Hi, I’m Harigovind, a Computer Science (AI) student at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, open-source contributor, and community organizer based in Kerala.
I enjoy building communities around technology just as much as building software itself. Over the past few years, I’ve been actively involved in open-source development, technical mentorship, hackathons, and collaborative learning spaces through Wikimedia communities and amFOSS.
Most of my work revolves around creating spaces where students can learn, contribute, and build togethe, whether that’s through organizing hackathons, mentoring contributors, coordinating community events, or contributing to open-source projects.
Alongside community work, I also work on projects related to AI, developer tooling, backend systems, and applied machine learning.
Communities & Open Source
A large part of my college journey has been shaped by open-source communities, technical events, and collaborative learning spaces. Beyond development, I enjoy working on the operational side of communities, coordinating events, mentoring students, supporting contributors, and helping things run smoothly behind the scenes.
Over the years, I’ve been involved with Wikimedia communities, hackathons, workshops, and student-led technical initiatives across Kerala and India.
amFOSS, Mentor & Event Manager
I’ve been part of amFOSS, the open-source club at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, since my early college days. Over time, I started mentoring juniors, organizing technical sessions, and helping coordinate workshops and hackathons inside the community.
A lot of my experience with event coordination, volunteer management, and community operations came through amFOSS. I’ve worked closely with students during onboarding sessions, GitHub workshops, Linux sessions, and collaborative project activities. Being part of the community also helped me learn how large student-led technical ecosystems function behind the scenes.
amFOSS has also played a huge role in shaping how I approach open source, collaboration, and community-driven learning. Through the club, I got opportunities to contribute to projects, organize events, interact with contributors from different communities, and represent the community at larger FOSS events across India.
Wikimedia Foundation, Open Source Contributor
I contribute to Wikimedia-related technical projects including VideoCutTool and ISA Tool. Through Wikimedia, I got exposure to collaborative open-source development involving contributors from different countries and communities.
Apart from development work, Wikimedia also introduced me to the broader ecosystem around open knowledge, community-driven collaboration, and large-scale volunteer coordination.
Working on these projects helped me improve not only my technical skills, but also communication, documentation, issue triaging, and cross-community collaboration.
Indic MediaWiki Developers User Group, Extended Working Group Member
I’m also part of the Indic MediaWiki Developers User Group, a community focused on improving Wikimedia technical support for Indic languages and contributors.
Through the group, I’ve been involved in collaborative discussions, technical coordination, and Wikimedia-related community initiatives aimed at strengthening regional language and open knowledge ecosystems.
Being involved with the group also gave me opportunities to participate in Wikimedia hackathons, contributor meetups, and technical community events across different parts of India.
Events & Experiences
Indic Wikimedia Hackathon Kochi 2025, Lead Organizer
I was part of the organizing team for Indic Wikimedia Hackathon Kochi 2025, where contributors, developers, and Wikimedia community members from across India gathered in Kochi for technical collaboration and community discussions.
As a lead organizer, I worked on participant coordination, logistics, volunteer management, session planning, and overall event execution. The event involved coordinating multiple moving parts simultaneously while ensuring a smooth experience for participants and contributors.
The experience gave me hands-on exposure to managing large community-driven technical events and working closely with organizers, contributors, and volunteers in a fast-paced environment.
Event report: https://diff.wikimedia.org/2026/04/28/indic-wikimedia-hackathon-kochi-2025-event-report/
Developer Skill Development Program India 2025–26
I also participated in the Developer Skill Development Program India 2025, an initiative focused on improving technical skills, collaboration, and contributor engagement within Wikimedia’s developer ecosystem in India.
As part of the program, I attended the offline meetup where contributors, organizers, and developers from different Wikimedia communities came together for technical talks, collaborative discussions, and knowledge-sharing sessions. The meetup included discussions around open-source contribution workflows, MediaWiki development, technical community building, and ongoing Wikimedia engineering initiatives.
The experience was valuable not just from a technical perspective, but also in understanding how open-source communities scale collaboration, mentorship, and contributor growth through in-person interaction and shared learning spaces.
IndiaFOSS 2025
In September 2025, I attended IndiaFOSS for the first time, representing Wikimedia through the Indic MediaWiki Developers / Indic Tech Com booth.
Most of my time there went into talking to people about MediaWiki, Wikimedia technical projects, and how contributors can get started in the ecosystem. We had a lot of visitors dropping by throughout the event, and the games and swags at the booth disappeared surprisingly fast, which honestly made the whole experience even more fun.
Apart from the booth, just walking around the venue was exciting. I got to interact with people from communities and organizations like TinkerSpace Kochi, Ente, AWS, Bruno, and Mecha Systems. amFOSS also had a booth there, and it was really nice seeing one of our club members, Hridesh MG, give a talk on his first Linux contribution.
