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Message-ID: <AANLkTikFXGbYaATw398R-vWTWzD-Roj2v-Bwo-U04Jev@mail.gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2011 10:37:28 -0800
From: Corbin Simpson <mostawesomedude@...il.com>
To: john-users@...ts.openwall.com
Cc: "Luis MartinGarcia." <luis.mgarc@...il.com>
Subject: Re: GSoC 2011

Hi,

I was a GSoC student a couple years ago, and a mentor last year for
two organizations (OSUOSL and X.org.) One of the biggest things, in my
opinion, is that you should be careful that students do not bite off
more than they can chew. If a student finishes early and chooses to
amend his project to do extra work, that's a job well done. (One of my
students did this last year.) But if a student is given a large task,
it might not be possible for them to make any serious progress towards
it in just one summer.

X.org always says that GSoC is not an opportunity to get a pile of
free code, but a chance to get new contributors. I think this
viewpoint is far more useful when trying to become a GSoC mentoring
organization.

Students will invariably suggest their own ideas -- this is completely
okay! Encourage them to find something they will enjoy working on,
rather than forcing them to select from things you want to get done.
This will lead to more productive students.

For a look at the ideas page of an organization that has been doing
this for a while, check out
http://xorg.freedesktop.org/wiki/SummerOfCodeIdeas. Notice how ideas
from 2008 never got erased, as they are still valid and somebody could
still tackle them.

~ C.

On Mon, Feb 28, 2011 at 4:24 AM, Luis MartinGarcia.
<luis.mgarc@...il.com> wrote:
> On 02/28/2011 06:56 AM, Solar Designer wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> Google Summer of Code 2011 will start accepting applications from
>> mentoring organizations later today:
>>
>> http://www.google-melange.com/gsoc/program/home/google/gsoc2011
>>
>> I am considering applying, on behalf of Openwall.  Application requires
>> that we setup an "ideas page".  Here's a draft:
>>
>> http://openwall.info/wiki/ideas
>>
>> (The task descriptions will need to be more verbose - perhaps at least a
>> paragraph per task.)
>>
>> I'd appreciate any comments and suggestions.
>
> Hi,
>
> I've been a GSoC student (Nmap project) for the last two years. I find
> some of the tasks too small. You can reasonably expect GSoC students to
> work full-time (8 or 9 hours a day) for the whole duration of the
> program. Also, you are right, task definition should be a lot more
> specific and detailed. It may be a good idea to let students propose
> their own projects ideas. There are lots of clever students out there
> and you may be surprised of what they can come up with.
>
> Just my two cents.
>
> Luis.
>
>
>
>



-- 
When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir? ~ Keynes

Corbin Simpson
<MostAwesomeDude@...il.com>

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