Sprints

Do you use OJS, OMP, OPS for your publishing? Are you interested in getting involved to help improve our software and support open scholarship? If yes, attend a PKP sprint! Sprints are free, fun, and interactive events for our community to brainstorm important tasks, set priorities, and work together to improve our open source software.

What is a PKP Sprint?

A PKP sprint is a hands-on, community-driven effort aimed at advancing the capabilities and usability of PKP software in support of open scholarship. Sprints are in-person gatherings, usually two or three days in length, where participants work in groups on agreed-upon projects related to our software or learning materials.

The format is similar to a hackathon style with dedicated work time to develop a feature, solve a problem like a bug in the software, or develop a piece of documentation or an educational resource.

Sprints involve participants from various backgrounds and foster a sense of community among users and developers, encouraging knowledge sharing and collaboration.

Who can attend Sprints?

Everyone is welcome, and you do not need to know how to code to participate! Our sprints attract a wide range of software users – from programmers and journal managers to librarians and user interface experts. We can only offer sprints in English at this time; however, we work with hosts from around the world to offer diverse locations.

What kinds of projects will we work on?

Sprint topics are diverse and varied and are dependent on the experiences, interests, priorities, and expertise of participants. Browse our past sprints to see summaries of the topics addressed, which include, but are not limited to:

Feature Development: Teams focus on specific features or enhancements based on user feedback or identified needs within the academic publishing community.
Problem-Solving: Sprints often tackle specific issues or bugs that have been reported by users, aiming for quick resolutions.
Documentation and Training: Participants may also work on improving documentation or creating training materials to support users of PKP software.

How are sprint topics decided?

Participants bring their experience and awareness of PKP software usage and development over time to sprints. On the morning of the first day of the sprint, participants gather together in a room to decide which projects to work on. All participants are invited to pitch a project which others can choose to join. Participants are invited to contribute to a single project for the entire sprint or move between groups if multiple projects appeal to them. The atmosphere at sprints is casual, fun, and collaborative, but we work hard and make significant progress towards our shared goals!

Upcoming Sprints

There are no upcoming sprints at this time. Stay tuned for announcements about future sprints!

Past Sprints

Sponsor a Sprint

Sponsors play a vital role in the success of our sprints. That is, sponsoring a sprint means you are giving directly back to the development of free and open-source (FOSS) software for scholarly publishing, which impacts global publishing landscapes and ecosystems.

Since sprints are free for community members to attend, sponsorship funds help us cover event costs, and allow us to offer a Sprint Scholarship to cover travel expenses for a PKP Member who has contributed their time and expertise to the project. Sponsorship suggestions can be found below. We are grateful for all your contributions; please contact us if you are interested in sponsoring a Sprint.

Amount: $500 and above

Benefits:

Logo placement on the Sprint website
Verbal acknowledgment in opening and closing remarks
Publicity in the PKP community newsletter, Archipelago
Acknowledgements in social media posts about the sprint

Amount: $1000 and above

Benefits:

All benefits listed in “$500 and above”
Publicity on the sprint scholarship information page and scholarship announcement materials (“funded by sponsor”)
Opportunity to contribute a guest post to PKP’s News Blog (interview questions will be provided, opportunity to showcase organization, dates to be determined)

Host a Sprint

We’re grateful for the significant contributions of our sprint hosts who enable our sprints to take place in diverse regions around the world! Sprint hosts contribute event spaces and logistics such as catering and signage, help with promotion, share local information such as accommodation and transportation options, assist in organizing a sprint dinner for all attendees, and ensure that everything runs smoothly during the event.

If you’re interested in hosting a sprint at your institution, please get in touch!

Code of Conduct

At the Public Knowledge Project, our work is guided by our commitment to quality, openness, participation, and inclusiveness. We respect people, value diversity, and actively seek to expand spaces for many voices and experiences, both locally and globally, in and through our work.
These values help us to build positive and constructive working relationships in our community. As such, we have adopted this Code of Conduct and require all those who participate in our community to agree and adhere to it in order to ensure a safe and positive experience for all.