Re: Google Summer of Code 2009.

[Steffen Moeller <steffen_moeller@gmx.de>]

Hi Charles,

Charles Plessy wrote:
> I would like to start a discussion about the possiblity to propose project(s)
> for the Google Summer of Code 2009. Last year the project I proposed, about
> data management, was accepted but canceled last minute because the student got
> accepted somewhere else.
> 
> http://wiki.debian.org/SummerOfCode2008/biodata

I wasn't aware of it :) To me this sounds like a very good project and I am certainly
interested in it.

> My short experience of the summer of code is the following: when a project is
> proposed with a precise draft, it will attract many candidatures, most of them
> of poor quality, where students paraphrase and obviously did not really
> understand. On the other hand, some candidates are good and the fact that the
> project attracted many candidatures is somehow positive for securing the
> funding by Google.
> 
> On the other hand, if we just state our main interests, students can be
> creative and propose things we did not think about. Also, there are less
> candidatures, with a higher level, which makes the think more intellectually
> stimulating.
> 
> I volunteer for mentoring a project this year provided of course that Debian
> will be accepted, that we get enough projects funded by Google, and that one
> related to our activities is accepted. For the moment, I hesitate between the
> top-down and the bottom-up approach for the defintion of the project. Any idea ?
> 
> Of course, if you have a strong interst in the Summer of Code, do not hesitate
> to candidate as a mentor as well.

If the project this year would be describable as "continue on getData for it to evolve
towards something most useful for the community at large", then we would have both bottom
up and top-down challenges on the road. I don't think that the role of Debian should be
overly much stressed here. It should only be the first of many operating systems to be
joined. Indeed, the abstraction from Debian (not that it would be hard coded for the
moment) could be one aim for the summer project.

Many greetings

Steffen