No problem, feel free to contact me further if needed.
Thanks,
Zppix
Volunteer Developer for WMF
On Fri, Apr 28, 2017 at 5:57 PM, Victoria Coleman <vcoleman(a)wikimedia.org>
wrote:
Thank you Zppix. I think that’s an awesome idea! Let
me work with Quim to
see what is possible and when and I will get back to you.
Best,
Victoria
On Apr 28, 2017, at 3:52 PM, zppix e
<megadev44s.mail(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Victoria, re-quoting from my original reply: "A suggestion would be to
host
a annual cloud (remote) hackathon type event
where participants can join
via hangouts. I'd be willing to help organize this if need be. I think it
would help users that may not be comfortable traveling or don't feel like
applying for travel funds from WMF or don't have the funds in general. I
also think this would help users that aren't per say developers get their
issues heard and worked on without waiting months for a task to be
seen/replied/worked on. It could also be used by developers to talk with
WMF staff "face to face". "
Thanks,
Zppix
Volunteer Developer for WMF
www.enwp.org/User:Zppix
On Fri, Apr 28, 2017 at 5:28 PM, Victoria Coleman <
vcoleman(a)wikimedia.org>
wrote:
> Hi there,
>
> I think I am having a(nother) senior moment! I don’t recall what event
you
> have in mind. Sorry! Can you please remind
me?
>
> Victoria
>
>> On Apr 28, 2017, at 2:25 PM, zppix e <megadev44s.mail(a)gmail.com>
wrote:
>>
>> Victoria,
>> Thanks for replying quickly, however what about the event I suggested,
> any
>> thoughts on that?
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Apr 28, 2017 at 3:57 PM, Victoria Coleman <
> vcoleman(a)wikimedia.org>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi there,
>>>
>>> Quim and his team have indeed thought through the totality of tech
>>> community events and I am sure he can respond here with his thoughts.
>>> Regarding the MediaWiki roadmap, the thinking is that by publishing it
> we
>>> a/make planning for 3rd party users much more feasible, b/inform the
>>> community about what the Foundation will be doing so that we can avoid
>>> overlap, and c/hopefully incentivize broader participation by the
>>> community in the formulation and delivery of the roadmap.
>>>
>>> I hope this makes sense.
>>>
>>> Victoria
>>>
>>>> On Apr 27, 2017, at 11:35 AM, Isarra Yos <zhorishna(a)gmail.com>
wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Thanks.
>>>>
>>>> Different events serve very different purposes, though - hackathons,
> for
>>> instance, seem to be largely useful for onboarding newcomers and
giving
>>> staff and other occupational
contributors an opportunity to work on
>>> projects separate from their usual work, basically whatever they feel
> like
>>> doing, as opposed to what they have to. But these often don't do much
> for
>>> established volunteers, as a result, who generally just work on
whatever
>>> they feel like all the time already.
Have you looked into how the
roles
> of
>>> these different events fit together across all the different groups,
and
>>> how scopes affect them (regional,
topical, etc)? This would also be
> useful
>>> for chapters/groups planning their own events.
>>>>
>>>> How exactly is publishing a roadmap going to help facilitate
community
>>> contributions?
>>>>
>>>> -I
>>>>
>>>> On 27/04/17 03:11, Victoria Coleman wrote:
>>>>> Hi Isarra,
>>>>>
>>>>> thank you for the question. We want to support our diverse technical
>>> communities in a variety of ways. One of our key tools are the
> hackathons,
>>> where we hope to welcome both seasoned and new volunteer developers.
We
>>> want to support them not just by
providing a series of events but also
> with
>>> tools and WMF staff time. These are the key goals of our new Wikimedia
>>> Cloud Services team. They build and make labs and tools available and
>>> participate in the hackathons to onboard newcomers and in general
assist
>>> volunteers. Another key change we are
making this year is creating the
>>> MediaWiki Platform team who as well as doing much needed work on the
>>> codebase will also facilitate contributions and planning with the
> volunteer
>>> community by publishing a roadmap. And as Quim notes below we are
> changing
>>> the nature of the Dev Summit to have it focus on the strategic
> technology
>>> issues and decisions the Movement is faced with. As such it is an
event
>>> that might appeal more to the
seasoned members of our community.
> Attendance
>>> for the summit will be decided on the basis of position papers for WMF
>>> staff and volunteers alike. I am personally excited about the lineup
of
>>> events this coming year. But as
always we learn and adapt. If we
>>> collectively decide to try for a different configuration the following
>>> year, we can totally do that. Please keep the feedback coming!
