Summer of Code 2009 Application

Owned by Jason Jason
Last updated: Mar 16, 2009 by Jim HelwigVersion comment
4 min read

Here is the public site: http://socghop.appspot.com/org_app/show/google/gsoc2009/jasig_uportal

Application information

Link ID: jasig_uportal

Group Name: Jasig uPortal

Home Page URL: http://www.jasig.org/uportal/

Public Email: uportal-steering-committee@lists.jasig.org

Description:
uPortal is the leading open source enterprise portal framework built by and for the higher education community. uPortal is built on open standards-based technologies such as Java and XML, and enables easy, standards-based integration with authentication and security infrastructures, single sign-on secure access, campus applications, web-based content, and end user customization. It is one of the most widely deployed open source enterprise portal frameworks, having been adopted by hundreds of institutions and the eResearch community, world wide (see partial list at http://www.jasig.org/uportal/deployments). The Jasig uPortal project has won the 2002 InfoWorld 100 award and 2007 EDUCAUSE Catalyst award. The uPortal community also focuses on developing standards-compliant Java Portlets that can be deployed on other standards-compliant portal frameworks. The Jasig uPortal community has close relationships with a number of other Open Source communities, including Apache Pluto, Spring Portlet MVC, Internet 2, Kuali, Sakai, DSpace and Fedora Commons. Several of our committers are also committers on some of these other projects. Our projects pointedly leverage other Open Source libraries where ever possible.

Why is your group applying to participate? What do you hope to gain by participating?
The Jasig uPortal community is a very open community that encourages participation. With our origins in higher education, we view participation as an opportunity to spread knowledge about Open Source in general and uPortal/portlets in specific. Students participating in this project will have a positive experience with an Open Source community and be able to see their contributions adopted by implementing organizations. The Jasig uPortal project is putting increased effort into developing a bundle of standards-compliant Java Portlets. Participating student developers will be able to enhance existing portlets or create new, innovative portlets. We expect to see adoption of these standards-complaint portlets beyond uPortal.

What is the main public mailing list for your group? http://www.jasig.org/uportal/mailing-lists

Where is the main IRC channel for your group? ##uportal on irc.freenode.net

What criteria do you use to select the members of your group? Please be as specific as possible.
Jasig uPortal is very open to new participants. Anyone interested in uPortal or Java Portlets can join the mailing lists and participate in the conversation. Anyone interested in developing new portlets can submit their code and ideas. We require an open, cooperative attitude and a commitment to quality. GSoC student developers interested in participating should be skilled in Java web development and have some familiarity with Open Source Java libraries (e.g., Hibernate, Spring). To get commit status to the uPortal project or existing portlets, the developer needs to present a history of submitting quality patches and code (on this or other projects), attention to detail, good design principles, and a cooperative spirit. The existing core developers then votes on granting commit status.

Has your group participated previously? If so, please summarize your involvement and any past successes and failures.
No

If your group has not previously participated, have you applied in the past? If so, for what sort of participation?
No

What license does your organization use? New and Simplified BSD licenses

What is the URL to the ideas list of your organization? http://www.ja-sig.org/wiki/x/3wbP

What is the main development mailing list for your group? http://www.jasig.org/uportal/mailing-lists

What is the application template you would like contributors to your organization to use.
None specified.

What is your plan for dealing with disappearing contributors?
The uPortal Steering Committee strives to ensure the project has adequate contributors. In several instances, as core contributors have moved on from the community, other contributors have stepped up to provide leadership. In the case of independent modules or portlets, if the contribution has not gained adoption and the contributor leaves, it is no longer included as part of the project. For the GSoC projects, we would look for others in the community to pick up where the student left off.

What is your plan for dealing with disappearing members?
The uPortal Steering Committee helps ensure key positions in the project are filled. This includes project leads and administrators. For the GSoC projects, the uPortal Steering Committee will assign primary and backup mentors.

What steps will you take to encourage contributors to interact with your community before, during, and after the program?
Contributors will be invited to join the mailing lists. Representatives from the uPortal Steering Committee will make personal contacts with the contributors. The mentors will regularly check in with the contributors. Progress on the GSoC projects will be noted in the community newsletter. After the program, contributors will be invited to continue their work and participation in the community. They will be invited to attend the Fall UnConference to talk about their experience.

What will you do to ensure that your accepted contributors stick with the project after the program concludes?
Continued participation is encouraged through interaction with the community via mailing lists, wikis, blog posts and conferences. The annual Spring Conference and Fall UnConference are great opportunities to meet face to face with peers and become energized for further contributions.

Other things for us to think about:

  • Commitment from mentors
  • Scope or size of possible projects
  • Advice from projects with successful applications
    • Sakai has three accepted applications for 2008
  • What preparation work needs to be done?