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rfc:rfc9311



Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) C. Eckel Request for Comments: 9311 Cisco Systems Category: Informational September 2022 ISSN: 2070-1721

                     Running an IETF Hackathon

Abstract

 IETF Hackathons encourage the IETF community to collaborate on
 running code related to existing and evolving Internet standards.
 This document provides a set of practices that have been used for
 running IETF Hackathons.  These practices apply to Hackathons in
 which both in-person and remote participation are possible, with
 adaptations for Hackathons that are online only.

Status of This Memo

 This document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is
 published for informational purposes.
 This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
 (IETF).  It represents the consensus of the IETF community.  It has
 received public review and has been approved for publication by the
 Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG).  Not all documents
 approved by the IESG are candidates for any level of Internet
 Standard; see Section 2 of RFC 7841.
 Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
 and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
 https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc9311.

Copyright Notice

 Copyright (c) 2022 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
 document authors.  All rights reserved.
 This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
 Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
 (https://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
 publication of this document.  Please review these documents
 carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
 to this document.  Code Components extracted from this document must
 include Revised BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of the
 Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as described
 in the Revised BSD License.

Table of Contents

 1.  Introduction
 2.  Timing
   2.1.  Agenda
   2.2.  Hackdemo Happy Hour
   2.3.  Code Lounge
   2.4.  Code Sprint
   2.5.  Online Only
 3.  Funding
   3.1.  Sponsorship
   3.2.  Expenses
     3.2.1.  In-Person Event Expenses
     3.2.2.  Remote Participation Expenses
 4.  Project Presentations
   4.1.  Project Pitches
   4.2.  Project Results Presentations
     4.2.1.  Templates
   4.3.  Upload to GitHub
   4.4.  Presenting in Person
   4.5.  Presenting Remotely
 5.  Tooling
   5.1.  Datatracker
   5.2.  IETF Website
     5.2.1.  Hackathon Website
     5.2.2.  Meeting Website
   5.3.  Registration
     5.3.1.  Participant List
     5.3.2.  Caps on Registrations
   5.4.  Meeting Wiki
     5.4.1.  Hackathon
     5.4.2.  Lost and Found
     5.4.3.  Results Presentation Schedule
     5.4.4.  In Person Only
     5.4.5.  Online Only
   5.5.  Email List
     5.5.1.  Email Alias for Hackathon Chairs
   5.6.  GitHub
   5.7.  Meetecho
   5.8.  Network
     5.8.1.  Remote Networking
   5.9.  Webex
   5.10. Gather
 6.  Statistics and Metrics
   6.1.  IETF Survey Results
   6.2.  Hackathon Survey Results
 7.  Roles and Responsibilities
   7.1.  Hackathon Chair(s)
   7.2.  Secretariat
   7.3.  Sponsor
   7.4.  Champions of Projects
   7.5.  IETF LLC, Director of Communications and Operations (was
         ISOC)
   7.6.  Judges
 8.  Implementation Status
 9.  Security Considerations
   9.1.  Privacy Considerations
 10. IANA Considerations
 11. Informative References
 Acknowledgments
 Author's Address

1. Introduction

 IETF Hackathons encourage the IETF community to collaborate on
 running code related to existing and evolving Internet standards.
 IETF Hackathons aim to:
  • advance the pace and relevance of IETF standards activities by

bringing the speed and collaborative spirit of open source

    development into the IETF
  • bring developers and early career professionals into the IETF and

get them exposed to and interested in the IETF

 IETF Hackathons are free to attend and open to everyone.  Software
 developers are the primary audience, but participation by subject-
 matter experts who are not necessarily developers is encouraged and
 very important as well.  Similarly, while the Hackathon is meant to
 attract newcomers and people who do not typically attend standards
 meetings, long-time IETF contributors, including Internet-Draft
 authors, working group chairs, and subject-matter experts, are key
 participants as well.  Collaboration and blending of skill sets and
 perspectives are extremely valuable aspects of IETF Hackathons.
 In addition to the running code created and improved as a result of
 each Hackathon, the exchange of ideas, extensions of human networks,
 and establishment of trust, respect, and friendships are some of the
 most valuable outputs of each Hackathon.  Code written in a
 programming language is often more illustrative and constructive than
 opinions expressed during a meeting or in an email.  Working together
 to find common understanding of proposals, concerns, and solutions
 that result in improvements to evolving Internet standards is as
 important as the development of running code that implements or
 validates the correctness of these same proposals.
 Consequently, IETF Hackathons are collaborative events, not
 competitions.  Any competitiveness among participants is friendly and
 in the spirit of advancing the pace and relevance of new and evolving
 Internet standards.  IETF Hackathons are inclusive, not only in terms
 of who can participate but also in terms of the projects included in
 each Hackathon.  All projects should be related to existing or
 proposed Internet standards in some way.  Examples include, but are
 not limited to, interoperability of implementations, proof of
 concepts, and tools that help implement, monitor, or deploy network
 protocols.
 IETF Hackathons foster an open environment, with much of the code
 being open source and results of projects typically shared publicly.
 The Hackathon operates under the [NOTE-WELL]; however, the rules and
 terms around code are those of the license associated with the code.
 Although code is often and preferably open source, it may be
 proprietary as well.
 This document provides a set of practices that have been used for
 running IETF Hackathons.

2. Timing

 The first IETF Hackathon was held the weekend before the start of the
 IETF 92 meeting.  The rationale was to avoid conflicts yet make it
 relatively convenient for those attending the IETF meeting to
 participate in the Hackathon as well.  Holding the Hackathon on the
 weekend was also viewed as making it more accessible to those who are
 not IETF meeting participants, including students and working
 professionals who would have other commitments during the week.  The
 weekend before was viewed as better than the weekend after so that
 things learned during the Hackathon could be shared and discussed
 with the rest of the IETF community during working group sessions and
 the like.  This worked well at IETF 92, was repeated at IETF 93, and
 quickly became an established norm with the IETF meeting being
 officially extended to include the Hackathon at the start.  An
 additional benefit of this timing noted and appreciated by
 participants is that it serves as a more informal and social way to
 physically and mentally acclimate to changes in time zones and
 surroundings.