>>>>>
>>>>> Best regards,
>>>>>
>>>>> Victoria
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>> On Apr 26, 2017, at 12:23 PM, Isarra Yos
<zhorishna(a)gmail.com>
> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Regarding the Developers Summit in particular, how do you plan
to
>>> reconcile making the event smaller with your goal of better retention
of
>>> newcomers and volunteers in general
when that's often the only venue
> they
>>> have at which to discuss the high-level technical issues with other
>>> stakeholders? Volunteer and third-party developers are not privy to
> most of
>>> the usual venues afforded to WMF staff such as inter-team meetings and
>>> events, and yet they make up an important part of the overall
> stakeholder
>>> community that these issues impact. They - we - need to be able to
>>> participate in these discussions, and the Developers Summit is one of
> very
>>> few opportunities even open to us where we can make our voices heard.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> -I
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On 20/04/17 07:28, Quim Gil wrote:
>>>>>>> On Sun, Apr 9, 2017 at 1:14 AM, Quim
Gil<qgil(a)wikimedia.org>
> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Hi, the Wikimedia Foundation has published a draft of its
Annual
> Plan
>>>>>>>> FY2017-18
>>>>>>>>
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_
>>> Annual_Plan/2017-2018/Draft>
>>>>>>>> and it welcomes your review.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> I want to highlight here the improvements that we are
proposing
to
>>> the
>>>>>>>> developer events (co)organized by the WMF. From local to
global:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> The Technical Collaboration team proposes to combine
multiple
>>> activities
>>>>>>>> (often disconnected) in a single program focusing on
onboarding
new
>>>>>>>> developers
>>>>>>>>
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_
>>> Annual_Plan/2017-2018/Draft/Programs/Community_Engagement#
>>> Program_12:_Onboarding_new_developers>. We
>>>>>>>> want to work with the Wikimedia technical community to
bring a
new
>>> wave of
>>>>>>>> developers to our projects, and events play an important
role.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Local developer events
>>>>>>>> We want to support developers and organizations willing
to reach
> out
>>> to
>>>>>>>> specific groups and geographies. We are hoping to see
many local
>>> developer
>>>>>>>> meetups and small hackathons or workshops around the
World,
> starting
>>> small
>>>>>>>> and simple. We should be able to offer introductory
materials,
>>> contacts
>>>>>>>> with Wikimedia developers in the region, maybe travel
budget to
> send
>>>>>>>> experienced volunteers to help mentoring the in the
bigger
events,
>>> maybe
>>>>>>>> travel budget to invite the best newcomers to our
regional and
> global
>>>>>>>> events.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Adding tech to regional Wikimedia events
>>>>>>>> Last year we experimented organizing technical workshops
in
>>> WikiArabia,
>>>>>>>> and others have done similar efforts in other regional
events
(for
>>>>>>>> instance, a small
hackathon next to WikiConference India). We
want
>>> to work
>>>>>>>> with the organizers of these regional events in order to
attract
>>>>>>>> experienced Wikimedia developers and newcomers, organize
developer
>>>>>>>> activities, and
also improve the collaboration between the
> technical
>>> and
>>>>>>>> non-technical contributors in these regions.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Better retention of newcomers at the Wikimedia and
Wikimania
>>> hackathons
>>>>>>>> Although we don't expect major changes in the
organization of the
>>>>>>>> Wikimedia Hackathon and the hackathon at Wikimania, we
want to
> focus
>>> better
>>>>>>>> on new developers onboarding and retention. In every
Hackathon we
>>> meet many
>>>>>>>> new developers, but the retention rates are very low. We
want to
>>> review
>>>>>>>> what we can do before, during, and after these
apparently
> successful
>>> events
>>>>>>>> in order to retain newcomers better. One hypothesis is
that we
>>> should focus
>>>>>>>> call for participation, scholarships, and Wikimedia
Foundation
>>>>>>>> participation in providing a great experience to new
volunteers
who
>>> have
>>>>>>>> gone through local and regional events, and also
"junior"
> developers
>>> coming
>>>>>>>> from wiki projects through the development of bots,
gadgets,
tools,
>>>>>>>> templates.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> A smaller and more focused Wikimedia Developer Summit
>>>>>>>> After some discussions between Community Engagement,
Technology,
> and
>>>>>>>> Product, we have decided to propose a different approach
for the
>>> Wikimedia
>>>>>>>> Developer Summit. Organized by the Technology department
as part
of
>>> their technical
>>>>>>>> community building
>>>>>>>>
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_
>>> Annual_Plan/2017-2018/Draft/Programs/Technology#Program_4:
>>> _Technical_community_building>
>>>>>>>> efforts, we want the Summit to finally become the venue
where the
>>> toughest
>>>>>>>> technical problems are discussed between the stakeholders
directly
>>> related.
>>>>>>>> We want to reduce the size/budget of the event, separate
it from
> the
>>> WMF
>>>>>>>> AllHands,
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Due to travel budget considerations, the Summit still might
be
>>> connected to
>>>>>>> the WMF AllHands.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> and define its main themes well in advance.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> A Program
Committee<https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T160996>
>>> would
>>>>>>>> decide these main themes to be discussed at the Summit.
We also
> want
>>> to
>>>>>>>> explore the possibility of tackling some of these themes
at the
>>> Wikimedia
>>>>>>>> Hackathon and Wikimania, where we could get most
stakeholders
>>> involved with
>>>>>>>> just a little extra effort (since many of them would be
attending
>>> anyway).
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> We believe that this approach will serve better the
Wikimedia
>>> technical
>>>>>>>> community that we have, and also the the community that
we want
to
> have,
>>>>>> with a new wave of developers joining our various projects.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> --
>>>>>> Quim Gil
>>>>>> Engineering Community Manager @ Wikimedia Foundation
>>>>>>
http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User:Qgil
>>>>>>
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