Google Summer of Code/Application 2021

Application

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

Apertium has been part of GSoC for ten years and it has been a great experience. Apertium loves GSoC: it 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 loves less-resourced languages and GSoC gives an opportunity for computer-literate students speaking them to generate FOS language technologies for them. Apertium 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?

• Jonathan
• Flammie
• ...

How will you keep mentors engaged with their students?

We select our mentors from among very active developers, with long-term commitment to this 17-year-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 most of them have been embedded in our community for years. However, there is always the possibility that some problem comes up, so we also assign back-up mentors to all students, in many cases more than one back-up. If a mentor cannot continue for whatever reason, one of the backup co-mentors will take over, and one of the organisation administrators (themselves experienced GSoC mentors) will take on the role of second backup mentor.

How will you help your students stay on schedule to complete their projects?

Apertium only accepts applications with a well-defined weekly schedule, with clear milestones and deliverables and, if possible, with a section on risk management (risks, their probability, their severity, and mitigating actions). Applications should also plan for holidays, exams, and other absences. Students will be encouraged to let us know if they need to reschedule or take a break if needed. Students may also need consultation when they are stuck, or personal matters interfere with their work: we will, as we have in the past, try our best to reach out for them, be open and friendly, and provide as much support as we can to help them out. We've been students too! Detailed scheduling will avoid both mentors and students wasting time. If a mentor reports the unscheduled disappearance of a student (unexpected 72-hour silence), the student will be contacted by the administrators. If silence persists, their task will be frozen and we will report to Google, to proceed according to the rules of GSoC.

How will you get your students involved in your community during GSoC?

First, we encourage all prospective students to visit our IRC channel (freenode.net#apertium) as often as possible, even before the start of the program, since that will help them find a suitable mentor and a useful project that they can work on. We advise them strongly to read our wiki pages and manuals, use our system, try to break it and fix it, and finally tell us about it. As a result, students get familiar with Apertium before the coding period starts, which increases their chances of ending up with a successful project. In addition, we define coding challenges for each of the proposed projects, which serve both as an entry task, and as a means for getting our students familiar with Apertium and involved in our community in the early stages of the program. Finally, during the coding stage, we are available to talk to our students on a daily basis and give them suggestions and advice when they get stuck.

How will you keep students involved with your community after GSoC?

We have found that the following has helped us have quite a high retention rate in previous years: Helping students out publishing papers for conferences, or assisting with academic work. Organising workshops (such as FreeRBMT) or courses (such as http://goo.gl/jzre7e) where students can present their work to the wider community. Encouraging students to themselves get involved in mentoring, through the Google Code-In programme. Passing on information about MSc and PhD positions, and academic and other grants.

Has your org been accepted as a mentor org in Google Summer of Code before?

Yes: 2009-2014, 2016-2020

If your org has applied for GSoC before but not been accepted, select the years:

2015

What year was your project started?

2004 (first Google Summer of Code 2009)

Where does your source code live?

http://github.com/apertium (and some of it still in http://sf.net/projects/apertium)

Is your organization part of any government?

No.