2.1. Agenda

 The IETF Hackathon is a strenuous event.  Though not a competition,
 participants want to make the most of their time together, much as
 with the IETF meeting in general.  Competitive Hackathons typically
 run nonstop for on the order of 40 hours.  There is a strict
 deadline, teams are judged, and winners are declared at the end.
 Afterward, participants are wiped out and head off to briefly
 celebrate or commiserate but mainly to recuperate.  As the IETF
 Hackathon serves as the start of the overall IETF meeting, we aim to
 strike a compromise that provides time to get valuable work
 accomplished without exhausting everyone before the main IETF meeting
 even starts.  While some people participate in the Hackathon only,
 the majority of people remain and plan to be actively engaged in the
 rest of the IETF meeting.
 The typical agenda is as follows:
 Saturday before IETF meeting week
     08:30: Room open for setup by project champions
     09:00: Room open for all - pastries and coffee provided
     09:30: Hackathon kickoff
     09:45: Form teams
     12:30: Lunch provided
     15:30: Afternoon break - snacks provided
     19:00: Dinner provided
     22:00: Room closes
 Sunday before IETF meeting week
     08:30: Room opens - pastries and coffee provided
     12:30: Lunch provided
     13:30: Hacking stops; prepare brief presentation of project
            results
     14:00: Present project results to other participants
     15:45: Closing remarks and opportunities for next time
     16:00: Hackathon ends
     17:00: Tear down complete
 The time on Saturday morning provides the opportunity for team
 champions to set up and participants to socialize and learn more
 about projects and teams they might want to join.  The kickoff
 presentation and formalities are kept to a minimum to leave as much
 time as possible for teams to work together on their projects.  The
 proximity of teams fosters communication and collaboration between
 them as well.
 Lunch and dinner are provided as a convenience and an incentive to
 remain at the Hackathon.  Participants are free to come and go as
 they like.  It is well understood and accepted that there are other
 things vying for time and that meeting with friends and colleagues
 outside of the Hackathon is an entirely reasonable thing to do.
 The room closes Saturday evening to give hotel staff unfettered
 access to the room and to encourage people to pace and take care of
 themselves.  There are no rules against continuing work on projects
 outside of the Hackathon room.  Similarly, working on projects long
 before and after the Hackathon is allowed and encouraged.
 The end of the Hackathon on Sunday is driven by other IETF meeting
 events.  Typically, there are Newcomer events that start at 16:00.
 The IETF Hackathon typically includes many newcomers in its list of
 participants, and it is important to provide them time to participate
 in the Newcomer events.  The opening reception for the IETF typically
 starts at 17:00, and we want to make it easy for all Hackathon
 participants to join that as well.
 Hackdemo Happy Hour (Section 2.2) and the Code Lounge (Section 2.3)
 exist to facilitate ongoing discussion and work on projects beyond
 the official end of the Hackathon weekend.

2.2. Hackdemo Happy Hour

 Hackdemo Happy Hour provides an opportunity for more in-depth sharing
 and discussion than is possible within the time constraints of the
 results presentations that occur at the end of the Hackathon.  This
 opportunity is made available to all teams.  As with the results
 presentations, participation is optional.
 Initially, something similar was done as part of [BITS-N-BITES].
 This worked well for the Hackathon, but the Bits-N-Bites event was
 eventually abandoned for other reasons.  Hackdemo Happy Hour was
 created as a low-cost, informal event to provide a venue for the IETF
 community to engage with the Hackathon teams in more in-depth
 discussions related to their projects.
 Hackdemo Happy Hour is typically Monday evening, roughly from 18:00 -
 19:30, often overlapping a bit with the last working group session of
 the day but continuing long enough to allow everyone an opportunity
 to join.  The goal is to make it convenient to attend by not
 conflicting with other meetings and also by not running too late into
 the night.
 Light snacks and beverages are provided, and a cash bar is available
 to align with the spirit of a happy hour.

2.3. Code Lounge

 The Code Lounge provides space for groups to gather and continue to
 collaborate on running code after the Hackathon.  It is typically in
 the IETF Lounge and open the same hours as the IETF Lounge.
 Champions are encouraged to look at the final agenda and determine
 which time slots are best suited to ensure attendance of Code Lounge
 sessions, as well as any related working group sessions.  It is okay
 for multiple teams to sign up for the same time slots.  This is in
 fact encouraged for work that spans multiple working groups or
 projects.

2.4. Code Sprint

 The [CODE-SPRINT] develops tools that support the work of the IETF.
 The Code Sprint existed long before the Hackathon and benefited from
 being a focused event in a quiet space with few interruptions.
 However, there is a great deal of synergy between the Code Sprint and
 the Hackathon, and they attract some of the same participants.  For
 example, some Hackathon projects, such as those related to YANG model
 validation, involve the creation or modification of IETF tools.  It
 is therefore advantageous to co-locate these two events when
 practical and, when separate space is deemed helpful, to allocate
 spaces that are physically close to each other to make it easy for
 participants to switch back and forth between the two events.

