life at the end of the universe

Over the last weeks we’ve had the pleasure to introduce a lot of young people to Free Software through the Google Code-in contest. As in the previous edition the results were awesome. I’ll write about that later though. For now I wanted to do two things:

1. Thank you mentors, admins, Google and of course participants! It wouldn’t be possible without you.
2. We closed nearly 400 tasks (did I say amazing already?). There are another 50 tasks that were not closed within the time of the contest. However I am sure their mentors would still love to get them done. So if you are looking for a nice way to get started contributing to KDE here is your chance. Pick a task and contact the mentor. If you have questions you can join us on IRC in the channel #kde-soc on freenode or you can send an email to the mailing list kde-soc at kde.org.

If you live near Karlsruhe, Germany you’re invited to join us on January 28th at 19:00 at Cafe Stövchen for a release party. KDE contributors and users are welcome as are people from other Free Software projects. Please add your name to the wiki so I can plan better. It’ll be a fun evening.

You don’t live near Karlsruhe? Check if there is a party near you on the wiki page and sign up for that. No party near you yet? Organize one! It’s really not hard and a lot of fun.

I’m looking forward to this since the last parties about 5 month ago. This time I asked one of our Google Code-in students, Arushi, to help me. Here is what she writes:

It is that time of the year again when you can get together and celebrate KDE’s latest major releases. Many people put in their efforts to launch the latest version of the software. So, now it’s time to sit back, relax, have fun and appreciate the result

The party is all about you. A wiki page for 4.8 release parties has also been created for you to add your name as an organizer. The best part is that you get to choose where you want the party to take place . This is a great cause for celebration.

Well then what are you waiting for? Get started and have fun

Yesterday we released the second wave of tasks for students for the Google Code-in contest. Code-in is a fantastic opportunity for high-school kids to get involved in Free Software, earn some money and maybe win a trip to Google’s headquarter in California (been there – it’s awesome ). We’re already half-way through the program but if you or someone you know wants to take part: it is not too late yet. Start right now.

Some stats for the first half: The participants rocked and finished nearly 200 tasks. We had about 50 left. Yesterday we added more tasks and are now at nearly 200 open tasks that can be worked on until early January.

Students: What are you waiting for? Get cracking. Our mentors are awesome and don’t bite This is your chance to rock.

Akademy 2012 will happen from June 30th to July 6th in the beautiful town of Tallinn, Estonia. Mark the dates in your calendar and think about exciting stuff you could do there. A call for papers will be published in time.

Read more on the dot.

The Quarterly Report of KDE e.V. for Q3 2011 has been published. It gives an overview of all the important activities the e.V. supports like the Desktop Summit in Berlin and various sprints but also the annual general assembly and finances. It also contains an interview with me about why KDE rocks at mentoring. Check it out here: http://ev.kde.org/reports/ev-quarterly-2011_Q3.pdf

Special thanks to Carl, Claudia, Inu and Rob and everyone who helped them for working on an awesome report.

You can help make everything mentioned in this report happen by supporting KDE e.V. financially. Become a supporting member today and Join the Game.

I’m excited that KDE has once again been given the opportunity to work with a number of really awesome kids as part of Google Code-in 2011. Find out more about Code-in and the other 17 accepted organisations in the announcement.

This time Valorie, Sandro, Annma, Akarsh and Roger are helping me with admin duties. We’re looking forward to the flood

If you’re interested in taking part in Code-in as a student have a look at KDE’s preliminary task list. Those will be moved to the official place in the next days. The real fun starts on November 21st and then you can start working on the tasks. If you have ideas for tasks that you would like to work on but that are not on the list then please propose them either to a potential mentor or the admins. Be quick with this. We can’t add tasks again until Dez. 16th once the program started. Please also carefully read the eligibility requirements.

KDE mentors: If you still have task ideas please add them to the wiki asap.

Should you have questions feel free to ask either on the kde-soc mailing list or in the IRC channel (#kde-soc on freenode).

We’ve got quite a few tasks for Google Code-in now but still not enough on the wiki page: http://community.kde.org/GoogleCodeIn/2011/Ideas. Please help fill it. It needs to have a lot of tasks (at least 5 in each area) on Nov. 1st (org application deadline). I’m sure there are a lot more of those “oh man I wish I had more time to get this done one day” tasks. This is your chance!

For more details check my initial announcement. There are also more task ideas in the comments there that are looking for a mentor in case you are not very creative today

If you have questions please find me in #kde-soc on freenode.

PS: Please only add tasks with a mentor.

It is time again to prepare for Google Code-in. We have 2 weeks to collect tasks that we’d like high-school students aged 13 to 17 to work on. Last year GCI was an amazing success and I hope we can take part again this year.  For this I need your help.

We need to fill this page with as many tasks as we can in the next 2 weeks: http://community.kde.org/GoogleCodeIn/2011/Ideas  Unlike last year we will not be able to add more tasks for the students until the middle of the program so we really need to have as many as we can by the time the program starts.

We are again looking for tasks in the following areas (we need at least 5 in each of them):

• Code: Tasks related to writing or refactoring code
• Documentation: Tasks related to creating/editing documents
• Outreach: Tasks related to community management and outreach/marketing
• Quality Assurance: Tasks related to testing and ensuring code is of high quality
• Research: Tasks related to studying a problem and recommending solutions
• Training: Tasks related to helping others learn more
• Translation: Tasks related to localization
• User Interface: Tasks related to user experience research or user interface design and interaction

If you are unsure how tasks should look like:

• some info from Google: http://code.google.com/p/google-code-in/wiki/GCIAdminMentorInformation
• our ideas page from last year: http://community.kde.org/GoogleCodeIn/2010/Ideas
• #kde-soc on freenode IRC – poke me there for any clarifications you need

http://community.kde.org/GoogleCodeIn/2011/Ideas is waiting for your ideas. Go Go Go!

15 years ago today marks the beginning of what today is a large, worldwide, rocking team producing Free Software. We’re creating programs that are used by so many people all around the world – on their desktop, netbook, tablet, mobile phone and in the cloud – allowing them to be free.

I joined KDE around the time when 3.5.6 or so was hip – I was fascinated by the code and the people behind it. Boy, we’ve come a long way since then on so many levels. It’s been a joy to watch and be a part of. Just as Cornelius, I can say I wouldn’t be where I am today without it. I’ve made the best friends one could imagine, learned more than I could ever wish for, traveled around the world, found love – all that while doing my small part in changing the world. Thanks KDE! I owe you.

But let’s not forget that the ride has just started! In the next years I want KDE to have a significant part in helping make people more free, allowing them to do amazing things that we can’t imagine today. And I want KDE to grow in numbers, scope and financially without losing its identity. It’ll be a challenge but we can make it happen. And you can be a part of it!