coordinator for Google Summer of Code mentors?
Nelson Bolyard
to the Google Summer of Code (GSoC) program, asking me if I am willing
to be their mentor (or one of their mentors) for this program.
They hope to work on adding functionality to FireFox during the summer.
Each has expressed a desire to add to FF's base product functionality,
as opposed to merely creating yet another extension for FF. Apparently
they see selection as a GSoC participant as an invitation to do just that.
Wondering what the obligations of a GSoC mentor might be, I looked for
info, and found only a page discussing the obligations of a sponsoring
organization.
<http://code.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=60291&topic=10732>
Based on some of the questions I've been asked, I gather that the
sponsoring organization (e.g. mozilla) has some say in the choice of
which people (and their proposals) are selected and/or "funded" for
this GSoC.
So, my questions are:
a) Does mozilla have any plan in place for choosing the candidates and
their projects? Are there any selection criteria? Any target number
of projects to be selected? Funding goals or constraints?
b) Is anyone planning to act as the coordinator of mozilla mentors?
c) Do we have any written guidance for applicants, to set their
expectations with regard to the probability that their projects will
actually become part of FireFox (and not merely an extension)?
Will selection as a GSoC project imply commitment to add the feature
to FF3 ?
Nelson Bolyard
> So, my questions are:
>
> a) Does mozilla have any plan in place for choosing the candidates and
> their projects? Are there any selection criteria? Any target number
> of projects to be selected? Funding goals or constraints?
>
> b) Is anyone planning to act as the coordinator of mozilla mentors?
>
> c) Do we have any written guidance for applicants, to set their
> expectations with regard to the probability that their projects will
> actually become part of FireFox (and not merely an extension)?
> Will selection as a GSoC project imply commitment to add the feature
> to FF3 ?
d) If I agree to mentor an applicant, am I in effect committing mozilla
to that project?
e) What exactly ARE the obligations of a mentor? Any estimates of
time to be spent?
f) if I add a project to either of these lists, will doing so significantly
affect the probability of it being selected/chosen/funded?
http://wiki.mozilla.org/Community:SummerOfCode07
http://wiki.mozilla.org/Community:SummerOfCode07:Brainstorming
Axel Hecht
> I wrote:
>> So, my questions are:
>>
>> a) Does mozilla have any plan in place for choosing the candidates and
>> their projects? Are there any selection criteria? Any target number
>> of projects to be selected? Funding goals or constraints?
Yes, the plan is the wiki pages you found below.
>> b) Is anyone planning to act as the coordinator of mozilla mentors?
>>
>> c) Do we have any written guidance for applicants, to set their
>> expectations with regard to the probability that their projects will
>> actually become part of FireFox (and not merely an extension)?
>> Will selection as a GSoC project imply commitment to add the feature
>> to FF3 ?
The written guideline for what's going into Firefox (3) is in the works,
that's the PRD.
As per Firefox 3 meeting last Tuesday, it's not all that likely that an
SoC project would/should/could be done early enough to make the feature
freeze for Firefox 3. Disclaimer, the timeline is in the works right
now, but AFAIK, there are no SoC projects for which the Firefox team
decided to push the schedule.
> d) If I agree to mentor an applicant, am I in effect committing mozilla
> to that project?
>
> e) What exactly ARE the obligations of a mentor? Any estimates of
> time to be spent?
>
> f) if I add a project to either of these lists, will doing so significantly
> affect the probability of it being selected/chosen/funded?
>
> http://wiki.mozilla.org/Community:SummerOfCode07
> http://wiki.mozilla.org/Community:SummerOfCode07:Brainstorming
I'm not sure on the process on the Google side, but from the Mozilla
side, you need to add your project to the Brainstorming page to make
Mozilla look at it.
Axel
Gervase Markham
> They hope to work on adding functionality to FireFox during the summer.
