Google Code-in has been announced:
http://www.google-melange.com/gci/homepage/google/gci2013
This is about 13-17 year old students performing tasks that can be isolated and a skilled contributor would complete in a couple of hours. The tasks mjust have a mentor and can be related to code, documentation, outreach, QA or UX. Participants get one point for each task completed and they can complete as many as they can between 18 November and 6 January.
Wikimedia can apply thanks to our participation on GSoC 2013. The deadline is 28 October. Only 10 organizations will be accepted.
I think we should apply. Main reasons:
* The definition of a Code-in task fits very well with our ideal definition of an annoying little bug: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Annoying_little_bugs
* The typical Code-in participant needs what most potential new contributor also need from us: an insightful landing page, straight connections to first tasks and friendly community support.
* Just like GSoC / OPW, it is a good chance for non-primetime projects to raise their hands, get some help and hopefully some new contributors.
* Good exercise for first-time mentors, practicing for more co plex internship projects.
* Good exercise for any open source project, meaning just any MediaWiki / Wikimedia tech project.
But of course this will only work if many projects want to step in with a task and a mentor for it. So what do you think?
Google Code-in has been announced:
http://www.google-melange.com/gci/homepage/google/gci2013
This is about 13-17 year old students performing tasks that can be isolated and a skilled contributor would complete in a couple of hours. The tasks mjust have a mentor and can be related to code, documentation, outreach, QA or UX. Participants get one point for each task completed and they can complete as many as they can between 18 November and 6 January.
Wikimedia can apply thanks to our participation on GSoC 2013. The deadline is 28 October. Only 10 organizations will be accepted.
I think we should apply. Main reasons:
...
But of course this will only work if many projects want to step in with a task and a mentor for it. So what do you think?
I personally think this is a great idea. I would have killed (metaphorically speaking) to have been able to participate in something like this with Mediawiki when I was in that age range. I concur that it seems like a good way to get annoying little bugs solved.
Beyond having mentors are there anymore requirements that we need to fulfil as an organisation? I wasn't able to find an FAQ for organisations wishing to participate. Do you know if one exists?
If I had more time, and had contributed more code (or any code) to the Mediawiki codebase (which I mostly don't due to the aforementioned lack of time), I would offer to mentor even. This seems like a really great opportunity to pick up some new volunteers and get some annoying bugs out of the way.
Thank you, Derric Atzrott
On 10/10/2013 11:00 AM, Derric Atzrott wrote:
Beyond having mentors are there anymore requirements that we need to fulfil as an organisation? I wasn't able to find an FAQ for organisations wishing to participate. Do you know if one exists?
There is https://code.google.com/p/google-code-in/wiki/GCIMentorInfo2013
If I had more time, and had contributed more code (or any code) to the Mediawiki codebase (which I mostly don't due to the aforementioned lack of time), I would offer to mentor even. This seems like a really great opportunity to pick up some new volunteers and get some annoying bugs out of the way.
I'm pretty sure that there is a task that most of us could mentor. It doesn't need to be related with the MediaWiki codebase. Come on, think harder! ;)
On Thu, 2013-10-10 at 11:11 -0700, Quim Gil wrote:
I'm pretty sure that there is a task that most of us could mentor. It doesn't need to be related with the MediaWiki codebase. Come on, think harder! ;)
I organized GNOME's participation in Google Code-In (and its predecessor GHOP) three times in the past.
== Stuff that takes time when preparing / taking part ==
What takes most of the time for admins is 1) before contest starts, nag developers and community members to become mentors and to provide a large number of really well-defined and well-documented tasks which are not too small and not too big, and 2) when the contest is running, make sure mentors respond quickly. Students could come across as impatient due to Code-In's competition system (students get points for tasks, you cannot claim a new task until the old one has been reviewed and finished, and students with most points get a trip to Google HQ. Last time organizations had to agree that reviews must happen within 36 hours, also on weekends/holidays). This nagging often took me about an hour per day, every day.
But maybe rules / ToS have changed again this year, don't know.
