Google Code-In Next Steps - Week 44

[popey]

I’ve started a new thread to follow on from the initial conversation we had about getting into Google Code-In.

So, we’re in! But this is just the beginning! We have 4 weeks to prepare everything needed before the kick-off on 28th November!

Next steps as I see it are as follows. I’ve put names next to those.who have already offered, but

• Invite mentors to the Code-In site (popey)
• Find more mentors to help (everyone)
  • We need to spread the load among mentors, and ensure we have backups for when mentors are on vacation ( / etc) or unavailable ( / ️ )
• Create tasks (everyone/mentors)
  • We need a minimum of 75, but in all likely-hood need way more than this.

For those creating tasks, below is the data needed, bear this in mind. I have mad a template spreadsheet you can copy and link to if desired. There’s a sample task in there to give you an idea of how it may look. If you’d rather not use Google Sheets (for whatever reason) then feel free to use that as inspiration, and submit yours in csv or some other sane format.

Task overview

• Title - a short title for your task - 200 characters
• Description - Describe your task in as much detail as possible. May include [limited Markdown]
  (https://developers.google.com/open-source/gci/help/markdown) - 1500 characters
• Instance count - Increase this value instead of making duplicate tasks. This task can be claimed by this many students simultaneously. Each student has an independent instance. If an instance is completed, that reduces the number available to claim.
• Time to complete (in days)
• External URL - Optional link to external bugtracker or wiki

Task categorization

• Beginner task - toggle
• Categories - Code / User Interface / Documentation & Training / Quality Assurance / Outreach & Research
• Tags - A few keywords that describe this task. It is OK to include programming languages and technologies here. Example: C++, Video, Optimization. Press Tab or Enter after each item. - up to 5

Mentors

• List of mentors for the task

Let’s get started!
Any questions, just ask!

[popey]

[carla-sella]

Hi,
If this is ok for you, I can mentor until the 20th of December, and then I will be back on the 7th of January, I will be on holidays from the 21st Dec to the 6th Jan.
Carla

[manishbisht]

@popey Can you please give the editing permission to the spreadsheet. So that I can add my tasks into the spreadsheet. My email is manish.bisht490@gmail.com

[popey]

@carla-sella that would be awesome, I’ll add you to the list, thank you!

@manishbisht the goal of that spreadsheet is that it’s a template, just File -> Copy it to your own.

[MatthewAllen]

Been a bit out of the Ubuntu community, but would love to mentor with some stuff from the Ubuntu QA Website and just general help/advice to the students as a winner from GCI '15.

[imbr]

HI @popey
I am bharat rawat and i would like to be a mentor for google code in 2017, please help me ,my email id is bharat.786rawat@gmail.com
thanks.

[wxl]

@popey count me in as a mentor/admin/whatever. didn’t do it last year, but did the previous 2 years before, once for ubuntu and once for kde.

probably @tsimonq2 as well, but i’ll let him speak for himself.

[manishbisht]

@popey I have added the tasks in this Google Spreadsheet.

[carla-sella]

I am starting to add tasks here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1AmGIuh6cVB134vgCXQMnYRKEDFpX16c8A57qFCmdcds/edit?usp=sharing

[tsimonq2]

Apologies for the overdue reply…

probably @tsimonq2 as well, but i’ll let him speak for himself.

Yep, count me in

[tsimonq2]

Here is my link. I’ll be updating it in the upcoming days.

[elopio]

I’m in. And with the snapcraft team we will be filling our tasks in this doc:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1LzHVr2-8pfbF9zghwlUL8FfDImM7s7hElraTXUgiJtg/edit?usp=sharing

[elopio]

I’ve started adding tasks to the dashboard, but how can I add more mentors to the tasks?

[MatthewAllen]

@popey I’ve added some tasks for the Ubuntu QA Website here https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1P1W5Ob8-jCogaOAX1_MACMTrDmBKwjXkeP2mCCI7mtU/edit?usp=sharing

Can I please be added to GCI, email is matthewallengda@gmail.com

[wxl]

Do you know students can only do 2 beginner tasks? I really advise turning as many beginner tasks into standard tasks as possible.

[wxl]

I just wanted to point out that I’m changing the Lubuntu ISO QA task because it is (like all the other ISO QA tasks) confusing as all get out. It seems to be written mostly for package testing (at least judging by the fact that it links to the Cadence Walkthrough, which is— unless you read very carefully— about package testing), which there’s incredibly little of (Lubuntu has done almost zero). I’m rewriting it so that it deals with doing an entire testsuite.

I’m writing this to let folks know that they may want to tweak their own versions of the task to be more appropriate, as I imagine it will be far more useful. Speaking for Lubuntu, it’s a huge improvement and I’m sorry I didn’t notice before.

Also note that I’ve gotten into the habit of making clear, enumerated expectations about what needs to be submitted. A lot of the tasks are missing this, so there’s a lot of banter going back and forth to get a proper submission. That might be good advice for everyone to do.

cc @balloons @MatthewAllen @carla-sella @tsimonq2

[wxl]

One last thing: please, oh please, oh please, make sure to respond to student submissions within 24 hours. I heard of one student today that has been waiting 5 days. I know that the holidays are going on, but we have to figure this out. Pass the baton to another mentor where you can.

I’m willing to help, but I’m a little useless in regards to snap stuff (I can help with the basics, but not evaluating snap submissions).

[m4sk1n]

As I’m not able to be mentor, because I’m participating, I would like to suggest tasks just by listing them, I won’t put them in spreadsheet. There could be “Join your language Localization Team” task, a task to contribute to LXD translation (it uses Weblate, not Launchpad) and maybe tasks for tutorials requested by other participants (from “Submit a suggestion for a new tutorial” task).

[wxl]

Mentors,

Just wanted to point out that we have several tasks that have waited for more then 24 hours for a response to either a submission or a question. I recognize that sometimes it’s hard to tell what to prioritize, so I wanted to point out this cool Chrome plugin that color codes the listing of tasks so you can determine what needs your attention and what doesn’t, with the red and orange ones being the most urgent. Note that it does work on other browsers simply by copying and pasting the index.js into your wb console.