So far, so good! We're having quite a variety of students and I'm happy to see new ones still joining. And surprising to me, we're still getting beginner tasks being done, which keep us busy.
New this round were some tutorials written by Pranam Lashkari. I hope we can expand on this next year, because I think a lot of students who are willing to do these tutorials one by one are learning a lot. His thought is that they can be added to our documentation after the contest is over. I think we can re-use some stuff that we've already written, for next year. What do you think?
In addition, I'm seeing loads of work -- yes, small jobs, but keep in mind these kids are 13 to 18 years old* - for the teams who were willing to write up tasks and tutor. It is a lot of work so I really appreciate all those mentors who have stepped forward.
I'm very glad we are participating this year. It isn't as wild and crazy as it was in the beginning, because there are now lots more orgs involved, so the kids have lots of options. Happy that the kids we have are choosing us!
-----------------
* Rules state: "13 to 17 years old and enrolled in a pre-university educational program" before enrolling. https://developers.google.com/open-source/gci/faq
Showing posts with label GCI. Show all posts
Showing posts with label GCI. Show all posts
Thursday, November 29, 2018
Saturday, January 14, 2017
Google Code-in draws to a close -- students finish your final task by January 16, 2017 at 09:00 (PST)
KDE's Google Code-in party is ending once again. Student work submitted deadline is January 16, 2017 at 09:00 (PST).
Mentors, you have until January 18, 2017 at 09:00 (PST) to evaluate your student's work. Please get that done before the deadline, so that admins don't have to judge the student work.
Then it will be time to choose winners. We need to have our choices in by January 23, 2017 at 09:00 (PST). Winners and Finalists will be announced January 30, 2017 at 09:00 (PST).
To me, this contest has been lovely. Because there are more organizations participating now, there are more tasks for students, and less pressure on each org. It seems that the students have enjoyed themselves as well.
Spencerb said, in #kde-soc, This was my first (and final) gci, so I don't have much of a point of comparison, but it's been awesome. I've been an opportunity to meet new people and just get involved with KDE, which I've wanted to do for a long time. I've also learned a lot about serious software development that I wouldn't have otherwise.
"I'll turn 18 this Monday, which is why this is my last year :( I'm so glad to have had the chance to participate at least once.
As a task, Harpreet filed a GCi review: http://aboutgci2016.blogspot.in/
So far, we've had 121 students. The top ten have 103 completed tasks so far! And 160 tasks completed so far. Most exciting for me is that Beginner tasks completed: 45. Getting kids acquainted with Free and Open Source Software communities, which is why every organization must have beginner tasks. I'm glad 45 kids got to know KDE a bit.
Mentors, you have until January 18, 2017 at 09:00 (PST) to evaluate your student's work. Please get that done before the deadline, so that admins don't have to judge the student work.
Then it will be time to choose winners. We need to have our choices in by January 23, 2017 at 09:00 (PST). Winners and Finalists will be announced January 30, 2017 at 09:00 (PST).
To me, this contest has been lovely. Because there are more organizations participating now, there are more tasks for students, and less pressure on each org. It seems that the students have enjoyed themselves as well.
Spencerb said, in #kde-soc, This was my first (and final) gci, so I don't have much of a point of comparison, but it's been awesome. I've been an opportunity to meet new people and just get involved with KDE, which I've wanted to do for a long time. I've also learned a lot about serious software development that I wouldn't have otherwise.
"I'll turn 18 this Monday, which is why this is my last year :( I'm so glad to have had the chance to participate at least once.
As a task, Harpreet filed a GCi review: http://aboutgci2016.blogspot.in/
So far, we've had 121 students. The top ten have 103 completed tasks so far! And 160 tasks completed so far. Most exciting for me is that Beginner tasks completed: 45. Getting kids acquainted with Free and Open Source Software communities, which is why every organization must have beginner tasks. I'm glad 45 kids got to know KDE a bit.
Sunday, November 27, 2016
KDE Developer Guide needs a new home and some fresh content
As I just posted in the Mission Forum, our KDE Developer Guide needs a new home. Currently it is "not found" where it is supposed to be.
UPDATE: Nicolas found the PDF on archive.org, which does have the photos too. Not as good as the xml, but better than nothing.
We had great luck using markdown files in git for the chapters of the Frameworks Cookbook, so the Devel Guide should be stored and developed in a like manner. I've been reading about Sphinx lately as a way to write documentation, which is another possibility. Kubuntu uses Sphinx for docs.
In any case, I do not have the time or skills to get, restructure and re-place this handy guide for our GSoC students and other new KDE contributors.
