[gst-devel] GStreamer as Google Summer of Code project

[MDK]

> Hi team,
>         I have started the process of registering GStreamer as a summer
>         of code project this year. If that is going to be a success for
>         us we need two things, one is good ideas for what the SoC
>         students can work on and even more importantly we need mentors.

Hey, I think it's a great idea. Count me in as a "secondary" mentor for
something/everything. I'm definitely willing to help the students and
I'll look into getting some of the work integrated in Diva at the end of
SoC. 

Since I was a SoC participant last year, here are some off-hand
thoughts: 

* There is money involved, there is some stress involved too. Money
changes attitudes so I think it's important to keep the projects more or
less equally hard and difficult. I know it was frustrating for
participants to see that some are doing very hard things, while others
are getting the cheque for 3 weeks of lightweight hacking. 

* I was working under the The Mono Project. Even though Miguel De Icaza
(who was mentoring all the projects) did a great job at trying to bring
everyone together, it somewhat happened that only 2-3 people (out of the
group of 15 I think) are still contributing/being active in the mono
area. The rest has "disappeared". I'm not sure how all this can be
handled better, but obviously the biggest aim should be not only to get
some extra gst work done, but to acquire some future Gst contributors.
It's a hard thing. 

* To keep the projects successful for everyone it's important to be
"tough". Keep a weekly schedule, not accept cheap excuses. Students are
lazy by definition and they tend to postpone everything till the very
last minute. Sometimes it proves fatal. Schedules are important to
pinpoint problems early on and help the people that need help.

Like I said before, the whole thing is (unexpectedly) very emotional for
folks. At the end Soc 2005 there was some misunderstanding and bad
mouthing -- students complaining about mentors, etc. The only way to get
rid of that is to keep the rules simple and tight. 

BTW, The Mono Project has already a nice page with interesting notes
too: http://www.mono-project.com/StudentProjects

Speaking of projects -- what about interlacing support? Too hard? 

-- 
Michael