How To Run A Jam: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 00:41, 15 August 2008

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What this guide is

This is a guide intended for anyone who's ever said "I want to run a Jam - what do I do to make it happen?" This guide will take you through the "I think a Jam sounds like a great idea" phase all the way through planning, getting resources for, running, and following-up on a Jam. The entire process takes between 3 weeks and 3 months to plan, depending on your timescale and the scope of your Jam. We've written this specifically OLPC-focused Jams, but it is probably an applicable resource to other kinds of open hackathons.

In the spirit of openness and collaboration, please hack this manual. Borrow it, modify it, steal it, edit it, and make it better in any way you can.

--Brian Jordan and Mel Chua, June 2008

Who this guide is for

Resources

This is a quick reference to templates and resources used throughout this guide.

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+__NOTOC__
-Under construction by [[User:Mchua|Mel]].
+{{draft}}
-* background reading
-:* what is olpc
-* what is a jam?
-* finding a coordinator
-* locations
-* food
-* communicating with olpc - getting laptops etc
-* judging
-== What Jams need ==
+== What this guide is ==
-(below is contentdump to parse into guide)
+This is a guide intended for anyone who's ever said "I want to run a [[Jams|Jam]] - what do I do to make it happen?" This guide will take you through the "I think a Jam sounds like a great idea" phase all the way through planning, getting resources for, running, and following-up on a Jam. The entire process takes between 3 weeks and 3 months to plan, depending on your timescale and the scope of your Jam. We've written this specifically OLPC-focused Jams, but it is probably an applicable resource to other kinds of open hackathons.
-We need a couple things:
+In the spirit of openness and collaboration, please hack this manual. Borrow it, modify it, steal it, edit it, and make it better in any way you can.
-(a) Space. Do you know any schools, clubs/associations, or companies with
-buildings or offices they might be willing to let us use for the
-Curriculum Jam (first weekend of October)? We'll set up and clean up
-ourselves, will operate entirely outside of the normal workweek, and bring
-a good amount of positive publicity to them (see
-http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Game_Jam_Boston_June_2007/Press). We'd need 3-6
-rooms with tables and chairs that we can move around, plus internet.
+::''--Brian Jordan and Mel Chua, June 2008''
-This is really important - we can't run the Jam without it! It's the most
-immediate need.
+== Who this guide is for ==
-(b) Participants. If you know any teachers (or someone who would know
-teachers, or people interested in education) in Manila who'd like to come
-for the weekend and help us develop classroom activities, please let me
-know! No experience required (curious parents and interested
-high-school/college students are invited as well).
+== Table of contents ==
-It's a great way to learn about and get involved in the OLPC project
-(http://www.laptop.org) and also to learn about open content, which is a
-great way to get free, high-quality learning resources for your students;
-textbooks, lesson plans, educational games, you name it, it's out there.
-If you're interested in coming or know someone who might be, just send me
-an email.
+You can choose to go through the materials in this guide in any of 3 different ways, though we suggest reading the ''Step by step'' guide first, then plotting out a ''Suggested timeline'' and following it while referring to ''Resources'' as needed.
-I would *love* to have this Jam be mostly in Tagalog. If you know a great
-teacher or older student who speaks both Tagalog and English who might
-want to step up and be the local coordinator for the Jam, let me know!
-(Cousins: would you like to learn how to run a conference? I'll help you,
-and it's a *great* learning experience, very helpful for college and
-jobs.)
+=== Suggested timeline ===
-(c) Judges. Is there some way to contact schools in the area (ICA/Xavier
-mailing lists perhaps)? We'll need about 40-50 kids ages 7-15 on the
-afternoon of October 7 to come and judge the event - test out the classes
-we've developed and give feedback on how well they work and what should be
-changed. Contact me for details.
+For a time-based breakdown of tasks, see the resources in this section; this is where to go to find out what to do 1 month in advance, 2 weeks in advance, 2 days in advance, 1 day after, and so on.
-(d) Food. We need some way of feeding ~40 people for 2.3 days (Friday
-dinner to Sunday lunch) and some way of providing snacks for about 100
-people (mostly kids) on Sunday afternoon. Know any places that might
-donate food, or money for food?
+* [[/Suggested timeline]]
-(e) Publicity. Know any journalists or PR people who can help us reach
-them? I've got a press release I'd like to send out about this (it's in
-English, though - don't know if that's a problem).
+=== Step by step ===
-(f) Crash space. Would any of you folks still in the Philippines mind if I
-slept on your couch for a week or so while I'm helping with the Jam? I'm
-not an entirely terrible cook, and would be happy to fix computers while
-I'm around, too. :)
+This section covers everything in detail, but without a timeline. These are the various topics and subtopics you'll have to deal with when running a Jam.
-Feel free to forward and spread the word to your coworkers, classmates,
-and friends. (Actually, /please/ forward and spread the word to your
-coworkers, classmates and friends). Let's make this happen!
+* [[/Picking a focus]]
