Google Code-in/Admins/Email templates

Email templates used by organization administrators before or throughout the contest.

Email to previous year's mentors before the contest starts
''Example email from September 2018. [Mentors in "BCC" for privacy; org admins in "To"]''

[Wikimedia GCI Mentors] Google Code-in 2018: Will you mentor again?

[Email addresses in BCC, for privacy reasons]

Hi GCI 2017 mentors!

You receive this message because you were a Wikimedia mentor in last year's Google Code-in 2017.

Please ignore this email if you are already aware of GCI 2018 or if you have already signed up as a mentor for GCI 2018.

GCI 2018 will start soon. We are looking for mentors and tasks. Maybe you've already seen https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikitech-l/2018-September/090799.html

Will you join again and mentor tasks to help new contributors?

If your project uses Wikimedia Phabricator: Please do already start tagging tasks you'd mentor, by adding the #google-code-in-2018 tag. We need a good number of tasks already next week when Google decides which organizations to accept! And add yourself as a mentor on https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Google_Code-in/2018

Also: Please spread the word and ask people. We need lots of tasks!

We also still need more org admins, otherwise this cannot take place. If you have a good general overview of Wikimedia and if enjoy boring work, please check https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Google_Code-in/Admins

Thanks in advance!

Email to recent Summer of Code and Outreachy mentors before the contest starts
''Example email from September 2018. [Mentors in "BCC" for privacy; org admins in "To"]''

Google Code-in 2018: Will you mentor for Wikimedia?

[Email addresses in BCC, for privacy reasons]

Hi,

You receive this message because you have recently been an Outreachy or Summer of Code mentor for Wikimedia.

Please ignore this email if you are already aware of GCI 2018 or if you have already signed up as a mentor for GCI 2018.

GCI 2018 will start soon. It is an annual contest for 13-17 year old students. We are looking for mentors and tasks. Maybe you've already seen https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikitech-l/2018-September/090799.html

Does the code that you mentored welcome some more work? Are there some small tasks that you would mentor, to help new contributors join our Wikimedia community? If so, please see https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Google_Code-in/2018

If your project uses Wikimedia Phabricator: Please do already start tagging tasks you'd mentor, by adding the #google-code-in-2018 tag. We need a good number of tasks already next week when Google decides which organizations to accept! And add yourself as a mentor on https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Google_Code-in/2018

If you have any questions, please ask on the Talk page.

Also: Please spread the word! We need lots of tasks and mentors!

We also still need more org admins, otherwise this cannot take place. If you have a good general overview of Wikimedia and if enjoy boring work, please check https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Google_Code-in/Admins

Thanks in advance!

Email to recent Summer of Code and Outreachy students before the contest starts
''Example email from September 2018. [Mentors in "BCC" for privacy; org admins in "To"]''

Google Code-in 2018: Will you mentor for Wikimedia?

[Email addresses in BCC, for privacy reasons]

Hi,

You receive this message because you have participated in Outreachy or Summer of Code for Wikimedia in the last nine months.

Please ignore this email if you are already aware of GCI 2018 or if you have already signed up as a mentor for GCI 2018.

Do you enjoy giving something back and helping new contributors get started?

GCI 2018 will start soon. It is an annual contest for 13-17 year old students. We are looking for mentors and tasks. Maybe you've already seen https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikitech-l/2018-September/090799.html

Does the code that you worked on need some more work? Are there some small tasks that you would mentor, to help new contributors join our Wikimedia community? If so, please see https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Google_Code-in/2018

If your project uses Wikimedia Phabricator: Please do already start tagging tasks you'd mentor, by adding the #google-code-in-2018 tag. We need a good number of tasks already next week when Google decides which organizations to accept! And add yourself as a mentor on https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Google_Code-in/2018

If you have any questions, please ask on the Talk page.

Also: Please spread the word! We need lots of tasks and mentors!

We also still need more org admins, otherwise this cannot take place. If you have a good general overview of Wikimedia and if enjoy boring work, please check https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Google_Code-in/Admins

Thanks in advance!

