Google just announced the organizations that will be acting as mentors for the Google Code-in (GCI) 2014 contest that starts December 1.
The Google Code-in contest is designed to introduce 13-17 year old students to open source software development, giving them the opportunity to take their skills to the next level by applying them to a real software project with experienced mentors.
Health Informatics visiting faculty member Saptarshi Purkayastha led the OpenMRS projects successful bid to be selected for the GCI program this year. He will be assisted by graduate students Suranga Kasthurirathne, Sri Maurya Kummamuru and several other mentors from across the world. OpenMRS is a multi-institution, non-profit collaborative led by Regenstrief Institute, a world-renowned leader in medical informatics research, and Partners In Health, a Boston-based philanthropic organization with a focus on improving the lives of underprivileged people worldwide through health care service and advocacy.
Mentoring organizations participating in GCI 2014 will provide a list of “bite sized” tasks for participating students to complete. These tasks will be broken into the following categories: coding, documentation, user interface, quality assurance, outreach, research, and training. Each task has at least one mentor assigned to it to help students should they have questions.
Hundreds of tasks are currently being identified by the participating organizations for students to choose from when the contest starts on December 1st.
The goal of the GCI program is to enable high school students to gain real world experience by working on an open source project, and putting the skills they learned in the classroom to good use on projects that can touch millions of lives.
Starting on Monday, December 1st at 17:00 UTC, students that meet the eligibility requirements can register on the Google Code-in contest site and start claiming tasks and earning prizes.
For important contest information please check out the contest site for Contest Rules, Frequently Asked Questions and Important Dates. There will be a screencast about the contest available to view on the program site where you can also find flyers and other helpful information including the new Getting Started Guide. You can also join the announcement and discussion lists to talk with other students, mentors and organization administrators about the contest.
Students, join in the fun – Google Code-in starts Monday, December 1st!
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