Season of Docs/2024

Wikimedia is participating in Season of Docs 2024.

About Season of Docs

Google Season of Docs provides grants to technical writers to work on documentation for open-source software projects. Grants range from $5,000 to $15,000 USD depending on the project's budget.

In 2024, the Wikimedia Foundation will select one project and hire one technical writer to complete the project.

Project description

To learn about the documentation project we've chosen for Season of Docs, see Season of Docs/2024/Proposal.

Selected proposal

For this year's project, we've selected the proposal from Network-charles. Thanks to everyone who submitted a statement of interest!

Program timeline

February 26	Done Start proposing and discussing project ideas. Technical writers start submitting statements of interest.
March 22	Done Deadline for project ideas and comments
April 1	Done Organization admins announce the selected project and submit the organization application
April 10	🎉 We were accepted! Google announces accepted organizations
April 28	Done Deadline for technical writers to submit statements of interest
May 10	Done Organization admins announce selected technical writer
May 20	Done Technical writer starts working on the documentation project
November 22	Done Deadline for technical writer to complete the documentation project
December 10	Deadline for organization administrators to submit the final project evaluation
December 13	Google announces program results

Project ideas

The period for proposing ideas is now closed. To learn about the selected documentation project, see Season of Docs/2024/Proposal.

Proposed ideas

1. Complete migration of MediaWiki documentation Status: Accepted Open-source software project: MediaWiki Problem MediaWiki.org is the documentation wiki for MediaWiki: an open-source wiki platform used by Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects, as well as by many other organizations and projects. Before MediaWiki.org existed, MediaWiki documentation was stored on a different wiki: Meta-Wiki (also called Meta). Since MediaWiki.org was established as the official wiki for MediaWiki documentation, most MediaWiki documentation pages on Meta have been moved to MediaWiki.org. However, there are still some pages on Meta that contain MediaWiki documentation. In most cases, these pages cannot be imported directly to MediaWiki.org because of licensing restrictions or because a corresponding page already exists on MediaWiki.org. This duplication makes it harder for users of MediaWiki to find the information they need and harder for documentation writers to maintain the docs, and as a result the Meta pages have often become very outdated. There is also some documentation on Meta that relates to MediaWiki but is specific to how MediaWiki is used on Wikimedia projects. This content should stay on Meta, while duplication between the two wikis should be reduced as much as possible. Here is an example of pages that show the correct separation of content between the two wikis: Extension:MassMessage and Help:Extension:MassMessage on MediaWiki.org contain documentation that can be applied to any MediaWiki instance. meta:MassMessage on Meta contains information about using MassMessage on Wikimedia wikis. Other examples include: Extension:FlaggedRevs, Help:Extension:FlaggedRevs, and meta:Flagged Revisions Extension:UrlShortener, Help:Extension:UrlShortener, and meta:Wikimedia URL Shortener Scope The scope of this project includes: For pages listed under Project:MediaWiki_documentation_on_Meta-Wiki/List#Has_MediaWiki.org_equivalent, compare the Meta page with its MediaWiki.org equivalent, and add any missing information to the MediaWiki.org page. For pages listed under Project:MediaWiki_documentation_on_Meta-Wiki/List#No_MediaWiki.org_equivalent, create a MediaWiki.org page that covers the content on the Meta page. For pages listed under Project:MediaWiki_documentation_on_Meta-Wiki/List#Actually_WMF-specific, review the pages for usability, and design and implement an organization to make these pages easy to discover and maintain. Note that moving content from Meta to MediaWiki.org will usually involve re-writing the content instead of simply copying it due to licensing restrictions. The scope of this project does not include: Pages listed on Project:MediaWiki documentation on Meta-Wiki/List as obsolete or orphaned Content on MediaWiki.org unrelated to the topics covered by the pages on Project:MediaWiki documentation on Meta-Wiki/List Measuring success Reduce the number of pages that need to be moved to MediaWiki.org (either partially or completely) from 91 to 0. Organize the MediaWiki-related pages remaining on Meta to make them easier to use and maintain. Skills Must have: Knowledge of how to use MediaWiki and wikitext, or a willingness to learn See also phab:T181380 Project:MediaWiki documentation on Meta-Wiki 2. Integrate new hooks system into the MediaWiki docs Status: Declined Open-source software project: MediaWiki Problem In 2020, MediaWiki 1.35 introduced a new system of handling hooks. Hooks are a powerful interface in MediaWiki that allows many extensions to interact with Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects (as well as MediaWiki instances used by many other organizations and projects). Although widely used, this new hook system is not well integrated into hook documentation on MediaWiki.org. Improving documentation of the new hook system on will improve the completeness and accuracy of the MediaWiki docs and make it easier for the Wikimedia technical community to build tools that help maintain Wikimedia projects. Scope The scope of this project includes: Audit the hook documentation on MediaWiki.org (such as Manual:Hooks and individual hook pages such as Manual:Hooks/PageSaveComplete and in the git:mediawiki/core repository to identify places where documentation for the new hooks system needs to be added or emphasized. Evaluate the ability of the hook documentation to help developers get started using hooks, and create content to make that experience better. Identify duplication, and propose strategies for making the docs easier to maintain. The scope of this project does not include: Documentation of extensions Measuring success 100% of hook documentation pages identified during the content audit include information about the new hook system Skills Must have: Ability to follow a programming style guide and format code samples that comply with it Basic command line skills Knowledge of how to use MediaWiki and wikitext, or a willingness to learn Ability to use git version control systems, or a willingness to learn Basic knowledge of PHP, or a willingness to learn See also "Converting an extension to the new hook system" by Daniel Kinzler from the 2021 Wikimedia Hackathon phab:T252060 phab:T157757 phab:T222477

Submitting a technical writer statement of interest

Make sure to read Google's technical writer guide.

The period to submit a statement of interest is now closed. Thanks to everyone who participated!

To apply for Season of Docs:

1. Read the project proposal, and write a statement of interest using Google's statement of interest template. Make sure your statement of interest includes a detailed description of how you would approach the project, a timeline for your work, and a budget that follows Google's budget guidelines.
2. If you don't have one already, create a Wikimedia account.
3. Log in to Phabricator (Wikimedia's task tracking system) using your Wikimedia account by selecting the MediaWiki log-in option.
4. Create a task with your statement of interest in the task description. Make sure your task is tagged with #Google Season of Docs 2024. Organization admins and others may ask questions by commenting on the task.
5. Leave a comment on the talk page introducing yourself with a link to your task.
6. Watch this page and configure your notification preferences to receive updates about the program.

Volunteering to support a project

The period to volunteer to support a project is now closed.

Google offers a stipend of $500 USD to community members who help answer questions, review work, and generally take on a considerable mentorship or guidance role in the selected documentation project. If you're interested in helping support a project, leave a comment on the talk page.

Organization administrators

• User:APaskulin (WMF)
• User:OOnifade-WMF

Contact

Feel free to reach out to us with questions by leaving a comment on the talk page. We'll be posting official announcements to the talk page and updating this page as the program progresses.