Google Code-In 2010-2011

Owned by Michael Downey
Last updated: Oct 29, 2010
4 min read

Be advised:

OpenMRS is applying to be a part of Google Code-In this year, but the accepted open source projects won't be announced until November 5, 2010.

What's happening?

Google is sponsoring a contest to get young people involved in open source projects, provide help to those projects, and to get young people interested and encouraged in computer science. This contest is similar to Google Summer Of Code, which we've been part of for the last 4 years, but is meant for people who aren't yet enrolled in a university. The work is a little bit simpler and can be completed in somewhere between a day and a week, instead of 3 months.

The basic idea is pretty simple:

  1. OpenMRS posts a list of tasks and ranks them by difficulty.

  2. Students claim a task to work on, and once the task leader says OK, starts working.

  3. Once they're finished, students notify the task leader who approves their work. The student then gets credit for the task and gets paid US $100 for every 3 tasks – up to US $500 total.

The contest begins at 12:00 AM Pacific Time (08:00 UTC) on November 22, 2010 and work can continue until the same time on January 10, 2011. On February 14, 2011, accepted projects announce grand prize winners.

At the conclusion of the contest, contestants will receive a t-shirt and certificate for completing at least one task (maximum of one shirt & certificate per contestant) and 100 USD for every three tasks completed (maximum 500 USD per contestant). Additionally, there will be ten grand prize winners from the entire program. They will receive a trip to Google's Mountain View, California, USA Headquarters for an award's ceremony for themselves and one parent or guardian.

Here's a short video about "Google Highly Open Participation", the test program in 2008 that turned into GCI this year:

You should read the official frequently asked questions from Google and visit the official GCI site for more important information.

Who can participate?

Google Code-In is open to individual students from age 13-18 as of November 22, 2010, and who are currently enrolled in a pre-university, high school or secondary school program, and who have agreed to the Google's program rules. Some people may not be able to participate, so you should read the rules to find out more.

Task List

Over the next few days, we'll be adding tasks to the lists below. Come back soon and read about what we'll be doing over the next few months!

Code

Tasks related to writing or refactoring code

  1. (1..n) Write 10 unit tests (see ?Unit Testing)

  2. (1..n) Finish a low complexity ticket (see ?Getting Started as a Developer (Archived Version))

  3.  

Documentation

Tasks related to creating/editing documents

  1. (1..n) Cleanup and categorize 10 wiki pages in Confluence (of reasonable size -- see ?Wiki Cleanup Project)

  2. Clarifying/rewriting module documentation to make it more useful, including one or more screenshots

  3. Either develop a new wiki template or move content into an existing template

  4. Work with a module developer to increase/write documentation for that module

  5.  

Outreach

Tasks related to community management and outreach/marketing

  1. Create a short video montage for the "I Am OpenMRS" project

  2. Interview an OpenMRS user/implementer and write a blog post about their experiences using OpenMRS

  3. Find/collect OpenMRS videos and load them into the ?Tech Talks Podcast

  4.  

Quality Assurance

Tasks related to testing and ensuring code is of high quality

  1.  (1..n) Find and document (in a JIRA ticket) a bug within OpenMRS and get it approved as "ready for work"

  2.  

Research

Tasks related to studying a problem and recommending solutions

  1.  

  2.  

Training

Tasks related to helping others learn more

  1. ??Make a screencast of how to use an OpenMRS feature (demo site can be used) -- see ?How-To Make an OpenMRS Screencast

  2.  

Translation

Tasks related to localization

  1. Translate one of the foreign language messages.properties files (needs scope)

  2.  

User Interface

Tasks related to user experience research or user interface design and interaction

  1. Create X design mockups (using Photoshop, GIMP, etc.) of a new design for the OpenMRS.org home page and an "inside" page.

  2. Do an OpenMRS usability test

    1. Find one person (doctor, nurse, etc.) that works in the health care field

    2. Use a provided script, guide them in performing some tasks using OpenMRS

    3. Watch them using OpenMRS and write about the problems they had

    4. Have them complete a survey (also provided)

  3.  

Questions?

For more questions about Google Code-In itself, you should ask the GCI mailing list/group. For specific questions about working with OpenMRS in GCI, please fill out our contact form.