Google Summer of Code 2012 at Raxa

Owned by Surajit Nundy
Last updated: Feb 25, 2014 by Karan Singh (Unlicensed)


 

Raxa JSS EMR is accepted to participate in Google Summer of Code™ in 2012! This is a great opportunity to help create our point-of-care system, based on projects like OpenMRS and MoTech, that will serve patients at JSS and around the world.

Potential Mentors

If you are an active participant in the Raxa JSS EMR community and would like to be a mentor for 2012, please edit this page and add your name to the list below. Potential mentors should take some time to read the GSoC Mentoring Manual.

Project Ideas

GSoC 2012 Ideas Page

Thinking about applying?

We're happy you're interested in working on the Raxa JSS EMR during Summer of Code 2012. Here are some tips that we've prepared to help your application process be easier and more successful. These are all things you can do today to start getting involved.

  • Go through our Getting Started Guide
  • Join the GSoC mailing list (and Contributors mailing list, but you should have done that already in the Getting Started Guide). Links to join all mailing lists can be found here: Raxa EMR People.
    • Introduce yourself and your project idea on our Contributors mailing list
    • Ask any GSoC logistical questions on the GSoC mailing list
  • Complete a JIRA ticket
  • Have a Skype chat and meet Surajit Nundy, Daniel Pepper, Nathan Leiby, or another team member.

Application Template

  1. Who are you? What are you studying?
  2. Please provide the URL to your Raxa EMR personal profile page. (If you don't have one yet, please create one.)
  3. Why are you the right person for this task?
  4. What is your work style? How will you personally provide structure, discipline, and accountability in your work?
  5. Do you have any other commitments we should know about?
  6. Do you have experience with any of the following technologies: Sencha/ExtJS4, Java, MySQL, HTML5, Javascript? (Experience with any/all is not a requirement.)
  7. List any other web or mobile experience.
  8. List any previous experience working with open source projects. (This experience is not a requirement.)
  9. Please provide links to projects created by you and/or source code examples.
  10. What is your preferred method of contact and how should we reach you with it? (phone, email, Skype, IRC, IM, etc.)
  11. If you have worked on any tickets, please include the ticket numbers.

Application Process

The window for students to submit their applications is March 26 - April 6, as shown on the GSoC'12 timeline. Applications are made via the Google Summer of Code web site, not directly to Raxa. 

Please submit your proposal as early as possible as this will allow potential mentors the maximum time to review it and ask you questions to help us decide which proposals to choose. If you have any difficulty in applying, please email nathanleiby at gmail.com, and I will help.

Google will allocate Raxa a given number of student places and we must choose the successful applicants from everyone that submits proposals to Raxa. Once you have submitted your application, the potential mentors will review the applications and rank them to match projects to available student places. This is all done from the Google Summer of Code Web Site as described here. We may want to contact you to ask you to clarify an aspect of your application, so please include contact details, especially email!

Expectations

What we expect of students:

  • Become familiar with the Raxa JSS EMR and your project before the start date.
  • Complete a short "progress report" each week to help stay on schedule.
  • Commit early. Commit often. This is an important value in our open source community - read why.
  • Join the interns mailing list. (We'll help you with this.)
  • You are now part of our developer community. We want you to feel like part of the team, so we hope you will:
    • Have technical discussions on the Contributors Google Group
    • Ask questions (the smart way) if you get stuck.
    • Participate in our Weekly meetings via phone or Skype.
    • Give one or more project presentations during those weekly meetings so we can see the cool stuff you're making.

What students should expect from the Raxa JSS EMR during the summer:

  • You will have fun!
  • You will learn how to work within an open source project–a new project helping people save lives around the world.
  • You will have dedicated time (4-5 hours each week) with an experienced mentor, and will have a backup mentor for questions or problems.
  • Our community will do its best to answer your questions and help you (make sure to ask questions the smart way).
  • The Summer of Code program leaders (both at Raxa JSS EMR and Google) will be available if any problems arise between students and mentors.

