Wikimedia Hackathon 2023/Participate

The Wikimedia Hackathon takes place on May 19-21, 2023 in Athens, Greece. Most of the event will take place onsite, but some elements of the program will be broadcasted online. Local communities are also welcome to organize pre-hackathon events or meetups. On this page you can find information about how to attend, the venue, travel, accommodation, and scholarships.

The event attendance is free of charge. Participants are expected to take care of their own travel and accommodation, unless they receive a scholarship or support from within their organization (e.g. staff of WMF or other affiliates).

In order to ensure the safety and health of onsite participants, we will apply some COVID19-related rules. These rules will be defined ahead of time, and will probably include self-testing at the beginning of each day and wearing masks in closed spaces.

Registration
The registration form will open by December 12th at the latest, and will remain open until we reach the maximum capacity of the venue (around 220 people).

Scholarships
In order to support the technical community and to increase diversity among participants, the Wikimedia Foundation runs a scholarship program that will support a selection of technical contributors to allow them to attend the onsite event by taking care of their travel and accommodation.

The scholarship application process is open from registration opening to January 10th, 2023, as part of the registration process. Recipients will be notified at the latest on January 31st so they can proceed with travel booking and visa requests if needed.

The scholarship program aims to support engaged members of the technical community. We will prioritize people who have been contributing to the technical environment of the Wikimedia projects for at least one year. Contributors from underrepresented communities are especially encouraged to submit a scholarship application.

The scholarship committee is composed of Léa Lacroix, Srishti Sethi, Ariel Glenn and Marios Magioladitis, and will review scholarship applications and rank participants based on the following criteria:
 * Active involvement in technical projects in Wikimedia's ecosystem
 * Plans and projects for the Hackathon
 * Geographic/Gender diversity

Please note that full time Wikimedia staff members are not eligible for a scholarship. If you’re WMF staff, please refer to the internal selection process or talk to your manager regarding your attendance.

Target audience
The 2023 edition of the Wikimedia Hackathon will focus on bringing together people who already contributed to technical aspects of the Wikimedia projects, who know how to find their way on the technical ecosystem, and who are able to work or collaborate on projects rather autonomously.

This is a change to the previous “one-fits-all-model”. There are multiple reasons why we want to try something new, based on lessons learned from previous Wikimedia Hackathons and other tech events and workshops:
 * Hosting an event that allows already active and regular technical contributors to connect, work with each other, learn new things and have very specific technical discussions, while also onboarding people new to Wikimedia and/or development to get started has been quite a big stretch.
 * Wikimedia’s technical ecosystem spans many different technical areas and has endless options to contribute and to learn. We need a space where our existing technical community across skills, interests and expertise can come together to connect, hack, and learn from each other.
 * Workshops and smaller events designed around specific skills and technical areas seem to be a better way to help people get started. For example, regular local tech meetups, initiatives like Small Wiki Toolkits, newcomer focused tech sessions at Wikimania, local or regional conferences with a tech track, or a local hackathon for newcomers with focus on a specific field.
 * The international Wikimedia Hackathon isn’t best suited to onboard and build up new local technical communities - it’s a venue to bring people from all over the world together, who might act as bridges to their local communities.

Other events in the Wikimedia Movement are targeted at newcomers: people who are new to Wikimedia and/or development are welcome to attend Wikimania 2023, where technical sessions will take place, or other newcomers-friendly events (feel free to add more to the list).

Practically, we are welcoming all participants up to the maximum capacity of the venue, and for the scholarship selection process, we require applicants to demonstrate that they have been active on technical projects for at least one year. The program will include a project matching session during the opening, and introductions to various tools and projects, but we will not run a mentoring program for newcomers. Participants are expected to be able to propose or join projects and to start hacking autonomously.

Venue, accommodation, travel
More information about the venue, the accommodation options, and tips to travel to Athens will be added here in the upcoming months.