If you hadn't already heard, php|tek will come with a little something
new this year: an unconference! Keith Casey has been appointed as its
chairman and he's suggested an interesting and rather adventurous
addition to the uncon -- and was crazy enough to put me in charge of
it.
The proposal is for a Hackathon; think of it as TestFest (http://
qa.php.net/testfest.php) meets Bug Hunt Day (http://
www.bughuntday.org). The goal of this event is to get developers of a
few well-known PHP projects together with other PHP developers and
contribute to those projects by triaging and fixing bugs, writing
tests, and ultimately having a great time.
Projects included will depend on interest and presence of project
developers at the conference. Space is limited and reserved to a three-
hour time slot. Logistics of food, beverages, etc. are still being
worked out. For the moment, we'd like to get an idea of who is
attending |tek and would like to participate.
> If you hadn't already heard, php|tek will come with a little something
> new this year: an unconference! Keith Casey has been appointed as its
> chairman and he's suggested an interesting and rather adventurous
> addition to the uncon -- and was crazy enough to put me in charge of
> it.
> The proposal is for a Hackathon; think of it as TestFest (http://
> qa.php.net/testfest.php) meets Bug Hunt Day (http://www.bughuntday.org). The goal of this event is to get developers of a
> few well-known PHP projects together with other PHP developers and
> contribute to those projects by triaging and fixing bugs, writing
> tests, and ultimately having a great time.
> Projects included will depend on interest and presence of project
> developers at the conference. Space is limited and reserved to a three-
> hour time slot. Logistics of food, beverages, etc. are still being
> worked out. For the moment, we'd like to get an idea of who is
> attending |tek and would like to participate.
> On Jan 8, 3:44 am, Matthew Turland <tobias...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> If you hadn't already heard, php|tek will come with a little
>> something
>> new this year: an unconference! Keith Casey has been appointed as its
>> chairman and he's suggested an interesting and rather adventurous
>> addition to the uncon -- and was crazy enough to put me in charge of
>> it.
>> The proposal is for a Hackathon; think of it as TestFest (http://
>> qa.php.net/testfest.php) meets Bug Hunt Day (http://www.bughuntday.org >> ). The goal of this event is to get developers of a
>> few well-known PHP projects together with other PHP developers and
>> contribute to those projects by triaging and fixing bugs, writing
>> tests, and ultimately having a great time.
>> Projects included will depend on interest and presence of project
>> developers at the conference. Space is limited and reserved to a
>> three-
>> hour time slot. Logistics of food, beverages, etc. are still being
>> worked out. For the moment, we'd like to get an idea of who is
>> attending |tek and would like to participate.
On Thu, Jan 8, 2009 at 9:46 AM, Marco Tabini <mar...@tabini.ca> wrote: > Great! How can I help to publicize it?
Posting it on the site as a *proposal* would be a good starting point. We're still working to gather a list of projects and then will attempt to filter them based on feedback and interest.
> On Thu, Jan 8, 2009 at 9:46 AM, Marco Tabini <mar...@tabini.ca> wrote:
>> Great! How can I help to publicize it?
> Posting it on the site as a *proposal* would be a good starting point.
> We're still working to gather a list of projects and then will
> attempt to filter them based on feedback and interest.
Marco wrote: >> Great! How can I help to publicize it?
Making sure it's mention online, as well as in the print at the event would be a great start :)
Providing a comfy room, with lots of power, and either tables or lounge seats, ++
Providing drinks (both caffeine & alcoholic) as well as snacks (Subway Super-Sub anyone -- Well, whatever the venue would allow) to fuel the hacking, would be amazing and a huge draw.
Keith wrote: > We're still working to gather a list of projects and then will > attempt to filter them based on feedback and interest.
Keith, while having a list of: "We know people from the following projects will be there hacking" would be good, but I'd hate to see a specific list of "Here are the projects you are allowed to work on"
Wouldn't it be better to leave it organic? "Come hang out here from 6pm-9pm to hack on your favorite PHP open source project and have a few brews. People from Wordpress, Phergie, PHP core itself, and others are planning to attend, feel free to pull up a chair and ask if you can help, or just to sit down and start churning out code for your own favorite"
(Oooh, could be sorta nice to provide 'signs' and markers, so that people at various tables could write what project they are working on, so that others could know, see, and sit down if they wanted)
> Providing a comfy room, with lots of power, and either tables or lounge
> seats, ++
> Providing drinks (both caffeine & alcoholic) as well as snacks (Subway
> Super-Sub anyone -- Well, whatever the venue would allow) to fuel the
> hacking, would be amazing and a huge draw.
