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Carandraug (talk | contribs) (large rewrite of several sections, mainly attempt to be more assertive, clear that projects have several experienced mentors, and that students will likely need to use Octave after the summer's end) |
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=== If you chose "new" in the dropdown above, have you applied in the past? If so, for what year(s)? === | === If you chose "new" in the dropdown above, have you applied in the past? If so, for what year(s)? === | ||
Yes, in 2012. We | Yes, in 2012. We participated during 2011 and 2012 under GNU. Additionally, | ||
in 2012, we also mentored two students under European Space Agency (ESA) Summer | in 2012, we also mentored two students under European Space Agency (ESA) Summer | ||
of Code in Space (http://sophia.estec.esa.int/socis2012/). | of Code in Space (http://sophia.estec.esa.int/socis2012/). | ||
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Octave has participated during the last two years with four students under the | Octave has participated during the last two years with four students under the | ||
auspices of the GNU project. Due to the success of those experiences, where many | auspices of the GNU project. Due to the success of those experiences, where many | ||
members of the Octave community helped mentor the | members of the Octave community helped mentor the students, we are trying again. | ||
We hope to get good code from interested students and ideally establish a line | We hope to get good code from interested students and ideally establish a line | ||
of collaboration with them for the future. We also want to raise awareness of | of collaboration with them for the future. We also want to raise awareness of | ||
Octave | Octave in the free software community. | ||
Google Summer of Code represents a unique opportunity to | Google Summer of Code represents a unique opportunity to improve both core Octave and domain-specific functionality. We believe the interaction with fresh minds will bring not only new code to Octave but also will augment the developers group. | ||
bring not only new code to Octave but also will augment the developers group. | |||
=== Did your organization participate in past Google Summer of Codes? If so, please summarize your involvement and the successes and challenges of your participation. === | === Did your organization participate in past Google Summer of Codes? If so, please summarize your involvement and the successes and challenges of your participation. === | ||
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Yes, during 2011 and 2012, under the GNU umbrella. Four students have | Yes, during 2011 and 2012, under the GNU umbrella. Four students have | ||
successfully completed projects for us in the past, all of which is live and in | successfully completed projects for us in the past, all of which is live and in | ||
our main source tree. In addition, we mentored two students in 2012 through the | our main source tree. In addition, we mentored two students in 2012 through the Summer of Code In Space | ||
project run by the European Space Agency. | |||
The challenges | The challenges are managing very diverse problem domains and finding | ||
people who are competent in all of them. We have not had trouble keeping | people who are competent in all of them. We have not had trouble keeping | ||
students interested, although we have seen lulls in their productive output a few | students interested, although we have seen lulls in their productive output a few | ||
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=== What criteria did you use to select your mentors for this year's program? Please be as specific as possible. === | === What criteria did you use to select your mentors for this year's program? Please be as specific as possible. === | ||
Each project includes at least one core Octave developer as mentor. These | |||
are | are proven, veteran members of the project, active in its development, and familiar | ||
with the code base. | with the code base. | ||
GNU Octave is a project with applications in very diverse domains so each | |||
project also includes mentors with expertise in the related field. All of these | project also includes mentors with expertise in the related field. All of these | ||
have previously contributed with code, have commit access to either Octave or | have previously contributed with code, have commit access to either Octave or | ||
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First, make all reasonable efforts to accommodate the student and make them feel | First, make all reasonable efforts to accommodate the student and make them feel | ||
welcome. | welcome. We will engage the students frequenty by email and IRC, provide prompt response to student queries, | ||
periodic status reports from mentors about the | and expect periodic status reports from mentors about the project status. We will also | ||
encourage the student to participate in the public mailing list and IRC channel, | encourage the student to participate in the public mailing list and IRC channel, | ||
with or without mentor. Their progress should be regularly applied to our source | with or without the mentor. Their progress should be regularly applied to our source | ||
tree, if necessary, in a feature branch. All of these have shown to be effective | tree, if necessary, in a feature branch. All of these have shown to be effective | ||
with all students in previous years. | with all students in previous years. | ||
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=== What is your plan for dealing with disappearing mentors? === | === What is your plan for dealing with disappearing mentors? === | ||
Distribute the workload | Distribute the workload among the remaining mentors. The mailing list is | ||
active enough and questions almost never go unanswered. Reassign the student to | active enough and questions almost never go unanswered. Reassign the student to | ||
a backup mentor. In the worst case, the project admin can become a mentor for | a backup mentor. In the worst case, the project admin can become a mentor for | ||
the student until another backup mentor is found. | the student until another backup mentor is found. | ||
This should be infrequent and we hope to prevent | This situation should be infrequent and we hope to prevent it by selecting | ||
mentors with proven involvement in Octave or other free projects. We are also | mentors with proven involvement in Octave or other free software projects. We are also | ||
pairing new mentors with | pairing new mentors with more experienced ones. | ||
=== What steps will you take to encourage students to interact with your project's community before and during the program? === | === What steps will you take to encourage students to interact with your project's community before and during the program? === | ||
We will encourage them to join us on our IRC channel and mailing list. We will set clear expectations on the minimum frequency of email | |||
progress updates of every two to three days. Longer updates, should be done on a | progress updates of every two to three days. Longer updates, should be done on a | ||
blog and aggregated at http://planet.octave.org. | blog and aggregated at http://planet.octave.org. |