Grants:Project/Rapid/Soni/MediaWiki Hackathon BPHC/Report

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Report accepted
This report for a Rapid Grant approved in FY 2016-17 has been reviewed and accepted by the Wikimedia Foundation.
  • To read the approved grant submission describing the plan for this project, please visit Grants:Project/Rapid/Soni/MediaWiki Hackathon BPHC.
  • You may still comment on this report on its discussion page, or visit the discussion page to read the discussion about this report.
  • You are welcome to Email rapidgrants at wikimedia dot org at any time if you have questions or concerns about this report.

Goals[edit]

Did you meet your goals? Are you happy with how the project went?

Yes, we found the event very successful. The quality of the event was up to the mark according to both participants and facilitators, and we learned a fair amount about organizing more such events.

Outcome[edit]

Please report on your original project targets.


Target outcome Achieved outcome Explanation
Number of participants = 20-30 20 We had 20 participants in the Hackathon, as expected.
Bugs Fixed 5 Patches merged The full list of patches worked on, and bugs fixed can be found at https://etherpad.wikimedia.org/p/WMHBPHC. Out of all the patches worked on during the hackathon, 5 have been already merged.


Learning[edit]

Projects do not always go according to plan. Sharing what you learned can help you and others plan similar projects in the future. Help the movement learn from your experience by answering the following questions:

  • What worked well?

There was a number of things that really worked out with respect to planning. Getting participants to do a set of pre-requisites was a good idea, in terms of making sure everyone started out on the same page. Having a relatively small number of highly interested participants was also good in making sure people were vested in the event.

  • What did not work so well?

There were some minor issues with respect to getting the internet requirements for the Hackathon, which were finally sorted a day or two before the event. It could have ideally be done at least a couple weeks before time so possible delays could be accounted for.

  • What would you do differently next time?

Organise it for a longer period of time. A hackathon is a really good chance for developers to work with each other, but the time constraints are a little less. Plan things out more flexibly. This would allow us to be able to handle last minute problems better, if any.

Finances[edit]

Grant funds spent[edit]

Please describe how much grant money you spent for approved expenses, and tell us what you spent it on.

Title Amount (INR)
Cab travel 5222
Flights 26286
Trains 4201
Total expenses (INR) 36009

The exact amounts for each sub-section (along with the bills) have been mailed to the Grants team.

Remaining funds[edit]

Do you have any remaining grant funds?

No

Anything else[edit]

Anything else you want to share about your project?

All the relevant details about the event, including the final set of Patches submitted (the overall outcome of the event) can be found at https://etherpad.wikimedia.org/p/WMHBPHC

We conducted two small surveys to the facilitators and the participants to gain relevant feedback about how the event went -

WMHBPHC Facilitators Survey

WMHBPHC Facilitators Survey [edit]

All the information collected in this document is accurate as of 29 September 2016 (1200 hrs, UTC). For any clarifications, please contact the User:Soni.

About the Survey[edit]

The survey was aimed at all the facilitators of Wikimedia Hackathon BPHC and is aimed at getting their feedback on all relevant matters.

The survey was hosted on Google Forms at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSey_fjyP0U9Nmu9MZkipnH7E3ZhOi_UbMrB6qheVFhTGxFAEA/viewform?c=0&w=1

The Responses

There were a total of 3 responses from all the facilitators - Abdeali JK, Tony Thomas and Srijan Agarwal.

The Questions

How did it help you as a contributor to Wikimedia?

  • I got to make nice tutorials which I can use in other hackathons, and could test the tutorials out :) Also met lots of interesting people!
  • I came across fresh tactics on how to improve further hackathons, and got to know more what participants like to have from a Hackathon. Glad to meet new contributors, and welcome people to the community.
  • This hackathon was different. Got to know many people, and it would surely help in future, with my presentation skills!

