MDN/Get involved/Events/HackOnMDN/Berlin-March-2015
Details on the MDN Work Weekend on March 27-29, in the Mozilla Berlin office.
Goal
To do actual, tangible work: written idea proposals, designs/mockups, new docs, code, and/or new tools or processes. The goal is to produce something tangible at the end of the three days. We want anyone and everyone to be able to participate and share their idea/feature/product.
How it works
Friday morning, anyone with an idea they want to work on with the team will make a 5-minute "pitch" about that idea. The idea can be a new feature, improvements to current features, new content, improvements to content, new wiki code, or pretty much anything else.
a pitch must include:
- the idea
- what will be produced when you are finished (articles, code, requirements doc, etc.)
- what kind of help you need (User experience design, coding, writing, etc)
- the pitch will be recorded in an etherpad & on a card for the "idea board"
After all pitches have been made (you don't need to be present to pitch an idea), teams will form to work on the ideas. You can work on 1 idea at a time. Work on ideas may finish before the end of the three days - in that case, the team will pick a new idea (with the same or different members) and work on that. Each idea will have an etherpad to document the work being done.
Main etherpad for pitches/teams:
https://etherpad.mozilla.org/hackonmdn-2014-March-Berlin
Schedule
- Thursday, March 26:
- Travel (everyone should plan to arrive this day/evening)
- 20:00 (8:00 pm): OPTIONAL meet in the hotel lobby, go to dinner
- Friday, March 27:
- 9:00: Meet in the hotel lobby, leave for Berlin office
- 9:30: Welcome & Introductions - START VIDYO SESSION
- 10:00: Design our Alliance
- 10:15: Review Mozilla & MDN goals
- 10:30: pitch ideas, form teams (minimum of 2 people), determine vidyo for remote participants. END MORNING GENERAL VIDYO SESSION
- 11:30: Teams meet, set team goals & working agreements
- 12:00: Lunch brought in
- 12:00 - 18:00 - make stuff
- small group dinners (see signup sheet)
- Saturday, March 28
- 8:30: Meet at the hotel lobby, head into the Berlin office
- 9:00: Lightning check in (5 min per project)
- 9:30: Make stuff
- 12:30: Lunch
- 13:15: Lightning check in (5 min per project)
- 13:30 - 18:00: make stuff
- Pizza and beer in the Moz office
- Sunday, March 29
- 8:30: Meet at the hotel lobby, head into the Berlin office
- 9:00: Lightning check in (5 min per project)
- 9:30: Make stuff
- 12:30: Lunch
- 13:30: Present results VIDYO SESSION
- 18:00: After party & dinner
- Monday, March 10
- Travel home, hopefully exhausted
This is going to be an intense, fun and productive weekend!
Travel
All travel will be booked through Mozilla's travel agency, ProTravel. Invitees will be contacted by a ProTravel agent to make travel and hotel arrangements.
Money: Berlin-Tegel Airport has ATMs in Terminals A and C and bureaux de change and banks in Terminals A, B and C.
Transportation to/from the hotel and airport
There are several ways to get to the hotel or office from the airport.
Bus & Metro JetExpressBuses from Tegel Airport (TXL) to Central Berlin. The cheapest and often most convenient and fastest way from Tegel Airport to central Berlin is by bus. Buses to and from the airport generally operate from before 5 am to around midnight. Buses run every few minutes.
Jet Express Buses – extra-long buses with special space for luggage – run from Tegel Airport halting only at major stops. These express buses are operated by the regular Berlin public transportation authorities and thus require the standard Berlin public transportation tickets or passes.
Tickets are valid for 2 hours, and for a trip from Tegel Airport to Berlin city you need zones A & B. Using the ticket machines in the airport, first select English, then 'Local Traffic' then Berlin AB. Cost is €2.10. Tickets must be validated in a special machine before use, and then are valid for 2 hours on buses & trains throughout the city. Tickets can also be bought on the bus for cash.
You will want to take JetExpressBus TXL from Flughafen Tegel to Alexanderplatz (33 minutes). From Alexanderplatz you will take U-bahn (Metro) U8 towards S+U Hermannstr. (Berlin). Get off at the
Taxi service from the airport will cost approximately 30 Euros. There is an etherpad you can use to coordinate with other people attending the meeting - if you have 3-4 people it makes sense to take a taxi.
Hotel
Address: Prinzenstraße 40-42, 10969 Berlin, Germany Phone : +49/30/69 56 71 74-0 The hotel is close to Moritzplatz.
check in time at the hotel is 15:00 (3pm). If you arrive earlier, they may not be able to get you into your room and you should come to the Mozilla Berlin office.
(U8 stop
U-Bahn
The U-Bahn station closest to the office is Voltastraße, served by subway line U8. You can find information on the metro service and maps here: http://www.bvg.de/index.php/en/17103/name/Underground.html
Office Location & Access
Address: Address: Haus 10, Treppe 6, Voltastraße 5, 13355 Berlin Germany Telephone Number: +49 30 983333000
The Berlin office can be a bit difficult to find! The office is in a large former factory that only has two entrances (Voltastraße 3 or 5), which look like driveways.
Here is a step by step guide (with pictures) for entering through the Voltastraße 5 entrance.
If you enter through the Voltastraße 3 entrance, go through the tunnel, and make an immediate left through the gate in the metal fence. Walk through the car park, and pass 2 sections of the building on your left. Look for Haus 10, Treppe 6 (if you reach the car barrier, you have gone too far).
Please be aware that the Berlin office does not operate on Mozilla's badge system. During working hours the office will be open, otherwise you will need keys om Saturday and Sunday. We will have someone available to let you in to the event, but try to arrive on time to avoid being stuck outside!
Meals
Breakfast is NOT included in the hotel rate, please do not eat there, we will provide breakfast in the office each day. Lunch will be catered at the office each day
Dinners will be in small groups, with the exception of Sunday, where we will have group dinners.
There will be an etherpad to sign up for different restaurants each night. PLEASE choose one of the offered restaurants - we will not reimburse you if you go elsewhere.
Some Tips for getting along in Berlin
- Money and Tipping
- Local Currency: Euro
- It is customary in Germany to tip around 10% at restaurants. Tipping in bars is not something many Europeans do.
- Not many places accept Credit/Debit Card. Many smaller restaurants and shops do not accept credit cards like in the US and other larger European cities. Please be prepared to pay in cash. It's a good practice in Berlin to ask in advance at a restaurant if they accept credit cards.