Grants:Project/Rapid/SuperHamster/Hackathon 2022 District of Columbia

Briefly explain what are you trying to accomplish with this project, or what do you expect will change as a result of this grant. Example goals include, "recruit new editors", "add high quality content", or "train existing editors on a specific skill".

The Wikimedia Hackathon 2022 is an international event taking place online, with local in-person events too. In Washington D.C., we have a strong network of Wikimedians and GLAM professionals, including technical specialists, that we would like to bring together to network and collaborate on technical projects.

This project is to host a collaborative space for Washington D.C. locals to participate in the Wikimedia Hackathon 2022, to result in the development of new and existing technical projects. We will also host trainings for both hackathon participants and local GLAM professionals on topics related to Wikidata, SPARQL, and other technical topics in the Wikimedia space. We hope that GLAM professionals who attend our trainings will be encouraged to stay for the hacking session to collaborate, practice, and work on new projects.

This is an individual grant application. The event will be hosted in partnership with Wikimedia District of Columbia.

Project Plan[edit]

Activities[edit]

Tell us how you'll carry out your project. What will you and other organizers spend your time doing?

On Friday evening (May 20), we will host a pre-hackathon social for participants to meet each other and discuss potential projects to collaborate on for the hackathon. This will likely take place in a private room at a local restaurant or GLAM institution.
Through Saturday (May 21), we will host a hackathon and instruction space. This includes...
- ...a comfortable, open, and flexible area for participants to collaborate and work on projects for the hackathon.
- ...a classroom setting for trainings on technical subjects (Wikidata, SPARQL, etc.) for both hackathon participants and GLAM professionals.
- ...a closing session for participants to share their projects and learnings from the day.
- ...light snacks and beverages throughout the day.
- ...lunch for all participants.

Sunday is the last day of the hackathon, though we will not have an in-person meet-up on this day. Participants are welcome and encouraged to continue participation remotely. We will have a post-event survey for all participants to gather final feedback and results.

How will you let others in your community know about your project (please provide links to where relevant communities have been notified of your proposal, and to any other relevant community discussions)? Why are you targeting a specific audience?

Wikimedia District of Columbia has a strong network of people in the D.C. area, which includes volunteer Wikimedians and GLAM professionals from over 20 cultural, academic, and government institutional partners (refer to Wikimedia DC's annual report from 2020-21 for a subset of these partners).

The event will be promoted on Wikimedia DC's mailing list; on Wikimedia DC's social media channels; and on-wiki through a geonotice. We will also engage GLAM partners (Smithsonian, National Archives, etc.) to encourage promotion of the event in their networks.

What will you have done at the end of your project? How will you follow-up with people that are involved with your project?

At the end of our project, we plan to have done:

Multiple new technical projects in at least a proof-of-concept state.
Improvement of multiple existing technical projects.
At least three hours of training on technical subjects, including:
- At least one training session to introduce Wikidata.
- At least one training session on querying Wikidata through SPARQL.
- At least one other training session on a technical Wikimedia subject.

All attendees will be registered for the event, and will be contacted after the event to collect feedback and results.

Impact[edit]

How will you know if the project is successful and you've met your goals? Please include the following targets and feel free to add more specific to your project:

Number of total participants: 25
Number of technical projects worked on: At least 4
Number of training sessions: At least 3

Resources[edit]

What resources do you have? Include information on who is the organizing the project, what they will do, and if you will receive support from anywhere else (in-kind donations or additional funding).

The event will be primarily organized by Kevin Payravi (SuperHamster), who has had experience organizing WikiConference North America for several years, as well as several non-Wikimedia hackathon events. Kevin will have support from other members of Wikimedia DC to reserve space, plan logistics, promote the event, and host training sessions.

As Wikimedia DC has many partners in the D.C. area, we expect to receive support (discounts and/or in-kind) from the local institutions we partner with for this event.

What resources do you need? For your funding request, list bullet points for each expense:

Space reservations for Friday night and Saturday, including insurance: $2,000
Friday night drinks and appetizers: $900 ($30/person, 25 people, plus contingency)
Saturday lunch: $500 ($20/person, 25 people)
Saturday snacks, coffee, soda, water: $300
Attendee materials (lanyards, name tags): $50
Office supplies (paper, markers, and other tools to enable collaborative work): $50
Unforeseen costs: $300

Total: $4,100 USD

Due to the short timeframe to plan this activity, we have not yet finalized space and vendors. The budget may be adjusted as these plans are finalized. Through Wikimedia District of Columbia's institutional partners, we hope to reserve space at a discounted (or even free) rate.

Endorsements[edit]