Grants/Congress Everywhere Mediawiki hackathon


 * Grant contact name:
 * Arun Ganesh


 * Grant contact username or email:
 * user:planemad arun.planemad@gmail.com


 * Grant contact title (position):
 * Coordinator at Ghoomakad Hackerspace


 * Project lead name:
 * Soujanyaa Boruah


 * Project lead username or email:
 * soujanyaaboruah@gmail.com

Mediawiki hackathon at the Congress Everywhere event @Ghoomakad Hackerspace INR 49,100 27 December 2013 30 December 2013
 * Full project name:
 * Amount requested (in INR):
 * Provisional target start date:
 * Provisional completion date:

Budget breakdown
Total INR 49,100

Travel scholarships

 * 3AC train to Delhi + Delhi to Dharamshala Volvo fare for 2 Hackathon leaders INR 12,800 (2,000 + 1,200 + 2,000 + 1,200) x2
 * SL train to Delhi + Delhi to Dharamshala Volvo fare for 2 community attendees INR 8,800 (1,000 + 1,200 + 1,000 + 1,200) x2
 * Taxi pickup + drop charges from Dharamshala bus stand to Rakkar (13km) INR 2,400 (300 + 300 x 4)
 * Local travel allowance for volunteers between home from/to railway station INR 1,600 (200 + 200 x 4)
 * Food and home stay expenses for 4 community volunteers over 4 days INR 9,600 (600 x 4 x 4)

Volunteer application (Closes 00:00 IST 3 Dec 2013) http://bit.ly/1hqFxyD

Event expenses

 * Supplementary rural broadband installation for the event by AirJaldi. INR 11,500
 * Post the event the event, the monthly rental will be borne by the residents of the hackerspace and will be operated as a public access point for the village.


 * Taxi for volunteers to visit Tibetan Children's Village School or McLeodganj (16km) for outreach purposes INR 2,400 (600 x 4)

Project scope
The Ghoomakad rural hackerspace in Rakkar, Himachal Pradesh will be the first ever Indian link to the famed Chaos Communication Congress , an annual meeting of the international hacker community in Germany. The hackerspace wishes to bring together individuals interested in the crypto and security domains to the Himalayas to remotely participate in the event and get a taste of the international hacker culture that is missing in India. Located in a rural setting and also accessible to the Tibetan exile community in Dharamshala, Ghoomakad can serve as an ideal testing ground for experimental technologies and innovation in the comfort of a breathtaking natural environment.

The current residents of the hackerspace include a diverse set of individuals who are engaged in bringing positive change to the region by bringing the local people closer to digital tools. It is well know in both the local technology community and the larger alternative living community.

The requested funds are primarily to fund the travel of Wikimedia volunteers to this remote hackerspace to help introduce technical skills related to Mediawiki development into the local technology community. Dharamshala has a growing number of technology professionals and organizations that require outside technical assistance, but is generally outside the circuit of hackathons and tech events due to its location as travel expenses can be prohibitive.

We are hopeful that the Indian Wikimedia community will be in support of such an opportunity for like minded individuals to gather in an environment conducive to open knowledge sharing and creativity.

Expected participants from the local community

 * UX designers
 * Graphic designers
 * Android developers
 * Python, Java, Javascript, C developers
 * Drupal and Wordpress developers
 * Open Source / free culture activists
 * Tibetan font developers

Tentative schedule
Dec 26
 * Arrival

Dec 27
 * 10am Introduction to mediawiki and installation
 * 12pm Gadget Development
 * 3pm Congress Everywhere / Hacking

Dec 28
 * 10am Contributing to Wikimedia's Javascript libraries. (Jquery.ime, Jquery.uls)
 * 12pm Mediawiki localization and using translatewiki.net
 * 3pm Congress Everywhere / Hacking

Dec 29
 * 10am Consuming different Mediawiki APIs / Wikipedia editing in local school
 * 12pm Innaugrate a mediawiki instance for Rakkar for the digital village collective project
 * 3pm Congress Everywhere / Hacking

Dec 30
 * 10am Hackathon presentations and followup
 * 3pm Congress Everywhere / Hacking
 * 6pm Departure

Project goal
To create a grassroots community of Mediawiki developers in Dharamshala region.

Non-financial requirements

 * Help of the Wikimedia community select two candidates for leading the hackathon and two other volunteers to support the hackathon and hold any other outreach event at the school.
 * Wikipedia stickers or other giveaways to local schoolchildren.

Fit to strategy

 * Increasing reach by creating Mediawiki hackers in a relatively isolated but culturally diverse location (Indian, Tibetan and expatriate community).

Other benefits
The Congress Everywhere event hopes to draw hardcore hackers to Dharamshala and is an opportunity to be a part of a greater hacking community. This is apart from the local Indian and Tibetan technology community.

We also have access to the local Govt primary and middle school where we can engage with students on Wikipedia and open source technology. We can also make use of the facilities of a public computer lab at a local NGO to impart technical skills to the village residents. This can be planned and arranged at short notice.

Measures of success

 * Development of Gadgets
 * Bug fixes
 * Code commits
 * UX Design ideas
 * Improvements to Wikipedia/Wikivoyage/Commons content relating to Rakkar, Sidhbari, Dharamshala, Dhauladhar.

Team members (optional)

 * 1) Soujanyaa Boruah
 * 2) Arun Ganesh user:Planemad
 * 3) Ayush Ghai
 * 4) Pratyush Singh
 * 5) Adarsh Moda

Wikimedians selected for travel scholarship

 * 1) Konarak Ratnakar
 * 2) Santosh Shingare