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Grants:IdeaLab/Hackerspace

From Meta, a Wikimedia project coordination wiki
status: idea
project:
Hackerspace
idea creator:
project contact:
wikiocaasi(_AT_)yahoo.com
participants:
summary:
A central meeting place for people to find coders to help build tools and make projects happen.
created on: 13:11, 11 July 2013

Project idea

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If I want to make Wikipedia better, and I have an idea but I can't code it myself, where do I go? I could try #wikimedia-tech on irc, or the Wikitech-l mailing list, or an active tech board like The Village Pump (tech). Still, all of these options just put me where coders generally lurk and hang out. If I try and get help for a technical bug, those are great places. BUT, if I want a collaborator on an extended project, it's very hard to find out who has the skills I'm looking for and people who are interested in taking on such projects. Hackerspace would be a place to do just that--to connect big thinking idea folks and community organizers, with talented and motivated coders who want to take on new projects, apply their skills, and learn even more about their technical talents.

Project goals

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As a result of this projects, Wikipedia's amazing technical resources among its volunteers could be harnessed to build tools and make projects happen for people who need technical collaborators. This should allow more advanced concepts to come to fruitition and give technical editors a chance to make a broad impact with their skills.

Open questions

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Where would Hackerspace live? On Meta? As part of IdeaLab? Or would it be best on an English Wikipedia page since that's quite active?

  • What about MediaWiki, #wikimedia-dev, and the tech email lists? --Pine 06:02, 15 July 2013 (UTC)
  • I don't think that MediaWiki is very user-friendly if you aren't an experienced developer. So, it depends on who you see making use of this HackerSpace, who you are trying to attract. Go to the location where those users hang out and create a space there. For instance, I don't know anyone who uses IRC but maybe it is popular among programmers, I don't know. I guess my suggestion is to focus on who you are designing this for and go to where they are already at (or, instead, a neutral location like Meta). Liz (talk) 21:12, 3 June 2014 (UTC)

Get involved

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