Hello everyone,

TLDR; Wikimedia will soon be applying as a mentoring organization to Google Summer of Codehttps://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Google_Summer_of_Code 2020 and Outreachyhttps://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Outreachy Round 20. The application submission deadline for GSoC is February 5th, and Outreachy is February 18th. We are currently working on a list of interesting project ideas to include in the application. If you have some ideas for coding or non-coding (design, documentation, translation, outreach, research) projects, share them here: https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T241019.

Timeline

As a mentor, you will be engaging potential candidates in the application period – for GSoC between February 20th–March 16th and for Outreachy between March 3rd–April 7th. During this time, you will help candidates make small contributions to your project and answer any project related queries. You will be working more closely with the accepted candidates during the coding period between May-August.

Project ideas

We have started compiling a list of projects, that you can take a look at here:

https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Google_Summer_of_Code/2020,

https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Outreachy/Round_20

If you don’t have an idea in mind and would like to pick one from an existing list, check out these projects: https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/tag/outreach-programs-projects/

Through GSoC, you can mentor only coding but with Outreachy also non-coding projects (including design, translation, outreach, etc.). Last year, documentation improvements to over 100 pages related to the MediaWiki Action API on MediaWiki.org happened via three GSoC + Outreachy projects.

Some tips for proposing projects

* Follow this task description template when you propose a project in Phabricator: https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/tag/outreach-programs-projects/. Add #Google- Summer-of-Code (2020) or #Outreachy (Round 20) tag to it.

* Remember, the project should require an experienced developer ~15 days to complete and a newcomer ~3 months.

* Each project should have at least 2 mentors, and one of them should hold a technical background.

* When it comes to picking a project, you could propose one that is:

* Relevant for your language community or brings impact to the Wikimedia ecosystem in the future.

* Welcoming and newcomer-friendly and has a moderate learning curve.

* A new idea you are passionate about, there are no deadlines attached to it; you always wanted to see it happen but couldn't due to lack of resources help!

* About developing a standalone tool (possibly hosted on Wikimedia Toolforge), with fewer dependencies on Wikimedia's core infrastructure, and doesn't necessarily require a specific programming language, etc.

To learn more about the roles and responsibilities of a mentor, visit our resources on MediaWiki.org: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Outreachy/Mentors, https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Google_Summer_of_Code/Mentors.

Cheers,

Pavithra & Srishti