusive environment, all Hackathon participants must adhere to the Code of Conduct for technical spaces. We prioritize respect and cooperation among attendees. Failure to comply with these policies may result in being asked to leave the event. Let's work together to create a welcoming and safe experience for everyone involved.
Organizing Team
-
Deb Tankersley -
Amanda Bittaker -
Onyinyechi Onifade -
Szymon Grabarczuk, liaison (COT member)
If you have any inquiries, feel free to share your questions via the talk page or to email hackathon
wikimedia.org.