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

[Dominique Belhachemi]

On Wed, 6 Apr 2011, Obey Arthur Liu 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.
>>
Hi Ana, I would love to co-mentor this important BOINC project. ,
Using Debian to

>>
>>  {*} [[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
>