2.5. Online Only

 The IETF 107 Hackathon was originally scheduled to be the weekend at
 the start of the IETF meeting in Vancouver.  When COVID-19 hit and it
 became clear the IETF meeting could not occur in person, the
 Hackathon already had 23 projects and 176 registrations.  With only
 10 days until the anticipated start of the Hackathon, a [SURVEY] went
 out to the Hackathon community, including all project champions and
 registered participants, to see if they wanted to participate in the
 Hackathon exactly as planned except with everyone participating
 remotely rather than in person.  A relatively small number of people
 expressed interest in participating, with even fewer wanting to
 continue to champion their projects.  The fact that the Hackathon was
 planned for the weekend before the IETF meeting and in the local time
 zone, both of which were historically very convenient and attractive
 to Hackathon participants, suddenly became huge obstacles.
 Consequently, the IETF 107 Hackathon was canceled.
 We knew more in advance that IETF 108 would be an online-only
 meeting.  We moved and expanded the schedule to run the entire work
 week before the rest of the IETF meeting.  The Hackathon kickoff was
 set for Monday and the closing set for Friday, with all the time in
 between left for individual project teams to arrange to meet how and
 when was most convenient for them.  The kickoff and closing sessions
 were scheduled to align with the time frame established for the IETF
 108 meeting.  All of this was, of course, not ideal, and it worked
 much better for some people than for others, but at least everyone
 knew the plan and corresponding time commitment well in advance and
 had the ability to plan accordingly.
 We ultimately had 19 projects and almost 300 registrations.  It is
 hard to say how many people actually participated and for how long,
 but many were able to get substantial work done on their projects.
 For the closing, 10 teams produced and shared presentations
 summarizing their findings and achievements.  All results
 presentations, as well as the agenda and a recording of the closing
 session, are available via the [IETF-108-HACKATHON-WIKI].  This level
 of participation was strong enough to be considered a success and
 justifies including the Hackathon in future online-only IETF
 meetings.
 Hackdemo Happy Hour and the Code Lounge are not applicable for
 online-only Hackathons.

3. Funding

 The Hackathon requires funding, and that funding increases with the
 number of participants.  Participating has always been free;
 therefore, funding from sources other than participant fees is
 required.

3.1. Sponsorship

 The initial funding model was to have Hackathon sponsors sign up to
 sponsor and fund the Hackathon for one year.  As part of starting the
 Hackathon, Cisco volunteered to sponsor and fund it for the first
 year (i.e., three Hackathons, one at each IETF meeting during a
 calendar year).  This sponsorship was to rotate.  Huawei volunteered
 to sponsor the second year of the Hackathon.  After the second year,
 a sponsor for the third year was not found.  However, the Hackathon
 had become a proven success.  Consequently, the IETF decided to fund
 the Hackathon as part of the IETF meeting, with Hackathon sponsorship
 being on a best-effort basis.
 Online-only Hackathons in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and
 increased remote participating in general result in increased cloud
 infrastructure requirements that make Hackathon sponsorship more
 attractive to cloud infrastructure providers.
 Hackathon sponsorship is available at different levels as part of
 being an IETF [RUNNING-CODE-SPONSOR].

3.2. Expenses

 The primary expenses associated with the Hackathon are those for
 hosting an in-person event, e.g., meeting space, food and beverage,
 etc.  It is often challenging to quantify what portions of this are
 associated with the Hackathon versus what is incurred for the IETF
 meeting overall.

3.2.1. In-Person Event Expenses

 The following expenses are associated with in-person participation in
 a Hackathon.  When the IETF meeting is online only, these expenses
 are eliminated.

3.2.1.1. Meeting Space

 The meeting space for the Hackathon is sometimes included as part of
 the overall contract for the IETF meeting.  Other times, an
 additional expense is incurred to secure a large enough space earlier
 than would otherwise have been required.  Typically, the space is
 needed for setup from Friday afternoon before the start of the IETF
 meeting until Sunday afternoon.  After the Hackathon, the space is
 typically repurposed for the IETF Lounge.  If the size of the
 Hackathon continues to increase, it might be necessary to use the
 same space as is later used for the IETF plenary.

3.2.1.2. Food and Beverage

 Some portion of the food and beverage expense is often included as
 part of a minimum spend the IETF is obligated to make.  When a
 Hackathon sponsor is identified, funds resulting from this
 sponsorship are typically used to offset food and beverage expenses
 or to increase the food and beverage budget.
 The minimum food and beverage requirements for the Hackathon have
 been:
  • coffee, tea, and water Saturday and Sunday morning
  • lunch Saturday and Sunday
 Additional items, in order of importance, include:
  • beer Saturday evening
  • dinner Saturday evening
  • continental breakfast Saturday and Sunday
  • afternoon snacks Saturday and Sunday

3.2.1.3. T-Shirts

 Hackathon T-shirts are an important part of the Hackathon.  They have
 been provided for all in-person Hackathons and greatly appreciated by
 many participants.  They also serve as great advertising for the
 IETF, the Hackathon, and sponsors.  Cisco or other event sponsors
 have often covered expenses associated with T-shirts.  The current
 model is that the Secretariat covers the expenses using whatever
 funding is available.
 The number of size distribution of T-shirts for IETF 107 is provided
 here as an example.
  • 380 T-shirts at a cost of roughly $10 USD each, with shipping to

the Secretariat included:

  1. 50 Small
  1. 120 Medium
  1. 110 Large
  1. 75 XL
  1. 25 XXL
 The T-shirts are all standard cut.  We previously tried providing
 fitted cut T-shirts as an option for Hackathon participants, but
 these were not well received.

3.2.1.4. Stickers

 Laptop stickers are popular with developers.  Stickers have been made
 available at the Hackathon for those that want them.  Expenses have
 been covered by the IETF LLC, which oversees the communications and
 operations budget.

3.2.2. Remote Participation Expenses

 The following expenses are associated things done primarily to
 facilitate remote participation in a Hackathon.  This includes
 participation when the Hackathon is online only, as well as remote
 participation when the Hackathon is in person.
  • Meetecho: cost associated with the Hackathon kickoff and closing
  • Gather: costs associated with premium service, required to enable

more than 25 concurrent users. This has not been necessary but

    will almost certainly be if Gather becomes a valuable way for
    Hackathon participants to meet within and across teams.
  • Webex: IETF Webex accounts are made available to champions for the

duration of the Hackathon and some period beyond that encompasses

    at least the rest of the IETF meeting.  These accounts are
    presently available at no additional cost to the IETF.
  • Network: setup and support of the IETF network and remote access

to it

 The change in timing and extended duration of the Hackathon at an
 online-only IETF meeting increases the duration and use of remote
 participation facilities from 7 days to 12 days.  This may result in
 increases to the cost of providing these facilities.

