Dreamwidth Development

PyCon and Perl & Raku conferences this year in North America

Tue, 21 Jan 2020 21:20:53 GMT

Posted by: brainwane

Perl: The Perl and Raku Conference 2020 will be in Houston, Texas, USA, June 23-27. (Call for talk proposals open till January 27.) I don't know much about this conference but figured I should mention it!

Python: PyCon North America, mid-April in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (I will be at this) goes April 15-23:

Tutorials (for which you pay extra) and some specialized Python summits: April 15 & 16.
Main talks: Friday, April 17-Sunday, April 19.
Open source sprints (you don't have to pay a PyCon registration fee to attend): Monday, April 20, 2020 – Thursday, April 23, 2020. Example sprints in 2019.

PyCon offers financial assistance to people who would like to attend (deadline for requesting financial assistance is 31 January). I have successfully requested financial aid in the past. It's a good process.

Registration starts at the student/academic rate: $125 per person.

Conference hotel rates: $164-$180/night, plus taxes/fees (about ~14% taxes/fees, so, $187-$205/night). There is a hotel room sharing page on the PyCon site.

PyCon loves to cross-pollinate with other free and open source movements, and I know there are many Python developers in Dreamwidth tech. If Dreamwidth folks want to use the April 20-23 in-person sprints to work on Dreamwidth-related Python tools together, that would be cool!

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[London & remote] Volunteer weekend: coming up!

Wed, 08 May 2019 12:59:51 GMT

Posted by: kaberett

As previously announced I am hosting a Dreamwidth volunteer party this weekend, from Friday to Sunday morning!

The delay in updating this announcement is largely because A Family Commitment has come up on the Sunday afternoon, and I needed to work out how to wrangle logistics. I can now confirm that Doors Open some time on Friday late afternoon, and me_and and I will need to be hitting the road by 11am on Sunday -- this means we can provide brunch. (If you've spent a bunch of time in our house before we're probably comfortable leaving you to continue chilling after we've left, but check in with me about that if you think it's a thing you'd like to do.)

As ever, we'll be around on Discord, IRC, and Skype-by-arrangement if you wanna join us remotely. I'll be working largely on the Support Board and docs, with maybe a few tiiiiny code fixes, but mostly I expect to provide moral support and overcatering. I am super excited to see you!

Access notes and house rules under the cut (developed in consultation with alexwlchan and cesy); if you need my address or contact details and can't see this post in my personal journal ping me and I'll IM you!

( Read more... )

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London volunteer weekend, 11th-12th May!

Sun, 07 Apr 2019 20:50:14 GMT

Posted by: kaberett

For ten years of open beta. :)

My house (telecommuters welcome), details per previous iterations of same, will update this post with More Of Them just wanting to announce ASAP now that I've actually agreed blocking out the weekend with my housemate.

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London volunteer weekend: 16th June

Wed, 09 May 2018 20:47:58 GMT

Posted by: cesy

I have consulted my diary and concluded this is happening on 15-17 June.

Starting from 7pm on Friday night, finishing 2pm Sunday. Remote participation encouraged - we'll be on IRC and Discord and can set up Skype if people want.

( Practical details for those attending )

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Another London volunteer weekend?

Wed, 25 Apr 2018 07:15:14 GMT

Posted by: cesy

I have a new home and space to host a volunteer weekend - would anyone be up for another one, maybe in June? I'm within easy reach of Waterloo or Victoria for those outside London.

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London volunteer weekend: 23rd-25th March

Wed, 21 Mar 2018 14:58:23 GMT

Posted by: kaberett

The volunteer weekend is nearly upon us! I'll be in and around from mid-afternoon Friday.

I'm expecting to provide crash space for shortcipher, cesy, and swaldman. If you think you should be on that list, please shout!

There are lots of local takeaways and I'll also be over-catering, as usual. Food is by default lacto-ovo vegetarian but lots of other configurations are available; the kitchen does contain both gluten and nuts.

Please also shout if you need my Skype details to join in that way, but I'll make sure we're paying attention to IRC too :-)

(aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah)

(& if you don't have things in mind to work on, DON'T WORRY, I HAVE A WISHLIST and so too does kareila)

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London volunteer weekend: 23rd-25th March

Fri, 19 Jan 2018 20:51:36 GMT

Posted by: kaberett

Following up on the previous post, I decree a volunteer weekend from the 23rd-25th of March, as being the one most people have expressed a preference for.

There's a bunch of access/parking/etc info in the comments on the previous post; if you have any particular dietary requirements/preferences you'd like me to cater for, please let me know (but you're also welcome to use the kitchen yourself!); we have a Sufficiency of computer to be able to lend some if necessary, and a wide variety of seating options. We'll have a dedicated machine running Skype for folk who want to Skype in.