This is perhaps suitable for a Google Code-in task, but I would need a mentor who knows markdown or Sphinx to oversee. Contact me if interested! #kde-books or #kde-soc
UPDATE: Nicolas found the PDF on archive.org, which does have the photos too. Not as good as the xml, but better than nothing.
We had great luck using markdown files in git for the chapters of the Frameworks Cookbook, so the Devel Guide should be stored and developed in a like manner. I've been reading about Sphinx lately as a way to write documentation, which is another possibility. Kubuntu uses Sphinx for docs.
In any case, I do not have the time or skills to get, restructure and re-place this handy guide for our GSoC students and other new KDE contributors.
This is perhaps suitable for a Google Code-in task, but I would need a mentor who knows markdown or Sphinx to oversee. Contact me if interested! #kde-books or #kde-soc
Saturday, October 22, 2016
Happy 20th birthday, KDE!
KDE turned twenty recently, which seems significant in a world that seems to change so fast. Yet somehow we stay relevant, and excited to continue to build a better future.
Lydia asked recently on the KDE-Community list what we were most proud of.
For the KDE community, I'm proud that we continue to grow and change, while remaining friendly, welcoming, and ever more diverse. Our software shows that. As we change and update, some things get left behind, only to re-appear in fresh new ways. And as people get new jobs, or build new families, sometimes they disappear for awhile as well. And yet we keep growing, attracting students, hobbyist programmers, writers, artists, translators, designers and community people, and sometimes we see former contributors re-appear too. See more about that in our 20 Years of KDE Timeline.
I'm proud that we develop whole new projects within the community. Recently Peruse, Atelier, Minuet, WikitoLearn, KDEConnect, Krita, Plasma Mobile and neon have all made the news. We welcome projects from outside as well, such as Gcompris, Kdenlive, and the new KDE Store. And our established projects continue to grow and extend. I've been delighted to hear about Calligra Author, for instance, which is for those who want to write and publish a book or article in pdf or epub. Gcompris has long been available for Windows and Mac, but now you can get it on your Android phone or tablet. Marble is on Android, and I hear that Kstars will be available soon.
I'm proud of how established projects continue to grow and attract new developers. The Plasma team, hand-in-hand with the Visual Design Group, continues to blow testers and users away with power, beauty and simplicity on the desktop. Marble, Kdevelop, Konsole, Kate, KDE-PIM, KDElibs (now Frameworks), KOffice (now Calligra), KDE-Edu, KDE-Games, Digikam, kdevplatform, Okular, Konversation and Yakuake, just to mention a few, continue to grow as projects, stay relevant and often be offered on new platforms. Heck, KDE 1 runs on modern computer systems!
For myself, I'm proud of how the KDE community welcomed in a grandma, a non-coder, and how I'm valued as part of the KDE Student Programs team, and the Community Working Group, and as an author and editor. Season of KDE, Google Summer of Code, and now Google Code-in all work to integrate new people into the community, and give more experienced developers a way to share their knowledge as mentors. I'm proud of how the Amarok handbook we developed on the Userbase wiki has shown the way to other open user documentation. And thanks to the wonderful documentation and translation teams, the help is available to millions of people around the world, in multiple forms.
I'm proud to be part of the e.V., the group supporting the fantastic community that creates the software we offer freely to the world.
Lydia asked recently on the KDE-Community list what we were most proud of.
For the KDE community, I'm proud that we continue to grow and change, while remaining friendly, welcoming, and ever more diverse. Our software shows that. As we change and update, some things get left behind, only to re-appear in fresh new ways. And as people get new jobs, or build new families, sometimes they disappear for awhile as well. And yet we keep growing, attracting students, hobbyist programmers, writers, artists, translators, designers and community people, and sometimes we see former contributors re-appear too. See more about that in our 20 Years of KDE Timeline.
I'm proud that we develop whole new projects within the community. Recently Peruse, Atelier, Minuet, WikitoLearn, KDEConnect, Krita, Plasma Mobile and neon have all made the news. We welcome projects from outside as well, such as Gcompris, Kdenlive, and the new KDE Store. And our established projects continue to grow and extend. I've been delighted to hear about Calligra Author, for instance, which is for those who want to write and publish a book or article in pdf or epub. Gcompris has long been available for Windows and Mac, but now you can get it on your Android phone or tablet. Marble is on Android, and I hear that Kstars will be available soon.
I'm proud of how established projects continue to grow and attract new developers. The Plasma team, hand-in-hand with the Visual Design Group, continues to blow testers and users away with power, beauty and simplicity on the desktop. Marble, Kdevelop, Konsole, Kate, KDE-PIM, KDElibs (now Frameworks), KOffice (now Calligra), KDE-Edu, KDE-Games, Digikam, kdevplatform, Okular, Konversation and Yakuake, just to mention a few, continue to grow as projects, stay relevant and often be offered on new platforms. Heck, KDE 1 runs on modern computer systems!