Additional feedback on logistics

  • Internet was a bit of an issue in the beginning. But it did stabilize after a while. Would be nice to have a wifi router capable of 30-40ppl rather than hotspots. wifi on the second day was very good though. Also, the food was awesome!
  • Suchit and team did a great job. Thank you!
  • Suchit was amazing. :)

Any additional comments regarding the sessions or overall agenda?

  • I was a little concerned on the first day because in pywikibot everyone wanted to solve bugs. But in retrospect I think this was my fault that I didn't realize that gsoc was the main reason for the hackathon. I was not prepared to get people to solve bugs. I was planning on getting them to make a script to upload stuff to wikidata. But I think with help from Tony and Srijan the bug solving went well too.
  • Everything went well, just have this opinion that we should focus more on levelling the gender gap! That's it!
  • Could have kept at night too!

How likely will you be to host future Hackathons here? (required)

There were five options for each of these questions

  • Not Very - 1
  • A little - 2
  • Moderately - 3
  • A fair amount - 4
  • Absolutely - 5

  • Absolutely
  • Absolutely
  • A fair amount

Any overall feedback for the event and facilitators?

  • I thought it was an awesome job and very well planned in the time frame given. Very very accomodating and lots of fun to interact with.
  • You people are doing a wonderful job, Thanks a lot for the invite! Please mind the Gender gap, next time ;)

Overall rating for the Hackathon (required)

The rating was from a scale of 1 to 10.

  • 10
  • 9
  • 8

About the Hackathon (required)

There were five options for each of these questions

  • Not Very - 1
  • A little - 2
  • Moderately - 3
  • A fair amount - 4
  • Absolutely - 5

How relevant was the hackathon to the participants?

  • Absolutely
  • A fair amount
  • A fair amount

How prepared were the participants for it?

  • Absolutely
  • A fair amount
  • A fair amount

How much do think they learned from the Hackathon?

  • Absolutely
  • A fair amount
  • A fair amount

Was the quality of the participation good?

  • Absolutely
  • Absolutely
  • A fair amount

How good was the overall output from the conference?

  • Absolutely
  • Absolutely
  • Moderately

How much do think they will continue contributing to Wikimedia projects?

  • A fair amount
  • A fair amount
  • Moderately

How satisfied were you with the Logistics (required)

There were five options for each of these questions

  • Not Very - 1
  • A little - 2
  • Moderately - 3
  • A fair amount - 4
  • Absolutely - 5

Planning

  • Absolutely
  • A fair amount
  • A fair amount

Schedule

  • Absolutely
  • A fair amount
  • Moderately

Transport

  • Absolutely
  • Absolutely
  • A fair amount

Accommodation

  • Absolutely
  • Absolutely
  • A fair amount

Food

  • Absolutely
  • Absolutely
  • Absolutely

Venue of the Hackathon

  • Absolutely
  • Absolutely
  • A fair amount

Electricity and internet arrangements

  • A fair amount
  • A fair amount
  • Moderately
WMHBPHC Participants Survey

WMHBPHC Participants Survey

All the information collected in this document is accurate as of 29 September 2016 (1200 hrs, UTC). For any clarifications, please contact the User:Soni.

About the Survey[edit]

The survey was aimed at all the participants of Wikimedia Hackathon BPHC and is aimed at getting their feedback on all relevant matters.

The survey was hosted on Google Forms at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeDYxWAD-QY2BhsZOxQQ_CV75KLqzuTUcOi4iOwMqAgyUFabQ/viewform?c=0&w=1

The Responses[edit]

There were a total of 14 responses from the participants, all of them anonymous.

