Re: [Demexp-dev] Google Summer of Code 2007

[David MENTRE]

Hello Félix,

Many thanks for the first draft!

Here are my own comments.

"Félix" <address@hidden> writes:

>>
>> About Your Organization         ^ back to top
>>
>>    1.
>>
>>       What is your Organization's Name?
>
>
> The Democratic Experience
>
>    2.
>>
>>       What is your Organization's Homepage?
>
>
> http://www.demexp.org

[rather] https://demexp.org [Please update your bookmark Félix ;-) ]


>    3.
>>
>>       Describe your organization.
>
>
> Our organization is based on a small core of dedicated members (about 4-6
> people) mostly (but not all) living in the city of Rennes, in France. Most
> of us are working in the IT field and we are 30 years old (+/- 20%). We have
> a horizontal organization and we take our decisions by consensus. We
> communicate mostly by email but we meet at least once a month for a project
> meeting. There is a larger community of about 30 persons who are
> contributing to the project occasionnaly, and participating in the
> discussions on our mailing list.
>
> Our goal is to develop a software tool to facilitate direct democracy within
> small structures (associations, projects, companies...) or larger entities
> (towns, regions...). The software, called demexp, is based on a client
> server architecture. Each participant can:
> -Submit a new vote (eg. "How to we process waste in our company?")
> -Submit candidate answers (eg. 1:"We put everything in the same bin" 2:
> "There are three bins for each employee" 3: "There are three bins in a
> dedicated room" 4: "Question rejected")
> -Vote (using Condorcet voting algorithm in the current version)
>
> The question and the winning answer are compiled into a database
> representing the decisions taken by the community of participants. There are
> a number of additional features already coded or specified (eg. vote
> delegation).
>
>    4.
>>
>>       Why is your organization applying to participate in GSoC 2007?
>> What do you hope to gain by participating?
>
>
> Our main goal is to get help in developping a web based client interface to
> the voting server. The expertise to do this is currently lacking in the
> project and we believe GSoC is a good opportunity to find it.

We also have a second project where the student would build a
classification system upon LIS (Logical Information System).

>
>    5.
>>
>>       Did your organization participate in GSoC 2005 or 2006? If so,
>> please summarize your involvement and the sucesses and failures of
>> your student projects. (optional)
>
>
> We did not participate in previous GSoCs.
>
>    6.
>>
>>       If your organization has not previously participated in GSoC,
>> have you applied in the past? If so, for what year(s)? (optional)
>
>
> We did not apply in the past.
>
>    7.
>>
>>       What license does your project use?
>
>
> Our project is under GPL.
>
>    8.
>>
>>       URL for your ideas page
>
>
> htp://www.demexp.org

[I created a new page: ] 
 
https://demexp.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=en:proposals_for_google_summer_of_code_2007

>    9.
>>
>>       What is the main development mailing list for your organization?
>
>
> address@hidden  [mettre un pointeur plus explicite?]

[yep]
http://lists.nongnu.org/mailman/listinfo/demexp-dev

>   10.
>>
>>       Where is the main IRC channel for your organization?
>
>
> We do have an IRC channel [en fait on en a un je crois, mis en place par
> rZr]

Not applicable.

(In fact, we do have an IRC channel, #demexp on irc.freenode.net, but we
don't use it a lot. We can monitor it more closely if student prefers
talking on IRC.)

>   11.
>>
>>       Does your organization have an application template you would
>> like to see students use? If so, please provide it now. (optional)
>
>
> No, we don't.
>
>   12.
>>
>>       Who will be your backup organization administrator? Please enter
>> their Google Account address. We will email them to confirm, your
>> organization will not become active until they respond. (optional)
>>
>> [Que mettre ici?]

[They want a second mentor for the student (see the FAQ, to reduce the
workload and take holidays). Félix, as you already have a Google
Account, would you take this role? ]

>>    1.
>>
>>       What criteria did you use to select these individuals as
>> mentors? Please be as specific as possible.
>

In no specific order:

 * Knowledge of OCaml language;

 * Motivation of student and interest in the project;

 * Knowledge of the student in the project area;

 * Willing of the student to use project's habits (literate code, source
   control system, non-regression tests, ...).

[Other things??]

>
>    2.
>>
>>       Who will your mentors be? Please enter their Google Account
>> address separated by commas. If your organization is accepted we will
>> email each mentor to invite them to take part. (optional)
>
>
> [Que mettre ici?]

david.mentre,felifelo[?]

>
> About The Program       ^ back to top
>>
>>    1.
>>
>>       What is your plan for dealing with disappearing students?
>
>
> We have a well organized software methodoly and repository system and
> therefore code source durability is ensured. Moreover we insist on good
> practice programmation. Until now the code has been written using litterate
> programming.

We intend to monitor student work.

>    2.
>>
>>       What is your plan for dealing with disappearing mentors?
>
>
> [La je ne comprends pas très bien]

Mentors are core project member, implied in the project for more than
three years and don't intendent to disappear. :-)

>
>    3.
>>
>>       What steps will you take to encourage students to interact with
>> your project's community before, during and after the program?
>

Before the program:
We will answer any question about the project, the software and their
objectives. 

At any time:
> We will encourage them:
> -to use the program (it is already possible to vote and interact with our
> main voting server, using our software client).
> -to participate in the discussions on our general and development mailing
> lists.

After the program:
The student will be encouraged to maintain the module and participate in
other project developments.

>    4.
>>
>>       What will you do to ensure that your accepted students stick
>> with the project after GSoC concludes?
>
>
> We hope that the student will be highly motivated not only by the software
> development aspects, but also by the prospects of facilitating direct
> democracy and bringing it in new structures. Since our project has an
> experimental and slightly philosophical dimension, we hope they will have an
> interest in pursuing the experience/experiment it represents.

Of course, the student will be given credit for his/her work and be
responsible to maintain the module and enhance it.



[Any further comments?]

Once again, many thanks Félix,
Best wishes,
d.

PS: Can demexp-dev@ members take a look at following page and give me
    their comments?
     
https://demexp.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=en:proposals_for_google_summer_of_code_2007

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GPG/PGP key: A3AD7A2A David MENTRE <address@hidden>
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