Google Summer of Code 2010

[imbaczek]

http://groups.google.com/group/google-s ... b02ac15b3f

let's get to work.

[el_matarife]

Short history to catch everyone up with GSoC and Spring. (I assume almost everyone knows, but I bet there's one or two newbies reading this.) It has been tried two or three times. The first time or two times were pretty half hearted attempts that basically boiled down to "We really should do this", but last year we got a little more serious.

Here's last year's attempt to get in to GSOC: http://springrts.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=18103

It seems like we're getting a lot more serious this year and I'd encourage everyone to keep a positive attitude so Google can see how intent Spring is about joining and how much everyone appreciates Google giving us another chance to apply.

Who's going to write / update the Wiki article on GSoC? http://springrts.com/wiki/SpringEngineTODO

[jeykey]

dont forget the GSoC banner :)

[imbaczek]

last year's discussion topic

[schmidt100]

Do I understand this right, they are closing the application tomorrow on March 12th?

"We will begin accepting application from
would-be mentoring organizations beginning March 8th at approximately
19:00 UTC, with applications closing on March 12th at 23:00 UTC."
http://groups.google.com/group/google-s ... b02ac15b3f

And as far as I can see Spring is not on the list.

[Argh]

So, we've got 24 hours to get us on the GSoC list? Is there anything I can do (write a supporting brief, show them things I'm doing with the engine, etc.) that might materially affect the outcome? Please let me know asap.

[Kloot]

And as far as I can see Spring is not on the list.

That's the 2009 list.

[imbaczek]

you can take a look at http://springrts.com/wiki/Google_Summer_of_Code_2010 and correct any mistakes, add some more content, etc.

[Argh]

OK.

[Argh]

OK, I went through them all, and edited them (in a few cases, fairly drastically) for better readability, more formal language, and deliberate attempts to "sell" the engine for its merits not just to gamers and game programmers, but to the wider potential audience of simulation designers, AI developers, etc.

I also emphasized the Open Source-ness and obfuscated a reference to OTA, and removed a fair amount of hedging. These are project proposals; we need to sound confident about what we'd like to achieve, so that Google feels their investment would not be wasted.

Anyhow, I hope people like the changes. Feel free to alter anything you want, if you read this before the deadline, ofc- my goal was to market gently and accurately, while de-emphasizing the "this is something U maek gaem with" aspects a bit and presenting a stronger case for why Spring is awesome in general.

I am still wondering if we could maybe find one or two of these things that we could find an excuse to attach a picture to; pictures would help sell things better, and most of these things could probably use an image (unless the GSoC entry rules forbid it, ofc- I haven't read them in detail).

[Argh]

Made more changes; added proposal, why, what, requirements, to follow style guidelines.

If anybody on the mentor end reads this before the deadline, please do us all a favor and review my statements about the requirements!

[Argh]

Has anybody written a document covering this requirement yet? If so, would you like me to review it an proofread it?

What should a mentoring organization application look like?

In addition to anything else your organization would like to submit as an application, Google will be asking (at least) the following questions as part of the application process:

1. Describe your organization.
2. Why is your organization applying to participate in GSoC 2010? What do you hope to gain by participating?
3. Did your organization participate in past GSoCs? If so, please summarize your involvement and the successes and challenges of your participation.
4. If your organization has not previously participated in GSoC, have you applied in the past? If so, for what year(s)?
5. What license(s) does your project use?
6. What is the URL for your ideas page?
7. What is the main development mailing list for your organization?
8. What is the main IRC channel for your organization?
9. Does your organization have an application template you would like to see students use? If so, please provide it now.
10. Who will be your backup organization administrator?
11. What criteria did you use to select these individuals as mentors? Please be as specific as possible.
12. What is your plan for dealing with disappearing students?
13. What is your plan for dealing with disappearing mentors?
14. What steps will you take to encourage students to interact with your project's community before, during and after the program?
15. What will you do to ensure that your accepted students stick with the project after GSoC concludes?

Anyhow, I need to go to bed now; I will try and help out when I am awake tomorrow, as I'm free until about 3PM CST.

[imbaczek]

yes, we've got it done AFAIK.

[Tobi]

Now that the proposals have been converted to the wiki we've made the forum invisible.

[Agon]

Did you converted all proposals which had good response?

I saw only half of the proposals converted to the wiki, yesterday.
Did you do this because for each proposal a qualified mentor should be available?

[Tobi]

Picked the ones which seemed most suitable (wrt size, difficulty, fits with existing work being done, etc.)

[Agon]

Looking at the wiki there is no easy task, only medium, medium to hard and hard.

[Tobi]

That's probably because the easy tasks were too easy then

Though point taken that the scale could be changed a bit on the wiki, i.e. medium->easy, medium-hard->medium.

Also, I've submitted an application to Google.

[el_matarife]

Guess we will find out today if Spring was accepted.
March 18: ~12 noon PDT / 19:00 UTC
List of accepted mentoring organizations published on the Google Summer of Code 2010 site. http://socghop.appspot.com/

[el_matarife]

No luck, again:
http://socghop.appspot.com/gsoc/program ... e/gsoc2010