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Re: Google Summer of Code 2009.



Hey Charles,

I've done GSoC for the Swarm Development Group the last two years. The first year we got three students, I mentored two of them. Last year I volunteered to mentor, but we got only two students and my projects didn't get picked.

We took both approaches, we listed a lot of projects, some projects were very specific and some were very general, we made a point of marking some projects as "research" or "design" to indicate a degree of difficulty.

We've had students of both types, some who worked on projects with very specific goals and some with more open-ended goals. My opinion is not to limit either way. I'm of the belief that the more projects you listed, the better your chances and attracting an interested student, even if the project isn't necessarily something that can be finished over the summer.

When going into the program, I think its useful to take the viewpoint that you are mentoring, not because you expect to get significant work out of the student, but because you are helping a student to better understand the development process, open source software, etc.

cheers
Scott

On Feb 28, 2009, at 3:45 AM, Charles Plessy wrote:

Hi all,

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

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.

Have a nice day,

--
Charles Plessy
Debian Med packaging team,
http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-med
Tsurumi, Kanagawa, Japan


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