Email to mentors on Outreach programs/Possible mentors
Google Code-in 2018: Will you mentor some smaller tasks for Wikimedia?

[Email addresses in BCC, for privacy reasons]

Hi,

Please ignore this email if you are already aware of GCI 2018!

You receive this message because you are listed on https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Outreach_programs/Possible_mentors

Google Code-in is an annual contest for 13-17 year old students. It will take place from Oct23 to Dec13. It's not only about coding: we also need tasks about design, docs, outreach/research, QA.

As every year, Wikimedia is looking for mentors and tasks. GCI 2018 will start soon. Maybe you've already seen https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikitech-l/2018-September/090799.html

Last year, 300 students worked on 760 tasks supported by 51 mentors. For some achievements from last round, see https://blog.wikimedia.org/2018/03/20/wikimedia-google-code-in-2017/

While we wait whether Wikimedia will get accepted:
 * You have small, self-contained bugs you'd like to see fixed?
 * Your documentation needs specific improvements?
 * Your user interface has some smaller design issues?
 * Your Outreachy/Summer of Code project welcomes small tweaks?
 * You'd enjoy helping someone port your template to Lua?
 * Your gadget code uses some deprecated API calls?
 * You have tasks in mind that welcome some research?

Note that "beginner tasks" (e.g. "Set up Vagrant") and generic tasks are very welcome (like "Choose and fix 2 PHP7 issues from the list in https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T120336" style).

We also have more than 400 unassigned open #easy tasks listed: https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/maniphest/query/HCyOonSbFn.z/#R Can you mentor some of those tasks in your area?

Please take a moment to find / update [Phabricator etc.] tasks in your project(s) which would take an experienced contributor 2-3 hours. Read https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Google_Code-in/Mentors, ask if you have any questions, and add your name to https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Google_Code-in/2018#List_of_Wikimedia_mentors

(If you have mentored before and have a good overview of our infrastructure: We also need more organization admins! See https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Google_Code-in/Admins )

If you have any questions, please ask on the Talk page.

Thanks (as we cannot run this without your help)! andre

Email to last year's top GCI students before the contest starts
''Example email from September 2018. [Mentors in "BCC" for privacy; org admins in "To"]''

Google Code-in 2018: Will you mentor for Wikimedia (or take part again)?

[Email addresses in BCC, for privacy reasons]

Hi,

Please ignore this email if you are already aware of GCI 2018.

You receive this message because you participated in Google Code-in 2017 with Wikimedia. We do not know how old you are - maybe you cannot take part anymore this time as a student, but you could become a mentor? :) As every year, Wikimedia is looking for mentors and tasks. GCI 2018 will start soon. Maybe you've already seen https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikitech-l/2018-September/090799.html

Do you enjoy the idea of mentoring some smaller tasks in areas that you feel comfortable in, and to give something back? :) If so, please see https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Google_Code-in/2018 and add yourself as a mentor!

You can already tag tasks in Wikimedia Phabricator that you can imagine to mentor, by adding the #google-code-in-2018 tag. We need a good number of tasks already next week when Google decides which organizations to accept.

If you have any questions, please ask on the Talk page.

Thanks a lot in advance for considering, and again thanks for your great work in GCI 2017!

Email to mentors after getting accepted as an org
''Example email from September 2018. [Mentors in "BCC" for privacy; org admins in "To"]''

[Wikimedia GCI mentors] Welcome to GCI 2018!

Hi Wikimedia GCI 2018 mentors,

Again thanks a lot for mentoring for Wikimedia in GCI 2018!

We'll occasionally send you emails with info in the next weeks.

If you have not done yet, please register on the GCI website. You should have received an invitation email. Please email the org admins if you have not.

Please read https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Google_Code-in/Mentors

Mentors can directly create tasks on the GCI website now! Admins will review them and publish them (so when the contest starts, these task will be made available to students).

