---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Quim Gil <qgil@wikimedia.org>
Date: Sat, Mar 22, 2014 at 11:51 AM
Subject: [Wikitech-l] Three GSoC projects about CAPTCHA improvements
To: Wikimedia developers <wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org>


We have discussed extensively the topic of CAPTCHA techniques for combating
spam. The last round of discussions came after the fact that we featured a
project related to captchas in our GSoC and OPW project ideas pages.

See Bug 62960 - Prototype CAPTCHA optimized for multilingual and mobile
https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=62960

I think we can make this a good GSoC project idea, basically by

* acknowledging that we have a problem with our deployed captchas, and the
investigation of alternatives is welcomed

* limiting the scope to mobile + multilingual, two key areas where our
current implementation is clearly lacking.

* limiting the expectation on efficiency to anything better than the
current implementation, not to a perfect system

* limiting the expectation on deliveries to a prototype, not to a full
solution to be deployed in five months from now


Pau Giner and Emufarmers are willing to co-mentor, but they lack the
experience required in programming. If the Language and Mobile teams are
interested in this prototype, could they pull/pool the mentoring time
required for this project? Is there anybody else willing to help?

In my non-expert opinion, the fact that we are aiming to have a prototype
reduces a bit the demand for code perfection. Still, programming experience
is needed to evaluate properly our current candidates, and also to assess
whether the plans drafted during the project are technically appropriate.

The current proposals, sorted by date:

https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User:AalekhN/GSoC_proposal_2014 by Aalekh
Nigam

https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/CAPTCHA/Image_completion_captchas by Thanuditha
Ruchiranga Wickramasinghe

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Shashank2016/Multilingual,_usable_and_effective_captchas
by
Shashank Jaiswal

Even if it is tempting to evaluate their CAPTCHA methods proposed first, in
fact that doesn't matter as much as evaluating the skills, experience and
collaboration style of the candidates themselves.

This is why we need now your help, even as no-mentors, proposing technical
tasks to the candidates, and helping evaluating them.


--
Quim Gil
Engineering Community Manager @ Wikimedia Foundation
http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User:Qgil
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