Hackathons/Wikimania 2017 Lessons Learned

This page is a combination of feedback from a survey sent to participants and ideas from the organizers.

For more information about the event please see: https://wikimania2017.wikimedia.org/wiki/Hackathon

Background on Feedback Survey

• This feedback about the Wikimania Hackathon 2017 was a section in the main Wikimania feedback survey which was shown only to respondents who indicated that they had attended the hackathon.
• The survey was first sent out on <ADD DATE>
• 52 people responded to the Hackathon Feedback Survey

Qualitative Feedback

This feedback is based on fill in the blank comments, grouped into similar themes, interoperated by rfarrand and listed in order of most-commented

Mentoring Program and Newcomers

What worked well with the mentoring program?

• Good mentors
• Visible
• Matching interests
• Results achieved
• Met people
• Got help
• Learned
• Telegram worked
• Posters worked

What should be improved about the mentoring program?

• Not enough mentees / not enough mentees in my area
• More projects
• Whiteboards instead of paper
• Where to go for different programming language help
• Helpdesk and mentoring area should be close
• After poster session newcomers had time finding mentors

Questions for Newcomers

How did you experience the amount of new information you got? (e.g. I wanted more, I felt overwhelmed, I followed along well)

• I followed along well / it was the right amount / good: 15 people
• Wanted more information: 2 people
• Wanted less information: 2 people
• Didn't get much new info: 1 person

How did you experience the social atmosphere?

• It was good / something positive: 18 people
• Mentions the friendly atmosphere: 4 people
• Hard to meet people: 3 people

After attending the hackathon, would you feel prepared enough to keep working on MediaWiki projects?

• Yes: 17 people
• I am already paid to do this: 2 people
• Not yet: 2 people
• Not specifically on mediawiki: 1 person
• probably: 1 person

What was the most interesting conversation which you had with other community members?

Programs and Collaboration

Opening / Closing Sessions

Sessions/Schedule

Accomplishments

Anything else?

Quantitate Feedback

This is data straight from the feedback survey

How would you describe your experience as a developer?

(Choose the option that best describes your experience level)

52 responses

• I am not a developer: 17.3%
• Beginner (just starting out): 9.6%
• Intermediate (less than 5 years) 21.2%
• Advanced (more than 5 years or have a high level of knowledge in my area): 51.9%

Including this event, how many Wikimedia or Wikimania hackathons have you attended?

52 responses

• 1: 13.5%
• 2: 13.5%
• 3: 17.3%
• 4:7.7%
• 5: 5.8%
• 6 or more: 42.3%

How would you describe your overall experience at the Hackathon?

52 responses

• Very Positive: 48.1%
• Positive: 50%
• Neither Negative nor Positive: 1.9%
• Negative: 0%
• Very Negative: 0%

Mentoring Program and Newcomers

Did you participate in the mentoring and newcomers program

52 responses

• Yes, as a newcomer: 9.6%
• Yes, a mentor: 19.2%
• I helped in another way: 11.5%
• No: 59.6%

If you participated please rate your overall experience with the mentoring program

21 responses

• Very Positive: 19%
• Positive: 38.1%
• Neither Negative nor Positive: 42.9%
• Negative: 0%
• Very Negative: 0%

Questions for Newcomers

Did you also attend the main Wikimania Conference?

39 responses

• Yes: 100%
• No: 0%

How useful did you find the sessions for newcomers?

27 responses

• Completely Useful: 3.7%
• Mostly Useful: 14.8%
• Moderately Useful: 7.4%
• Somewhat Useful: 0%
• Not at all Useful: 0%
• Did not attend: 74.1%

Programs and Collaboration

How useful did you find the skill share board?

50 responses

• Completely Useful: 2%
• Mostly Useful: 18%
• Moderately Useful: 14%
• Somewhat Useful: 4%
• Not at all Useful: 2%
• Did not use: 60%

How was it to find people to work with?

48 responses

• Very Easy: 18.8%
• Easy: 41.7%
• Neither Easy nor Difficult: 33.3%
• Difficult: 6.3%
• Very Difficult: 0%

Did you participate in the volunteering program?

21 responses

• Event Photography: 5 people
• Event Blogging: 2 people
• Host: 0 people
• Mid-event Phabricator and Wiki-updates: 4 people
• Help Desk: 9 people
• Others mentioned in fill-in-the-blank: workshop with skillshare, telegram, session, search and discovery table.

Opening / Closing Sessions

How useful were each of the following sessions?

Hackathon Opening Session

• Not at all: 0
• Somewhat: 4 people
• Moderately: 2 people
• Mostly: 21 people
• Completely: 16 people
• Did not attend: 7 people

Hackathon Showcase Session

• Not at all: 0
• Somewhat: 1 person
• Moderately: 2 people
• Mostly: 13 people
• Completely: 17 people
• Did not attend: 18 people

Sessions/Schedule

How satisfied were you with the selection of breakout sessions?

42 responses

• 1 (not satisfied): 0%
• 2: 0%
• 3: 21.4%
• 4: 61.9%
• 5: 16.7%

Accomplishments

51 responses (people could answer more than one response)

• Improved a Community Wishlist task: 6
• Wrote code for a new tool or project: 14
• Added features to an existing tool: 20
• Fixed bugs: 24
• Created templates: 2
• Answered research questions: 9
• Worked on  research / analytics: 7
• Agreed on a solution to an old problem: 21
• Discussed future plans in a formal meeting: 17
• 16 other responses in fill-in-the-blank

Anything else?

Attending this event was worth my time

• Strongly agree: 34 people
• Agree: 15 people
• Neither Agree or disagree: 2 people
• Disagree: 0 people
• Strongly disagree: 1 person

The opportunity to meet fellow developers and Wikimedians was valuable to me

• Strongly agree: 46 people
• Agree: 5 people
• Neither Agree or disagree: 1 person
• disagree: 0
• Strongly disagree: 0

I would like to attend this event again next year.

• Strongly agree: 36
• Agree: 15
• Neither Agree or disagree: 0
• disagree: 0
• Strongly disagree: 0