We will have an info session on Oct 1st, 3 weeks before GCI starts:
 * IRC session in #wikimedia-devrel on Freenode: Monday, October 1st, 2018, 14:30-15:30 UTC
 * Google Hangout video call: Monday, October 1st, 2018, 17:00-18:00 UTC (I am going to send out invitations soon.)

I hope this works for most people given that this planet unfortunately has timezones. If not, I am happy to host another session!

You can reach the org admins at . The org admins are listed on https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Google_Code-in/2018

Regarding good task descriptions, please imagine absolute newcomers, someone who has no knowledge at all. If you expect students to already have some knowledge you must clearly say so - help students to understand and judge if they have the skills to work on your task, to avoid disappointment on both sides. The org admins are happy to help!

As usual: We need more open tasks! (I will sound like a broken record for the next 11 weeks.) If you have ideas that you would mentor, especially tasks that can be broken down into smaller repeatable tasks (examples: removing functions deprecated in MediaWiki, porting to extension registration, updating functions deprecated in PHP 7.x, etc), add the #GCI-2018 tag in Phabricator.

I hope GCI 2018 will be enjoyable for all of you! :)

Also, feel free to share your feedback / lessons learned on "organizational" aspects in https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T205328

Thank you everybody!

First email to mentors when the contest starts
''Example email from November 2017 / October 2018. [Mentors in "BCC" for privacy; org admins in "To"]''

'''Google Code-in Wikimedia Mentor info | Please read! (~4min)'''

Hi fellow Wikimedia Google Code-in (GCI) mentors!

GCI just started. It will run for the next seven weeks. Once again a huge "Thank You!" for mentoring for Wikimedia! This email includes info that might be helpful. Please read it.

And if you have not yet, please do read https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Google_Code-in/Mentors !

INFO SESSION FOR FIRST TIME MENTORS:

If you have never mentored before and have questions or want to talk: We plan to have a "Google Hangout" session this Friday December 1st at 17:00 UTC, and also an IRC Q&A hour on Monday December 4th at 18:00 UTC in #wikimedia-devrel on Freenode. You will receive an invitation email. This is just an optional offer (and an experiment). Of course you are also welcome to contact the org admins (Sam Reed, Florian Schmidt, Srishti Sethi, John Mark Vandenberg, Andre Klapper) via email or IRC if you have comments / questions!

WORKFLOW (CREATING & REVIEWING YOUR TASKS):

Feel free to directly create your tasks on the GCI site (especially those of mentors who do not mentor any tasks yet!). An org admin has to take another look at them before publishing them. Org admins might not publish all your tasks immediately (as we don't want you to stress out having to review all your tasks within the same 24-36h hours, and we want to keep a good variety of tasks available).

Regarding good task descriptions, please imagine absolute newcomers, someone who has no knowledge at all. We know this is hard! Most of us are probably used to already having an account on mediawiki.org or Phabricator, for example. If you expect students to already have some knowledge, clearly say so - help students to understand and judge if they have the skills to work on your task, to avoid disappointment on both sides. The org admins are happy to help! You will likely deal with both absolute newcomers who might need a lot of help and overestimate their skills (it is okay to recommend trying an easier task first!) and also stellar skilled students who might overfulfill your expectations.

After a student has claimed a task and has clicked "Submit for review", you must either click "Approve task" or "More work needed" (plus you can also give more time to the student). Please note: Reviewing a patch in Wikimedia Gerrit as "improvements needed" (or such) won't let the GCI site know that, so the task would remain as "Submitted for review" while your 36 hours keep running. Please make sure to also set "More work needed" on the GCI site when appropriate, so we don't get angry emails from Google that our mentors are slow! :)

It's still hard to make sure that mentors have "enough" tasks published, so mentors don't have to ping admins to "please publish more tasks of mine; I'm running out". As an experiment this year we'll occasionally try to pull stats from the API via a script ( https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T200777#4664642 ) - this is far away from perfect but the best we could come up with.

YOUR AVAILABILITY:

If some students are pushy and ping you for reviews because they understand GCI as a competition, feel free to remind them that patience is a virtue, that we are after quality and not quantity, and that we are humans having other jobs, real-life, or even have to sleep. Mentors do have 24h of time to review and reply to questions until Google will send a reminder email, and a maximum of 36h in total.

