Mashathons News Archive

The WorldCat Mashathon US, held April 7-8, 2011 represented a successful test of a new way of hosting Mashathons. Held simultaneously in multiple locations and connected via WebEx with Webcams, Mashathon participants learned about OCLC Web Services, how to use them and shared ideas on how to solve challenges in their respective institutions. While the time and space difference between San Mateo, California and Washington, D.C. might have posed an inconvenience for some groups, this Mashathon crew just rolled with it.

We're all getting excited about the WorldCat Mashathon, set to begin this week. Karen leaves for DC tomorrow, and I follow her on Wednesday. We're expecting lots of code blossoms along with the cherries, if you excuse the bad analogy.

We've heard from lots of people who want a chance to attend a WorldCat Mashathon--or host one. We LOVE to do them, see the results and most importantly meet all the outstanding developers out there in libraryland. So we're happy to announce that the next WorldCat Mashathon will take place Thursday and Friday, April 7-8, 2011. But where, you ask? The lack of a specific location reflects a different approach we're trying out with the next mashathon. It's going to be distributed among several locations. The idea is that this approach will make it easier to participate no matter where you live--and be a test bed to see if your library might want to be a host location in the future. Because this is the first time doing it this way, the Mashathon will be held at the same time in three different OCLC offices:

• Washington, DC
• Columbus, OH
• San Mateo, CA

How will it work?

• We plan to webcast the presentation and hands on activity portions of the mashathon to all locations.
• Participants at each location to have time to work collaboratively on projects together.
• Each location will have members of the Developer Network team there in person to act as hosts and answer questions.
• We'll use chat, IRC, video conference, and webcasting to facilitate communication between participants at all three locations. If a participant has a question that requires a particular person's expertise, then we'll get together virtually.
• Groups will have a chance to present their Mashathon project(s) and we'll webcast the "Show and Tell" wrap-up back to the other locations and the Web at large.

This is a grand experiment for the Developer Network, but it seems well worth it if it gives you the chance to attend a mashathon with fewer travel expenses and more opportunities to collaborate with other far-flung developers. Rest assured we're working hard on the technology aspects of hosting a distributed mashathon so you have the best experience possible. I'm sure we'll all learn a lot, regardless. And in the spirit of mashathons, we'll have a lot of fun no matter what. Registration will be available early in 2011. But mark your calendars now for April 7-8 at a location near you! For our European colleagues and fellow developers, we're also planning a European mashathon in 2011. Stay tuned for that announcement, coming soon.

Wow, hard to believe it's been a week since the Mashathon in Boston. Time flies when you're busy mashing. Or coding.