Evaluating MediaWiki web API client libraries

This is a placeholder for Frances Hocutt's |Evaluating MediaWiki Web API Client Libraries project.

Evaluating MediaWiki web API client libraries

 * Public URL: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Evaluating_MediaWiki_web_API_client_libraries
 * Bugzilla report: (link to the related report at http://bugzilla.wikimedia.org )
 * Announcement: http://article.gmane.org/gmane.science.linguistics.wikipedia.technical/76046

Name and contact information

 * Name: Frances Hocutt
 * Email: franceshocutt@gmail.com
 * IRC or IM networks/handle(s): fhocutt
 * Web Page / Blog / Microblog / Portfolio: http://franceshocutt.com / http://twitter.com/franceshocutt
 * Resume (optional): http://franceshocutt.com/cv/
 * Location: Seattle, WA, USA
 * Typical working hours: between 1 pm and 2 am PDT (can move earlier if more convenient)

Synopsis

 * Possible mentors: Sumana Harihareswara, Co-mentor Tollef Fog Heen, Technical Advisers Merlijn van Deen and Brad Jorsch.

Deliverables
Please describe the details and the timeline of the work you plan to accomplish on the project you are most interested in (discuss these first with the mentor of the project):

Participation
How I plan to communicate progress:
 * Daily videochats with my mentor
 * Weekly updates detailing how I've made progress towards my goals (posted where?)

Where I plan to publish documents/source code:
 * My public github repo for code
 * Draft wiki pages for documentation

How I plan to ask for help:
 * Look at relevant documentation to find a starting point to ask from
 * For questions that don't need so much background information: ask on IRC, then on wikitech-l or other applicable mailing list if that doesn't work
 * For questions on personal progress, community norms, etc: email my mentors and ask
 * For questions that would benefit from more eyes and voices but aren't suitable for IRC: email wikitech-l

About you

 * Education completed or in progress:


 * University of Washington, MS, Chemistry, 2012 – June 2014 (planned graduation date).
 * University of Washington, MS, Materials Science and Engineering, 2010 – 2012.
 * Harvey Mudd College, BS with distinction, Chemistry, 2003 – 2007.


 * How did you hear about this program?

I first heard about the OPW through Twitter—@callbackwomen, @ashedryden, and @hypatiadotca all promoted it. I didn't think that the program would be a good fit for me until Sumana Harihareswara reached out to me with encouragement and a few project suggestions. I realized that evaluating and contributing to API client libraries would be a good fit for my skills and goals, and I was excited to get the chance to work with Sumana.


 * Will you have any other time commitments, such as school work, another job, planned vacation, etc., during the duration of the program?

I will be attending OSBridge June 24–27 and volunteering there. I will definitely be traveling June 19–22; I may leave as early as June 15.


 * We advise all candidates eligible to Google Summer of Code and FOSS Outreach Program for Women to apply for both programs. Are you planning to apply to both programs and, if so, with what organization(s)?

I will not be enrolled during the Spring 2014 quarter, so I will not be eligible for Google Summer of Code.

I am passionate about tools and I define "tools" broadly. No matter what discipline, I usually find myself making tools, sharing them, making them better, and teaching other people how to use them.
 * Why I want to make this project happen:

As a chemist, I [pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jo100392x developed a new reaction]--a new tool for forming chemical bonds--optimized the reaction conditions, and tested it with a range of input-chemicals to find what types of chemicals would lead to high yields of product and what types would lead to none. As a handspinner, I've started modeling the mechanical relationships that let my spinning wheel vary the twist and tension on the forming thread. As a hackerspace organizer, I notice where tools for communication and collaboration can fit into our workflow, and along with the other members I try to find what works best.

The MediaWiki platform is another tool. Wikis enable collaboration, easy sharing of information, and user-built databases that have the potential to continually improve through the small contributions of many. By improving the MediaWiki API client libraries, I would make it easier to users and maintainers to access these wikis and use the data in them for their own purposes. By evaluating the libraries and selecting the best, I would inform potential users which of these tools are the most effective and the easiest to use. As I completed my evaluation I would offer a clear roadmap for improvement. In the final portion of this project I would improve one of these libraries with bugfixes and more documentation. I would, finally, make one of these tools as easy and effective to use as I could.

Past experience

 * Please describe your experience with any other FOSS projects as a user and as a contributor:

User: Ubuntu and programs that run on it; Perl and Python; many others.

Contributor: Wikipedia, mostly anonymously, and am getting started on Dreamwidth development.


 * Please describe any relevant projects that you have worked on previously and what knowledge you gained from working on them (include links):

I have recently started development work for the Dreamwidth journaling platform. I checked out my first bug recently, and will submit a patch soon. I wasn't familiar with Perl, so I'm learning that as I work on this. When I'm more familiar with the codebase I plan to contribute to the ongoing project of converting sections of the codebase from a custom markup language to Template Toolkit.
 * Dreamwidth

Last May, a small group of us started the Seattle Attic, the first hacker/makerspace explicitly founded on feminist principles. This project is not F/OSS related (beyond fostering in-person collaboration and communication (dreamwidth hack day)) but it is a space founded on open culture, and my contributions to it are relevant here. I wrote our code of conduct, our bylaws, and our statement of values. All of these are essentially community documentation. I brought Seattle Attic policies/bylaws/community documentation. Writing clearly and persuasively for a community organization; clearly stating its values; describing expected behavior; bringing together many sources, taking what I need from each, and making them consistent.
 * Seattle Attic Community Workshop


 * What project(s) are you interested in (these can be in the same or different organizations)?

I am most interested in the Evaluating MediaWiki web API client libraries project with the Wikimedia Foundation.