Season of Docs/2020

Google Season of Docs is a program to foster collaboration between Open Source projects and technical writers. The main part of the 2020 Season of Docs will run for three months, from September to November 2020, but the application period for technical writers ends on 30 June 2020.

'Please make sure to read through the information and application materials on the GSoD'20 website and this page before'' sending questions or completing a proposal for a project. Most of the questions you have will be answered in one of these two places.'''

You can interact with the admins and other technical writers who are proposing projects on our Zulip GSoD'20 stream (stream to be created).

2020 Timeline

 * April 13 – May 4: organizational application period
 * May 4 – May 10: Google reviews and approves organizations
 * May 11: Organizations are announced
 * June 9 – August 16: Technical writer exploration and application
 * August 16: Technical writing projects announced
 * August 17 – September 13: Community bonding
 * November 14 – December 10: Docs development through project finalization
 * January 6: Results announced

Potential technical writing projects for 2020 season
https://developers.google.com/season-of-docs/docs/project-ideas

Technical Documentation

 * Assist in compiling and writing a set of first-line documentation (walkthroughs, tutorials, and best practices) for users who are new to Toolforge and Cloud VPS.

Evaluate, research and make recommendations
TBA

Audience research and user experience
TBA

Create resources for staff and volunteers

 * Reviews are critical to quality documentation. Technical documentation on Wikimedia projects is often not reviewed for quality or accuracy. There is a nascent technical document review process that needs further development and support. In this project, you would help to clarify and refine the process, create supporting material and work with the technical community to help implement this system.

Creating a viable and valuable proposal
We wanted to share some recommendations and tips for you to think about when preparing your proposal.

Pre-reading
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 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'20 Zulip chat] (stream needs to be created), 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'20: 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 2020 (Tag is being created) 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/2020 on this page.

A few thoughts:

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'20, 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'20 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 for errors, both in your proposal and your personal communications with us and each other. That said, we do understand every person makes mistakes, and while we are writing in English for GSoD'20, 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'20, 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 - (UPDATE WITH ZULIP STREAM FOR 2020) (PLEASE NOTE: Zulip is the best way to contact Wikimedia's Google Season of code admins.)
 * 2) Google Group - technical-documentation@wikimedia.org

Organizational application
Additional information used as part of our application process with Google: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Season_of_Docs/Admins/Organizational_application_(2020)