[mb-devel] Google Summer of Code questions

[Robert Kaye]

On Mar 16, 2007, at 11:10 AM, Colin E. wrote:

> Hello,
> I am really interested in applying for a google summer of code
> position at the MetaBrainz Foundation. I am new to the development of
> Musicbraniz software, but am a long time user. I was wondering if
> anyone had some advice on what I should do next. Looking at the
> project ideas, the collaborative filtering idea really caught my
> interest. What should my next steps be before I write a proposal,

If I were in your shoes, I would:

1. Research collaborative filtering algorithms.
2. Research the mentioned data sources and confirm that they could be  
suited for this purpose. If no, figure out if there are data sources  
that might be useful for making this project work.
3. Write up a skeletal proposal that outlines your basic thoughts and  
post it here. Keep it simple initially.
4. Take in feedback from the community and flesh out your proposal  
for submission.

Community feedback is very important -- if the general community does  
not approve of what you're planning then that pretty much spells  
disaster for getting your SoC project proposal accepted. :-)

> and
> what sort of things are you looking for in a candidate.

We're looking for people who are self starters and who don't need a  
lot of hand holding. Ideally you should be able to carry out the  
suggested steps above without too much input. But, if you do need  
input, I suggest that you get onto IRC and ask people in the IRC  
channel for help.

> If this is the wrong place to be asking this, my sincerest apologies.

This is the right place to get started -- please post any follow  
questions you might have!

--

--ruaok      Somewhere in Texas a village is *still* missing its idiot.

Robert Kaye     --     rob at eorbit.net     --    http://mayhem-chaos.net