[SoC] [GSoC 2023 - Call for Contributors] Announcing GSoC 2023 with OSGeo | Instructions and What's New with 2023!

[Ashish Kumar]

Dear All,

Wishing you a happy New Year and hope you are doing well.

(Disclaimer: It's a long email so please read patiently.)

After the successful wrap-up of GSoC 2022, with *6 (out of 7)* projects
successfully completed and the contributors presenting their work in FOSS4G
2022, we are ready for *GSoC 2023* [1] with OSGeo.

*If you are a contributor interested in contributing to the geospatial open
source with OSGeo as an umbrella organization, then this is high time to
connect with the projects of your interest and interact with the project
community. *

GSoC 2023 comes with GSoC 2022's structural changes, so we recommend you
follow the official announcement (link [3] below) in detail. Citing below
the significant changes for quick reference:

1. Starting in 2022, the program was open to all newcomers to open source,
no longer focusing solely on university students. *From 2023 onwards, the
program is being expanded to be open to all the students who are 18 years
and older AND to beginners in open source development, who might not be
university students** but are 18 years and older.* With folks worldwide
changing careers, returning to the workforce, and learning on their own
(outside of academic programs) we see an opportunity to reach a plethora of
excited individuals who want to learn more about open source and be a part
of our amazing GSoC communities.

2. Similar to GSoC 2022, the contributors will be able to *choose from
multiple-size projects ~175 hours (medium) and 350 hours (large)*. We
understand not everyone can spend 30 hours a week on a coding project for
12 weeks but they would like to be a part of these communities with the
help of mentors.

3. We are keeping the increased *flexibility around the timing of
projects* similar
to 2022. There is an option to extend the standard 12-week coding time
frame to a maximum of 22 weeks, or to reduce it to 10 weeks, so the project
length can be *between 10-22 weeks, not a fixed 12 weeks for everyone*.
This is to allow folks who may realize that spreading the work over say, 16
weeks, is a more realistic goal with their current life situation. Or for
contributors who have life happen in the middle of the program and they
can’t work on their projects for a few weeks, but they can come back to it
after a month to finish it. Similar to GSoC 2022, this would make it easier
for GSoC Contributors and mentors to be able to navigate together when
obstacles occur and the GSoC Contributor can successfully complete their
project.

Also, we strongly suggest going through the following links to get an
overall understanding of the program:

[1]. GSoC 2023 Timeline -
https://developers.google.com/open-source/gsoc/timeline
[2]. GSoC Contributors/Student guide -
https://google.github.io/gsocguides/student/
[3]. Official Announcement of GSoC 2023 on Google Open source Blog -
https://opensource.googleblog.com/2022/11/get-ready-for-google-summer-of-code-2023.html
[4]. OSGeo Project Ideas for GSoC 2023 -
https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Google_Summer_of_Code_2023_Ideas (Keep checking
this frequently, as the Ideas List is a Work-In-Progress)
[5]. Link to FOSS4G 2021 video presentation explaining the entire process
for contributing to OSGeo with GSoC - https://youtu.be/Flr1tcrcAvE

Please note that this is a heads-up for the contributors to get started
with the interaction, and the official process will commence post OSGeo's
*acceptance* (not application) as an organization to the GSoC (Org.
application starts - *Jan 23rd, 2023*; List of accepted mentoring
organizations published - *Feb 22nd, 2023*).

Please feel free to reach us at gsoc-admin (AT) osgeo (DOT) org for further
queries and we excitingly look forward to welcoming you to our amazing
OSGeo community.

PS: A call for project proposals to the OSGeo projects, community projects,
and guest projects with instructions on preparing the project ideas page
has been already announced (
https://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/soc/2023-January/004974.html). Please
send us the URL for your project's GSoC ideas Wiki page if you haven't done
yet.

Stay safe!
Kind regards,
OSGeo GSoC Administration Team.
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