+* [[/Getting space]]
+* [[/Scheduling time]]
+** [[/Matchmaking time]]
+** [[/Making tutorials happen]]
+** [[/Running open space sessions]]
+** [[/Project work time]]
+** [[/Free time]]
+** [[/Judging]]
+* [[/Getting people]]
+** [[/Organizers]]
+** [[/Participants]]
+** [[/Judges]]
+* [[/Getting resources]]
+** [[/Food]]
+** [[/Equipment]]
+** [[/OLPC resources]]
+** [[/Prizes]]
+* [[/Following up]]
+** [[/Thank you letters]]
+** [[/Getting results used]]
+** [[/Writing down your lessons learned]]
+** [[/Sharing with the global community]]
+* [[/Learning from past Jams]]
+== Resources ==
-== The 4 principles of a Jam ==
+This is a quick reference to templates and resources used throughout this guide.
+* [[/Jam kit]]
-) Make Something Real. Teams are expected to go from start to finish on a deliverable in less than 3 days - no loose ends to tie up, no obligations after you leave. People are busy; Jams respect their time.
+* [[/Schedule templates]]
+* [[/Invitation templates]]
+* [[/Flyer and poster templates]]
+* [[/Follow up templates]]
+* [[/Lessons learned]]
-) Instant Feedback. You're making real things for real people - so those people will be coming in at the end to test the things you've made for them. Watching users interact with your creations is a profoundly rewarding (and enlightening and humbling) experience - especially when the creations were just glimmers in your mind less than 72 hours before. Plus it's an opportunity for creators to become teachers and mentors as well, and a chance to empower younger children, who rarely find their advice and judgment being sought by adults.
-) Newbie-friendly. You don't have to be a prior contributor to the project to join a Jam. In fact, a crucial part of Jams are the mini-tutorials, roving mentors, and getting-started sessions designed specifically to get new developers involved in your projects.
-) Make It Yours. When Jam attendees see a need, they fill it - from bringing coffee to giving rides to holding impromptu tutorials in the hall. They don't so much attend the event as help to run it. This emphasizes opportunity-seeking, initiative-taking, and independence.
-== Proposal for tutorial ==
-Run by the organizers of the OLPC Activity Jam Melbourne (http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Activity_Jam_Melbourne), including the author of "The Jam Cookbook," this tutorial is for everyone who's ever wanted to run a Free Culture event but never quite knew how to get started.
-We believe in learning by doing, so during the course of this tutorial, you'll be planning and preparing for your own local Jam event, be it focused on Code, Content, or some other aspect of Free Culture entirely. There will be opportunities to collaborate with other Linux.conf attendees from your area, and you'll leave the session with a Jam of your own in motion.
-Jams are intense 3-day creation events where teams converge among a common interest to Make Something Cool and Give It To People. They're a great way to jump-start local interest in a project and get new contributors involved. Aside from general conference logistics (how to schedule, publicize, find a location, recruit participants and volunteers, talk with sponsors...) we'll cover the Four Fundamental Principles of Jams in detail:
-) Make Something Real. Teams are expected to go from start to finish on a deliverable in less than 3 days - no loose ends to tie up, no obligations after you leave. People are busy; Jams respect their time. How do you make sure participants have the resources they need, that projects stay on track, that morale stays high, and that caffeine stays available? In short, how do you make sure Real Things actually get Done?
-) Instant Feedback. You're making real things for real people - so those people will be coming in at the end to test the things you've made for them. Watching users interact with your creations is a profoundly rewarding (and enlightening and humbling) experience - especially when the creations were just glimmers in your mind less than 72 hours before. How do you run a fruitful feedback session? How do you get participants and judges creating things together in a camaraderie-filled, productive way?
-) Newbie-friendly. You don't have to be a prior contributor to the project to join a Jam. In fact, a crucial part of Jams are the mini-tutorials, roving mentors, and getting-started sessions designed specifically to get new developers involved in your projects. How do you make sure your Jam is welcoming to newcomers?
-) Make It Yours. When Jam attendees see a need, they fill it - from bringing coffee to giving rides to holding impromptu tutorials in the hall. They don't so much attend the event as help to run it. How do you make all your attendees into participants, putting them in a "co-organizer" frame of mind... while still enabling them to concentrate on their work?
-In addition, we'll cover issues such as internationalization, running Jams in parallel (collaboration between two simultaneous Jams in different locations - even different continents!), and any other questions participants may have. This tutorial is also relevant for unconferences, unclasses, and open space programs such as Barcamp.
-There are no prerequisites. Attendance at a prior Free Culture event is helpful, but not required. (For those who want to get a firsthand taste, the OLPC Activity Jam Melbourne is the weekend immediately preceding Linux.conf.) We hope to see you there!
 [[Category:HowTo]]
+[[Category:Jam]]

How To Run A Jam: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 00:41, 15 August 2008

What this guide is

Who this guide is for

Table of contents

Suggested timeline

Step by step

Resources

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