The application deadline for GSoC has now passed…

The application deadline for GSoC has now passed. We have received a total of 60 applications, and the volunteer mentors will be reviewing them over the next several days. Selected students will be announced on April 25.

#gsoc

Reminder GSoC mentor q&amp ain about three hours…

Reminder: GSoC mentor q&ain about three hours, per schedule below. Mentors on the list today:
Andrew Nacin – nacin
Daryl Koopersmith – koopersmith — sorry, folks, can’t make it
Andy Skelton – skeltoac
Justin Shreve – jshreve
Jon Cave – duck_
Peter Westwood – westi
Dan Roundhill – mrroundhill — probably won’t make it
Thorsten Ott – tott
Nikolay Bachiyski – nbachiyski
Dion Hulse – dd32

#gsoc

Reminder GSoC mentor chat today at 19:00:00 UTC…

Reminder, GSoC mentor chat today at 19:00:00 UTC (3pm eastern, about an hour and a half from now).

#gsoc

1st GSoC mentor chat will be in irc…

1st GSoC mentor chat will be in irc in about two hours, for students to ask questions of mentors.

#gsoc

GSoC Pre-Application IRC Chats

Okay, potential GSoC students. By now you’ve hopefully settled on a project idea or are narrowing it down between a couple of choices, have gotten some feedback by sending your ideas to the wp-hackers list, and/or have talked to mentors in the #wordpress-gsoc irc channel. For the next 6 days, we’ll be holding scheduled irc chats with a rotating cast of WordPress mentors, who are all looking forward to talking with you and hearing a little more about you before they start rating applications. You can use this time to ask questions, get live feedback on your proposal and just show your face (read: irc handle) so the mentors know you are serious about wanting to work with WordPress this summer.

Format: each chat will be scheduled for an hour. Below is the schedule in UTC time (linked date/time goes to world clock site for easy local time translationtranslation The process (or result) of changing text, words, and display formatting to support another language. Also see localization, internationalization.). At the beginning of each chat, we’ll ask which students want to be speak. We’ll put them in a random order, and give each student 5 minutes. If we have enough time to give more, we will. You can direct your questions to a specific mentor, or to the mentors at large. When your time is up, please be respectful and let the other students have their turns. You can always talk more with mentors after the scheduled chat is over, as they’ll be lurking in the room all week until the application deadline on April 8.

The chat location is irc.freenode.net #wordpress-gsoc. If you are planning to attend a chat, please leave a comment on this post and link to your proposal (on your WordPress-powered blogblog (versus network, site)) so that mentors can look it over before you talk to them in irc.

Good luck!

Date/Time Mentors
Friday, 4/1/2011
23:00 UTC
Alex M. – Viper007Bond
Aaron Jorbin – jorbin
Austin Matzko – filosofo
Eric Mann – ericmann
Chris Jean – chrisbliss18
Andrew Nacin – nacin
John James Jacoby – jjj
Justin Shreve – jshreve
Cristi Burca – scribu
Michael Erlewine -mitcho, mitchoyoshitaka
Dominik Schilling – ocean90
Aaron Campbell – aaroncampbell
Saturday, 4/2/2011
19:00 UTC
Cristi Burca – scribu
Thorsten Ott – tott
Andrew Nacin – nacin
Nikolay Bachiyski – nbachiyski
Pete Mall – petemall
Austin Matzko – filosofo
Dominik Schilling – ocean90
Sunday, 4/3/2011
01:00 UTC
Michael Erlewine -mitcho, mitchoyoshitaka
Daryl Koopersmith – koopersmith
Andy Skelton – skeltoac
John James Jacoby – jjj
Peter Westwood – westi
Eric Mann – ericmann
Alex M. – Viper007Bond
Dominik Schilling – ocean90
Dion Hulse – dd32
Monday, 4/4/2011
14:00 UTC
Andrew Nacin – nacin
Daryl Koopersmith – koopersmith
Andy Skelton – skeltoac
Justin Shreve – jshreve
Jon Cave – duck_
Peter Westwood – westi
Dan Roundhill – mrroundhill
Thorsten Ott – tott
Nikolay Bachiyski – nbachiyski
Dion Hulse – dd32
Tuesday, 4/5/2011
10:00 UTC
Cristi Burca – scribu
Nikolay Bachiyski – nbachiyski
Peter Westwood – westi
Dan Roundhill – mrroundhill
Thorsten Ott – tott
Jon Cave – duck_
John James Jacoby – jjj
Dion Hulse – dd32
Wednesday, 4/6/2011
17:00 UTC
Pete Mall – petemall
Aaron Campbell – aaroncampbell
Austin Matzko – filosofo
Thorsten Ott – tott
Chris Jean – chrisbliss18
Andy Skelton – skeltoac
Dan Roundhill – mrroundhill
Jon Cave – duck_
Daryl Koopersmith – koopersmith
Nikolay Bachiyski – nbachiyski
Justin Shreve – jshreve