4. Project Presentations

 Project presentations are an important mechanism for capturing what
 each team intends to accomplish, capturing what they actually
 accomplished, and sharing the results and findings with the IETF
 community.
 For the first few Hackathons, we had two very distinct types of
 presentations:
 1.  presentations that served as project pitches at the start of the
     Hackathon
 2.  presentations that summarized results at the end of the Hackathon

4.1. Project Pitches

 The project pitches were 5-10 minute presentations by a champion of a
 project describing what they wanted to do and how they proposed to
 accomplish it.  This gave everyone in the room a better understanding
 of all the projects and helped participants match themselves with
 appropriate projects.  This worked well when we had few projects, but
 it became unwieldy as the number of projects increased.  As knowledge
 of the Hackathon grew and advanced planning became more common, many
 participants knew exactly which team they planned to join and wanted
 to get to work as quickly as possible rather than spend time
 listening to presentations.  Project pitches were dropped from the
 Hackathon.  Champions are encouraged to share this type of
 information in advance via the IETF Meeting Wiki (Section 5.4)
 instead.

4.2. Project Results Presentations

 The project results presentations were brief presentations by each
 team of what problem they tried to solve, what they achieved, and
 highlights that included lessons learned, feedback to associated
 working groups, and collaboration with open source communities and
 other standards organizations.  They also highlight individuals who
 participated in their first IETF Hackathon or first IETF event, which
 helps facilitate the introduction of such individuals to the IETF
 community.  The production and presentation of summaries of results
 is optional.  Fortunately, despite the lack of awards and prizes,
 most teams participate.
 As with the project pitches, project results presentations can become
 unwieldy as the number of projects increases.  With this in mind, the
 total time for all results presentations is limited to 2 hours.  The
 maximum duration of each presentation is calculated based on the
 number of teams that indicate the desire to present.  This maximum is
 strictly enforced to ensure all teams have the opportunity to present
 their results.  Maximum durations of 3-5 minutes are typical.

4.2.1. Templates

 Project results presentation templates provides guidance on what to
 cover.  The use of these templates is optional.  They are made
 available in various formats in a GitHub repo created specifically
 for the presentations for each IETF Hackathon, e.g.,
 [RESULTS-PRESENTATIONS].

4.2.1.1. Microsoft PowerPoint Open XML (PPTX)

 For portability, presentations that use the PPTX template should be
 exported into a PDF format as well.

4.2.1.2. HTML Format

 The HTML format template should render within any browser.  It can be
 rendered as a slideshow using [REMARK].

4.3. Upload to GitHub

 All project results presentations are uploaded to the GitHub repo
 created for the Hackathon, e.g., [RESULTS-PRESENTATIONS].  The
 contents of this repo are used as the source for all results
 presentations at the end of the Hackathon and remain as a reference
 after the Hackathon.
 One must be a member of the [IETF-HACKATHON-GITHUB] organization to
 upload a new presentation or update/replace an existing presentation.
 To be added as a member, presenters are asked to:
  • include the name by which they are known in their GitHub profile
  • enable 2-factor authentication (2FA)
  • send their GitHub username to the Hackathon Chair(s)
 Presenters are asked to do this at their earliest convenience, as the
 Chair(s) typically gets very busy as the start of presentations
 approaches.

4.4. Presenting in Person

 Presentations are run from a shared Chromebook at the front of the
 Hackathon room.  This Chromebook is provided by the Secretariat.

4.5. Presenting Remotely

 Remote presenters are welcome to run their own presentations using
 the screen-sharing functionality in Meetecho.  Alternatively, the
 Hackathon Chair(s) can share the presentation and advance slides for
 the presenter.

5. Tooling

 The IETF Hackathon uses the same tooling used by the IETF community
 for its work and meetings.

5.1. Datatracker

 The [DATATRACKER] supports the notion of teams that are not part of
 the standards development process.  The Hackathon exists as one such
 team.  From the Datatracker menu, navigate to "Groups" -> "Other" ->
 "Active Teams" -> "hackathon".  Here exists a Datatracker space for
 the Hackathon similar to what is available for working groups,
 including meeting materials, agendas, etc.  Initially, there was some
 attempt to copy materials hosted in the [IETF-HACKATHON-GITHUB] to
 the Datatracker.  Now, this is done only when required for
 integration with other IETF tooling, including:
  • requesting sessions for the Hackathon kickoff and closing and for

Hackdemo Happy Hour, e.g., [REQUEST-SESSIONS]

  • posting agendas (e.g., see [AGENDAS])

5.2. IETF Website

5.2.1. Hackathon Website

 The IETF website includes a [HACKATHON-WEBSITE].  This website
 contains information about the Hackathon in general, as well as links
 to past, present, and future Hackathons.  The relevant links are
 updated after each IETF meeting.  Other content on the website is
 updated on a more ad hoc basis.

5.2.2. Meeting Website

 Each IETF [MEETING-WEBSITE] contains information about the
 corresponding Hackathon, including the dates of the Hackathon in the
 header and a link to the Hackathon website in the "Additional Events"
 section.

5.3. Registration

 Registration for the Hackathon is through the IETF meeting
 [REGISTRATION-SYSTEM].  Participant registration for the Hackathon
 is:
  • independent of participation registration for the meeting
  • free
  • required
 As with meeting registration, registrants for the Hackathon
 acknowledge the [NOTE-WELL] during the registration process.

