User:Pavithraes/Sandbox/Season of Docs/Participants

If you are considering to apply to the Google Season of Docs program next year, first check the eligibility criteria and then learn more below.

Introduction
Wikimedia is a global movement whose mission is to bring free educational content to the world. One of our most popular projects is Wikipedia. Wikipedia is powered by the free and open source software MediaWiki. Besides Wikipedia, MediaWiki also powers its sister projects and thousands of wikis all over the world. Though MediaWiki (primarily written in PHP, uses the MySQL and MariaDB database servers and jQuery as the client JavaScript Library) is well known among Wikimedia developers, there are hundreds of technical areas in which one can contribute. You can learn more about the differences between MediaWiki, Wikimedia, Wikipedia and Wiki here. By working with us, you're contributing to.

Application process steps
If you are considering applying, follow the steps in the order in which they are listed:
 * 1) Read the technical writer guide Develop your understanding of the various stages of the program.
 * 2) Understand Wikimedia's technical areas There are a lot of technical areas in which you can contribute (e.g. Gadgets, Extensions, Skins, Bots, etc). Knowledge of these areas will help you a lot in choosing a project.
 * 3) Choose a project that best suits your interests and skill set from the ideas listed on the Season of Docs 2020 page on mediawiki.org.'
 * 4) Do your research about the project thoroughly. Do not expect spoon-feeding. Ask intelligent and explicit questions. "Can you tell me more about this project?" is a bad question.
 * 5) Express your interest in working on a project by commenting on the corresponding task on Wikimedia Phabricator. (See Phabricator/Help if you do not have a Phabricator account yet.)
 * 6) Communicate with project mentors Discuss with them your ideas for implementation and learn about their availability and willingness to mentor.
 * 7) Learn basic skills required for development If you are planning on contributing to a project that involves the MediaWiki codebase, learn how to start hacking. For other projects, check the getting started steps in the task description of the project you have chosen on Phabricator.
 * 8) Fix small bugs Work on a microtask linked in the Phabricator task description. If there are none in the task, ask mentors to point you to some. You could also fix smaller bugs in that project. This help candidates understand the skills required for a project and mentors whether the candidate has these skills.
 * 9) Read a few good proposals that were accepted for the previous round. Here they are: example 1, example 2, example 3.
 * 10) Submit your proposal as a task on Wikimedia Phabricator:
 * 11) Fill out this [https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/maniphest/task/edit/form/1/?&title=Insert%20project%20title%20here&description====Profile%20Information%0AName%0AIRC%20nickname%20on%20Freenode%0AWeb%20Profile%0AResume%20(optional)%0ALocation%20(country%20or%20state)%0ATypical%20working%20hours%20(include%20your%20timezone)%0A%0A===Synopsis%0A-%20Short%20summary%20describing%20your%20project%20and%20how%20it%20will%20benefit%20Wikimedia%20projects%0A-%20Possible%20Mentor(s)%0A-%20Have%20you%20contacted%20your%20mentors%20already?%0A===Deliverables%0ADescribe%20the%20timeline%20of%20your%20work%20with%20deadlines%20and%20milestones,%20broken%20down%20week%20by%20week.%20Make%20sure%20to%20include%20time%20you%20are%20planning%20to%20allocate%20for%20investigation,%20coding,%20deploying,%20testing%20and%20documentation%0A===Participation%0ADescribe%20how%20you%20plan%20to%20communicate%20progress%20and%20ask%20for%20help,%20where%20you%20plan%20to%20publish%20your%20source%20code,%20etc%0A===About%20Me%0ATell%20us%20about%20a%20few:%0A-%20Your%20education%20(completed%20or%20in%20progress)%0A-%20How%20did%20you%20hear%20about%20this%20program?%0A-%20Will%20you%20have%20any%20other%20time%20commitments,%20such%20as%20school%20work,%20another%20job,%20planned%20vacation,%20etc,%20during%20the%20duration%20of%20the%20program?%0A-%20We%20advise%20all%20candidates%20eligible%20for%20Google%20Summer%20of%20Code%20and%20Outreachy%20to%20apply%20for%20both%20programs.%20Are%20you%20planning%20to%20apply%20to%20both%20programs%20and,%20if%20so,%20with%20what%20organization(s)?%0A-%20What%20does%20making%20this%20project%20happen%20mean%20to%20you?%0A===Past%20Experience%0ADescribe%20any%20relevant%20projects%20that%20you%27ve%20worked%20on%20previously%20and%20what%20knowledge%20you%20gained%20from%20working%20on%20them.%20Describe%20any%20open%20source%20projects%20you%20have%20contributed%20to%20as%20a%20user%20and%20contributor%20(include%20links).%20If%20you%20have%20already%20written%20a%20feature%20or%20bugfix%20for%20a%20Wikimedia%20technology%20such%20as%20MediaWiki,%20link%20to%20it%20here;%20we%20will%20give%20strong%20preference%20to%20candidates%20who%20have%20done%20so%0A===Any%20Other%20Info%0AAdd%20any%20other%20relevant%20information%20such%20as%20UI%20mockups,%20references%20to%20related%20projects,%20a%20link%20to%20your%20proof%20of%20concept%20code,%20etc pre-populated application template].
 * 12) Make sure to add "Google Season of Docs 20XX" in the "Tags" field.
 * 13) Set yourself as task assignee in the "Assigned To" field of your proposal.
 * 14) Your proposal in Phabricator will be public, so do not add here any personal information such as your email address or phone number.
 * 15) Check the Preview at the bottom. If it looks fine, click "Create New Task".
 * 16) You can still edit and improve your existing proposal (before the application deadline) via "Edit Task".
 * 17) If you apply for an existing project idea, then make your proposal a subtask: Click "Edit Related Tasks… 🡒 Edit Parent Tasks" and add the task of the project idea (e.g. "T123456").
 * 18) Make sure that you upload a copy of your proposal on the Google's program site as well in whatever format it's expected of you, include in it the link to your public proposal on Phabricator. }}
 * 19) Discuss your own project idea with a possible mentor If you couldn't find anything interesting in our project ideas, you could ask organization administrators to help you connect with a mentor.