The Questions[edit]

Which Hackathon did you participate in?[edit]

  • MediaWiki - 9
  • PyWikibot - 5

Which days of the Hackathon did you attend?[edit]

  • Day 1 - Saturday 24th
  • Day 1 - Saturday 24th, Day 2 - Sunday 25th

About the Hackathon[edit]

There were five options for each of these questions

  • Not Very
  • A little
  • Moderately
  • A fair amount
  • Absolutely

How relevant was the hackathon to you?[edit]

  • Not Very - 1
  • Moderately - 1
  • A fair amount - 7
  • Absolutely - 5

How appropriate were the pre-requisites?[edit]

  • Not Very - 1
  • A little - 1
  • A fair amount - 4
  • Absolutely - 8

How helpful were the facilitators?[edit]

  • Moderately - 1
  • A fair amount - 2
  • Absolutely - 11

How much did you learn from the Hackathon?[edit]

  • A little - 1
  • Moderately - 2
  • A fair amount - 4
  • Absolutely - 7

How likely are you to contribute further to Wikimedia Projects?[edit]

  • Not Very - 1
  • A little - 1
  • Moderately - 1
  • A fair amount - 5
  • Absolutely - 6

What were your key take aways from this event?[edit]

  • Got a feel of Open Source Development
  • People in open source are cool. We need to have a FOSS club in our campus.
  • I got my first patch merged with Mediawiki core and three more in outgoing reviews!
  • How open source contribution is made and what a hackathon comprises of.
  • Got to know a lot about Wikimedia Foundation. I am new to open source development. Learnt how to fix bugs and push them to Gerrit. I even got my one patch merged. I got to know how to behave on the IRC channels. Yes, it was a good start :)
  • Stickers.
  • Learnt how open-source works. Can see possibility of contributing to some org in the future.
  • That community contribution is not unmanageable

How satisfied were you with the logistics?[edit]

There were five options for each of these questions

  • Not Very
  • A little
  • Moderately
  • A fair amount
  • Absolutely

Schedule[edit]

  • A fair amount - 2
  • Absolutely - 14

Venue[edit]

  • A fair amount - 1
  • Absolutely - 13

Electricity and internet arrangements[edit]

  • A little - 1
  • Moderately - 1
  • A fair amount - 3
  • Absolutely - 9

In hackathon snacks[edit]

  • A little - 1
  • Moderately - 1
  • A fair amount - 5
  • Absolutely - 7

Additional feedback on logistics[edit]

  • Should’ve brought more Biscuits. :3
  • Good job, Suchit:)
  • Amazing job at logistics and venue booking. We got lucky with the last minute port unblockings, though that part could have used a better job from us earlier. :/

Did you attend the prerequisite workshops?[edit]

  • Yes - 9
  • No - 5

How helpful was the workshop?[edit]

Answer on a scale of 1-5[edit]

  • 1 - 1
  • 2 - 2
  • 3 - 2
  • 4 - 3
  • 5 - 5

Was the quality of the participation good?[edit]

  • Absolutely
  • Absolutely
  • A fair amount

Any additional comments regarding the sessions or overall agenda?[edit]

  • I wish more people attended the Prerequisite Workshop for PHP.
  • The hackathon seemed really helpful for people who had prior experience in Open Source and PHP. But not so much for someone who wants to LEARN Open Source Development. I kept following the instructions/procedure blindly without knowing what I was doing. I did this till I got tired and finally left after 3 hours. And obviously, I did not turn up on the 25th. The fact that one required greater understanding of PHP, could have been more explicitly established beforehand.
  • Hold the prerequisites sessions like the one on PHP more carefully.

Any overall feedback for the event and facilitators?[edit]

  • Great job Soni and co for bringing this to our campus. I enjoyed meeting the MediaWiki guys and I hope we can get an open source culture with even cough KDE cough in our campus ;)
  • Love!
  • The experience the 3 of them had reflected very well and constructively in what was taught. Technical jargon sent me off a bit!
  • It was perfect. Mentors were too kind and really helpful. That day’s hackathon could not be better than this :) Really excited to have a good amount of open source contributions from my side.
  • The event was very nice and it was a sure shot way to get us hooked into contributing further. Just hoping my changes get merged soon.
  • The event was very nice and it was a sure shot way to get us hooked into contributing further. Just hoping my changes get merged soon.

Overall rating for the Hackathon[edit]

Rating out of 10[edit]

  • 4 - 1
  • 6 - 1
  • 8 - 4
  • 9 - 4
  • 10 - 4