Applying for GSOC

[Ankit Aggarwal]

Hi,

I am really interested to take part in GSOC 2014 under BuildmLearn. The previous posts have nearly answered all my questions, but I still have a few doubts.

1. Would active participation here be a plus point (as in some other organisations) or is the Application the sole criteria to judge someone?

2. If we have ideas, do we need to show a mock working app or its design should suffice?

3. Before we submit our Application to Google, can we mail it to you personally, just to make sure it is feasible. If so can I have your email id?

4. Can we submit multiple applications, if we are interested in two different ideas?

Thanks

Ankit

[Ankit Aggarwal]

And should we attach links to previous projects too in our application? Since my application is on a design change, I will show the latest images too then...

[Rahul Ahuja]

Hi Ankit

 

I am really interested to take part in GSOC 2014 under BuildmLearn. The previous posts have nearly answered all my questions, but I still have a few doubts.

1. Would active participation here be a plus point (as in some other organisations) or is the Application the sole criteria to judge someone?

Depends on the project idea. If you are interested in Porting BuildmLearn Toolkit to Linux / Mac - you can already look at the source code and try to build it, fix some bugs. That would help. 

If you are going for a mobile app project - we would be relying on your past experience and work on applications that you include in your proposal. Clearly, many of these applications aren't for beginners.

 

2. If we have ideas, do we need to show a mock working app or its design should suffice?

It's UI wireframe (done with any paint / photoshop tool) would be great to include. Nothing is mandatory, the wireframes show us how you plan to develop the UI, so it helps.

 

3. Before we submit our Application to Google, can we mail it to you personally, just to make sure it is feasible. If so can I have your email id?

Yes, you can ask for a review of proposal. If you ask in advance we can provide comments. Send it to me / Pankaj privately (choose reply to author on this post) and send it across.

 

4. Can we submit multiple applications, if we are interested in two different ideas?

Yes, you can. Google allows you to submit 5 proposals :)

[Ankit Aggarwal]

Regarding the storage of data for "Learn from Map" app, why can't we use SQLite database. In some other post it says that it will eat into memory, is that so? Can't we bundle it with the app? 

[Ankit Aggarwal]

Also, this link is to my application. It has not been updated for a while, and as per the new Android design guidelines, it is going on a design change. It has 300+ downloads and there is extensive use of SQLite database. I will talk about myself when I submit my application. And thanks for the reply, I will reply to you with my application to get it commented upon.

Cheers,

Ankit

[Pankaj Nathani]

Also, this link is to my application. 

 

Nice app Ankit :)

Regarding the storage of data for "Learn from Map" app, why can't we use SQLite database. In some other post it says that it will eat into memory, is that so? Can't we bundle it with the app? 

Assuming this has been clarified here: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/buildmlearn/yqi8TWdamZw

[Ankit Aggarwal]

Thanks Pankaj,

But regarding using SQLite database. I was suggesting (for a simple example) that I would be having a database with columns as "Country", "City", and "Event"

And with an entry like "India", "Delhi", "Commonwealth Games", when the user selects "Questions about India", out app can compute a question like where did Commonwealth Games take place in India?

Is there a flaw in this approach? The database would come bundled with app as suggested for xml. I am suggesting database as it is better for retrieving info, and that is more important for this app. 

Thanks,

ankit 

[Pankaj Nathani]

It's easier for someone to create an XML file to add questions for new geographic regions.. so we thought XML would be good. Of course, it can be done by bundling a SQLite db as well.. it's upto you but we prefer using XML files.

[Ankit Aggarwal]

I read in many articles which were comparing between xml and sqlite that the time for retrieval in xml is much more then sqlite. Can that be overcome for a better user experience? If so could you please guide me to some tutorial or the name of the method used? I haven't used a user-defined xml file for storing data before in an app, so these doubts came up.

But still this is something which can be discussed upon, after a proposal's selection. I hope using xml or SQLite would not effect the chances of an application being selected :) 

[Pankaj Nathani]

There are may tutorials about how to use XML in android: http://x.vu/Rl58Ix

But still this is something which can be discussed upon, after a proposal's selection. I hope using xml or SQLite would not effect the chances of an application being selected :) 

Sure, you may propose to use SQLite.. it doesn't matter enough to affect our judgement while evaluating proposals :) 

[Ankit Aggarwal]

For the AI approach, can we have tags or table headings ( for political geography) as "Country", "Capital", "Location", "Difficulty" ( just a very basic example)

with data like -> "India", "Delhi", its location, "Medium"

And when the user is in an medium difficulty, and is in capitals section of game, the game can ask him-> "What is the capital of India?"-> The user then selects a location which is approx tested with the longitude and latitude stored, and marked as correct/wrong.

Is this a possible approach for AI??

[Pankaj Nathani]

Hi Ankit 

Yes, trying to create questions from the meta-data and provided semantics is a part of it. Further, in a future version.. acquiring this meta-data and semantics from popular web content can be added.