Accepted participants
If you get accepted, here is what we will encourage you to do to have a successful project:

Community bonding period

 * Start communicating with your mentors on refining your project proposal, finalizing deadlines and setting milestones
 * Join Zulip, a communication platform that program administrators will use to share announcements and opportunities for participating in Wikimedia activities
 * Write blogposts and add it to the Bi-weekly Reports page
 * When you complete a task other than the coding work, for example, join Zulip, pass an evaluation phase, write a blogpost, make sure to add it to the Updates column in the Accepted projects section here
 * Upload your profile picture on Wikimedia Commons, and add it below your name in the Accepted projects section here
 * Stay in touch with Wikimedia community members and help them learn about you more:
 * Subscribe to Wikimedia mailing list wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org
 * Setup up your MediaWiki user page and keep it up to date with your project work and reports (example 1, example 2)
 * Read stories from across the Wikimedia movement on Medium
 * Watch previous videos on Wikimedia technical topics

Internship period

 * Write weekly reports
 * Stay up-to-date with your goals as outlined in the timeline
 * Communicate regularly with mentors and keep them updated about your progress and challenges
 * Submit evaluations on time
 * Attend any program-related meetings we host
 * Follow any guidelines we share to involve you in our community and process.

Stay involved after the internship

 * Mentor tasks in Google Code-in at the end of a calendar year. Learn about the responsibilities. All interns who successfully complete their project will be encouraged to apply as a mentor.
 * Become a mentor in the next round of Google Summer of Code or Outreachy. Interns who demonstrate good quality work and ability to mentor will be encouraged by their mentors and organization administrators to apply.
 * Learn about the upcoming Wikimedia Hackathons and apply for a scholarship to attend.
 * Request quick support through Grants:Project/Rapid if you would like to continue working on further ideas for improvements to your GSoC project. You could also request support for conference travel. Read previous grant requests such as this one and this one.
 * Spread the word in your university about Wikimedia Outreach programs.
 * Stay in touch with organization administrators on Zulip.
 * Continue working on Wikimedia New Developers projects.

Stay tuned!

 * Ask us almost anything on the Zulip chat.
 * Join the wikitech-l mailing list to receive Wikimedia technical news, including program updates. You can select the digest mode and read just the summary, or take part in discussions already.
 * Some MediaWiki updates are also on the Wikimedia Foundation technology blog, Twitter and Facebook.

Creating a viable and valuable proposal
Make sure to read the guides available to you on the Season of Docs website. Pay careful attention to the section on "Creating your application" https://developers.google.com/season-of-docs/docs/tech-writer-application-hints

Is Google Season of Docs right for you?
Before creating and submitting a proposal, please consider thoughtfully whether this program is right for you. GSoD is for technical writers who would like to learn more about how to participate and contribute to open source projects and for open source projects in need of technical writers with at least some prior experience.