5.3.1. Participant List

 An active list of all registered participants, e.g., [PARTICIPANTS],
 is maintained by the Secretariat.  Important information displayed
 for each registrant includes the set of projects and technologies in
 which each participant is interested and an email address.  This
 information is optional at the time of registration and may be
 updated or removed by editing one's registration.

5.3.2. Caps on Registrations

 Registrations were capped for the first several Hackathons.  This was
 done for both space and costs considerations.  The cap was hit
 multiple times, each time resulting in temporary confusion and
 frustration among would-be registrants, which led to the cap being
 increased.  Currently, there are no caps enforced by the registration
 system.  In the event the number of participants exceeds the capacity
 of the main Hackathon room, designated overflow areas within the
 meeting venue are made available.

5.4. Meeting Wiki

 The [MEETING-WIKI] serves as the primary source of information for
 each Hackathon.

5.4.1. Hackathon

 A page within the meeting wiki, e.g., [IETF-110-HACKATHON-WIKI], is
 created by the Secretariat for each Hackathon and initialized with
 information that is based largely on the information from the
 previous Hackathon.  Once created, the Hackathon Chair(s) updates and
 moderates this page.  Champions are requested and are responsible for
 adding information about projects for which they are a champion.
 Anyone can edit the wiki by logging in using their Datatracker login
 credentials.  Credentials can be obtained by creating a
 [DATATRACKER-ACCOUNT].

5.4.2. Lost and Found

 A Lost and Found wiki page, e.g., [LOST-AND-FOUND], is created by the
 Chair(s) for each Hackathon.  Participants looking for a team are
 encouraged to add themselves to the "Skills to Offer" table,
 providing some information about their skills and interests.  This
 will help others with matching needs and/or interests find them.
 Champions wanting help on their projects are encouraged to add their
 teams to the "Skills Needed" table, providing some information about
 the skills they seek.

5.4.3. Results Presentation Schedule

 A Results Presentation Schedule wiki page, e.g.,
 [RESULTS-PRESENTATION-SCHEDULE], is created by the Chair(s) for each
 Hackathon.  Hackathon teams are welcome and encouraged to present
 their results during the Hackathon closing.  Hackathon teams add the
 name of their project and the name of the presenter to the table at
 the bottom of this page.

5.4.4. In Person Only

 The following wiki pages are applicable for in-person Hackathons
 only.

5.4.4.1. Hackdemo Happy Hour

 A Hackdemo Happy Hour wiki page, e.g., [HACKDEMO], is created by the
 Chair(s) for each Hackathon.  Champions are welcome and encouraged to
 add their project by entering the project name/acronym and a contact
 name and email address in the table displayed on the page.

5.4.4.2. Code Lounge

 A Code Lounge wiki page, e.g., [CODE-LOUNGE], is created by the
 Chair(s) for each Hackathon.  Champions are welcome and encouraged to
 add their project by entering the project name/acronym and a contact
 name and email address in the table displayed on the page.

5.4.5. Online Only

 The following wiki pages are applicable for online-only Hackathons.

5.4.5.1. Team Schedule

 A Team Schedule wiki page, e.g., [TEAM-SCHEDULE], is created by the
 Chair(s) for each online-only Hackathon.  Online-only Hackathons take
 place globally for an entire week.  It is up to individual project
 teams to determine the preferred dates, times, and ways to meet to
 work on their project within the context of that week (e.g., Zoom,
 Webex, or Slack).  This page is meant to help facilitate coordination
 of schedules within and across teams.

5.5. Email List

 The Hackathon [EMAIL-LIST] is used for all email communication and
 announcements related to the Hackathon.  All registrants are given
 the option to subscribe to the list.  Anyone interested in staying up
 to date on the Hackathon is able to subscribe at any time.  Once
 subscribed, anyone can send and respond to emails via the list.  The
 same list is used for each Hackathon.  Anyone wishing to receive
 emails for a specific Hackathon only can unsubscribe after that
 Hackathon has concluded.

5.5.1. Email Alias for Hackathon Chairs

 The email alias <hackathon-chairs@ietf.org> was created and is
 maintained by the Secretariat.  It is used on Hackathon web pages and
 wiki pages to provide a single point of contact for the Hackathon.

5.6. GitHub

 The [IETF-HACKATHON-GITHUB] is used to share code, presentations, and
 other artifacts at IETF Hackathons.  The Hackathon Chair(s) is
 responsible for administering the GitHub organization.
 Code for Hackathon projects often exist elsewhere, which is perfectly
 fine.  Anyone needing a place to host code for the Hackathon can
 request the creation of a repository for their project.
 A repository is created and maintained by the Chair(s) for each
 Hackathon, e.g., [RESULTS-PRESENTATIONS].  This repo is for
 participants to upload project results presentations.  The contents
 of this repo are used as the source for all presentations at the end
 of the Hackathon and remain as a reference after the Hackathon.

5.7. Meetecho

 [MEETECHO] is used for the kickoff and closing sessions of the
 Hackathon.  This provides many capabilities, including the following:
  • allows participants to join Hackathon sessions in person or

remotely

  • validates the registration of participants at the time of joining

Hackathon sessions

  • enables remote presenters of project results presentations
  • captures recordings of the Hackathon kickoff and closing

5.8. Network

 Access to the IETF network is an important aspect of the Hackathon.
 The IETF network provides unfettered Internet access that is not
 typical within many residential, corporate, and university
 environments.  For many IETF participants and projects, access to the
 Internet and each other via wireless access to the IETF network is
 sufficient.  However, due to the nature of the work done in the IETF,
 wired access and special networking capabilities are often required.
 The Network Operations Center (NOC) has graciously met the needs of
 the Hackathon since its inception and continues to add more
 capabilities over time.  In advance, champions are able to request
 wired access and special networking functionality, including static
 IPv4 and IPv6 addresses, IPv6-only networking, a closed user group,
 Network Address and Protocol Translation from IPv6 Clients to IPv4
 Servers (NAT64), and IPv6 Prefix Delegation.  All of this, and the
 IETF network in general, is made available by the start of the
 Hackathon and in advance for setup to the extent possible.

