User:SSethi (WMF)/Sandbox/Technical contributors workshop

This page documents the research for designing a workshop for technical contributors to small and large wikis.

Goals
The goal of this workshop would be to train technical contributors on developing bots, tools, gadgets etc. so that they are better equipped to:


 * 1) Serve the technical requests of their language wiki in any of these areas
 * 2) Empower other members of their wiki community to address the technical needs
 * 3) Grow their language wiki
 * 4) Build a network of technical contributors within Wikimedia who could share best practices on developing technical solutions and learn from one another

= Preliminary research =

Who is a technical contributor in the context of this project?
A technical contributor in the context of this project is someone who addresses the technical needs of their wiki community members (site administrators, editors, content moderators, event organizers) and contribute to the growth of their language wiki.

What kinds of technical requests small or large wikis receive or address?
So far from the 33 requests addressed by IndicTechCom, technical requests received by small or large wikis can be categorized into following areas:


 * Enhancing existing or fixing broken user script of gadgets. Some example(s):
 * Enhanced version of Twinkle for reverting, rollbacking and restoring a version.
 * Developing or enabling user scripts or gadgets. Some example(s):
 * User script for floatable buttons to avoid carpal tunnel syndrome
 * User script for renaming files and auto-replacing them on Bengali Wiki
 * Add cite templates to toolbar in Telugu Wiktionary
 * QR code generator
 * Enabling or developing small extensions. Some example(s):
 * Enabling translate extension for Tamil Wiktionary
 * Developing a count down clock
 * Developing tools or bots. Some example(s):
 * Wikisource proofreading statistics for Indic languages (see example)

Who benefits from the technical solutions and in what ways?
By gaining access to the technical solutions, a wiki community members (editors, translators, site administrators, content moderators, patrollers, event organizers) get a personalized user experience, can do their work efficiently and make informed decisions on the next steps for their projects.

What challenges do the technical contributors currently have while addressing these technical requests?

 * Navigating requests, developing solutions for which would violate wiki policy.
 * Navigating requests that are not technically feasible
 * A technical implementation that is beyond the scope of technical contributors work — for example, making changes in a tool hosted on Toolforge that doesn't have active contributors/maintainers currently.
 * Slow response from Wikimedia developers on requests for code review, deployment or technical support.

Which communities have the most active technical contributors?

 * TODO

Which language communities have run initiatives to collect or serve technical requests?

 * IndicTechCom - With support from CIS-A2K, a group of volunteers are running the Indic-TechCom project to support Indic Wikimedia projects and the community: Indic-TechCom

Who should we collaborate with?

 * Jayprakash + CIS + Indic-TechCom

= Workshop design = Some rough ideas:


 * Take different examples (easy, medium, complex) of the requests already served by Indic-TechCom to develop tutorials around gadgets, user scripts, bots, etc.
 * A tentative plan until Wikimania for a day-long workshop for technical contributors.

= References =


 * https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Indic-TechCom


 * https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wishlists
 * https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Technical_wishlist (NW: I think this should be Developer Wishlist?)
 * https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Small_Wiki_Monitoring_Team/Tools