[Soc-coordination] Status of the Taverna/BOINC/Wrapper/GeneticCloning projects

[Nancy Ouyang]

CC fail, rectified.

On Wed, Apr 6, 2011 at 5:39 PM, Nancy Ouyang <nancy.ouyang at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hello,
> Thank you for letting me know. I'll remove my proposal.
> Thanks,
> --Nancy
>
>
> On Wed, Apr 6, 2011 at 5:06 PM, Obey Arthur Liu <arthur at milliways.fr>wrote:
>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> On Wed, Apr 6, 2011 at 2:49 PM, Ana Guerrero <ana at debian.org> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>  {*} [[SummerOfCode2011/JavaPackages]]: Java packages for Taverna
>>>
>>> The project does not have any public student proposal. It has a mentor.
>>> The project seems to fail in the "package this category" mentioned in
>>> this mail [0].
>>>
>>>
>>>  {*} [[SummerOfCode2011/BOINC]]: Streamline the preparation of BOINC
>>> projects
>>>
>>> The project has 2 students proposal in melange and 1 mentor commited
>>> partially
>>> to at least another 2 more project.
>>> The discussion and comments in melange point that the purpose of the
>>> project
>>> and its deliverables are not clear.
>>>
>>>
>>>  {*} [[SummerOfCode2011/Wrapper]]: A wrapper aware of dependencies for
>>> direct
>>>  remote execution
>>>
>>> The project has 1 students proposal in melange and 1 mentor and 1
>>> co-mentor.
>>> The discussion and comments in melange point that the purpose of the
>>> project and its deliverables are not clear.
>>>
>>>
>>>  {*} [[SummerOfCode2011/GeneticCloning]]: Genetic Cloning with Debian
>>> The project has 2 students proposal in melange and 1 mentor commited
>>> partially
>>> to at least another 2 more project.
>>> The discussion and comments in melange point that the purpose of the
>>> project,
>>> its deliverables and how the project benefits to Debian is not clear.
>>>
>>>
>>> [0] http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2011/03/msg00972.html
>>>
>>>
>> As a long time admin for the Google Summer of Code at Debian, I feel that
>> I need to chime in on the thorny issues with the projects quoted above.
>> This might not be popular with everyone but they should be removed from
>> the Google Summer of Code at Debian immediately.
>> Let me explain why.
>>
>> - These projects do not further the technical objective of contributing to
>> Debian as a primary concern.
>> I feel that the technologies involved and contributions expected from and
>> for Debian are secondary to the scientific aspects. Getting code written is
>> the endeavor of the Summer of Code but the goal of the Summer of Code at
>> Debian is to specifically contribute to Debian. This and only this is our
>> mandate.
>>
>> - These projects are not targeting teams that span the enough core parts
>> of Debian community.
>> The GSoC at Debian has a very specific objectives of introducing students
>> to broad-ranging parts of the Debian community with the objectives of
>> teaching them what Debian is and giving them a rather unique opportunity to
>> engage themselves as Debian Developers in the long run.
>>
>> - It should be clear that Debian as an organization is about creating an
>> operating system distribution. Debian (the organization) is not a scientific
>> organization. I feel that the core interests of most students applying for
>> these projects would be much better served by applying at actual scientific
>> organizations (of which there are many participating in GSoC)
>>
>> - In relation to the previous point, the realistic evaluation points that
>> will be used for these projects (successfully running specific research
>> experiments) are too removed and intangible for the Debian development
>> community at large to satisfy our requirements for transparency,
>> accountability and reusability.
>>
>> - Debian has no obligation to fulfill all the slots Google may give. It is
>> in no one's interest to manage more projects than should be. Each project is
>> an additional management burden that should be decided on on an individual
>> basis, weighted with the expected outcomes.
>>
>> As a additional note, I should point out that the only reasons these
>> projects have stayed up for so long is that they were mentor and
>> DD-introduced. Similar projects submitted by students the previous years
>> have been immediately notified of the various issues suggested above and
>> forwarded to more relevant organizations. DDs should be held to the same
>> standards.
>>
>> Lastly, I would like to apologize to the impacted students for being
>> caught in this unfortunate situation, and encourage them to still seek a
>> Summer of Code project, which is a wonderful experience.
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> -Arthur
>>
>
>
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