5.8.1. Remote Networking

 Online-only meetings present both a personal-networking challenge and
 a computer-networking challenge.  The NOC came to the rescue for the
 latter with an experimental mechanism that was used to join the IETF
 network while attending a meeting remotely.  This evolved into what
 is now known as "HackNet" [HACKNET], a global Layer 2 VPN designed to
 support IETF protocol development across teams within the IETF
 Hackathon.  A limited set of devices for connecting to HackNet are
 supported.  In addition to Layer 2 connectivity, a subset of the
 networking capabilities available at in-person meetings are
 available.  Both the set of devices and the set of networking
 capabilities are expected to expand and evolve over time.  However,
 it is important to note that HackNet is still an experiment and not a
 production service.  Best-effort support is available via email to
 <support@ietf.org>.

5.9. Webex

 Champions can request a [WEBEX-ACCOUNT] they can use to schedule
 meetings for their team.  These are similar to the Webex accounts
 that are allocated to and used by the working group chairs for
 virtual interim meetings.  An account can be requested by a team
 champion at any time.  Accounts remain active and available
 throughout the duration of the Hackathon and the associated IETF
 meeting.  A project name may be used in place of "Working Group Name"
 in the request form.

5.10. Gather

 [GATHER] facilitates virtual hallway interaction during IETF
 meetings.  A dedicated area within the overall space is created by
 the Secretariat for the Hackathon.  The area includes tables,
 identified by letters of the alphabet, that teams are free to self-
 assign and use as and when they like.  Eight to ten seats around each
 table facilitate group discussions within the team.  A dry erase
 board or shared notes tablet, e.g., [HEDGEDOC], at tables facilitates
 sharing of information within the team.  The tables also facilitate
 collaboration across teams.  One cautionary note: Gather has relative
 high-network bandwidth and CPU requirements and, as such, may not be
 well suited for some Hackathon participants.
 The Gather space remains available between IETF meetings, with
 incremental improvements and additions made during this time.  The
 space is cleaned about a month prior to the start of the next
 meeting, removing anything left over from the previous meeting.
 Hackathon teams are encouraged to make a copy of anything they want
 to retain within a week of the end of the IETF meeting.

6. Statistics and Metrics

 Statistics for the Hackathon have been gathered informally from the
 first Hackathon, at IETF 92, and more formally since IETF 101.
 Registration is required, but it is also free, which can lead to
 misleading statistics.  Starting with IETF 101, an effort has been
 made by the Secretariat to validate registrations for all in-person
 participants by checking registrations at the main entrance to the
 Hackathon room.  Badges similar to those issued for the rest of the
 IETF meeting are now issued for the Hackathon as well.  There is
 still no good mechanism for determining the number of remote
 participants.
 Hackathon participation has grown from 45 participants at IETF 92 to
 a maximum of 406 participants at IETF 104.  Participation tends to be
 slightly higher when the IETF meeting is located in Europe.  Recent
 in-person Hackathons have had roughly 30-40% as many participants as
 the corresponding IETF meeting.  For roughly 20-30% of Hackathon
 participants, the Hackathon is their first experience at any IETF
 event.

6.1. IETF Survey Results

 For each IETF meeting, there is a post-event survey that often
 includes a question or two about the Hackathon, e.g.,
 [IETF-106-SURVEY].

6.2. Hackathon Survey Results

 Hackathon-specific surveys have been used on some occasions to obtain
 more detailed feedback about the Hackathon from the IETF community.
 This has been especially useful for feedback on online-only
 Hackathons.  Surveys have been short with most questions being
 optional, e.g., [IETF-110-SURVEY].

7. Roles and Responsibilities

 This section provides a summary of the roles and responsibilities of
 individuals and groups involved in a successful IETF Hackathon.  The
 summary provided here is not meant to be exhaustive.  Some
 responsibilities are described entirely or in more detail throughout
 the rest of the document.

7.1. Hackathon Chair(s)

 The role of a Hackathon Chair is similar to that of a working group
 chair.  As with working groups, it is typically best to have co-
 chairs share responsibilities and the workload.  The Hackathon
 Chair(s) works very closely with the Secretariat on all
 responsibilities.  Key responsibilities include the following:
  • Organize and deliver a Hackathon at each IETF meeting, which

involves soliciting help from all other roles to do much of the

    heavy lifting
  • Encourage and provide guidance to champions who volunteer to lead

projects

  • Maintain the Hackathon wiki, e.g., [IETF-110-HACKATHON-WIKI], and

all of its child pages.

  • Moderate the Hackathon email list (Section 5.5)
  • request sessions for the Hackathon opening and closing in the IETF

meeting, e.g., [REQUEST-SESSIONS]

  • Emcee the Hackathon, including the opening and closing sessions

and announcements in between

  • Create and manage the GitHub repository used for each Hackathon,

e.g.,[RESULTS-PRESENTATIONS]

  • Serve as the main point of contact for all Hackathon questions and

concerns

7.2. Secretariat

 Key responsibilities include the following:
  • Configure and manage the Hackathon registration system

(Section 5.3)

  • Maintain the Hackathon website (Section 5.2.1)
  • Create and maintain the web page for each Hackathon, e.g.,

[IETF-110-HACKATHON-WEBSITE]

  • Create a wiki page for each Hackathon, e.g.,

[IETF-110-HACKATHON-WIKI]. This is initialized and updated at

    times by the Secretariat, but the Chair(s) is ultimately
    responsible for maintaining it.
  • Handle venue logistics for the Hackathon, Hackdemo Happy Hour, and

the Code Lounge (e.g., reserve room, food and beverages, AV, etc.)