> Each has expressed a desire to add to FF's base product functionality,
> as opposed to merely creating yet another extension for FF. Apparently
> they see selection as a GSoC participant as an invitation to do just that.
It is an invitation to be able to spend time over the summer working on
Mozilla stuff. This year, we are accepting applications to work both on
the core and on extensions.
> Wondering what the obligations of a GSoC mentor might be, I looked for
> info, and found only a page discussing the obligations of a sponsoring
> organization.
> <http://code.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=60291&topic=10732>
Indeed. I've also noted this lack. We should make Google aware of it.
> Based on some of the questions I've been asked, I gather that the
> sponsoring organization (e.g. mozilla) has some say in the choice of
> which people (and their proposals) are selected and/or "funded" for
> this GSoC.
>
> So, my questions are:
>
> a) Does mozilla have any plan in place for choosing the candidates and
> their projects? Are there any selection criteria? Any target number
> of projects to be selected? Funding goals or constraints?
The process is as follows:
- Any Mozilla community participant may add a project suggestion to the
Brainstorming page:
http://wiki.mozilla.org/Community:SummerOfCode07:Brainstorming
- chofmann and I, as Google SoC administrators for the Mozilla project,
transfer those we think have merit to the official page:
http://wiki.mozilla.org/Community:SummerOfCode07
Merit is at least partially connected to whether a credible person has
offered to mentor. But, if someone suggests something without a mentor
and we think it's a good idea, we'll try and find one.
- Students look at the two lists and make their applications
- chofmann, I, and others who have signed up through the mentoring
interface in the Google SoC webtool give their opinions on the various
student applications, by giving them a score.
- Google does some internal calculations and notifies us via that
interface how many projects they wish to fund (X).
- As the applications are ordered by score, X are in and the rest are
out. We then get in touch with the relevant students and mentors and
tell them the project has been chosen.
> b) Is anyone planning to act as the coordinator of mozilla mentors?
chofmann and I are doing SoC coordination.
> c) Do we have any written guidance for applicants, to set their
> expectations with regard to the probability that their projects will
> actually become part of FireFox (and not merely an extension)?
> Will selection as a GSoC project imply commitment to add the feature
> to FF3 ?
There is no guarantee that written code will become part of anything,
and this is not required in order to be paid. This is a rule for the
entire SoC, not just the Mozilla project.
> d) If I agree to mentor an applicant, am I in effect committing mozilla
> to that project?
No. You will only be called upon to do any work if the project is
chosen. By committing to mentor, you will also get input into which
projects and students are chosen.
> e) What exactly ARE the obligations of a mentor? Any estimates of
> time to be spent?
See above; Google probably need to say something about this. The idea is
that a mentor assists the student in getting involved with the project
community, gives them technical advice on their design and approach, and
also does sufficient assessment of their work such that they can decide
whether they get paid or not.
Different mentors approach the task in different ways.
You are certainly not expected to baby-sit a recalcitrant student or
spend significant time clueing in someone who proves incapable of
learning for themselves. Mentors help out of kindness, not obligation,
and students are responsible for their own aptitude and motivation.
> f) if I add a project to either of these lists, will doing so significantly
> affect the probability of it being selected/chosen/funded?
>
> http://wiki.mozilla.org/Community:SummerOfCode07
> http://wiki.mozilla.org/Community:SummerOfCode07:Brainstorming
Adding a project to the Brainstorming list, with your name as the
mentor, would get it transferred pretty quickly to the main list. This
would, in turn, attract applicants (including perhaps a particular
person with whom you have been in communication).
When the time comes to rank the proposals, you would then examine all
the applications for that task. It would be entirely within your rights
to say "I'm the mentor, and I'd prefer person P for this task" - and
that would carry a lot of weight in terms of which proposal for that
task came out top among those. Of course, it doesn't mean that any
applications for that task would necessarily make it into the top X.
I hope that's explained it a bit. Please ask more questions if anything
is still unclear.
Gerv