== Aspects to consider whether to try or not ==
In 2012, GNOME did not apply for taking part. The reasons that I see are: 1) translation tasks were not allowed anymore, 2) Google reduced the number of orgs to 10 so preparation work might have not paid off in the end, 3) time spent mentoring students took often longer than if mentors did the task themselves, 4) tasks only take a few days (no creation of strong binding to mentor/org), 5) students often didn't stick with the org afterwards but maybe were more after t-shirt/money/Google invitation.
These are the topics that I consider important to discuss before deciding. Of course, the setup and structure of Google Code-In might work totally well for other mentoring organizations, or communities that are less lazy and have more (wo)manpower than the GNOME one. ;-)
andre
PS: Lydia of WMDE organized GCI for KDE in 2012 who successfully took part, so her feedback on this thread could also be pretty helpful.
We should get in!
2013/10/11 Andre Klapper aklapper@wikimedia.org
On Thu, 2013-10-10 at 11:11 -0700, Quim Gil wrote:
I'm pretty sure that there is a task that most of us could mentor. It doesn't need to be related with the MediaWiki codebase. Come on, think harder! ;)
I organized GNOME's participation in Google Code-In (and its predecessor GHOP) three times in the past.
== Stuff that takes time when preparing / taking part ==
What takes most of the time for admins is
- before contest starts, nag developers and community members to become
mentors and to provide a large number of really well-defined and well-documented tasks which are not too small and not too big, and 2) when the contest is running, make sure mentors respond quickly. Students could come across as impatient due to Code-In's competition system (students get points for tasks, you cannot claim a new task until the old one has been reviewed and finished, and students with most points get a trip to Google HQ. Last time organizations had to agree that reviews must happen within 36 hours, also on weekends/holidays). This nagging often took me about an hour per day, every day.
But maybe rules / ToS have changed again this year, don't know.
== Aspects to consider whether to try or not ==
In 2012, GNOME did not apply for taking part. The reasons that I see are:
- translation tasks were not allowed anymore,
- Google reduced the number of orgs to 10 so preparation work might
have not paid off in the end, 3) time spent mentoring students took often longer than if mentors did the task themselves, 4) tasks only take a few days (no creation of strong binding to mentor/org), 5) students often didn't stick with the org afterwards but maybe were more after t-shirt/money/Google invitation.
These are the topics that I consider important to discuss before deciding. Of course, the setup and structure of Google Code-In might work totally well for other mentoring organizations, or communities that are less lazy and have more (wo)manpower than the GNOME one. ;-)
andre
PS: Lydia of WMDE organized GCI for KDE in 2012 who successfully took part, so her feedback on this thread could also be pretty helpful.
-- Andre Klapper | Wikimedia Bugwrangler http://blogs.gnome.org/aklapper/
Wikitech-l mailing list Wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l
On 10/11/2013 10:21 AM, Andre Klapper wrote:
These are the topics that I consider important to discuss before deciding.
Thank you very much for this analysis! Also thank you MatmaRex for your first-hand experience as a Code-in participant.
PS: Lydia of WMDE organized GCI for KDE in 2012 who successfully took part, so her feedback on this thread could also be pretty helpful.
Great! Hopefully we will get her feedback soon.
Let's discuss and eventually decide our next steps next at
Engineering Community Team office hour Tuesday 15 October, 16:00 UTC (18:00 Berlin, 9:00 San Francisco...) IRC #wikimedia-office https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Engineering_Community_Team/Meetings#2013-10-1...
Join us!
On 10/11/2013 02:59 PM, Quim Gil wrote:
Let's discuss and eventually decide our next steps next at
Engineering Community Team office hour
Today we decided that we will attempt to apply as Wikimedia to Google Code-in by October 28.
There is a lot of work to be done, and by the nature of this program the best approach is to have dozens of contributors (you) committing to mentor just 1-2 tasks. To have an idea, these tasks should take a couple of hours of a skilled contributor to be completed, probably meaning a couple of days of a student landing to our project for the first time.