If I've granted you access, this filtered post contains my address and other contact details. If you don't have access, holler and I'll ping it over to you.

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Attempting to organise a Dreamwidth volunteer weekend!

Wed, 10 Jan 2018 20:21:55 GMT

Posted by: kaberett

Hello folk!

I would quite like some encouragement to host another Dreamwidth volunteer weekend. I am arbitrarily choosing March in the hopes that I will have got my current energy levels slightly more sorted out by then. As usual, I am offering to host (in North London, step-free access, Skyping/IRCing in welcome & encouraged). ERGO:

View Poll: #19297

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Contributor weekend!

Sat, 14 May 2016 10:40:05 GMT

Posted by: kaberett

Hi folk,

The May contributor weekend is underway. Feel free to show up in person if you're local and at a loose end, or hop onto IRC and say hi :-)

We can also do Skype sessions for telecommuting!

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Dreawidth contributor weekend: 14th & 15th May

Sat, 30 Apr 2016 20:33:53 GMT

Posted by: kaberett

Hello folk!

A reminder that I am running a Dreamwidth contributor weekend on the 14th of May, with spillover to the 15th. To get a sense of what goes on at these events, you can take a look at the November event summary and the February event summary.

If you need the physical address, please let me know and I'll PM it you along with instructions on how to get here by public transport. This is not the same address as the last time I hosted, so please do make sure you know where you're going!

If you'd like to attend remotely, find us on IRC or add me on Skype (ekabrett): I'm intending to have a spare machine running a video Skype call to interested folk from the corner of one of the rooms from about 11am on the Saturday (i.e. if you're attending in person and would rather not participate in the Skype call this will be avoidable).

( More logistics! )

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... revised dates: contributor weekend now 14th-15th May

Mon, 14 Mar 2016 23:14:20 GMT

Posted by: kaberett

My previous was INEPT, by which I mean "I am very sorry, I had failed to adequately get my head round familial obligations including celebrating a 98th birthday party"; consequently the dates are instead the 14th and 15th of May, and questions of whether to hold this round in a hackerspace resolve to "no, because I'll have spent a week in the depths of Cornwall" (half a mile down a grass lane outside the village, for serious, and while the neighbour's just paid to have cable laid down the lane my grandfather does not quite believe in the Internet, and whether there's mobile signal at all is entirely dependent on which way the wind is blowing).

So to reiterate, apologies for the misadvertisement, and the next contributor weekend will be the 14th and 15th of May.

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Dreamwidth contributor weekend: London, 7th-8th 14th-15th May

Mon, 14 Mar 2016 13:31:48 GMT

Posted by: kaberett

Hi folk,

Per the poll, I will be hosting a Dreamwidth contributor event on the ~~7th & 8th~~ 14th and 15th of May in London. (November 2015 event announce and summary; February 2016 announce and summary.)

It would be possible to hold the Saturday portion of the event in the cafe at Campus London, an event space in Shoreditch managed by Google -- or to hold it near Oakwood station on the Piccadilly line. The latter's more awkward to get to, but I'd be in a position to provide lots of food; the former is going to be a public (and possibly crowded/noisy) space.

If you'd be curious to try out Campus London as a venue, please let me know by Friday the 18th of March -- I'll need to set up an Eventbrite or similar, and I'll need to be able to provide Campus London with a list of attendees prior to the event, and also to come up with some copy about how hosting a Dreamwidth event will Benefit The Start-Up Community. (If me_and remains the only person expressing an active interest in this I am absolutely delegating the booking to him. :-p)

Cheers!

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Choosing dates for a London-based contributor event in May!

Mon, 22 Feb 2016 21:45:46 GMT

Posted by: kaberett

I'll be hosting again for this one. How exactly I do that is open for discussion, so please do weigh in -- and please do fill out the poll if attending in person isn't an option but you think you'd like to telecommute again!

View Poll: London Dreamwidth contributor weekend - May

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Februrary Dreamwidth contributor weekend: quick stats

Mon, 22 Feb 2016 12:04:47 GMT

Posted by: kaberett

Attendees: nine-ish

Issues filed: 6

Pull requests made: 15 (and another several mostly-drafted to come)

Support: lots of issues tested, diagnosed, and responded to (mostly by cesy, who's gone up three places on the High Scores board!)

Documentation: one bug specification, two updated FAQs, and a new wiki page

Things baked: one batch of salted caramel brownie; one batch of cornbread

Furthest telecommute: the Australian contingent are still winning this one (swaldman showed up in person this time, so that's the longest physical commute but means he wasn't in the running for a prize for this category ;) )

Next event: sometime in May (poll to follow!)

