Wikimedia Hackathon 2019/Program

The Wikimedia Hackathon is run as an unconference which means that most sessions are proposed at or just before the event.

We will have some pre-planned orientation sessions for newcomers so please check this page again later.



Focus areas
Participants are completely free to choose their project(s) during the event but we propose several areas of special interest for this year's hackathon. They reflect some of the main challenges faced by local Wikimedia communities, projects and organisations:


 * 1) New editor experiences | All new Wikipedia editors must learn the technical side of MediaWiki environment, which has over years become more complex and sometimes less intuitive. Findings in this field were recently summarized in New Editor Experiences reports (and taken over by the Growth team). Some are of technical nature and could inspire participants of this year's hackathon to improve the technical environment used by thousands of editors worldwide.
 * 2) Mobile contributions to Wikimedia Commons | Taking pictures for Wikipedia is one of the simplest ways of contributing. We have a fantastic team of volunteer developers from all over the world working on the Wikimedia Commons mobile android app. A lot of work still remains to improve code quality, add some of the most requested new features and promote the app among potential users. We need a team with a very diverse set of skills to keep making this app better.
 * 3) Tool for teaching with Wikipedia | The Program & Events Dashboard is a tool used to administer Wikipedia courses – allowing students to enrol, list Wikipedia articles they work on and collect feedback, among other things. However, the tool does not always get the attention it deserves. We will work with the Wikipedia Education community to define the most pressing issues of this tool, meaning your work will be extremely appreciated by teachers all over the world.

Phabricator Workboard
Do you have a project idea, training topic idea or session idea? Add it to our Phabricator workboard: https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/tag/wikimedia-hackathon-2019/

Changes from previous years
In Prague we will have fewer meeting room spaces than we have had in previous years, but instead we will have all sorts of unique and flexible spaces like lounges with bean bags, reservable outside spaces, a cafe with tables saved for us, and a quiet room. Because of this we are asking session leaders and organizers to help us come up with creative ways to organize their sessions that hey would like to run. We WILL have regular reservable meeting rooms with projectors, so that format is still available for those that need it.

Some ideas


 * Try to reduce your need for projectors
 * Consider holding your session at a larger hacking table at a specific time
 * Consider allowing other participants to sign up for 1:1 discussion time-slots with you around your specific topic instead of holding a larger session.
 * We will have quite a few more details about our space available soon.
 * Please share any ideas or questions you have about creative uses of the hackathon space with the organizers. If your idea is great, we would love to share it with other session organizers. If you have a problem that we can help solve, just ask.
 * Discuss newcomer session organization logistics in this task: https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T219207

How to schedule a session
Please do not schedule sessions yet on our program. We organize this event as an unconference, which means that all sessions are scheduled at the event itself or in the 2 weeks leading up to the event (so don't worry at all that the program below is not filled out yet !). Once the program is open for scheduling, we will include details here on how to schedule.

If you would like to see an example of what the final program might look like, please check out last years program.

If you have any questions or would like some support please email us!

Thursday, 16 May:
Participants arrive into Prague


 * Participants can self organize or travel from the airport together using this etherpad
 * Thursday night welcome event (more details soon)

Friday, 17 May: Hackathon starts
Participant will get a chance to schedule sessions here unconference style, but please wait to do so until mid-May (1-2 weeks before the hackathon) when we will open the schedule.

Saturday, 18 May: Hacking all day!
Participant will get a chance to schedule sessions here unconference style, but please wait to do so until mid-May (1-2 weeks before the hackathon) when we will open the schedule.

Sunday, 19 May: Hacking & Hackathon closing
Participant will get a chance to schedule sessions here unconference style, but please wait to do so until mid-May (1-2 weeks before the hackathon) when we will open the schedule.

Monday, 20 May: Participants leave Prague / Editathon

 * WMCZ partnering with local group to organize a two day editathon around "Brave women during the fight for democracy", this will take place on the Univerisity campus in Prague. Hackathon participants are welcome
 * Participants staying around Prague can self organize or travel to the airport together using this ether-pad

Tuesday, 21 May: Editathon continues and participants self-organize

 * "Brave women during the fight for democracy" edithon continues (more details soon)
 * Participants staying around Prague can self organize using this ether-pad