If you plan to be off for a weekend or take holidays, please either do tell us via email at  so we can unpublish your tasks, or we can also add additional co-mentors to a task if you have somebody in mind. When you create a task and know beforehand that you won't be available, simply put a "[DONT PUBLISH BEFORE 20171231]" prefix or such into the task summary. Any registered mentor can add themselves as a co-mentor to existing tasks. If you do that, please be aware that you must understand the code base sufficiently enough to review the work of the student - if in doubt, please let the "primary" mentor(s) decide instead.

MISC:

Please share your feedback on "organizational" aspects in https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Google_Code-in/Lessons_learned#2018

As we'll need to choose "winners" at the end, please already share feedback on students in https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T206928. That is a non-public task. I hope we've added all mentors to have access to that task. If you cannot access that task, please send an email to  and tell us your Phabricator user name!

Google has also published some "Mentor Responsibilities" at https://developers.google.com/open-source/gci/help/responsibilities. It's linked from https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Google_Code-in/Mentors

YOUR FEEDBACK:

If there are any issues with students (such as plagiarism) please do let the org admins know. If you run into technical issues, please contact Google. If you have any questions or comments, ask and tell us! And if you like mentoring students in Google Code-in, please tell others in our community - we can create more tasks (which we will need!) and invite more mentors at any time in the next seven weeks.

Again, thank you a lot for joining these crazy seven weeks!

Contacting mentors without any tasks
'''Got any Wikimedia tasks for Google Code-in? Or something we can help with?'''

[Mentors in "BCC" for privacy; org admins in "To"]

Hi,

again thanks for being a Wikimedia mentor for Google Code-in!

https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Google_Code-in/Mentors

You receive this email as it seems that there are no tasks yet on the GCI site which you're mentoring.

If you're still busy with other things, that's fine: You can create tasks at any time during the contest (and we will need many more). The last day for students to claim a task will be December 10th.

But if you already have a task in mind, please go ahead and create it on the GCI site (or tag it with #GCI-2018 in Phab so we can import)!

Do you need ideas for tasks to mentor?


 * We have a few tasks under "Missing mentors" on the GCI-2018 workboard at https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/project/board/3408/
 * Some unresolved tasks from GCI-2017 at https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/maniphest/query/ujxd3xQfjq.N/#R could still be suitable, after checking again
 * We have about 350 open #goodfirstbugs: https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/maniphest/query/j8WELbRY8Vec/#R (some of them might need clearer instructions for newcomers though)
 * Maybe a task about making certain code support PHP 7.3? See https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/maniphest/query/UnbCgQJWN6uS/#R
 * Or a task about fixing/adding unit tests, improving code coverage?

You are also welcome to add yourself as a co-mentor to existing tasks (note that you must understand the code base enough to review the work of the student; if in doubt please let the "primary" mentor decide).

If we can help or if anything is unclear, please do let us know at !

Thanks a lot for your help and mentoring!

Email to mentors two weeks before the contest ends
''Example email from November 2018. [Mentors in "BCC" for privacy; org admins in "To"]''

[Wikimedia GCI Mentors] 2½ more weeks and 3 requests

Hi Wikimedia GCI mentors!

I hope you're doing fine, enjoy GCI, and have great students! :)

Some deadlines to be aware of:


 * Mon, Dec10 17:00UTC - Students can claim their final task. (Expect increased student activity in these last days!)
 * Wed, Dec12 17:00UTC - Students to submit their work. In the next 24h, mentors must approve or reject. You can't 'request more work'.
 * Thu, Dec27 17:00UTC - Wikimedia must have chosen its Grand Prize Winners and finalists
 * Mon, Jan07 17:00UTC - All winners get announced by Google

And three requests to all mentors:

1) DO SHARE YOUR FEEDBACK ABOUT STUDENTS! We need your help to choose our Grand Prize Winners and finalists from our 20 students who resolved the most tasks. Please do already share your feedback about remarkable students in https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T206928 ! That's a non-public task. I hope I've added all mentors to have access to that task. If you cannot access it, please ping me!