  • Handle internal IETF promotion (e.g., via email messages to the

IETF community)

  • Assist with external outreach, as needed, including finding

sponsors

  • Validate Hackathon registrations for in-person participants,

including issuing badges and Hackathon T-shirts (Section 3.2.1.3)

    when available

7.3. Sponsor

 Key responsibilities include the following:
  • Provide some funding to help offset costs of the Hackathon (either

per meeting or per year, depending on the model)

  • Optionally provide T-shirts or other giveaways
  • Optionally provide support staff to assist with the Hackathon
 Key benefits include the following:
  • Sponsor logo on Hackathon T-shirts
  • Sponsor logo on Hackathon signage
  • Sponsor logo on the Hackathon web page and wiki
  • Sponsor logo and call out in the Hackathon kickoff and closing

presentations

  • Sponsor logo and call out in the IETF plenary presentation
  • Sponsor logo and call out in the Hackathon recap on [IETF-BLOG]
  • Recognition in the IETF community for helping the IETF Hackathon

remain free and open to everyone

7.4. Champions of Projects

 Champions of projects are the key to a successful Hackathon.  Key
 responsibilities for champions include the following:
  • Volunteer to lead a project at the Hackathon
  • Serve as the primary contact for the project
  • Add and manage information on the Hackathon wiki for the project,

including the Hackdemo Happy Hour (Section 2.2), Code Lounge

    (Section 2.3), and Team Schedule (Section 5.4.5.1) pages
  • Promote the project to appropriate groups inside the IETF and

outside as well

  • Welcome and organize members of the team
  • Provide focus, guidance, and leadership for the project

7.5. IETF LLC, Director of Communications and Operations (was ISOC)

 Key responsibilities include the following:
  • Promote the Hackathon outside of the IETF, including web search

engine ad words, social media posts, and listing on external event

    calendars, such as [RIPE-CALENDAR] and [NSRC-CALENDAR]
  • Handle outreach to local universities
  • Provide a photographer, including optional team photos and candid

photos of collaborating during in-person events

  • Provide laptop stickers (Section 3.2.1.4) at in-person events

7.6. Judges

 The first several Hackathons involved judges who listened to project
 results presentations by teams at the closing of each Hackathon and
 identified winning teams for an arbitrary number of project
 categories.  Prizes were made available to members of winning teams.
 This was done as an incentive to participate in the Hackathon and
 present results and to provide a fun yet informative end to the
 Hackathon that could be appreciated by the entire IETF community.
 Judging and the awarding of prizes led to confusion regarding the
 nature of the Hackathon, making it appear overly competitive to some.
 Procurement of appropriate prizes was financially and logistically
 challenging.  The arrangement of judges, determination of winners,
 and awarding of prizes all became more time consuming, especially as
 the number of projects and participants grew.  Ultimately, it was
 deemed best to eliminate judging, awards, and prizes entirely.
 Apparently, the IETF community has an innate incentive to participate
 and present results in the Hackathon.

8. Implementation Status

 The practices described in this document have been established, used,
 and refined over the course of running numerous IETF Hackathons,
 including several at online-only IETF meetings.  The GitHub
 repository [GITHUB-REPO] has been used to collaborate on this
 document.  The IETF-Hackathon GitHub (Section 5.6) contains code
 associated with IETF Hackathons.

9. Security Considerations

 HackNet (Section 5.8.1) enables Hackathon participants to join the
 IETF network while attending a meeting remotely.  The intent is for
 those connecting remotely to have as open a network as possible, just
 like those connecting to the IETF network at an in-person meeting.  A
 user must have a Datatracker account to access HackNet and is
 expected to respect it, just as they are expected to respect the IETF
 network at an in-person meeting.  If HackNet is exploited, it is
 addressed in the same manner as an exploitation of the IETF network
 would be at an in-person meeting.

9.1. Privacy Considerations

 The Hackathon complies with the IETF/IRTF/IAB [PRIVACY-STATEMENT].
 Participant names are displayed publicly in the Participant List
 (Section 5.3.1).  As part of their registration, participants may opt
 in to display their email address as well.
 The email addresses of individual champions are often shared publicly
 by the champions on the wiki.  This is done voluntarily by individual
 champions to make it easier for others to contact them.
 Photos taken during the Hackathon, and during the IETF meeting in
 general, are sometimes included in blog posts or on social media.
 Red lanyards are made available to Hackathon participants to wear to
 indicate that they do not wish to be photographed individually or in
 small groups.

10. IANA Considerations

 This document has no IANA actions.

