Sorry, hit send too soon! More in a bit. Sage Sharp
On Mon, Jun 24, 2019 at 12:31 PM Sage Sharp <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Myrle, > > I understand the concern about trying to remain neutral among member > projects. It is possible to list more projects than you have funding for. > Many other communities have done this before. For example, last round the > F# Software Foundation listed four projects when they only had funding for > one intern. > > If the project mentors want to select more interns than the community has > funding for, they can apply for Outreachy general funds. We evaluate > requests for Outreachy general funds across all participating communities. > Our goal is to ensure that the interns we fund have the best chance of > success. Our criteria is: > > - Has the mentor selected two interns? If so, we won't let them mentor > two interns at once. They would have to find a co-mentor. Even then, we > really only recommend mentoring two interns if the mentor has participated > in a mentorship program before. We want to make sure they know how much > work it can be before signing up to mentor two interns! > - What is the quality of the contributions the applicant has made > during the contributions phase? If they made a substantial contribution > that's more important than a set of easier contributions. An applicant who > refactored code or wrote a chunk of documentation would be chosen over > someone who fixed typos. The goal is to ensure the applicant has the skills > needed for the project. > - How did the mentor rate the applicant's strength? We ask mentors to > rate applicants: > (AMAZING, '5 - Amazing - multiple large, high-quality > contributions'),(STRONG, '4 - Strong - at least one large, high-quality > contribution'), > (GOOD, '3 - Good - some smaller contributions of good > quality'), > (UNLIKELY, '2 - Inexperienced - smaller contributions that > vary in quality'), > (NOTGOOD, '1 - Struggling - applicant did not understand > instructions or feedback'), > - Does the applicant have enough time free from full-time commitments? > We require that applicants be available for 49 out of 91 days during the > internship period. However, if someone has the minimum amount of time free, > we take a hard look again at their contributions. They need to be stronger, > larger contributions in that case. We want to be sure they're > > > It's also important to evaluate which projects would be most supportive of > retaining a diverse group of interns. > > > On Mon, Jun 24, 2019, 8:12 AM Myrle Krantz <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Hello Sage, >> >> One of the concerns that was raised is that the ASF, by both providing >> funds, and picking one project might be "picking winners". Our neutrality >> has been very important to our success in attracting and supporting open >> source projects. It is at least possible that more projects than we could >> provide funding for might be interested in mentoring an Outreachy intern >> and benefiting from their efforts. This would raise the question of how >> to >> remain neutral while still providing funds for an Outreachy internship. >> >> One approach to solving this problem which currently seems to be favored, >> is to not fund Outreachy internships. We could ask a sponsor to do this >> on >> our behalf. But, if we can't find a sponsor to donate to Outreachy, that >> could mean that we cannot do Outreachy internships. Companies which >> donate >> to the ASF may not necessary be willing to donate to Outreachy because of >> criteria unrelated to the purpose of the money. >> >> So here comes my first question: If we have too many potential projects, >> would it be possible to ask Outreachy to do the picking based on your >> criteria? If yes, what would your criteria be? Depending on what those >> criteria are, this could potentially be a way to help us preserve our >> neutrality. >> >> Direct impact on our diversity statistics can't be our goal in >> participating in Outreachy; we're too big for that. Instead, one of the >> hopes that has been expressed with respect to hosting an Outreachy intern >> is that we'll be able to follow their progress and learn from the problems >> they encounter, so that we can figure out what's keeping people out of our >> communities and tackle those underlying problems. That knowledge will >> have >> to be transferable across our projects. >> >> So here comes my second question, Sage: From your e-mail, this seems like >> a >> reasonable approach, but I'd love to hear you address this specifically. >> Have you seen other communities do this successfully? Can you put us in >> contact with them to learn from their experiences? >> >> Thank you for coming to our list to answer questions. I very much >> appreciate your time. >> >> Best Regards, >> Myrle Krantz >> >> On Sat, Jun 22, 2019 at 8:23 PM [email protected] >> <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> > Hi folks, >> > >> > I'm Sage Sharp, an Outreachy organizer. I'm happy to answer questions >> > people have about our program. >> > >> > I'm trying to read up on several email threads, so I may not have all >> the >> > information about what the ASF is proposing. From what I understand, >> ASF is >> > considering being an Outreachy sponsor. It looks like the proposal is to >> > have six interns working on various ASF member projects. [1] >> > >> > Please note that Outreachy projects don't have to be coding projects. >> They >> > could be projects related to design, user experience, translation, and >> more. >> > >> > The question then posed was: >> > >> > > > How does this, fundamentally, differ from the ASF simply hiring >> > > > interns from under-represented populations and having them work >> > > > on Whimsy (or whatever)? This is basically what we are doing, >> > > > just using Outreachy as a sort of main contractor to do so. >> > >> > As to your question, Outreachy is a completely separate internship >> > program. The Outreachy interns are independent contractors under >> > Outreachy's fiscal sponsor, the Software Freedom Conservancy. They would >> > not be ASF employees or contactors. ASF would be providing a >> tax-deductible >> > donation to Software Freedom Conservancy to cover the $5,500 intern >> > stipend, $500 travel stipend, and a $500 accounting fee for each