2) If you have [more] task ideas not on the site yet: Now is the time!

3) Feel free to think about or already share what Wikimedia can do better, in public task https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T205328 What's good? What to improve? Share ideas and impressions! And as every year I also wonder how to keep more students more involved in our projects after GCI has ended. Adding comments in their last GCI tasks pointing to the list of tasks offered by your project? Any thoughts? They are welcome in that Phab task! For 2017, see https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Google_Code-in/Lessons_learned#2017

Thank you for your help!

Email to mentors after contest has ended
''Example email from December 2018. [Mentors in "BCC" for privacy; org admins in "To"]''

[Wikimedia GCI Mentors] Your feedback; Save work; Thanks!

GCI 2018 ended yesterday. Thanks so much for having mentored and been available for the last seven weeks!

GIVE US YOUR FEEDBACK ON REMARKABLE STUDENTS:

In the next 12 days, org admins must choose our 2 Grand Prize Winners, 1 backup winner, and 3 more finalists from our 20 students who resolved the most tasks. If you have not done yet, please share your feedback about remarkable students in https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T206928. That task is non-public. Email me if you cannot access that task!

GIVE US YOUR FEEDBACK WHAT TO IMPROVE:

What was good (socially & technically)? What to improve? Which tasks should we have offered but were missing? Which tasks did not get picked up and do you have a theory why? Where did students struggle? Share your ideas and impressions on https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Google_Code-in/Lessons_learned#2018

SAVE ANY WORK THAT IS ONLY ON THE GCI WEBSITE:

If you have students' work only attached in a task instance on the GCI website, please do get that work copied over. Last time, Google started deleting data of the GCI 2017 program on March 15th 2018.

WHAT ELSE?

Google will likely ask us in a few weeks to choose one mentor to attend a weekend in California with the Grand Prize winners. No exact dates known yet, last time that weekend was in June. Just warning you. :)

...AND SOME WIKIMEDIA NUMBERS FOR THE CURIOUS:

765 completed tasks (2017: 760; 2016: 453). 199 students (2017: 300; 2016: 192) who finished at least one task. 39 active mentors (2017: 51; 2016: 46).

LAST BUT NOT LEAST: A BIG THANK YOU!

GCI only works because you volunteer to mentor, find and provide tasks, provide a helping hand. It's been a great (and sometimes exhausting) experience. I hope you had the same fun and that you received good and helpful contributions!

Email to mentors after winners have been announced
''Example email from February 2018. [Mentors in "BCC" for privacy; org admins in "To"]''

[Wikimedia GCI Mentors] Feedback to Google; Save students' work; Grand Prize winners trip

Hi Wikimedia GCI mentors!

Our winners have been announced: https://opensource.googleblog.com/2018/01/google-code-in-2017-winners.html Grand Prize winners: Albert Wolszon and Nikita Volobuiev. Finalists: David Siedtmann, Rafid Aslam, and Yifei He.

PROVIDE FEEDBACK TO GOOGLE:

Google asks us to "Please take a few minutes to fill out our post-GCI feedback survey: (Add URL here) We read all of the comments. It's a very important tool as we strive to continuously improve and grow the contest. Your feedback is instrumental to that process. Thank you in advance for any feedback, ideas, or comments."

SAVE WORK THAT IS ON THE GCI WEBSITE:

If you have students' work only attached in a task instance on the GCI website, please do get the work out soon. On March 15th when Google will start deleting data of the GCI 2017 program.

ONE MENTOR TO VISIT GOOGLE FOR A WEEKEND:

After February 10th Google will also ask us to define and send one mentor (it should be a mentor the students interacted with) to the Google headquarters for a weekend with the Grand Prize winners. No exact dates known yet. Same procedure as in the last years, and same unclear steps how to decide who to attend. :P I've created https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T186600 to not forget.