For myself, I'm proud of how the KDE community welcomed in a grandma, a non-coder, and how I'm valued as part of the KDE Student Programs team, and the Community Working Group, and as an author and editor. Season of KDE, Google Summer of Code, and now Google Code-in all work to integrate new people into the community, and give more experienced developers a way to share their knowledge as mentors. I'm proud of how the Amarok handbook we developed on the Userbase wiki has shown the way to other open user documentation. And thanks to the wonderful documentation and translation teams, the help is available to millions of people around the world, in multiple forms.
I'm proud to be part of the e.V., the group supporting the fantastic community that creates the software we offer freely to the world.
Thursday, November 6, 2014
Google Code-In Application Deadline soon - Get your tasks in now!
Hi folks, if you have been thinking about participating in Google Code-In, which is held from December through mid-January for teens not yet in college or university, now is the time to describe your tasks and get them onto the spreadsheet.
Ten to twelve organizations will be chosen to participate, and the more high-quality tasks we have available for the students, the more likely it is that we (that is, KDE) will be chosen to participate.
It is a lot of work for mentors who have lots of tasks, but each task is not much work. It would be excellent to have many mentors, each with a few tasks. By the way, many tasks can be "re-used," such as testing a certain number of bug reports.
Keep in mind that application teams and KDE distributions are welcome to bring in tasks too, as long as they are KDE-related.
For more about how to structure the tasks, see https://developers.google.com/open-source/gci/resources/mentor-and-orgadmin-info. We need each task tagged as coding, documentation/training, UI, outreach/research or quality assurance.
The form for entering your tasks is here: http://goo.gl/forms/wVtXW050X3
Our deadline for application is Monday, November 10th at 19:00 UTC.
Ten to twelve organizations will be chosen to participate, and the more high-quality tasks we have available for the students, the more likely it is that we (that is, KDE) will be chosen to participate.
It is a lot of work for mentors who have lots of tasks, but each task is not much work. It would be excellent to have many mentors, each with a few tasks. By the way, many tasks can be "re-used," such as testing a certain number of bug reports.
Keep in mind that application teams and KDE distributions are welcome to bring in tasks too, as long as they are KDE-related.
For more about how to structure the tasks, see https://developers.google.com/open-source/gci/resources/mentor-and-orgadmin-info. We need each task tagged as coding, documentation/training, UI, outreach/research or quality assurance.
The form for entering your tasks is here: http://goo.gl/forms/wVtXW050X3
Our deadline for application is Monday, November 10th at 19:00 UTC.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Happy Ubuntu Community Appreciation Day
So many people have been inspirational and helpful. First I must mention my children, who opened me up to learning so much. One of them, Thomas (qubes), is the Ubuntu user who got me using Linux in the first place, and Kubuntu as my present distro. Thanks to you Thomas for all your help through the years.
In Ubuntu-Women, I found not just inspiration, but the examples I needed to get involved with the community. Lydia (Nightrose) in particular has been a beacon to my path. Here ability to pack every day with so many useful activities is an accomplishment to which I still aspire. Thank you Lydia! I learn from you every day. Myriam (Mamarok) with her wealth of technical knowledge and willingness to help one and all, is a daily inspiration as well. Recently, she stepped up to the task of creating and perfecting the spreadsheet we needed to bulk upload tasks for Google CodeIn. It was amazing. Thank you so much, Mamarok. Mackenzie (maco) - how can I thank you enough? Your friendship through the years has been wonderful. Amber (akgraner), you shine with a warm glow, like the jewel you are named. Your friendly open enthusiasm has shaped U-W into the great project it is. And you continue to spark your energy into new projects, which pick up that same golden glow. Akkana (akk), I have long admired not only your curiousity and knowledge, but your willingness to share. Once you got a successful career as an author going, you went on to public speaking! I love it - thank you for your example, your work, your kindness.
Within Kubuntu, and through that, the KDEMultimedia team, Harald (apachelogger) and Trever (tdfischer) have become daily inspirations to me. When they encounter difficulties, they code! I don't code, but I can do my own work, even when times are tough. Thank you, Harald and Trever for your example. And all the bad jokes, and good music. :-)
On the local level, I'd like to thank three people in particular, Linda (Althara), Ben (bkrensa) and Michael (MJEvans). Linda shows the leadership and on-going patience to try to get our Washington LoCo going, in spite of low numbers and barely-enough enthusiasm to keep it going. We'll do it, Linda! Thank you for being you. Ben down in Portland, meanwhile, is unstoppable! His tremendous joy and generosity are infectious. Thank you for being my friend, Ben. You keep me jazzed. Michael, you have helped me so much through the years, and your patience and willingness to keep on keeping on is an inspiration to me. Thank you, Michael. You keep me focussed on Doing It Right.