The tasks are organized in 5 areas:
* Code * Documentation/Training * Outreach/Research * Quality Assurance * User Interface
Get involved! Propose one task at
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Google_Code-In
On 10/16/2013, Quim Gil qgil@wikimedia.org wrote:
On 10/11/2013 02:59 PM, Quim Gil wrote:
Let's discuss and eventually decide our next steps next at
Engineering Community Team office hour
Today we decided that we will attempt to apply as Wikimedia to Google Code-in by October 28.
There is a lot of work to be done, and by the nature of this program the best approach is to have dozens of contributors (you) committing to mentor just 1-2 tasks. To have an idea, these tasks should take a couple of hours of a skilled contributor to be completed, probably meaning a couple of days of a student landing to our project for the first time.
The tasks are organized in 5 areas:
- Code
- Documentation/Training
- Outreach/Research
- Quality Assurance
- User Interface
Get involved! Propose one task at
https://www.mediawiki.org/**wiki/Google_Code-Inhttps://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Google_Code-In
Is Lua / ParserFunctions templating or Lua conversion, either generic (meta-templates / -modules) or for a specific purpose (requested by local community etc.), eligible as a task, in Code or User Interface category?
-Liangent
-- Quim Gil Technical Contributor Coordinator @ Wikimedia Foundation http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/**User:Qgilhttp://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User:Qgil
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On Wed, 2013-10-16 at 13:40 +0800, Liangent wrote:
Is Lua / ParserFunctions templating or Lua conversion, either generic (meta-templates / -modules) or for a specific purpose (requested by local community etc.), eligible as a task, in Code or User Interface category?
I don't see why it should not be, if you feel able to mentor the student, if the task is well-defined, and if the timeframe works.
andre
Since I've been asked... ;-)
On Fri, Oct 11, 2013 at 7:21 PM, Andre Klapper aklapper@wikimedia.org wrote:
I organized GNOME's participation in Google Code-In (and its predecessor GHOP) three times in the past.
I've done it tree times for KDE now (together with other people). We also applied again for this round.
== Stuff that takes time when preparing / taking part ==
What takes most of the time for admins is
- before contest starts, nag developers and community members to become
mentors and to provide a large number of really well-defined and well-documented tasks which are not too small and not too big, and 2) when the contest is running, make sure mentors respond quickly. Students could come across as impatient due to Code-In's competition system (students get points for tasks, you cannot claim a new task until the old one has been reviewed and finished, and students with most points get a trip to Google HQ. Last time organizations had to agree that reviews must happen within 36 hours, also on weekends/holidays). This nagging often took me about an hour per day, every day.
But maybe rules / ToS have changed again this year, don't know.
The rules were changed last year and that improved things quite a bit. The same rules apply again this year. But yes it is a considerable time-investment for the admin especially. And mentors need to be aware that they are expected to be available also over the holidays if they offer tasks.
== Aspects to consider whether to try or not ==
In 2012, GNOME did not apply for taking part. The reasons that I see are:
- translation tasks were not allowed anymore,
- Google reduced the number of orgs to 10 so preparation work might
have not paid off in the end, 3) time spent mentoring students took often longer than if mentors did the task themselves,
Correct. Like almost all mentoring ;-) Seriously though. It's a time-investment that needs to pay off later.
- tasks only take a few days (no creation of strong binding to
mentor/org),
The change of the rules significantly improved this last year.
- students often didn't stick with the org afterwards but maybe were
more after t-shirt/money/Google invitation.
Most of course will not stay around. However this is not why KDE is doing this. We're doing it to show the next generation that free software can be really cool and that they can be a part of it no matter their skillset. And then of course each year you have one or two kids who really stand out and will stick around. Last year's Code-in brought at least 4 kids in who are still around and do impressive work. See http://dot.kde.org/2013/07/15/akademy-2013-day-two for a report of two of them (our winners) who got to come to Akademy, our annual meeting. These kids are an inspiration and it rubs off on the rest of the community.
