I think the word you're looking for is symposium. Although I think hackathon is just fine.
-- David Cantrell This electrogram was despatched by wireless field telegraph. I would therefore ask that the recipient be so kind as to excuse any failures of courtesy or linguistic inelegance as an unfortunate side-effect of the technology. > On 9 Apr 2016, at 15:11, James E Keenan <jk...@verizon.net> wrote: > >> On 04/09/2016 09:06 AM, Neil Bowers wrote: >> I’ve added a topic to the wiki page for “topics for discussion” at the QAH: >> > [snip] >> There’s a well-established definition for “hackathon” these days, and the >> QAH is not one of those. As a result when talking to potential sponsors, we >> have to be careful to define what the event is, how it works, and the >> attitude towards the output(s). I’ve had plenty of discussions explaining >> “no, not that kind of hackathon”. >> >> Ie people who aren’t already familiar with the QAH hear “4-day … hackathon” >> and think something along the lines of: >> >> So you’re going to get together and lash things up in a frenzy, in teams >> competing against each other. >> > > I concede that the predominant use of the term "hackathon" these days is a > highly competitive event where teams compete against one another under time > pressure. That's true both within private companies and in cases where, say, > a government body open-sources its data and seeks new "apps". > > Once again, Perl is different -- and that's not a difference that we should > relinquish. I count my participation in the Chicago hackathon Andy and Pete > organized in November 2006 as my entry point into real collaboration with > other members of the Perl community. All the hackathons that I have > participated in since then -- including at least four which I have > organized[1] -- have emphasized collaboration and contributions to the Perl > ecosphere rather than competition. None have awarded prizes. > > The Perl QA Hackathon is, admittedly, somewhat unique among Perl hackathons > in that it is an admittedly elite event where funds are raised to bring > together Perl experts from around the world to work in a more focused way and > to develop consensus around proposals for the evolution of the Perl > infrastructure. For that, you need, some serious funds, probably in at least > five figures. > > Of the hackathons I myself have organized, only one needed donations in any > form other than the venue, and in that case the donor had a budget for > open-source contributions which had to be spent. We would have been more > than happy with just the venue, but the extra contributions did enable us to > provide transportation costs for five people from outside our area to serve > as hackathon mentors. > > I think the larger question of "How do we raise money for Perl events even > when they don't conform to larger corporate or societal expectations?" is a > good one, and I thank Neil for kicking off the discussion. But I share > Kent's skepticism about alternative names as an easy answer to that question. > > Thank you very much. > Jim Keenan > > [1] My earlier thoughts on hackathons: > > "How to Get the Most Out of a Hackathon": > http://thenceforward.net/perl/yapc/YAPC-NA-2007/houslight/index.html > > "Let's Have a Distributed Perl Hackathon": > http://blogs.perl.org/users/kid51/2012/10/lets-have-a-distributed-perl-hackathon.html > > "New York Perl Hackathon A Success": > http://blogs.perl.org/users/kid51/2013/03/new-york-perl-hackathon-a-success.html >