11. Informative References

 [AGENDAS]  IETF, "IETF Meeting Agenda",
            <https://datatracker.ietf.org/meeting/agenda/>.
 [BITS-N-BITES]
            IETF, "About Bits-N-Bites",
            <https://www.ietf.org/how/meetings/98/bits-n-bites/>.
 [CODE-LOUNGE]
            IETF, "IETF 113 Code Lounge",
            <https://trac.ietf.org/trac/ietf/meeting/
            wiki/113hackathon/codelounge>.
 [CODE-SPRINT]
            IETF, "Code Sprint",
            <https://www.ietf.org/how/runningcode/code-sprint/>.
 [DATATRACKER]
            IETF, "IETF Datatracker", <https://datatracker.ietf.org/>.
 [DATATRACKER-ACCOUNT]
            IETF, "IETF Datatracker Account Creation",
            <https://datatracker.ietf.org/accounts/create/>.
 [EMAIL-LIST]
            IETF, "IETF Hackathon Mailing List",
            <https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/Hackathon/>.
 [GATHER]   "Gather", <https://gather.town/>.
 [GITHUB-REPO]
            "draft-ietf-shmoo-hackathon: IETF SHMOO working group
            draft on running an IETF Hackathon", commit 6a8aad6, July
            2022,
            <https://github.com/eckelcu/draft-ietf-shmoo-hackathon/>.
 [HACKATHON-WEBSITE]
            IETF, "IETF Hackathons",
            <https://www.ietf.org/how/runningcode/hackathons/>.
 [HACKDEMO] IETF, "IETF 113 Hackdemo Happy Hour",
            <https://trac.ietf.org/trac/ietf/meeting/
            wiki/113hackathon/hackdemo>.
 [HACKNET]  IETF, "HackNet", <https://hacknet.meeting.ietf.org/>.
 [HEDGEDOC] IETF, "HedgeDoc", <https://notes.ietf.org/>.
 [IETF-106-SURVEY]
            IETF, "IETF 106 Meeting Survey",
            <https://www.ietf.org/media/documents/
            IETF_106_Meeting_Survey.pdf>.
 [IETF-108-HACKATHON-WIKI]
            IETF, "IETF 108 Hackathon Wiki",
            <https://trac.ietf.org/trac/ietf/meeting/
            wiki/108hackathon/>.
 [IETF-110-HACKATHON-WEBSITE]
            IETF, "IETF 110 Hackathon Online",
            <https://www.ietf.org/how/runningcode/
            hackathons/110-hackathon/>.
 [IETF-110-HACKATHON-WIKI]
            IETF, "IETF 110 Hackathon Wiki",
            <https://trac.ietf.org/trac/ietf/meeting/
            wiki/110hackathon/>.
 [IETF-110-SURVEY]
            IETF, "IETF 110 Meeting Survey", <https://ql.tc/8K1JeZ/>.
 [IETF-BLOG]
            IETF, "IETF Blog", <https://www.ietf.org/blog/>.
 [IETF-HACKATHON-GITHUB]
            IETF, "IETF-Hackathon Repositories",
            <https://github.com/ietf-hackathon/>.
 [LOST-AND-FOUND]
            IETF, "IETF 110 Hackathon Lost and Found",
            <https://trac.ietf.org/trac/ietf/meeting/
            wiki/110hackathon/lost&found>.
 [MEETECHO] "Meetecho", <https://www.meetecho.com/>.
 [MEETING-WEBSITE]
            IETF, "Meetings and events",
            <https://www.ietf.org/how/meetings/>.
 [MEETING-WIKI]
            IETF, "IETF Meeting Wiki",
            <https://trac.ietf.org/trac/ietf/meeting/wiki>.
 [NOTE-WELL]
            IETF, "Note Well", <https://ietf.org/about/note-well/>.
 [NSRC-CALENDAR]
            Network Startup Resource Center, "Education Outreach and
            Training (EOT) Calendar for Internet Development",
            <https://nsrc.org/calendar/>.
 [PARTICIPANTS]
            IETF, "IETF 110 Hackathon Participant List",
            <https://registration.ietf.org/110/participants/
            hackathon/>.
 [PRIVACY-STATEMENT]
            IETF, "IETF/IRTF/IAB Privacy Statement",
            <https://www.ietf.org/privacy-statement/>.
 [REGISTRATION-SYSTEM]
            IETF, "IETF Meeting Registration System",
            <https://registration.ietf.org/>.
 [REMARK]   "remark: A simple, in-browser, markdown-driven slideshow
            tool", commit 1bbce13, May 2022,
            <https://github.com/gnab/remark/>.
 [REQUEST-SESSIONS]
            IETF, "IETF Session Request",
            <https://datatracker.ietf.org/secr/sreq/>.
 [RESULTS-PRESENTATION-SCHEDULE]
            IETF, "IETF 110 Hackathon Results Presentation Schedule",
            <https://trac.ietf.org/trac/ietf/meeting/
            wiki/110hackathon/resultspresentationschedule>.
 [RESULTS-PRESENTATIONS]
            IETF, "IETF 110 Hackathon Project Results Presentations",
            commit a6a12bd, March 2021, <https://github.com/ietf-
            hackathon/ietf110-project-presentations>.
 [RIPE-CALENDAR]
            RIPE NCC, "Upcoming Events",
            <https://www.ripe.net/participate/meetings/calendar/>.
 [RUNNING-CODE-SPONSOR]
            IETF, "IETF Meeting Sponsorship: Running Code Sponsors",
            <https://www.ietf.org/support-us/sponsorship/#running-
            code>.
 [SURVEY]   IETF, "IETF 107 Hackathon Results: Participant Survey",
            <https://www.surveymonkey.com/results/SM-9HLRXN8M7/>.
 [TEAM-SCHEDULE]
            IETF, "IETF 110 Hackathon Team Schedule",
            <https://trac.ietf.org/trac/ietf/meeting/
            wiki/110hackathon/teamschedule>.
 [WEBEX-ACCOUNT]
            IETF, "IETF Webex Account",
            <https://ietf.webex.com/webappng/sites/ietf/
            dashboard?siteurl=ietf/>.

Acknowledgments

 The IETF Secretariat, notably Alexa Morris and Stephanie McCammon,
 contributed significantly to the creation of the IETF Hackathon and
 the practices in this document.  Among other things, Alexa drafted
 the initial breakdown of "Roles and Responsibilities" (Section 7),
 and Stephanie created the initial Hackathon website and wiki.  These
 have evolved over time and are used to run each Hackathon.
 Greg Wood, Barry Leiba, Michael Richardson, Benson Muite, Dhruv
 Dhody, Karl Auerbach, Mallory Knodel, Lars Eggert, Robert Sparks,
 Thomas Fossati, Alvaro Retana, Erik Kline, John Scudder, Roman
 Danyliw, and Éric Vyncke also provided significant contributions to
 the Hackathon and to this document.

Author's Address

 Charles Eckel
 Cisco Systems
 United States of America
 Email: eckelcu@cisco.com
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