A week ago, I sent the following invitation to /dev/4s and /dev/5s:
OpenMRS has a a long tradition of holding hackathons to bring our development community together to write code and save lives. We are currently preparing for our next hackathon, which will take place in December during the first annual global gathering of community members: OpenMRS Summit 2015 (omrs15). We will have tutorials before the conference and a hackathon after the conference – i.e., “learn, discuss, and then apply.” Our goal for the hackathon is to help community members socialize and learn something new from each other. Rather than leaving the hackathon in the hands of the same old people, we thought it would be more fun to let a developer in the community design & lead the hackathon. This is where you come in.
We are accepting proposals from any /dev/4 or /dev/5 to organize and lead the OMRS15 Hackathon in Singapore. If you are selected to lead the hackathon, you will be eligible for scholarship assistance to cover your travel expenses. This is your chance to be a part of innovating and leading OpenMRS. We are not asking you to run a hackathon by yourself; rather, we are asking you to share your idea for the hackathon and to be the momentum (aka leader) to make it happen. You’ll have a bunch of experienced OpenMRS developers at your bidding as well as Michael & team (OpenMRS Inc) to help with logistics/supplies/awards.
So, give us your best idea for an OMRS15 Hackathon! Here are some examples of possible approaches to get your creative juices flowing:
Goal-oriented competition Small groups given a challenge (e.g, make a module for OpenMRS 2.x).
Issue-oriented competition Small groups compete on closing tickets from a pre-selected or assigned set of tickets.
Implementer-oriented competition Small groups compete to solve implementers’ small (achievable) wish-list items – either from a pre-set list of wish list items or by assigning an implementer to each small group.
BYOP (Bring Your Own Project) Developers hack on their own projects while in the same room. Experienced devs are on hand to help as needed.
…or maybe you have another idea!
We expect the hackathon attendees to have a range of development experience (from /dev/1 to /dev/5). Here are some additional resources that might help:
- The Ultimate Guide to Hack Weekends
- The Hack Day Manifesto
- Notes on OMRS15 hackathon (that led to this email)
Your hackathon proposal should include: a theme or title and 1-2 paragraphs describing the format of the hackathon. Please send your proposal to Jamie (jthomas at openmrs.org) by Friday, 28 August.
Thanks for your leadership!
Do you have a great idea for a hackathon theme that you think a /dev/4 or /dev/5 could/should use? Or are you aspiring to reach /dev/4 and want to volunteer to lead the hackathon youself? Let us know (either here or via email to jthomas at openmrs.org).