The Final Countdown: iGEM Wiki Freeze
by Guilherme Kundlatsch
Guilherme also hosted a session on this topic at iGEM’s 2021 Opening Weekend Festival (iGEM Video Universe) | This post was updated on September 22, 2022 with links and information for the 2022 Competition.
It happens every year … and it always comes too soon … and you meant to finish earlier … and you wish you had more time … and you just now thought of a better way to show something … and you didn’t realize how many things could go wrong … and then …. it’s one minute to midnight Eastern time and … the iGEM wiki freeze happens!
The wiki freeze is an extraordinary moment in every iGEMer’s journey. It’s the time when you and your teammates must finish creating the wiki that will communicate your entire project to the world. Everything you want the judges to see when they evaluate your project at the Giant Jamboree must be posted to your wiki before the freeze. The wiki freeze will test your friendship with your teammates as much as it will test your skills in creating a useful and beautiful wiki.
This year, the wiki freeze is set to happen on October 12, 2022 at 15:59 UTC.
Every iGEM alumnus has a story to tell about their wiki freeze experience.
Here are just a few memories:
“It was 2016, and we were, of course, doing everything at the last minute. We were trying to upload an image of a summary of our project (which is super important to have!), and there were two minutes left and we were able to upload it. It was like … magic!”
– Carolina Elizondo, After iGEM Global Ambassador Coordinator
“Every iGEMer could say they couldn’t sleep that day. In our time [in Lithuania], the wiki freeze was at 6:00 am, so we were all up until the night … About 5 or 6 hours before the freeze it was all fine, we have a little bit of stress – we have 3 hours for this thing and 1 hour for this other thing – but when it gets closer to the deadline, you start making more mistakes. It’s a natural experience for every iGEMer.”
– Paulius Sasnauska, iGEM alumnus, Vilnius-Lithuania 2020
“We planned our wiki and thought we would do everything in time … and two days before the wiki freeze, we changed a lot of the structure and felt our plan wasn’t going to work. We did a lot of changes in the last two days and so it was a very sleepless night and a very tiring two days after that.”
– Kamile Vainiute, iGEM alumnus, Vilnius-Lithuania 2020
“CCiC is an iGEM alumni group in China that helps iGEMers. We have ‘Coffee Night’ which is an annual event before the wiki freeze. Everybody is rushed through the wiki freeze and they stay awake all night long as they try to put out their code, their data, their features … and, of course, they need some coffee!”
– Jionglin Chen, iGEM alumnus, Conference of China iGEMer Community (CCiC)
… and words of advice:
“Try to prepare as much as you can, but just know that you won’t fit everything in time. So just get ready emotionally that you will have to work a lot on the wiki freeze day.”
– Kamile Vainiute, iGEM alumnus, Vilnius-Lithuania 2020
“No matter how much you plan, you still change some things and you want to make the site as perfect as possible. We are telling the new team to plan your time effectively; you can do the wiki design by the end of the summer. But we tried to do the same thing … we had plans and then iGEM happened and then the wiki freeze happened.”
– Paulius Sasnauska, iGEM alumnus, Vilnius-Lithuania 2020
“We share our photos about everybody facing the coffee, facing the computer and working hard. Everybody thinks: I am not the only one who has the data just before the wiki freeze.”
– Jionglin Chen, iGEM alumnus, Conference of China iGEMer Community (CCiC)
… and helpful tips:
Be sure to follow the instructions for each of the deliverables: Team Wikis, Final Judging Forms, Registry Part Pages and, if your project involves software, GitLab Software repository (Previously GitHub).
Remember it is not possible for two people to edit the same page at the same time. You may lose information if this happens, so you should be aware of what your teammates are up to.
DO NOT leave your documentation to the last minute. Due to the increased loads on our servers close to the deadline, users can experience delays.
This is always a moment that we all remember after we finish our iGEM journey – the night just before the wiki freeze. The final countdown is coming … enjoy this time and know that you are not alone!
Share your wiki freeze experience with us by tagging us on Instagram, and using the hashtag: #WikiFreeze!