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DW Codefest

Tue, 18 Feb 2014 18:17:02 GMT

Posted by: foxfirefey

Heads up for any dev folks in the Seattle area--I'm going to be hosting a DW Codefest at the Seattle Attic this Saturday from 10:30am-2:30pm PST. This is mostly for me to work on projects I keep putting off, but if anybody else happens to be in the Seattle area and wants to drop by and work with me or get advice, you are welcome! I will also be on IRC if anybody needs any virtual mentoring.

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Dreamwidth Hackathon / Docsathon

Tue, 25 Jun 2013 02:30:27 GMT

Posted by: misskat

I'm starting to coordinate a hackathon/docsathon in October. It'd be in the US, probably in Las Vegas. If you're a dev-type, and you're interested in attending, please check out the deets and fill out the poll over here: http://dw-volunteers.dreamwidth.org/22227.html

(If you're not sure if you should attend, feel free to message me. I'll tell you yes, then you can go fill out the poll.)

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Boston area hackathon, Saturday, June 15

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 03:36:31 GMT

Posted by: deborah

For people coming to the Boston-area hackathon in Davis Square, Somerville, on Saturday, June 15: leave contact info in a (screened) comment here, and I'll send you details. (We're meeting in an office space so I don't want to post publically.)

Experienced to beginner contributors welcome, seriously, code-adjacent is fine. :D

Dreamwidth Strong!

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Boston area hackathon

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 04:12:42 GMT

Posted by: deborah

You know what Greater Boston needs right now, besides a massage and a teddy bear? A Dreamwidth hackathon!

As I implied last month, I'm prepared to host a dreamwidth hack event in Davis Square. I was going to post a range of proposed dates (and still can, if necessary) but if we do Saturday, June 15, there are good odds we will have a Very Special Dreamwidth Guest Star™ attending. So how do people feel about that date? We could get together noonish, bring in some lunch if we want to, maybe go out to dinner. :D

Experienced to beginner contributors welcome.

View Poll: Coding in the 'ville

Poll is anon, comments are screened unless you tell me to unscreen, so you don't have to worry about geographically outing yourself.

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coding get-togethers

Sat, 16 Mar 2013 19:33:01 GMT

Posted by: deborah

This poll should not be construed as me making any promises, but is generally feeling people out. I will say that I get so much more programming done when I am with other dreamwidth people, even if I'm not asking them for any help at all. And sometimes asking for help just constitutes talking your problem out loud to somebody else who understands it.

I am anonymizing responses because the final question could be used to tell people where you live.

View Poll: Hackfest

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New Year's Resolutions

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 02:45:19 GMT

Posted by: denise

Mark and I were talking tonight about "ninja releasing" little things that are heavily-asked-for features or bugfixes/UI improvements, and I thought it might be cool to do a "New Year's Resolutions" type thing in the next news post: show the link to the effort-minor Bugzilla search and let people name the one thing they most want to see, then browse the list and try to implement as many of them as we can during January.

Would anybody be interested in coding for that type of hackathon?

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San Francisco Wikipedia hackathon, Jan. 20-22, and Wikimedia integration ideas for DW

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 19:17:02 GMT

Posted by: brainwane

I'm helping run a hackathon in San Francisco in two months, and wanted to let Dreamwidth developers know about it in case you want to come!

Developers in the Bay Area and Silicon Valley, you can create cool hacks with and on Wikipedia. Our first San Francisco hackathon is happening Jan. 20-22, and we'll be there teaching you about MediaWiki (our software), about our API and about our framework for JavaScript feature development. Learn to reuse Wikipedia content in your own apps, create new functionality for every Wikipedia user around the world, or just tailor your own experience.

We're going to create a registration form really soon but I wanted to tell you about this so you can put it on your calendar.

I figure you folks have better ideas for Wikipedia integration than I do (I didn't see any in Bugzilla but maybe they aren't there yet?). I know there's a WordPress plugin, PhotoCommons, that makes it easy for bloggers to browse Wikimedia Commons for freely licensed images to dress up their posts. Maybe replicating that functionality in Dreamwidth would be cool? I've added it to the Suggestions queue.

Of course you don't need to come to the event to work on MediaWiki or on integration with Wikimedia sites -- our site has an intro tutorial and we are on IRC at #mediawiki on FreeNode and so on. But if you came to the event, that would be cool too. Open data!

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September hackathon: Suggestions

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 11:06:58 GMT

Posted by: denise

August's usability hackathon went awesomely! 42 bugs keyworded why-usability had some action, and 22 of them were resolved, which gives us a huge usability boost. Point bounties will be sent out as soon as I ~~can con someone into doing it for me~~ get a chance to put together the transfers.

