Google Summer of Code 2012
February 6, 2012 in Site & Project
2012. Its a new year and if the Mayans are right this may be our last chance to be a part of the Google Summer of Code program. For those of you who aren’t familiar with this event, it is Google’s push to get students into the world of Open Source Software development. For the past 7 years, Google has matched students with open source projects to work on a set of deliverables during their summer break from university studies. Each year the size of the project has grown, both in terms of the number of organizations and the number of students (2011 saw 175 OSS projects with 1,115 students).
The selection pool for both students and organizations is a competitive one. We’re hoping that some slight adjustments to the manner in which we put together and submit our application as well as the huge gains the project have made will help to mark 2012 as the first of many successful years being a part of Google Summer of Code.
What Changes are we Making?
Based on feedback we received from Google after our rejection last year as well as considerations for where the project currently is there are two core changes that will be made to the community’s application effort.
Seriously Awesome Ideas, Seriously.
The biggest of these changes is how ideas will be documented. Rather than a large page with all of the ideas and a sentence or two plus bullet-points for each, a [hopefully] more complete approach will be taken with individual pages devoted to each topic. These pages will include: Idea Abstract, Detailed Technical Description, Rationale, Expertise Required for Completion, and Point of Contact (Mentor) Information. The hope is that by providing a detailed breakdown about each of the ideas that it will be made clear what we are striving for and what would be expected of participating students.
Different Project Introduction
Exactly how we go about this is something still being discussed (to which we offer any and all suggestions), but the goal is to come up with an introduction to jMonkeyEngine that highlights the extraordinary community that we are. Think of the “little” things you see on the forums every day and what that says about us. Words of encouragement to newcomers, applaud for successful commercial releases, excitement for cool new contributions, the list goes on. So the question is What has attracted you to jME?
Important Dates and Deadlines
- 4 February 2012, Google Summer of Code 2012 Announced
- 7 February 2012, News entry posted to jME community site announcing the effort
- 9 March 2012, Application deadline for organizations (that’s us!)