So all in all it really depends on the mindset you go into this with. Don't expect too much. Do expect to get a lot of small stuff done that otherwise no-one gets to. Do expect to be really impressed by one or two kids. Do be aware that it is a huge time-investment that some people think is a waste. Be prepared that these are kids and that their contributions will mostly reflect this barring a few awesome exceptions. Don't do it just for your project but free software in general. Don't do it if that is not important for you.
KDE is in the fantastic position to have a community that sees mentoring as one of its most important tasks and it is a core part of the mindset of the community. It'd be great if MediaWiki could one day get to that place too.
Cheers Lydia
This is a great idea. I was a Code-in participant in the past and enjoyed it (even though there were basically no web-related tasks back then – hopefully MediaWiki can fill this niche ;) ).
Skills and eagerness of young wannabe-programmers are often underestimated, Code-in is a lovely project to fix this misconception.
I am volunteering to mentor and take part in preparing task list, to the extent that my free time allows. What is the timeline for this?
Hi,
On Thu, Oct 10, 2013 at 7:51 PM, Quim Gil qgil@wikimedia.org wrote:
But of course this will only work if many projects want to step in with a task and a mentor for it. So what do you think?
This was the perfect opportunity to create the long-overdue task list around tech communications: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Technical_communications/What_you_can_do
According to what has been said in this thread, the Translation bit may not work for Code-in, but I expect the rest to be in scope. I'll be available as a mentor for all those tasks and I can be responsive over week-ends and holidays (timezone permitting).
If others see possible tasks on this topic that I didn't include or think of, edit the page liberally and we'll [[WP:BRD]] if needed.
Hi,
I am very keen to help the Code-ins.
I have posted a quite general task on https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Google_Code-In#Code. Shall I split the task to smaller ones (similar to the size as annoying_little_bugs) and define them before 28 October?
I was GSoC 2013 participant and work on [bug 43058] VisualEditor Math. I think this is a perfect chance for GSoCers. It will help us to review our work as well as furthering the development.
On Thu, Oct 24, 2013 at 8:39 PM, Guillaume Paumier gpaumier@wikimedia.org wrote:
Hi,
On Thu, Oct 10, 2013 at 7:51 PM, Quim Gil qgil@wikimedia.org wrote:
But of course this will only work if many projects want to step in with a task and a mentor for it. So what do you think?
This was the perfect opportunity to create the long-overdue task list around tech communications: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Technical_communications/What_you_can_do
According to what has been said in this thread, the Translation bit may not work for Code-in, but I expect the rest to be in scope. I'll be available as a mentor for all those tasks and I can be responsive over week-ends and holidays (timezone permitting).
If others see possible tasks on this topic that I didn't include or think of, edit the page liberally and we'll [[WP:BRD]] if needed.
-- Guillaume Paumier Technical Communications Manager — Wikimedia Foundation https://donate.wikimedia.org
Wikitech-l mailing list Wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l
We have applied to Google Code-in and we will know whether we have been accepted or not this Friday. Thank you to all the contributors that have helped so far listing tasks and volunteering as mentors!
We can keep improving https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Google_Code-In
On 10/26/2013 02:07 AM, Jiabao Wu wrote:
I am very keen to help the Code-ins.
Very good!
I have posted a quite general task on https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Google_Code-In#Code. Shall I split the task to smaller ones (similar to the size as annoying_little_bugs) and define them before 28 October?
Yes, splitting into digestible, self-contained bites is necessary. You can still list those tasks in the Code-in page. It is a good exercise to complete that feature anyway.
I was GSoC 2013 participant and work on [bug 43058] VisualEditor Math. I think this is a perfect chance for GSoCers. It will help us to review our work as well as furthering the development.
I fully agree. I pinged most of the GSoC projects in the past days, and I will do it again if we get accepted in this program.
Also, being a GCI mentor right after being a GSoC student must be very exciting. To me it shows a degree of success that the GSoC project delivery alone can't measure.
Thank you Jiabao and Liangent for setting this precedent. I hope you will inspire other former GSoC students to follow.
