The ideal way to contact the mentors is to use the Discussion Forums listed under each project idea.
If you want to introduce yourself, post them here. You can also instead introduce yourself in the respective project idea's discussion forum.
If you have questions beyond the general introduction, start a separate thread.
Please carefully review this introductory presentation on GSoC, especially if you are new to GSoC and need some pointers/help getting started.
Each project idea listed below has a "Discussion Forum" listed. Please use these discussion forums to discuss your project ideas and approaches. That contributes to and boosts the open-source spirit in our community.
We also have a wiki that we will use as a blog and announcement channel. We aim to unify the Google Summer of Code conversations and announcements in this repository rather than fragmenting it across different media. We hope our contributors will have an enriching and productive summer with Alaska.
Each project idea has at least one mentor assigned. We aim to assign two mentors to each accepted project idea to ensure the contributors have continuous mentoring even during a brief absence of a mentor. Each project also has a relevant discussion forum in their GitHub source repository, listed under each project idea. Specific discussions on each project idea happen in those discussion forums.
The mentors do not reply to messages sent through unconventional channels such as LinkedIn or Facebook. Emails are discouraged, to promote open communications through GitHub discussions.
This year, contributors are given the option to contribute to a project full-time (35 hours a week and 350 hours in total, a large project), half-time (about 18 hours a week and 175 hours in total, a medium-size project), or quarter-time (a short project of about 90 hours in total).
Each project idea indicates the number of hours of contribution we typically expect the project to have during the coding period. Underestimating the workload is discouraged. For example, if your project requires you to work 350 hours during the coding period, please do not indicate in your proposal that you will work 25 hours a week for ten weeks.
However, applicants can propose their estimated work hours (350, 175, or 90 hours for the project) in the proposal, repositioning a project as a shorter-time project: medium project instead of a long project; short project instead of a medium project (or repositioning a short/medium project as a medium/large or large project).
The contributors are encouraged to follow this template. However, they are not expected to follow this template strictly. They are advised to include all the requested information in their application.
1) Project Title:
2) Abstract / Project Summary:
Summarize the project in your own words.
3) Contributor Name:
4) Contributor Email and GitHub ID:
5) Potential Mentor(s):
6) Personal Background (Brief CV)
7) Project Goals / Major Contributions
(Enter as bullets)
..
..
..
8) Project Schedule
Break the timeline into periods of around seven days. Smaller time windows (7 days or fewer) are encouraged to make progress easier to track.
8.1) Community Bonding Period
8.2) Development Phase
8.3) Project Completion, testing, and documentation
9) Planned GSoC work hours
This year, the full-time projects are expected to contribute 35 hours a week (large projects, 350 hours in total), half-time projects are expected to make an 18-hour-a-week contribution (medium-sized size projects, 175 hours total), and small projects, a 90-hour contribution. Please indicate your choice of the project length.
Please also indicate the work hours (including the time zone) during which you hope to work on your project.
We recommend daily commits (and pull requests, if appropriate) to ensure progress.
We also usually meet weekly with each accepted contributor during the GSoC. We use Zoom or Skype for this. Please indicate your preferences and availability.
10) Planned absence/vacation days and other commitments during the GSoC period (including the community bonding period)
Please indicate if you have any lectures/classes, examinations, or other personal commitments.
GSoC also allows flexibility of an additional two months - to complete the project at a later time frame (a shift of up to 2 additional months). Please indicate if you expect to do that so we can plan accordingly.
If you choose a full-time project, you may not have much flexibility. However, if you are working on a small project, you can have several other parallel commitments.
11) Skill Set
Your relevant skill set to complete this project. Include pointers to bug fixes, demos, and previous work.
Also include pointers to the completed Code Challenge (if applicable).