User:SSethi (WMF)/Sandbox/Workshop format

In a regular, small-sized, 2-3 day long workshops for developers new to Wikimedia or university students, here is what we recommend the format to be. Participants get to choose a project and then work on it in a group of 3-5 individuals.  The format is as below:

Day 1

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  • Introduction to Wikimedia movement
  • Overview of Wikimedia tech & Open Source
  • Conduct two small (1-2 hour long) workshops around a newcomer-friendly technical area and project (e.g. Gadgets, MediaWiki APIs, extensions, etc.)

Day 2

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  • REPEAT: Conduct four small (1-2 hour long) workshops around a newcomer-friendly technical area and project (e.g. Bots, Mobile apps, Machine Learning, etc.)
  • Participants form teams based on projects or technical areas they are interested in working on

Day 3

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  • Students start working on projects with help from mentors and developers on IRC. The goal is that each participant fixes one bug.
  • Conduct tutorials for activities that would help students get started on projects: setting up the development environment, learning how to use Wikimedia collaboration tools such as Phabricator, Gerrit, IRC, etc.
  • Skype/ Google hangout calls with 1-2 Wikimedia staff or volunteers to inspire students by sharing their role in the movement and their experience contributing to Wikimedia

Post-workshop follow-up

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  • Participants are offered support to work on projects independently
  • Participants (if eligible) are encouraged to apply for Google Summer of Code and Outreachy.