On Thu, Oct 24, 2013 at 8:39 PM, Guillaume Paumier
This was the perfect opportunity to create the long-overdue task list around tech communications: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Technical_communications/What_you_can_do
Exactly, Google Code-in can be a very good excuse to publish those backlogs of little tasks that most of us have in mind, or even documented, but never find the time to crunch ourselves, or find someone to work on them.
I have also took several tasks that were sitting untouched in my backlog, and they are now under Outreach/Research.
Hey,
Most probably I am late but can we still add tasks or volunteer for mentoring?
Apologies for being late, Aarti
On Mon, Oct 28, 2013 at 9:22 PM, Quim Gil qgil@wikimedia.org wrote:
We have applied to Google Code-in and we will know whether we have been accepted or not this Friday. Thank you to all the contributors that have helped so far listing tasks and volunteering as mentors!
We can keep improving https://www.mediawiki.org/**wiki/Google_Code-Inhttps://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Google_Code-In
On 10/26/2013 02:07 AM, Jiabao Wu wrote:
I am very keen to help the Code-ins.
Very good!
I have posted a quite general task on
https://www.mediawiki.org/**wiki/Google_Code-In#Codehttps://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Google_Code-In#Code. Shall I split the task to smaller ones (similar to the size as annoying_little_bugs) and define them before 28 October?
Yes, splitting into digestible, self-contained bites is necessary. You can still list those tasks in the Code-in page. It is a good exercise to complete that feature anyway.
I was GSoC 2013 participant and work on [bug 43058] VisualEditor Math.
I think this is a perfect chance for GSoCers. It will help us to review our work as well as furthering the development.
I fully agree. I pinged most of the GSoC projects in the past days, and I will do it again if we get accepted in this program.
Also, being a GCI mentor right after being a GSoC student must be very exciting. To me it shows a degree of success that the GSoC project delivery alone can't measure.
Thank you Jiabao and Liangent for setting this precedent. I hope you will inspire other former GSoC students to follow.
On Thu, Oct 24, 2013 at 8:39 PM, Guillaume Paumier
This was the perfect opportunity to create the long-overdue task list
around tech communications: https://www.mediawiki.org/**wiki/Technical_communications/** What_you_can_dohttps://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Technical_communications/What_you_can_do
Exactly, Google Code-in can be a very good excuse to publish those backlogs of little tasks that most of us have in mind, or even documented, but never find the time to crunch ourselves, or find someone to work on them.
I have also took several tasks that were sitting untouched in my backlog, and they are now under Outreach/Research.
-- Quim Gil Technical Contributor Coordinator @ Wikimedia Foundation http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/**User:Qgilhttp://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User:Qgil
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On 10/29/2013 09:28 AM, Aarti K. Dwivedi wrote:
Most probably I am late but can we still add tasks or volunteer formentoring?
Yes!
Apologies for being late,
You answered here. You are not late. Thank you for your involvement!
Hi,
On Tue, 2013-10-29 at 21:58 +0530, Aarti K. Dwivedi wrote:
Most probably I am late but can we still add tasks or volunteer formentoring?
Thanks for your interest! Yes you can, and they are welcome! However I'd turn that into "add tasks *AND* volunteer for mentoring", because having potential mentor(s) already defined for a task makes planning way easier. :)
andre
add tasks *AND* volunteer for mentoring"
I agree it makes tasks easier, and I will be mentoring all the tasks I propose and any other tasks if I ca. Thanks a lot! :)
On Tue, Oct 29, 2013 at 11:16 PM, Andre Klapper aklapper@wikimedia.orgwrote:
Hi,
On Tue, 2013-10-29 at 21:58 +0530, Aarti K. Dwivedi wrote:
Most probably I am late but can we still add tasks or volunteer formentoring?
Thanks for your interest! Yes you can, and they are welcome! However I'd turn that into "add tasks *AND* volunteer for mentoring", because having potential mentor(s) already defined for a task makes planning way easier. :)
andre
Andre Klapper | Wikimedia Bugwrangler http://blogs.gnome.org/aklapper/
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