intern >> > working on an ASF project. >> > >> > One of the benefits of participating in Outreachy is that your free >> > software community gets exposed to people from marginalized groups in >> tech. >> > Every internship round, 800 to 1,000 people have their Outreachy initial >> > application approved. The contribution period allows applicants to make >> > solid contributions to your project. Even if you only select one intern, >> > you have the chance to introduce your project to many applicants who may >> > have never heard of it before. >> > >> > Even submitting a project to the Outreachy website may help mentors >> > understand some of the issues newcomers face. The website tries to >> > eliminate common barriers that newcomers face like not understanding >> what >> > IRC is, not being able to find a mentor to contact, not being able to >> find >> > a newcomer friendly issue to work on. Mentors have reported that even >> the >> > act of signing up has helped them see places where their project >> > documentation needs improving. >> > >> > Outreachy also provides interns a structure that is lacking in many >> > contract positions. I've identified major pain points that happen during >> > the internship and developed a system for removing those issues. The >> > structure consists of: feedback check-ins, a chance for interns to >> connect >> > with each other, and support for finding a job in free software after >> the >> > internship. >> > >> > *Feedback and check-ins*: We have three points during the internship >> where >> > mentors and interns independently give feedback on each other. The >> > Outreachy organizers look over that feedback and make sure the >> internship >> > is progressing smoothly. If needed, we facilitate conversations between >> the >> > mentors and interns. >> > >> > *Connecting interns*: We also have a private chat server where Outreachy >> > interns can connect to each other. Being able to connect with other >> interns >> > from other projects is essential to not feeling alone. We also have a >> > series of emails and chat sessions which guide interns through common >> > problems they experience during the internship. >> > >> > For instance, the first chat we do is one where mentors and interns >> share >> > what they've been struggling with. This normalizes the fact that >> everyone >> > struggles, and that it's okay to reach out for help. People who are >> interns >> > for the first time often need this type of reassurance. >> > >> > *Support for finding a free software job*: Outreachy also provides a job >> > opportunities to alums and a travel stipend for attending free software >> > events. This round, we're looking into providing interviewing workshops >> and >> > resume review. >> > >> > Outreachy organizers are very experienced at supporting people from >> > marginalized groups in tech. We've had over 500 interns. If your >> community >> > is looking to increase its diversity, Outreachy is a good way to do so. >> > >> > Communities like Debian, Ceph, GNOME, OpenStack, the Linux kernel, and >> > Wikimedia have been participating in Outreachy for years. OpenStack and >> the >> > Linux kernel saw a marked increase around in the number of women >> > participants when they started participating in Outreachy. You can see >> some >> > of the communities that have participated before by looking at our past >> > round page: >> > >> > https://www.outreachy.org/past-projects/ >> > >> > Let me know what other questions you have! >> > >> > Sage Sharp >> > Outreachy Organizer >> > >> > [1] >> > >> https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/a02217bcc050fe713d33fe73fa14503c173db92a1e1a6c0b174a338c@%3Cdev.diversity.apache.org%3E >> > >> > On 2019/06/21 21:18:21, Ross Gardler <[email protected] >> .INVALID> >> > wrote: >> > > A colleague at day job is an Outreachy organizer. My understanding was >> > that she had joined the diversity list for this reason. Let me see if >> they >> > are having issues or are simply waiting for a moment at which they can >> be >> > productive >> > > >> > > ________________________________ >> > > From: Sam Ruby <[email protected]> >> > > Sent: Friday, June 21, 2019 12:06 PM >> > > To: [email protected] >> > > Subject: Re: Representational intern experience >> > > >> > > On Fri, Jun 21, 2019 at 1:56 PM Jim Jagielski <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> > > > >> > > > And finally: >> > > > How does this, fundamentally, differ from the ASF simply hiring >> > > > interns from under-represented populations and having them work >> > > > on Whimsy (or whatever)? This is basically what we are doing, >> > > > just using Outreachy as a sort of main contractor to do so. >> > > >> > > I just used the Contact Outreachy form[1] to send the following >> request: >> > > >> > > - - - >> > > >> > > The Apache Software Foundation is considering becoming a sponsor >> > > and/or volunteering a number of mentors. During the discussion, the >> > > following question was raised: >> > > >> > > "How does this, fundamentally, differ from the ASF simply hiring >> > > interns from under-represented populations and having them work >> > > on Whimsy (or whatever)? This is basically what we are doing, >> > > just using Outreachy as a sort of main contractor to do so." >> > > >> > > This is on the public [email protected] mailing list: >> > > >> > > >> > >> https://nam06.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flists.apache.org%2Fthread.html%2Fb5af718fcb8d75a98fbd9ff378f0236050cd80ffb4d4f314d87106b3%40%253Cdev.diversity.apache.org%253E&data=02%7C01%7CRoss.Gardler%40microsoft.com%7C85ec81e4d744485a9e0608d6f67b9104%7C72f988bf86f141af91ab2d7cd011db47%7C1%7C0%7C636967407913535319&sdata=eF1QUuBiyEhBHKoRW6n0cfsJh3UeDK5fUxNTqYPvH0Y%3D&reserved=0 >> > > >> > > Would it be possible for an Outreachy Organizer to join this list and >> > > answer a few questions people might have? >> > > >> > > - Sam Ruby >> > > >> > > - - - >> > > >> > > - Sam Ruby >> > > >> > > [1] >> > >> https://nam06.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.outreachy.org%2Fcontact%2Forganizers%2F&data=02%7C01%7CRoss.Gardler%40microsoft.com%7C85ec81e4d744485a9e0608d6f67b9104%7C72f988bf86f141af91ab2d7cd011db47%7C1%7C0%7C636967407913535319&sdata=sgBfBRjyM%2BFYVBmQyMIUZyV7OfwtVRmJcJRAiMaA3YI%3D&reserved=0 >> > > >> > >> >
