EclipseCon Hackathon
The Eclipse committer base is increasingly diverse with people from many timezones, countries, companies and backgrounds. For many project teams, EclipseCon represents the only opportunity to meet with their fellow committers. To facilitate this interaction we are setting up a "hackathon" to run in parallel with the conference itself.
Never heard of hackathons? Wikipedia defines it this way:
A hackathon refers not simply to one time hacks, but to a specific time when many people come together to hack on what they want to, how they want to - with little to no restrictions on direction or goal of the programming.
Very simple and very informal. The conference will supply a room, some tables, power strips, and network connections. Eclipse project team members are free to use the facilities as best they can to hack code, collaborate, meet other teams, cross-pollinate (errr, you know what we mean), and so on. Apache runs this sort of thing in conjunction with ApacheCon and the results are fantastic. You see all sorts of team members meeting each other and working together for the first time, projects sitting side by side end up saying "Hey, we can help you with that" and an atmosphere of collaboration that you can feel.
This is the first time for a Hackathon at EclipseCon so there are bound to be some questions and gotchas. There were lots of great discussion points raised while contemplating this event and we've captured a few of them here in FAQ format:
Q: Won't the committers just go off into this room and not really attend the conference?
A: While it is certainly possible and even likely that there will be fewer committer/community interactions as a result of the Hackathon, the conference program is absolutely awesome and the atmosphere very engaging so only the most introverted of us will be hiding out in the Hackathon room.
Q: Will there be a conflict between committers and community over access to the room?
A: The room is intended for project teams, not the general attendee base. The room is somewhat removed from the main conference area so your typical attendee will not notice the event.
The room is intended for project teams but unless it is absolutely packed all the time, this is unlikely to be policed. We certainly hope that teams courting particular contributors (i.e., non-committers) invite said individuals to come and hack/talk/design/... but we need to avoid having this turn into an Internet cafe.
Q: Can teams reserve time/space in the room?
A: At this time the goal is to keep the event as informal as possible. It may be reasonable to consider allocating some part of the room as "reservable." The need for this will evolve as the event progresses.
Q: When is the Hackathon?
A: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday--all week long! We plan to have the facilities available whenever there are committers around to use them.
Q: What should teams expect for infrastructure?
A: Power, tables, chairs, network. Perhaps some flipcharts or whiteboards. There are no plans to lay on substantial bandwidth, so don't expect to do massive downloads, etc.
Q: Is there going to be a set of rules posted?
A: No. The key to making this event work for everyone is to keep it informal and low-key. People should apply a little common sense and respect the needs of others. If it gets crowded, teams might end up sharing tables.
Great! That is an opportunity to find out what's going on elsewhere at Eclipse.