If you already have a lot of experience working in open source, this may not be the right program for you. You may still apply, but consider areas of open source that you still want to learn about and explore.

If you do not have any prior experience as a technical writer (as a student, volunteer or as a professional), this may not be the right program for you. We are looking for individuals with demonstrated experience contributing to and working on technical writing projects.

We welcome all proposals, and we want to be realistic with potential technical writers about the viability of those proposals. This year, we are only able to work with one technical writer. There will be some competition.

Solid technical writing is very important to the success of our open source projects, and we have a long-term commitment to make it a priority. There will be many future opportunities to contribute to technical documentation projects in the future, whether through GSoD or other initiatives.

Tips

 * Browse the suggested technical writing projects and think about what might work for you. Many of these are not very detailed, yet, because we want to make sure that the project you propose fits your skill set, challenges you, and also creates a valuable contribution to our open source project.
 * Communicate with us, if you have questions or ideas. We will do our best to help guide you in the right direction. As we select candidates for our projects, we will be thinking a lot about the kinds of communications we had during the proposal projects.
 * Check, double check, and triple check your grammar and style. This is important for your proposal, your project, and in your interactions with us and community members.
 * Unless some information you wish to share with us is truly private, we prefer to work out in the open. Please make sure your questions are asked publicly in the |GSoD'19 Zulip chat, so that project admins and participants can have the opportunity to answer and benefit from your questions and thoughts.

Notes about the proposal period
As the proposal period begins, we want to reiterate:


 * Anyone who is interested in submitting a proposal should read Google's guide for technical writers for GSoD'19: https://developers.google.com/season-of-docs/docs/tech-writer-guide.
 * In addition to filling out the application form that is also accessible from the GSoD site, submit a proposal on Wikimedia Phabricator and tag it with Google Season of Docs 2019 if you are looking for some feedback from mentors during the application period. Do not share any private information in the task description such as your email, but answer to all questions asked in the application form relevant to your project.
 * Also read Season of Docs/2019 on this page.

Additional notes
Please remember, for this program, we are looking for a technical writer who wants to gain knowledge and proficiency working in open source projects. Even if you don't (yet) have a large amount of experience as a technical writer, this will be your role in GSoD'19, and you should approach your proposal from this perspective. We have provided some project ideas, but as the technical writer, it is up to you to refine these ideas and propose a project that you'll enjoy working on and learning from, that will challenge you, and that will benefit our open source project. Good communication is a key skill for technical writers, and we encourage and invite you to reach out while you are drafting your proposal with specific questions about your ideas.

We have had a number of folks ask us to provide examples or a template for their proposal. Because we are looking for a demonstration of your skills as a writer, we are not providing examples or templates for GSoD'19 proposals. An important skill for technical writers to have is the ability to research and synthesize. We encourage you to find examples of proposal structures that you think would work well or to develop your own proposal structure. We would like to see how you approach the task of organizing your thoughts and how you would propose the project in your own words.

Wikimedia's technical writers rely on a style guide to make sure their work is cohesive and consistent. Please make sure your proposal follows these guidelines as closely as possible: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Documentation/Style_guide

Correct spelling, grammar, and style are important. Please make sure to review your writing, both in your proposal and your personal communications with us and each other, for errors. That said, we do understand every person makes mistakes, and while we are writing in English for GSoD'19, English is not every person's first language. As admins, we are far more interested in writers with cogent, clear ideas and communication skills, than perfect writers or speakers of English. We invite you to apply, even if you don’t feel fully confident speaking and writing in English.

Do rely on each other and the project admins. Technical writers often work together. It is okay to ask questions and share ideas with each other. We are an open source project, and we do our work in the open for others to see, share, and learn from. We look forward to seeing how you support each other and collaborate over the next month.

Remember, this is not the only opportunity to work with Wikimedia on focused technical projects. We provide many opportunities throughout the year for internships and mentoring. We can only choose one technical writer for this round of GSoD'19, but there will be future opportunities to work together.

We are so excited to participate in this program, and we hope you are, too!

Contact methods
Please feel free to reach out to us with questions. We like to work in the open and together with our community. Following are the best methods to reach us with questions and for official announcements.


 * 1) Zulip - https://wikimedia.zulipchat.com/#narrow/stream/195601-gsod19 (PLEASE NOTE: Zulip is the best way to contact Wikimedia's Google Season of code admins.)
 * 2) Google Group - technical-documentation@wikimedia.org