WMAHackKamer 2024: An Exciting Dive into the Wiki Ecosystem
From July 26th to 27th, 2024, some 16 enthusiastic developers from the Silicon Mountain community gathered for the WMAHackKamer, a hackathon powered by Wiki Mentor Africa in collaboration with Tech Chantier. This event was an incredible opportunity for developers to spend 2 full intense days creating a tool to categorize items on the Wikidata platform that lacked categories, thereby making it easier for users to identify and manage items.
Day One: Kick-off early as everyone was a little pumped up and Brainstorming.
The hackathon began with a warm welcome from Eng. Fongoh Martin, the Managing Director of Tech Chantier. He inspired the participants with a brief talk on the importance and benefits of contributing to open source projects and also shared a few ice tips on being a better developer. His encouragement set a positive tone for the event, motivating everyone to push their limits and embrace the developers' journey.
Eng. Eugene stepped in a few minutes after to add more details about the Wiki-Ecosystem. He is a mentor and specialist at Wiki Mentor Africa, and provided an insightful session on the Wiki ecosystem. He explained how Wikidata, Wikipedia, WikiCommons, and other aspects of the ecosystem interconnect, laying a solid foundation for the participants to understand the problem statement they were to tackle.
Diving into the Challenge
The developers were tasked to build a tool that will identify uncategorized items on wikidata, display them and provide an easy-to-use interface where editors can assign categories to these items. The session was filled with brainstorming, back-and-forth questions, discussions, and a few healthy arguments, all aimed at refining their approach to the problem.
By the end of the day, the participants had developed a clear solution framework. They split into two teams: the front-end team chose React, Bootstrap, and Tailwind CSS for their stack, while the back-end team opted for Node.js. There were also project management and documentation teams to ensure a comprehensive approach.
Day Two: Intense Development and Collaboration
Excitement was palpable on the second day, with participants arriving as early as 7:30 AM, an hour before the official start time. They began by reviewing and concluding the work from the previous day. At around 10:00 AM, the front-end and back-end teams presented their progress, followed by an intense hours of coding, discussions, back and forth.
Throughout the day, participants worked diligently, fueled by their passion for the project and the communal breakfast. By the end of the day, both teams showcased their achievements and committed to continuing the development, with plans to reconvene the following Saturday.
Wrap up
The WMAHackKamer hackathon was a resounding success, providing an invaluable experience for all 16 participants. Many were introduced to open-source contributions for the first time, learning how to contribute code to the Wiki ecosystem.
Tech Chantier is thrilled to have partnered with Wiki Mentor Africa for this event and looks forward to hosting more hackathons. We aim to provide developers ample opportunities to test their skills, contribute to open source, and grow within the tech community.
Stay tuned for updates once the tool is completed and released and see you at the next hackathon!