#gsoc, #irc

Last call for GSoC mentors Making the IRC…

Last call for GSoC mentors! Making the IRCIRC Internet Relay Chat, a network where users can have conversations online. IRC channels are used widely by open source projects, and by WordPress. The primary WordPress channels are #wordpress and #wordpress-dev, on irc.freenode.net. schedule now for GSoC mentor chats/q&a, and want to be sure I have everyone. Here’s who is listed on the Codex (per @nacin): Aaron Campbell, Jorbin, Viper007Bond, Nacin, Skeltoac, Filosofo, Chris Jean, Scribu, Dan Roundhill, Koop, Ocean90, Eric Mann, Mitcho, Jtrip, Duck_, Justin, Nikolay, Pete Mall, Westi, and Thorsten. I know we are missing a couple of people who offered to mentor and/or backup mentor. Note: being on this list does not mean you will definitely wind up mentoring a student. It will depend on how many slots we get, what kind of projects there are, and your own interest. If there’s not a student/project you want to work with, you are not required to choose one. I just want to get anyone who’s a potential mentor in the pool now so they can review applications and participate in the chats. If you’re one of the missed people, please leave a comment on this post so we can add you. @otto42? Boone, still interested?

Also: I’ll be getting some help moving forward with the adminadmin (and super admin) side of GSoC from Andrea Middleton. You may see her posting here about GSoC on occasion.

#gsoc

Quick and dirty flyer for GSoC Print and…

Quick and dirty flyer for GSoC. Print and post anywhere you think smart college student developers will see it in your city. Got a late start on recruiting students, so if everyone can help publicize, that would be great. Post to your PHPPHP The web scripting language in which WordPress is primarily architected. WordPress requires PHP 5.6.20 or higher mailing lists, meetupMeetup All local/regional gatherings that are officially a part of the WordPress world but are not WordCamps are organized through https://www.meetup.com/. A meetup is typically a chance for local WordPress users to get together and share new ideas and seek help from one another. Searching for ‘WordPress’ on meetup.com will help you find options in your area. groups, etc. Thanks!

#gsoc

GSoC Students: No one is going to steal your idea!

There have been a number of potential GSoC students asking potential WordPress mentors to look over their applications privately before they are submitted, as the students are afraid someone will steal their idea.

  1. This is not the way to approach applying; please use the requested forms of contact at this time — wp-hackers for feedback on your general idea and/or popping into #wordpress-gsoc on irc.freenode.net to talk to a live person. We are in the process of scheduling a handful of IRCIRC Internet Relay Chat, a network where users can have conversations online. IRC channels are used widely by open source projects, and by WordPress. The primary WordPress channels are #wordpress and #wordpress-dev, on irc.freenode.net. chats for later this week and next with specific mentors, where students will be able to ask more questions directly. In the meantime, please stick to the above methods of contact rather than bombarding individual mentors with email.
  2. This is open sourceOpen Source Open Source denotes software for which the original source code is made freely available and may be redistributed and modified. Open Source **must be** delivered via a licensing model, see GPL.. There’s no such thing as idea theft — the whole point is to continually build on and improve each others’ ideas. Put your ideas out there. The application template asks you to link to where you’ve posted your idea on your blogblog (versus network, site) and/or in a wp-hackers thread, so you pretty much HAVE to put it out there to be considered by us, and if you think someone stole your idea, you can clearly point to where you posted it first. However, this has NEVER been an issue before, and I’m not sure why it’s suddenly such a concern this year. If you don’t like the idea of discussing ideas in the open, then why apply to work with open source? We like to see applications where students have gotten lots of feedback on their idea, and if relevant, have incorporated suggestions into the final proposal, as we don’t develop in a vacuum.

But! Students!

Have you looked at our application template yet? We care about the idea, yes, but even more we care about proof that you know what you’re doing with WordPress, specifically via submitting a coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. patchpatch A special text file that describes changes to code, by identifying the files and lines which are added, removed, and altered. It may also be referred to as a diff. A patch can be applied to a codebase for testing. or two, which is listed in the application template with sample tickets. Patches are basically being used as litmus tests to judge your skill and style, as applications can be written to sound great by people who can’t deliver. If you submit an application without ever having attempted any of the requested patches, your application will automatically be ranked lower than applications from students who did submit patches.