Agreed, on both counts.
> Wouldn't it be better to leave it organic? "Come hang out here from
> 6pm-9pm to hack on your favorite PHP open source project and have a few
> brews. People from Wordpress, Phergie, PHP core itself, and others are
> planning to attend, feel free to pull up a chair and ask if you can
> help, or just to sit down and start churning out code for your own favorite"
My only concern with that is this: while we want the event to be fun
and have people participate in projects they're interested in, we also
want to encourage them to try to help with projects for which they may
not have provided help before. Ideally, it would also have a
substantial effect on each project involved: do we want one bug fixed
or one test written for a lot of projects, or a lot of bugs fixed /
tests written for a few? Not saying it's a bad idea, just playing
Devil's Advocate.
> (Oooh, could be sorta nice to provide 'signs' and markers, so that
> people at various tables could write what project they are working on,
> so that others could know, see, and sit down if they wanted)
Another reason to try to promote a few, to give the event focus. I
wouldn't go so far as to limit what projects people can work on, but
in terms of promoting particular projects in ways like having signs as
you described, limiting the projects for which we provide that type of
support may be a good thing.
> Ideally, it would also have a > substantial effect on each project involved: do we want one bug fixed > or one test written for a lot of projects, or a lot of bugs fixed / > tests written for a few? Not saying it's a bad idea, just playing > Devil's Advocate.
Sure thing ... but just pointing out that saying: "These are the projects we've picked to work on" ... may encourage people who aren't active in those specific projects already, to go out for a night on the town instead.
If it's an open invitation, with a nod towards some projects that people know will be worked on, then random people will be more inclined to show up, and might get sucked into helping with the other projects.
Focusing it too much will just make people walk away, IMO.
>> (Oooh, could be sorta nice to provide 'signs' and markers, so that >> people at various tables could write what project they are working on, >> so that others could know, see, and sit down if they wanted)
> Another reason to try to promote a few, to give the event focus. I > wouldn't go so far as to limit what projects people can work on, but > in terms of promoting particular projects in ways like having signs as > you described, limiting the projects for which we provide that type of > support may be a good thing.
Right ... and hence my original post. Saying: "Hey, everyone come by to hack on whatever code you want, we know that people from projects X/Y/Z will be here, so help them out or hack on your own stuff, We has Beer & Sub!"
That's a nice open invitation. And still gives a feeling of 'look who will be there', versus that being a focus.
> Right ... and hence my original post. Saying: "Hey, everyone come by
> to hack on whatever code you want, we know that people from projects
> X/Y/Z will be here, so help them out or hack on your own stuff, We has
> Beer & Sub!"
On Thu, Jan 8, 2009 at 2:57 PM, Matthew Turland <tobias...@gmail.com> wrote: >> Right ... and hence my original post. Saying: "Hey, everyone come by >> to hack on whatever code you want, we know that people from projects >> X/Y/Z will be here, so help them out or hack on your own stuff, We has >> Beer & Sub!"
> Agreed. :) +1.
That makes quite a bit of sense. I don't think the intent is to limit people, more to focus on a few projects and then have some open ground for other things. I guess it depends on where Matthew - Senior HackMaster? - drives it. He's point on this part, I'm supporting him. ;)
On Jan 8, 2:22 pm, "Keith Casey" <keith.ca...@gmail.com> wrote:
> That makes quite a bit of sense. I don't think the intent is to limit
> people, more to focus on a few projects and then have some open ground
> for other things. I guess it depends on where Matthew - Senior
> HackMaster? - drives it. He's point on this part, I'm supporting him.
> ;)
> kc
What he said. :) Speaking of which... I went ahead and added a page to
this group on which we can list projects and people representing them.
You can find that here: http://groups.google.com/group/tek09/web/hackathon-projects.
If you know you'll be at |tek and would like to represent a particular
project, please add your name and project to the list that I've
started. Thanks!
Count me in.... If I get far enough on a project I am working on,
definitely will submit it.... You never know with all of the time
constraints these days!
