[Xapian-discuss] GSoC 2014

[Olly Betts]

Google's "Summer of Code" is on again.  If you're not familiar with
GSoC, see:

http://code.google.com/soc/

We had a brief discussion on IRC, and we have enough potential mentors
to make it worth applying again.

Org applications are open Feb 3rd-14th.  Accepted orgs are announced on
Feb 24th, and students can apply between March 10th and 21st, but the
keen ones have already started to talk to orgs.

The full timeline is here:

http://www.google-melange.com/gsoc/events/google/gsoc2014

I'm happy to submit the org application again.

The main priorities right now are:

 * Refreshing the list of project ideas - this list is one of the key
   things they look at when reviewing org applications:
   
   http://trac.xapian.org/wiki/GSoCProjectIdeas

   I've done a bit of cleaning up, but mostly just updating it to
   reflect things that have been implemented now (both in GSoC and
   outside it).  We need to have this list in great shape by Feb 14th
   (so just over 3 weeks time as I write this).  You can still add or
   improve ideas after then too.

   Ideas do *NOT* have to be for work on Xapian itself - projects
   related to Xapian in other software are within scope.  A wider range
   of project ideas will give us a broader appeal to students.

 * Identifying potential mentors.  Ideally every idea on the list
   should have at least one suitable potential mentor attached.

   If you're interested in acting as a mentor for one of the ideas
   there, or have an idea for a project with a scope suitable for a
   student to complete in about 12 weeks, please update that page.

 * Talking to the students who've started to appear.

   If you are a student eligible for GSoC and interested in working on
   Xapian, please feel free to get in touch.  You don't have to choose
   from the ideas on the list - you're welcome to propose your own
   project ideas.

If you want to discuss being a mentor or a student, or a project idea,
you can do so on the mailing list or on #xapian on freenode (if you
aren't already an IRC user, see http://trac.xapian.org/wiki/GSoC_IRC for
links to a web IRC client).

There's also a general GSoC IRC channel - #gsoc on freenode.

Cheers,
    Olly