September's hackathon will be for bugs keyworded from-suggestions. The points bounty will be:

10 points for effort-minor
50 points for effort-medium
100 points for effort-major

There are currently 336 open bugs keyworded from-suggestions, and 274 of them are unassigned. I'd love it if we could get those numbers down by at least 10% -- which would be 303 open, 247 unassigned -- or even more. There's been a number of new suggestions added to Bugzilla in the past few weeks, so give the bug lists a wander through and see if anything really strikes you!

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Usability hackathon: August, September

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 08:22:20 GMT

Posted by: denise

A reminder to all: the Usability Hackathon continues running until the end of August. All patches for bugs keyworded why-usability that are submitted before September 1 will have a points bounty of:

10 points for effort-minor
50 points for effort-medium
100 points for effort-major

Meanwhile, September's hackathon will be for user-submitted suggestions. During the month of September, the points bounty (same as above) will be given out for patches to bugs keyworded from-suggestions. (There will be more of them than there are right now; I'm going to be migrating a ton of stuff from suggestions this week, I just wanted to get the numbers down a bit before I did.)

Also, I wish to congratulate everybody. Today, we achieved an impressive milestone: 3,000 bugs resolved. This is amazing -- we've done so much, and come so far, and I am so incredibly proud of all of us! Thank you, yet again, to everybody and anybody who's contributed to making DW awesome :)

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Mission: Feature Development (2011 Hackathon)

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 21:14:28 GMT

Posted by: denise

fu and I have been discussing a bit about what our concentration over the next few months should be, and so I would like to share this with y'all in case you're looking for some direction or inspiration on what bugs or projects you should be working on!

The past 6-9 months have been concentrating heavily on two things: a) backend cleanup and/or modernization to make interest payments on our technical debt, and b) extensive work on our style system, both in the form of new themes/new styles and improvement on the S2 backend as a whole. Don't get me wrong -- these are both great projects, and I love them to bits! (The former because it helps everyone down the line, making our codebase cleaner and more modern; the latter because we started at a distinct disadvantage in terms of available themes and styles, and the easier we make it for people to not only find a style or theme they like but to make themes and styles on their own, the better.) However, it's been a while since we've had any sort of concentrated push on frontend feature development and the overall user experience, and in order to make Dreamwidth a success, I think it's time for us as a team to band together and really make a push towards user-facing improvements.

To that end, I am declaring the major development focus during the remainder of 2011 to be "Mission: Feature Development". This doesn't mean you can't (or shouldn't) work on backend stuff, cleanup projects, code modernization, themes, styles, or S2 backend stuff if that's where your interests lie -- just that if you're looking for a project or a bug to pick up, and you're undecided about what you should work on, it would be most helpful to Dreamwidth-the-project if you picked up something user-facing or new-feature-development.

What sort of things do I mean when I say "user-facing or feature development?"

* Frontend usability tweaks to make the experience of interacting with DW more pleasant for the user -- things that are keyworded why-usability in Bugzilla.

* Accessibility improvements, to help DW be more usable by people who are using assistive technology or who need some sort of accomodation to make their experience of DW workable -- things that are keyworded why-accessibility in Bugzilla.

* New features for paid users, or things that have higher limits for paid users, or things that improve on paid features, or other things that will enhance the concept of a paid account -- things keyworded paiduser-enhancement in Bugzilla.

* Things that users have directly asked for or suggested, to improve their DW experience -- things that are keyworded from-suggestions in Bugzilla.

The idea, basically, is to spend the rest of the year in a heavy development push towards banging out new shiny things -- whether they're major or minor, huge new features or little tweaks to the user experience -- that will show people that we're improving the way they use the service and making things that extend the core function of DW in new and exciting ways.

If people would find it helpful, I can make lists of bugs that I think would fall into this category, for illustrative purposes! Also, as individual months go by, I'll be declaring "sub-projects" -- things I'd like to concentrate on in that particular month. (For instance, declaring one month to be a concentration on accessibility-improvement bugs, suggestions, etc.)

For August, I'd like to concentrate on usability improvements -- making it easier to get DW to do what people want it to do. To that end, any patch for a bug keyworded why-usability, from now to the end of August, will have a points bounty:

10 points for effort-minor
50 points for effort-medium
100 points for effort-major

Patch need not be committed before 31 August, just coded and submitted by then.

Let's kick some usability butt!

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Old bugs hackathon - complete!

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 05:37:07 GMT

Posted by: denise

I've just transfered the points for the April-May "old bugs" hackathon, so if you wonder where the points came from, that was it! (And if you think I missed one of yours, let me know -- the Bugzilla search I was using might've been a bit wonky.)

fu is going to be on vacation for the middle of June, so no hackathon this month, but exor674 has suggested a "kill BML" hackathon: points for converting pages from BML to Template Toolkit. I like this idea and it will probably be our next hackathon, run in July or August, unless anyone objects!

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