What we expect of mentors:

  • Help your student be successful. Commit to spending a minimum of 4-5 hours each week with your student answering questions, giving advice, working together, and evaluating his or her progress.
  • Complete a short "progress report" each week to help stay on schedule and catch potential problems early.
  • Read the GSoC Mentoring Manual and ask questions if you have them.
  • Reach out to the Summer of Code project leaders if you have questions or concerns.
  • Have fun and work hard! The highest-performing mentors will get an expenses-paid trip to Google's headquarters in October to geek out with fellow mentors from other open source projects.

Program Timeline

We will follow the official Google timeline for the program. In summary:

  • March 16: Official announcement of Google Summer of Code participating organizations.
  • March 26 - April 6: Student application period.
  • April 23: Accepted students are announced.
  • Through May 20: Community bonding period.
    • Get to know your fellow interns and mentors.
    • Do the things listed above in "Next Steps" below.
  • May 21: Coding begins!
    • You should have a project plan in place by this date.
    • Important: Commit code early and often!
  • July 9: Mentors send Google a mid-term evaluation of your work.
  • August 13: Plan to finish coding by this date, then use the final week to scrub code, write tests, improve documentation, etc.
  • August 20: "Pencils down." No more coding after this date. Mentors submit their final evaluations.
  • August 27: Results of evaluations are announced.

Next Steps for Accepted Students

After accepted students are announced, here's what should happen:

  1. Contact your mentor immediately. Make a plan to communicate with them regularly - at minimum, once each week. Determine the best way to communicate (e-mail, IRC, IM, Skype, telephone, etc.).
  2. Read Getting Started Guide, and ask others in the community if you have questions. If you ask questions the smart way, you'll get better responses.
  3. Get a development environment installed and running.
  4. Review our Conventions page.
  5. Get an RaxaEmr ID if you don't have one already. Create a user profile page.
  6. Set up a blog for GSoC. Send the URL to raxa.jss.emr@gmail.com. If you don't have a blog yet, you can create one for free at WordPress.com or Blogger.com.
  7. Browse the current Raxa JSS EMR (GitHub (Front-end), Svn (Back-end)) code specific to your project.
  8. Browse other GSoC organizations and the pages they have for their students. We want to be the best!
  9. Review the requirements for your project together with your mentor.
  10. Submit a formal written proposal to your mentor.
  11. Agree on final requirements with your mentor.
  12. Develop a project schedule (timeline) with your mentor.

Helpful Community Resources

  • If possible, join the Raxa-JSS Meetings every Sunday. You can participate by telephone or Skype. The 2nd and 4th Sundays of each month will be dedicated to Summer of Code, so make every effort to attend to listen to your fellow students' presentations (see the next section for details).
  • We use JIRA as a tool for issue tracking and project management.
  • Tips for using e-mail:
    • If you have a highly specific question, contact your mentor.
    • Technical discussions, ideas, and requests for feedback should be sent to the entire community on the mailing list.
    • The Interns mailing list is for accepted students to discuss SoC administrative issues. This list should not be used for technical discussions.
  • Skype or telephone — sometimes a short discussion can get ideas across much more efficiently
  • Google Docs — an excellent tool for sharing and collaborating in real time on documents or spreadsheets
  • Use the Raxa EMR wiki often:
    • Be sure to make a user profile page.
    • Every project should have a Raxa JSS EMR wiki page where you document your project, progress, technical details, show mock ups, etc.
  • Scheduling tools:

Project Presentations

  • Every accepted student will be required to give a short (15-minute) presentation/demo of their project twice during the program. You can use screen sharing tools to demo your project (e.g. https://join.me/).
  • Dates of presentations will be announced when accepted students are announced. If you have a serious conflict with one of these dates, contact a student in a different group and trade dates with them. Check your calendars to make sure.

Questions?

  • If you are interested in participating in Summer of Code as a mentor or a student this year and have further questions that aren't answered here, please contact Daniel Pepper.