One of the talks that stood out to me was the HUML (Human-oriented Markup Language) session by Kailash Nadh. It was one of those talks that stays in your head even after the event ends. IndiaFOSS overall felt like a space where open-source communities, contributors, and ideas from very different domains all came together naturally.
Vidyut Hackathon 2025, Lead Organizer
As part of Vidyut 2025, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham’s national tech fest, I helped organize the flagship hackathon event involving more than 100 participants working on projects over 36 hours.
I worked on participant coordination, mentor communication, logistics, judging workflows, and overall event execution. Managing a fast-paced hackathon environment taught me a lot about operational planning, coordination under pressure, and collaborative problem-solving.
FOSSMeet 2025
I attended FOSSMeet 2025 at NIT Calicut, and the experience ended up being one of the most memorable community-driven tech events I’ve been part of.
Over three days, I attended workshops on eBPF and Kubernetes, which gave me a strong introduction to systems and container-related development. Beyond the workshops, several talks left a lasting impact on how I think about open source and technology.
Sai Rahul Poruri’s session on FOSS policies completely changed how I viewed government technology and the role open-source software can play in public systems. Het Joshi’s talk on privacy and surveillance was another standout session, especially the conversations around how FOSS can serve as a meaningful alternative in a world increasingly driven by closed ecosystems and data collection.
I also attended Vipul A.’s Ruby on Rails crash course and the AI lightning talks, where discussions ranged from ethics and copyright to scraping and the future of AI systems. The event overall reminded me how broad and interdisciplinary the open-source ecosystem really is.
One of my favorite moments was meeting Baiju Muthukadan, who has been attending FOSSMeet for nearly two decades. Hearing him talk about mentoring newcomers and sustaining community spaces over such a long period genuinely stayed with me.
FOSS-bi0s Night
FOSS-bi0s Night was something that felt deeply personal to organize.
The event had happened once during my first year, but after that, every attempt to bring it back kept getting delayed or cancelled due to scheduling conflicts and other issues. Since this was also my batch’s final year in the club, I really didn’t want the event to quietly disappear as just another unfinished plan.
For me, the event was about bringing amFOSS and Team bi0s together again, taking a break from constant open-source work, CTFs, deadlines, and responsibilities, and just spending time together as a community.
This time, it finally happened.
From games and sports to culturals, dances, and the treasure hunt, everything somehow came together perfectly. The bonfire at the end especially felt memorable knowing it was our final year together in the club.
Receiving a token of appreciation from Aravind B L sir and the admin team genuinely meant a lot, not because of the prize itself, but because it acknowledged all the follow-ups, planning, and effort that went into making sure the event actually happened.
More than anything, the night reminded me how important communities are beyond just technical work.
Hacktoberfest 2024, Lead Organizer
In 2024, I became one of the lead organizers for Hacktoberfest activities at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham. We organized workshops, contribution sessions, onboarding activities, and technical support for students participating in open source for the first time.
The event involved coordinating volunteers, managing communication, helping participants troubleshoot issues, and ensuring smooth execution across multiple activities.
It was a very different experience from just conducting a session, this time I was involved in planning and coordinating the event as a whole.
Wikimedia Hackathon Bhubaneswar 2024
For Wikimedia Hackathon 2024 in Bhubaneswar, I was involved as part of the organizing support team through the Indic MediaWiki Developers User Group.
My involvement mainly focused on scholarship coordination support and participant-related logistics. I worked with organizers to help streamline communication and coordination processes for contributors attending the event.
The experience helped me better understand the operational and coordination aspects required to support large open-source community events involving participants from different regions and backgrounds.
Wikimedia Hackathon Kochi 2024
During Wikimedia Hackathon Kochi 2024, I was involved through amFOSS as part of the on-ground support team. We helped coordinate activities at TinkerSpace and supported the smooth execution of the event for contributors and participants visiting Kochi.
I was also involved in conducting sessions and supporting activities for college students around Kochi, helping introduce more students to Wikimedia communities and open-source contribution workflows.
This was one of my earliest experiences working closely on the execution side of a large community-driven technical event.
Train the Trainer 2024, CIS-A2K
I attended the Wikimedia Train the Trainer (TTT) program conducted by CIS-A2K in Bhubaneswar. The program focused on community building, collaborative learning, contributor engagement, and technical mentorship within Wikimedia communities.
The experience gave me a deeper understanding of how sustainable technical communities are built and maintained through mentorship and collaborative participation.
Hacktoberfest 2023
My first Hacktoberfest involvement started with conducting a small introductory session focused on Linux basics, Git commands, and GitHub workflows for students who were new to open source.
The goal was to make open-source contribution feel less intimidating for beginners and help students get comfortable with collaborative development tools.
That session eventually became one of my entry points into technical mentoring and community-driven teaching.
Cybersecurity & AI Awareness Initiative
I’ve also conducted awareness sessions and discussions around cybersecurity, AI, privacy, and responsible technology usage for students.
These sessions focused on making technical concepts more approachable and encouraging discussions around ethical and responsible use of technology.