Google Summer of Code (https://developers.google.com/open-source/gsoc/)
is a global programme which offers student developers stipends to write
code for various open source software projects. Students work for 3
months on a project with mentoring from an open source developer, and
receive a stipend which is paid in 3 stages - if they successfully
complete the project, the full stipend is US$5500.
Xapian (https://xapian.org/) is an open source search library, and has
been accepted as a mentoring organisation again this year. We're
particularly keen to encourage students with a background in Information
Retrieval to work on Xapian projects - for example, in previous years
students have worked on improving support for Arabic and Chinese,
built a Learning to Rank framework on top of Xapian, implemented ranking
based on Divergence from Randomness and Language Modelling, and worked
on generating dynamic snippets.
The programme is open to both undergraduate and postgraduate students
in most countries - for full eligibility requirements see:
https://developers.google.com/open-source/gsoc/faq#what_are_the_eligibility_requirements_for_participation
We have a list of project ideas for students, though we are also happy
for students to come up with their own suggestions for projects:
https://trac.xapian.org/wiki/GSoCProjectIdeas
Contact details are also on the link above.
Applications open on March 14th and close on March 25th at 19:00 UTC
(beware the deadline is very strictly enforced), but we encourage
students to discuss potential projects with us now.
The full timeline is here:
https://developers.google.com/open-source/gsoc/timeline
Sadly the coding period is not a great fit with when UK undergrads
typically have exams, but many UK students successfully take part each
year, usually by starting their coding early and then taking a break for
exams.
Please feel free to pass this message on to anyone you know who might be
interested.
Cheers,
Olly
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