Google Summer of Code 2014 at the Raxa EMR

Owned by Amrit Singh Bains (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Aug 13, 2014

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Raxa EMR is accepted to participate in Google Summer of Code™ in 2014! This is a great opportunity to help create our point-of-care system that will serve patients in India and around the world.

Potential Mentors

If you are an active participant in the Raxa EMR community and would like to be a mentor for 2014, please edit this page and add your name to the list below. 

Project Ideas

GSoC 2014 Ideas Page

Thinking about applying?

We're happy you're interested in working on the Raxa EMR during Summer of Code 2014. 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
  • Download our front end repo (for front end developers) to get an idea of what your app might look like. Also check us out on Android or iOS store under 'Raxa Doctor'
  • Install an instance of the OpenMRS Standalone (for back end developers)

Tips for Being a Competitive Applicant for GSoC 2014 at Raxa

  • Ask questions on our raxa-gsoc list for clarifications
  • Expand on the given projects on the ideas page
  • Create demo code on github. Many of the projects are small enough to be mostly complete before application end!
  • Ask for feedback on your ideas to make sure you are headed in the right direction

Application Template

  1. Who are you? What are you studying?
  2. Why are you the right person for this task?
  3. What is your work style? How will you personally provide structure, discipline, and accountability in your work?
  4. Do you have any other commitments we should know about?
  5. Do you have experience with any of the following technologies: Sencha/ExtJS4, Java, MySQL, HTML5, Javascript? (Experience with any/all is not a requirement.)
  6. List any other web or mobile experience.
  7. List any previous experience working with open source projects. (This experience is not a requirement.)
  8. Please provide links to projects created by you and/or source code examples.
  9. What is your preferred method of contact and how should we reach you with it? (phone, email, Skype, IRC, IM, etc.)
  10. Project Outline
  11. Project Features
  12. Project Timeline
  13. Additional resources such as links to demo code, mockup sketches, etc

Application Process

The window for students to submit their applications is 10-21st March 2014. 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 amrit.singh.bains@live.com.

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 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 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 secondary 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 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

February 25 - March 9:
Would-be student participants discuss application ideas with mentoring organizations.
March 10:
Student application period opens.
March 21:
Student application deadline.
Interim Period:
Mentoring organizations review and rank student proposals; where necessary, mentoring organizations may request further proposal detail from the student applicant.
April 18:
  1. All mentors must be signed up and all student proposals matched with a mentor - 07:00 UTC
  2. Student acceptance choice deadline.
  3. IRC meeting to resolve any outstanding duplicate accepted students - 19:00 UTC #gsoc (organizations must send a delegate to represent them in this meeting regardless of if they are in a duplicate situation before the meeting.)
April 21:
Accepted student proposals announced on the Google Summer of Code 2014 site.
Community Bonding Period:
Students get to know mentors, read documentation, get up to speed to begin working on their projects.
May 19:
  1. Students begin coding for their Google Summer of Code projects;
  2. Google begins issuing initial student payments provided tax forms are on file and students are in good standing with their communities.
Work Period:
Mentors give students a helping hand and guidance on their projects.
June 23:
Mentors and students can begin submitting mid-term evaluations.
June 27:
  1. Mid-term evaluations deadline;
  2. Google begins issuing mid-term student payments provided passing student survey is on file.
Work Period:
Mentors give students a helping hand and guidance on their projects.
August 11:
Suggested 'pencils down' date. Take a week to scrub code, write tests, improve documentation, etc.
August 18:
Firm 'pencils down' date. Mentors, students and organization administrators can begin submitting final evaluations to Google.
August 22:
  1. Final evaluation deadline
  2. Google begins issuing student and mentoring organization payments provided forms and evaluations are on file.
August 22:
Students can begin submitting required code samples to Google
August 25:
Final results of Google Summer of Code 2014 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 us. 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 EMR GitHub 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 Meetings every Monday. You can participate by telephone or Skype. The 2nd and 4th Mondays 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 this wiki often:
    • Be sure to make a user profile page.
    • Every project should have a Raxa 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?