Outreach programs/Selection process

The Goal
We want to get new long term contributors, either recruiting new people or consolidating current members.

Any step in the process needs to point towards this goal.

Landing page
We need to answer the basic questions beforehand.

A landing page exists for potential candidates with information including:


 * Why are we promoting this program.
 * Profiles we are looking for.
 * Examples of real projects.
 * Invitation to suggest alternative proposals (optionally pointing to hot areas).
 * Who and how to contact for questions & feedback.
 * How to apply.
 * How to get involved in the community and push for your project.

Table of candidates
We need to share the status of candidatures among mentors, program organizers and candidates.

A table exists listing all formal candidates. Work-in-progress candidatures can be optionally listed as well. Data:


 * Name & link to user page, where a basic intro and contact info is expected.
 * Full name.
 * Location.
 * If a preliminary microtask is required, link to it (preferably to a bug report).
 * Project name and link to project page.
 * Mentor(s) contacted.

Selecting the right ones
IMPORTANT: good mentors don't make up their minds before the submission deadline. Candidates working publicly on their proposals increase naturally their chances but anybody applying on time deserves an opportunity.

Criteria
Mentors and community members are encouraged to help candidates improving their proposals based on these criteria. They help us evaluating a candidate and a proposal as a whole. We are not trying to build any scorecard to be measured with a calculator.

ESSENTIAL
 * Has your proposal been submitted on time at $OFFICIAL_DESTINATION?
 * Is your data in the table of candidates up to date?
 * Is your proposal available in a wiki page, for example here?
 * Did you announce your proposal at the wikitech-l mailing list?
 * Did you announce your proposal in an existing or new Bugzilla report?
 * Does your User page contain information about you?
 * Can you commit to the amount of time estimated by the program?
 * Are there two mentors (or at least one) committed to support you through the program?
 * Are the related project maintainers aware of your proposal, and are they willing to integrate the deliverables?
 * What skills and experience do you have to complete the project? URLs welcome.

RELEVANT
 * Why are you interested in joining this program?
 * Is your plan realistic, leaving time for tasks like community feedback, testing, documentation...?
 * Is there an emergency plan to be applied if the project is not completed by the end of the program?

VERY GOOD TO KNOW
 * Who else wants to help and see this proposal succeed? We will look for feedback and endorsements.
 * Have you contributed to Wikimedia projects in any way before?

Concurrent GSoC & OPW
Some factors to consider when Google Summer of Code and Outreach Program for Women concur, in order to avoid double standards:


 * GSoC evaluation goes first, without any gender bias.
 * Female GSoC participants are considered for OPW when they are the best or the only candidates for a project that is not receiving a GSoC slot.

To be clear:
 * Women considered best candidate for a specific GSoC project with a slot available can't be pushed to OPW.
 * Women not considered best candidate for a specific GSoC project can't be selected at OPW either.

Process
The selection process starts right after the deadline for submissions. Most of the time is dedicated to gather community feedback about the proposals and polish the last details.


 * Community members and colleagues are encouraged to leave feedback in the proposal's discussion page. Don't forget to sign your comments!
 * Mentors might request additional information after the submission deadline.

Mentors and admins of the program will meet privately and will decide which candidates are selected. Depending on the complexity of the selection a private online spreadsheet might be put in use.

Candidates are selected by consensus taking the selection criteria as main reference. In case of dispute the program admins have the last word.