So, here is the absolute best advice for getting accepted with WordPress for GSoC this year:

  1. Know PHPPHP The web scripting language in which WordPress is primarily architected. WordPress requires PHP 5.6.20 or higher and the WordPress codebase.
  2. Attempt the test patches referenced in the application template, post patches to the tracTrac An open source project by Edgewall Software that serves as a bug tracker and project management tool for WordPress. ticketticket Created for both bug reports and feature development on the bug tracker.(s).
  3. Post your idea on a WordPress-powered blog, and link to the proposal in a post to the wp-hackers mailing list, asking for feedback.
  4. Follow things happening on trac and in #wordpress-dev to better understand what’s happening with current WordPress development.
  5. Ask questions in #wordpress-gsoc; watch for the posted public chat times coming up this week and attend when a mentor you’re interested in working with is scheduled to be there.
  6. Revise your plan as needed, fill in application before the deadline gets too close.
  7. Keep track of your application page, as mentors may ask you follow-up questions or request more information that we need to have before we are willing to consider your application. Respons to questions promptly.
  8. Make sure all information is complete before the deadline.
  9. If you have been talking with any particular mentor(s) in IRC, let them know when your application has been submitted.

Note: When writing your proposal, please be aware that we like to have the project functional by midterm, with the second half of gsoc spent polishing, testing, integrating (moving from pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party to core patch, etc), and revising. Please plan accordingly.

Good luck!

#gsoc

GSoC Mentors sorry for the delay The new…

GSoC Mentors: sorry for the delay. The new melange UIUI User interface is freaking me out and I can’t find anything. It went from about 50 navigation links to 5, and I’ll be spending the morning trying to figure out where the heck things moved. In the meantime, let’s set up some open IRCIRC Internet Relay Chat, a network where users can have conversations online. IRC channels are used widely by open source projects, and by WordPress. The primary WordPress channels are #wordpress and #wordpress-dev, on irc.freenode.net. chats like last year where students can ask questions etc. Can all mentors post with some days/times this week that work for them (or if you’re mostly open, post any days/times when you are not available)? Thanks.

#gsoc

The student application period opens on Monday For…

The student application period opens on Monday. For the record, here is the GSoC timeline between now and the end of the program:

March 28, 19:00 UTC
Student application period opens.

April 8, 19:00 UTC
Student application deadline.

Interim Period:
Mentoring organizations review and rank student proposals; where necessary, mentoring organizations may request further proposal detail from the student applicant.

April 22
All mentors must be signed up and all student proposals matched with a mentor – 07:00 UTC

Student ranking/scoring deadline. Please do not add private comments with a nonzero score or mark students as ineligible (unless doing so as part of resolving duplicate accepted students) after this deadline – 17:00 UTC

IRCIRC Internet Relay Chat, a network where users can have conversations online. IRC channels are used widely by open source projects, and by WordPress. The primary WordPress channels are #wordpress and #wordpress-dev, on irc.freenode.net. meeting to resolve any outstanding duplicate accepted students – 19:00 UTC #gsoc

April 25, 19:00 UTC
Accepted student proposals announced on the Google Summer of Code 2011 site.

Community Bonding Period:
Students get to know mentors, read documentation, get up to speed to begin working on their projects. Generally, this is when any questions over code approach are decided, and general architecture is figured out, so that when the coding period opens, you’re ready to go. Student should already be familiar with the WordPress codebase, and should not plan to use this period to learn it.

May 23:
Students officially begin coding for their GSoC projects. In reality, most of students begin coding during the community bonding period.

July 11, 19:00 UTC
Mentors and students can begin submitting mid-term evaluations.

July 15, 19:00 UTC
Mid-term evaluations deadline;

August 15:
Suggested ‘pencils down’ date. Take a week to scrub code, write tests, improve documentation, etc.

August 22:

19:00 UTC

Firm ‘pencils down’ date. Mentors, students and organization administrators can begin submitting final evaluations to Google.

August 26, 19:00 UTC
Final evaluation deadline

Will be contacting the confirmed mentors tomorrow to set up irc chats, walk through guidelines, etc. If you don’t hear from me tomorrow, but thought you were going to be a mentor, pingPing The act of sending a very small amount of data to an end point. Ping is used in computer science to illicit a response from a target server to test it’s connection. Ping is also a term used by Slack users to @ someone or send them a direct message (DM). Users might say something along the lines of “Ping me when the meeting starts.” me over the weekend or on Monday.