Google Summer of Code/Application 2016

Being prepared by mlforcada, new template!

Public Profile

Website URL

http://wiki.apertium.org

Tagline

A free/open-source rule-based machine translation platform

Logo

GCI Logo

Primary Open Source License

GNU General Public License version 3.0 (GPL-3.0)

Technology Tags

C++, Python, Perl, XML, finite-state technology

Topic Tags

machine translation, computer-aided translation, morphological analysis, natural language processing, human language technologies

Ideas list

http://wiki.apertium.org/wiki/Ideas_for_Google_Summer_of_Code (to be updated)

Descriptions

Short Description

Free/open-source rule-based machine translation platform

Long Description

Apertium is a free/open-source machine translation platform, initially aimed at related-language pairs (such as Spanish–Catalan) but which has been expanded to deal with more divergent language pairs (such as English-Catalan). The platform provides

1. a language-independent machine translation engine
2. tools to manage the linguistic data necessary to build a machine translation system for a given language pair and
3. linguistic data for a growing number of language pairs.

Proposals

Application instructions

We have a Wiki page with tips and an application template: [1] . Here are the main tips to help you when writing your GSOC application with Apertium.

1. Be realistic: We're more likely to accept realistic ideas than far-out wacky ones. But if you have a wacky idea, we might still be interested if we can turn it into something achievable in 3 months.
2. Be appropriate: Demonstrate you have a knowledge of Apertium, how it works and the problem it has that you'd like to solve.
3. Have a plan: Three months may seem like a long time, but it isn't. Provide a weekly plan with dates and deliverables. Leave time for getting familiar with the platform — ideally before, or in the community bonding period — and for documentation. If you plan to work on a language pair, make yourself familiar with testvoc and other quality controls, and factor those in. If you know of any breaks or absences beforehand, mention them and plan around them.
4. Get in contact ASAP!: We get lots of proposals: only a few are good. Contact your potential mentor as soon as possible: send your proposal to the mailing list, ask for feedback, and refine your application based on feedback. If you are remembered, you are more likely to be picked.
5. Read the Ideas Page! If you find yourself asking 'do you have any Java/Python/Fortran/x86 assembler projects...' -- you didn't read the ideas page. Read the ideas page.

Proposal Tags

new language pair, improve existing language pair, improving the engine, improved source-language analysis, improved bilingual transfer, new end-user application, improve existing end-user application, easing language data development, improving the apertium website, improved format management

Contact Methods

IRC Channel

[2]

Mailing List

[3]

General Email

apertium-contact@lists.sourceforge.net

Your details

Why does your org want to participate in Google Summer of Code?

• Apertium likes GSoC: it is a programme that supports free/open-source (FOS) software as much as we do!
• Apertium needs GSoC: it offers an incredible opportunity (and resources!) allowing us to spread the word about our project, to attract new developers and consolidate the contribution of existing developers through mentoring and to improve the platform in many ways: improving the engine, generating new tools and user interfaces, making Apertium available to other applications, improving the quality of the languages currently supported, adding new languages to it.
• Apertium is committed to the advancement of less-resourced languages and GSoC gives an opportunity for computer-literate students speaking those challenged languages to generate FOS language technologies for them.

By participating we will gain: more students getting to know FOS software and the ethos that comes with it, contributing to it and, very especially students who are passionate about languages and computers.

How many potential mentors have agreed to mentor this year?

16-20

It would be nice to have every mentor sign here:

• --Mlforcada (talk) 18:05, 10 February 2016 (CET)

How will you keep mentors engaged with their students?

We select our mentors among very active developers, with long-term commitment to this decade-old project — they are people we know well and whom we have met face-to-face at conferences, workshops or even in daily life; some of them teach and do research at universities or work at companies using Apertium.

For this reason, it is quite unlikely for mentors to disappear, since all of the mentors are However, there is always the possibility that some problem comes up, so we also assign backup mentors to all students, in many cases more than one backup. If a mentor cannot continue for whatever reason, one of the backup co-mentors will take over, and one of the organisation administrators will take on the role of second backup mentor.