[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Knight Foundation Grant

Thu Mar 17 16:19:29 EDT 2016

Hi Rogan,

I envisioned that the instructors would be drawn from the core 
committers and other veteran technical folks in the community. In 
addition to having these tech skills, though, I think we need people who 
can work well with people. In order to be a valuable experience, I do 
think some of our strongest developers should be among the instructors.

Who we recruit for instructors will also largely depend upon the content 
we deliver. If we decide  to move forward with the idea, maybe this is 
something we can flesh out further at the conference. However, some 
ideas I have off the top of my head are:

* installation - if we move forward with making installation easier, 
this step may not require as much time as it otherwise would.
* community conventions - how we submit code in the community, how we 
use git, maybe include an intro for  signing off on code / pushing code 
to the working repo.
* the overview of the Evergreen infrastructure that was done at the last 
hack-a-way would probably be good
* developing the browser client with AngularJS - I know there is a 
presentation on this at the conference, but I suspect we could spend a 
lot of time on a hands-on session.
* How about a look at the inner workings of query parser? Or would that 
just scare people away?

These are just some ideas, but I'm sure there are a lot more for others. 
When planning out the content, I actually would be most interested in 
hearing from developers who have just recently started working in 
Evergreen.

Also, when I used the word 'mentor' earlier, I want to clarify I'm not 
talking about mentors as we had with the GSoC or Outreachy programs who 
are committed to working with one intern on one particular project. 
Instead, I'm thinking the instructors should be committed to being 
available via IRC or the dev list to answer questions and to participate 
in some (not all) of the regular chat sessions we schedule after the 
in-person boot camp. As a whole, I think many of us are already 
committed to giving that level of support to people when they are just 
starting out. But there will likely be a greater time commitment with 
more new people dedicated to making contributions.

Of course, this is all in the idea phase now, and if people have other 
ideas on how this could work or maybe incentives we could supply to get 
people involved, feel free to share them. I know we will need to iron 
out many details. How do we select instructors? How do we select 
participants? Should participants be required to have a certain level of 
skills? If so, what? One of the nice things about this grant is that, in 
the first phase, we can just focus on the idea. If the idea is seen as 
being good enough to move to the next phase, then we'll be asked to 
provide more details.

I know it would be a big time commitment, but, at the same time, the end 
result could be that we have more active contributors in the community, 
which, in the end, can help with the future workload of supporting and 
improving Evergreen.

It also fits in well with the discussion we had at the hack-a-way 
regarding mentoring people on the path to becoming a contributor to 
Evergreen.

Thanks!
Kathy

On 03/17/2016 03:36 PM, Rogan Hamby wrote:
> Who would we envision as doing the training?
>
> On Thu, Mar 17, 2016 at 3:29 PM, Yamil Suarez <ysuarez at berklee.edu 
> <mailto:ysuarez at berklee.edu>> wrote:
>
>     I am very interested in the bootcamp as both a student and a trainer
>     (for the areas I am strong in). The push to make installation easier
>     is also something that we should look into again.
>
>     Yamil
>
>
>
>
>
>     --------------------------------
>
>     Yamil Suarez, MCS
>     Library Systems Administrator/Developer
>
>     Stan Getz Library
>     Berklee College of Music
>     1140 Boylston St
>     Boston, MA 02215
>
>     ysuarez at berklee.edu <mailto:ysuarez at berklee.edu>
>     617-747-2617 <tel:617-747-2617>
>
>
>     On Thu, Mar 17, 2016 at 2:26 PM, Holly Brennan
>     <haderhold at ci.homer.ak.us <mailto:haderhold at ci.homer.ak.us>> wrote:
>     > I feel that I missed the beginning of this conversation. This is
>     the first email about this topic in my inbox.
>     >
>     > I am very interested in a developer bootcamp! Please fill me in.
>     Thanks!
>     >
>     > -Holly
>     >
>     > -----Original Message-----
>     > From: Open-ils-general
>     [mailto:open-ils-general-bounces at list.georgialibraries.org
>     <mailto:open-ils-general-bounces at list.georgialibraries.org>] On
>     Behalf Of Jim Taylor
>     > Sent: Wednesday, March 16, 2016 1:33 PM
>     > To: 'Evergreen Discussion Group'
>     > Subject: Re: [OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Knight Foundation Grant
>     >
>     > All of them sound like good ideas but I am ESPECIALLY interested
>     in the bootcamp idea (and options to avoid having to install
>     Evergreen for such purposes).  I would probably even be willing to
>     pay my own way so definitely would attend if travel was covered. 
>     I would like to contribute code but so far all of my other
>     commitments have kept me from sorting it out on my own.  If I had
>     a place to go so I could get away from my desk for a few days and
>     learn how the process works I would definitely show up.
>     >
>     > Jim
>     >
>     >
>     > My questions related to the bootcamp idea are:
>     >
>     > * Does this sounds like a good idea?
>     > * Are there people who would be willing to help out as
>     instructors/mentors for the bootcamp? This isn't a firm
>     commitment, but, if I hear crickets on this question, I know it's
>     not something we should pursue further. Also, please note, my idea
>     is that any travel expenses related to the bootcamp would be
>     covered by the grant.
>     > * I also would love to have some volunteers willing to help me
>     plan for the bootcamp, but, if there is sufficient interest in the
>     first set of volunteers, I will also tap people directly with this
>     request.
>     > * If we get positive answers from the first two questions, are
>     there ways we can improve upon this idea?
>     >
>     > Thanks to everyone who read this far in my e-mail. I look
>     forward to hearing your thoughts!
>     >
>     > Kathy
>     >
>     >
>
>

-- 
Kathy Lussier
Project Coordinator
Massachusetts Library Network Cooperative
(508) 343-0128
klussier at masslnc.org
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kmlussier

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