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Research:Labs2/Hackathons/November 9th, 2013/Meetups/Seattle, WA

< Research:Labs2 | Hackathons | November 9th, 2013 | Meetups
Hosted by: Jtmorgan

Location: Seattle, WA

Attendees

...add your name here

Jtmorgan will organize an event from 9am - 5pm in room #420 of Sieg Hall on the University of Washington campus. You can show up for part of the day or the whole thing, and anyone is welcome to attend!

To sign up for this event, please add your name to this list. Or if you prefer, you can leave a message on Jonathan's talk page or email him at jmo25 uw edu.

Hackathon info

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The inaugural Wiki Research Hackathon is happening in less than 1 week! Thanks for your interest--I look forward to meeting you and/or hanging out, catching up, and exploring the wonderful world of Wikipedia together.

The Seattle group will include a diverse set of people--Wikipedia editors, students, and the wiki-curious--and I think we'll benefit from the diversity of our experience. I've provided some some information and a rough schedule for the hackathon day below.

Schedule (subject to change)

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9 - 930am — Arrive
meet & greet (there will be coffee!)
930 - 10am — Introduce
who we are, why we're here, what we're interested in
10am - 12pm — Plot and Plan
agenda-setting, technical tutorial, and cooperative brainstorming. Around 11am we'll shoot the breeze for a while with some of the other sites in a big group Hangout.
12 - 1245pm
Learn: presentation by Haitham Shamaa, (Global South Learning Strategist, Wikimedia Foundation) on a new Wikipedia network visualization tool
1245 - 130pm — Eat
Pizza and soft drinks (veggie options available). While we eat, Jonathan will go over some of the other research resources available for us to use.
130 - 330pm — Hack
continue group/individual work
330pm — Report out and round up
We'll talk about what we did, and what we want to do next.
4pm - ∞ — Riff
groups can continue working in the hackathon space in Sieg Hall as long as they like, though the building will be locked after 5. Jonathan will be available until 5 for questions, discussion and morale support.

Frequently Asked Questions

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What do I need to bring?

Bring a laptop computer and a charger. And probably a pen and paper for note-taking. Wifi access codes will be available for all participants who don't have UW logins.

Other than that, bring questions and ideas!

What if I can only be there in the [morning/afternoon]?

The research hackathon is a casual affair. It's fine if you can only make it for part of the day. The morning session is probably the most important. If you have to choose, attending the morning session will probably be more useful for understanding Wikipedia and wiki-research in general.

Do I need to do anything to prepare?

There are no necessary preparations, but here are a couple of recommendations.

  • If you don't have a Wikipedia account, create one. The same account works across all Wikimedia-sponsored sites.
  • If you're interested in running MySQL queries against databases of Wikipedia (useful for, say, figuring out who the primary contributors to the article on the University of Washington are), you should get a head start by creating a free Wikimedia Labs account. Some good instructions are available here. Ping me if you get stuck (I got stuck!).
Will we talk about [insert topic here]?

If you want to talk about a topic, we can! That's what the agenda-setting session is for: we will figure out what we're interested in learning and doing, and then we do it.

A few of the many possible topics for conversation & hacking include:

  • Wikipedia data (analysis, visualization, uses)
  • history and culture
  • qualitative research methods
  • quantitative research methods
  • designing tools to support the community and its mission
  • previous research on Wikipedia
  • the Wikipedia gender gap
  • user experience
  • research ethics
  • starting a new research project
  • getting involved in existing projects
Can I work with someone at one of the other hackathons?

We'll be syncing up with some of the other sites via Google Hangout at 11am, so you'll get to meet some of the other participants. There will be other Google Hangouts and an IRC channel for the Hackathon open throughout the day as well, if you want to work directly with someone from another site or ask questions. Because some of the hackathons are happening on the other side of the world, our day won't overlap completely with theirs. But you will be able to work and connect with anyone from the other sites (as well as virtual participants) at any time throughout the day, as long as you're both awake and online.

Will there be lunch?

Yes! :) Pizza, soda and coffee are provided courtesy of the University of Washington Department of Communication and Professor Benjamin "Mako" Hill, who will be in Germany at the time, but will be with us in spirit.

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