IT Development/Technology committee meetings/Minutes 26 January 2015
Attendees
- Harry Burt (HB) Chair
- Emanuel Engelhart (EE)
- Charles Matthews (CM)
- Richard Nevell (RN) Minutes
- Mike Peel (MP)
- Toni Sant (TS)
Apologies
Meeting began at 17:07
Michael Maggs and Fabian Tompsett sent their apologies.
Minutes of the previous meeting
There were no objections to the minutes
Matters arising from the previous minutes, not otherwise covered on this agenda
Nothing raised
Courses extension (TS)
TS has been working with the extension alongside the Wikipedia Education Collaborative. Used across three langauge version of Wikipedia: English, Arabic, and Spanish. In the UK about half a dozen institutions and organisations use the course. Allows people to run a course. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:MyCourses provides links for further information, including lists of institutions using the extension.
Can be enabled by any logged in editor under 'my preferences'.
CM asked how the generic the exntension was, and HB asked whether the extension required developer supported and whether it was being maintained. TS explained that the exntension can be used for both one-session courses, such as a typical editathon, and ones with multiple sessions such as those run at universities. Sage Ross who played a role in developing the extension has moved on from the project, so the status of maintenance is unclear. There is an ongoing discussion about making the extension more usable for instructors, especially for those not necessarily familiar with Wikipedia to begin with. Would be useful to create a UK version of the extension, taking into account different terminology (eg: fall vs autumn, professor vs lecturer).
ACTION: HB to chase up on the technical side of the Editor campaigns and see how they are progressing relative to the courses extension https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Editor_campaigns
Online voice recording (AM)
HB has contacted Andy Mabbett about the tool and hopes to progress with the development.
Ex-toolserver hardware (RN)
RN currently chasing the people decommissioning the servers; no update yet. CM has been gathering views on potential uses. Two volunteers suggested projects would not be difficult to generate. Another suggested that the emphasis should be on something computationally intensive, especially to do with graphics and virtual walkthroughs. It was also suggested that the server could be used for hosting datasets and having available to be uploaded to Wikidata. Could be used to provide stable IDs for items to allow Wikidata to add information by matching.
ACTION: RN to continue reaching out the the team decommissioning Toolserver
Bugzilla
A Wikisoba project has been set up as per previous requests.
Strategy
MP joined the meeting at 18:03
Michael Maggs was not able to attend in person, but asked the committee to consider
- taking in ideas and bringing them up to a form where the project is ready for consideration (incubation)
- assessing the project for viability, for impact against WMUK's strategic goals, and for defining expected targets
- supporting the volunteers leading the project, and for measuring the impact against the targets
CM suggested we currently don't have the tools for number 2. HB felt the key to #3 was providing resources, but this led to the question of what resources was WMUK prepared to provide, eg: does this include developer time? Until that is settled, we can't decide how to divide the resources. HB suggested adapting a competition framework to garner applications and see them developed over say the course of a month as a first step. CM suggested presenting this idea at the February volunteer meeting.
MP left at 18:20 due to sound quality issues
ACTION: RN to check if he is free on Monday 2nd February to meet HB about brainstorming session about competition
ACTION: RN to email MM and CC about whether they have anything to update the committee after the last board meeting
Proposed hack day for offline MediaWiki
Proposed by Bjoern Hassler, using Kiwix. Details available here. EE noted that he he is a developer for Kiwix, but was of the opinion that the proposal is interesting and would be good for WMUK to support. The parsoid issues would need help from a developer from the Wikimedia Foundation. EE suggsteted a hackathoin would need to be three to four days long and that costs might be shared with the Foundation. HB suggested that rather than a UK event it might be a good alternative to have the work based around the hackathon in Lyon.
ACTION: CM to ask Bjoern Hassler for more details
Tech at Birmingham 2 Volunteer Strategy Gathering/February 2015
Fabian Tompsett has offered the Tech Committee a 30-minute slot to present at the strategy day. The meeting takes place on Saturday 28th February. CM will attend. Engaging volunteers in the server-based projects and through the possible competition provides background for the strategy.
ACTION: CM to accept FT's offer on behalf of the committee
Proposed Technology Workshop Talk:Technology workshop 2014#Restarting discussion
The members present support the idea of having a technology workshop at some point, especially after the Birmingham meeting considering there will be a presentation in relation from the committee. Preparing a proposal for the board to consider at the June meeting would allow time for the committee to consider feedback from the volutneer strategy day and the recruitment of a permanent CEO.
Date and chair of next meeting
DECISION: The next meeting will take place in the week beginning 9th March.
ACTION: RN to circulate a poll to settle a date
DECISION: HB to chair the next meeting
AOB
CM updated the committee on Wikisoba. The mobile version of the frontend was demonstrated at the recent Cambridge meetup. A volunteer has been found to work on the back end.
Meeting closed at 19.14