Finally, my co-authors! Karan (wizardKaran), Supreet and Rohan (shadeslayer) - thank you so much for including me in your group. The week we spent at Google writing a book was just mind-bending. It feels so cool to look at a copy of our book and know that I created it with you guys! We did it!
In Ubuntu-Women, I found not just inspiration, but the examples I needed to get involved with the community. Lydia (Nightrose) in particular has been a beacon to my path. Here ability to pack every day with so many useful activities is an accomplishment to which I still aspire. Thank you Lydia! I learn from you every day. Myriam (Mamarok) with her wealth of technical knowledge and willingness to help one and all, is a daily inspiration as well. Recently, she stepped up to the task of creating and perfecting the spreadsheet we needed to bulk upload tasks for Google CodeIn. It was amazing. Thank you so much, Mamarok. Mackenzie (maco) - how can I thank you enough? Your friendship through the years has been wonderful. Amber (akgraner), you shine with a warm glow, like the jewel you are named. Your friendly open enthusiasm has shaped U-W into the great project it is. And you continue to spark your energy into new projects, which pick up that same golden glow. Akkana (akk), I have long admired not only your curiousity and knowledge, but your willingness to share. Once you got a successful career as an author going, you went on to public speaking! I love it - thank you for your example, your work, your kindness.
Within Kubuntu, and through that, the KDEMultimedia team, Harald (apachelogger) and Trever (tdfischer) have become daily inspirations to me. When they encounter difficulties, they code! I don't code, but I can do my own work, even when times are tough. Thank you, Harald and Trever for your example. And all the bad jokes, and good music. :-)
On the local level, I'd like to thank three people in particular, Linda (Althara), Ben (bkrensa) and Michael (MJEvans). Linda shows the leadership and on-going patience to try to get our Washington LoCo going, in spite of low numbers and barely-enough enthusiasm to keep it going. We'll do it, Linda! Thank you for being you. Ben down in Portland, meanwhile, is unstoppable! His tremendous joy and generosity are infectious. Thank you for being my friend, Ben. You keep me jazzed. Michael, you have helped me so much through the years, and your patience and willingness to keep on keeping on is an inspiration to me. Thank you, Michael. You keep me focussed on Doing It Right.
Finally, my co-authors! Karan (wizardKaran), Supreet and Rohan (shadeslayer) - thank you so much for including me in your group. The week we spent at Google writing a book was just mind-bending. It feels so cool to look at a copy of our book and know that I created it with you guys! We did it!
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Google Summer of Code, and Season of KDE: Past the mid-point
We have now passed the mid-term evaluations for both GSoC, and SoK. Our students are doing a wonderful job in GSoC -- all 51 students passed! We've had a couple of disappointing reports from SoK, which I would like to follow up on. Please, students and mentors, if you are having difficulties with research, coding, or support, contact us administrators. Lydia isn't alone; we are all here to help you.
This past week I was at the Community Leadership Summit and OSCON. A meeting of GSoC mentors and admins during lunch one day was fun, and I'm looking forward to the Mentor Summit in October. I'm so pleased with the creative support that Google is providing to KDE and the rest of the FOSS projects. This last year, they added the spectacular Google Code-In, and it seems likely they will offer that contest again this fall. New in 2011 is the Documentation Sprint, which I've applied to attend. If accepted, I'll be in Mountainview for a week, for the Sprint then the Mentor Summit.
Thank you Google, thank you KDE mentors, thank you wonderful students, and thank you to Lydia, Jeff and Ingo, my fellow administrators. This has been a great ride.
PS:
This past week I was at the Community Leadership Summit and OSCON. A meeting of GSoC mentors and admins during lunch one day was fun, and I'm looking forward to the Mentor Summit in October. I'm so pleased with the creative support that Google is providing to KDE and the rest of the FOSS projects. This last year, they added the spectacular Google Code-In, and it seems likely they will offer that contest again this fall. New in 2011 is the Documentation Sprint, which I've applied to attend. If accepted, I'll be in Mountainview for a week, for the Sprint then the Mentor Summit.
Thank you Google, thank you KDE mentors, thank you wonderful students, and thank you to Lydia, Jeff and Ingo, my fellow administrators. This has been a great ride.
PS:
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