help develop Free RTC on Debian - GSoC, many ways to help

[Daniel Pocock]

The Debian Project has been accepted in Google Summer of Code

One of the potential project areas for students is "Enabling free
multimedia real-time communications (RTC) with Debian"

For one or more projects to go ahead under this theme, we need:
a) talented students (several have already applied)
b) a team of mentors (I can't do this alone)
c) solid project plans

Even if you don't want to formally commit as a mentor, you can volunteer
time to help look over student proposals on an ad-hoc basis between now
and the final selections in 2-3 weeks.

The number of projects Google agrees to fund will depend a lot on the
quality of the proposals from the students.  Beyond that, the actual
success of the project will depend on whether the student started with
the right objectives in their plan.

Anybody looking at the proposals is welcome to email the students and CC
myself and the co-mentors and/or this free-rtc list.

      http://wiki.debian.org/SummerOfCode2013/StudentApplications

Some things to think about while looking at these proposals:

a) is there anything the student proposes that is duplicated/not
necessary/already implemented?

b) what is the most valuable part of the student's proposal?

c) in which order should the student complete things?

d) what tests should they make to verify their work?

e) are there any other "missing links" in the free RTC eco-system but
not acknowledged in the student's proposal?

f) how can an RTC infrastructure running on Debian.org and related sites
demonstrate best practice for Free RTC, and which part of the student's
proposal specifically help Debian.org infrastructure?  What can Debian
itself do to lead the way in this area?

g) Would other organisations like FSFE, LUGs, etc want to run the same
infrastructure that the student develops?

Some related items:
- the student projects in PKI (also on the link above) are directly
relevant to building federated SIP and XMPP and these students would
also welcome feedback and ideas
- there is also the possibility that a female candidate can be funded by
Debian's "Outreach Program for Women", so in a best case scenario, there
may be more than one student working in this area over the summer