[IAEP] Priorities and Ideas (for GSoC)

[David Farning]

Hey Jameson, Mel

Thanks for _proving_ me wrong.  I had originally thought that Sugar
Labs would only have the resources to handle two mentors/students this
summers with out getting bogged down.

It now looks like you have got a great handle on the project.

david

On Fri, Mar 13, 2009 at 4:49 PM, Jameson Quinn <jameson.quinn at gmail.com> wrote:
> I will link to this thread (in IAEP) on the GSoC project ideas page. This
> page is the primary location where prospective GSoC students will come to
> learn about out project, and so I want them to get a feel for our community
> discussion of priorities. So please, in this thread, try to be a little bit
> more explicit and foot-noted than you would be otherwise, so they can
> understand what we're talking about.
>
> The primary purpose of GSoC, as others have pointed out, is NOT to do the
> things we're too busy to get around to. It is primarily a community-building
> exercise: to get students engaged in helping Sugar, and get mentors engaged
> in passing on knowledge to new community members. If somebody develops an
> educational game that only blind 3-year-olds use, but FINISHES it, has a
> great time doing it, and becomes a long-term contributing community member,
> then that would be a total GSoC success. However, that being said, we'd
> still prefer projects that help acheive our highest priorities for Sugar.
>
> There is no absolute ordering of Sugarlabs' priorities. Different members
> will not agree perfectly on what steps will do more to help our educational
> mission. So the list below is just my version. Community: Please respond
> with your thoughts. Students: I'll link what I can in the list, but I can't
> find good links, or even any links, for everything. If one of these ideas
> intrigues you, please, come ask in IRC (#sugar on freenode) - we'd love to
> try to point you in the right direction, and help you cut your ideas down to
> a reasonable GSoC size.
>
> My first priority is things that will have a strong effect on the long-term
> rate of development of Sugar. I'd put just 2 things in that category: easier
> sugarizing (primarily from AJAX, Flash, and legacy Linux); and a structure
> for sugar unit tests (IMO we will never get good enough software quality for
> wide adoption, running on multiple distribution without automated testing).
>
> My second priority is things that will improve on sugar's key promises. An
> easier and better way to handle files: versioned datastore, improvements in
> creating and using tags for the journal, file picker dialogs, and home view.
> A simpler and safer security model: getting Rainbow into the Sugar platform
> and improving it's coverage of the Bitfrost ideals. A simple and
> discoverable, yet powerful, UI overall: improved accessibility, discoverable
> keyboard shortcuts. Ubiquitous connectivity and collaboration: multi-pointer
> sharing, auto-collaborating data structures, viral/peer-to-peer activity
> distribution, shared journals. Useful in the classroom: a one-click workflow
> for getting AND turning in homework.
>
> My third priority is activities to better cover the core functions. Reading:
> an improved Read, which handles true ebook formats. (PDF is made for
> printing, and deployments have asked for this.) Writing: Write is pretty
> good. Communication: an email activity. Math: a good spreadsheet/graphing
> utility (spreadsheets are not the best back-end for graphs, but they are
> very very flexible).
>
> My fourth priority is other educational activities. There are hundreds of
> good ideas out there.
>
> Let me repeat, the best project is the one that gets done. The highest
> priorities on my list are also the hardest. An achievable idea for an
> educational activity is better than pie in the sky. And if you want to take
> on a bigger task, ask us in IRC - we will help guide you.
>
>
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