I'd expect (and hope) that nobody on this list would want to use the figures in a negative light, but my point is why highlight it at all? Sure, using one or two students as examples can be a great motivator, but does a figure for the number of students from a particular country really promote anything? If it increases or decreases from one year to the next that's not really a trend it's just how things went.

I'd suggest showing the diversity of those involved might be a better idea. The organisation I'm mentoring for is primarily based in Europe, but has students from all around the world, and, if anything, GSoC has hopefully shown that most, if not all, organisations involved will take students irrespective of whether they're in the same town as their mentor or half way around the world.

I've found that showing the potential for anyone to be involved has a far bigger impact than giving students figures about any socio-economic grouping or location, so they think about thousands of slots available rather than the hundreds that, in previous years, may have gone to a particular grouping they are part of.

Hopefully you can see the advantage of this approach too.

Al.

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Al Sutton - Funky Android Ltd.
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On 30 Apr 2012, at 20:48, Adnan wrote: