Re: GSoC project article in Google Open Source Blog

[Ross Gardler <rg...@apache.org>]

Great to hear, please let us know when it's posted.  Slow is some info, feel free to adjust to fit your blog. If you need more detail please ask on the Dev@community.apache.org (cc'd)

2005 GSoC launched with no time to plan process properly.  Google didn't know what they were doing nor what they expected open source projects to do, beyond learning about open source. 

Process was totally chaotic. Inside the ASF we evaluated proposals as a community, but we didn't know until theblast minute how many awards we would have. As deadlines approached there was no time to run through our usual community consensus processes in order to select the final students. I had to make instant decisions on behalf of the community. Some were not happy, this is not how the ASF normally works. But there was no time for proper community oversight. 

Fortunately, Bertrand Delacretaz was watching over my shoulder ensuring there was at least one other reviewer of all my decisions. 

In 2006 we were better prepared. I'd recorded the deision making process and with more time from Google we were able to involve the community more. However it still required last minute decisions on behalf of the community

Since then the processes within both Google and the ASF have been improved. Now we have a well managed community selection process with less sleepless nights for the admins. 

I still act as a co-admin but have not been the primary admin since 2008. This is a strong indicator of the importance of the programme to the ASF, we have no shortage of volunteers to make it happen. 

We've had some great successes. We have Members who came to us as part of GSoC and we have lots of committers. 

Our standards are high and as a result we have a slightly lower pass rate from the rest if the GSoC programme. We make no apologies for this. Our successful students are excellent contributors, we are proud to be associated with them. 

Looking forward we are now working on a mentoring programme for people who are unable to participate in GSoC. 

Sent from my mobile device.

On 17 Oct 2010, at 17:55, Ali Ok <al...@aliok.com.tr> wrote:

> Hello Ross,
> 
> I am a MyFaces committer. I was a GSoC student in last GSoC, mentored by Matthias Wessendorf.
> 
> I am writing a blog post to be posted in Google open source blog. I think a small history of Apache - GSoC would be good to mention. 
> 
> Would you like to write a few sentences?
> 
> Greetings,
> Ali
> 
> -- 
> My Blog: http://blog.aliok.com.tr
> Twitter: http://twitter.com/aliok_tr
>