Thanks for sharing this information Donna. Right down the alley for secondary school IT educators and I hope that my colleagues give it a look over.<br><br>After talking to a past participant with the Google summer of code, I was impressed with the open and community spirit that threads its way through the projects that they support and the good that comes from their contributions. From what I can read, there is a real team spirit that underpins these projects. Instead of silently struggling on with problems in isolation, under the guidance of a mentor the participants are encouraged to ask for help from the wider network, blog, wiki etc.
<br><br>Also spotting your new signature. Well done for your efforts the 2007 VITTA conference and good luck with <a href="http://linux.conf.au">http://linux.conf.au</a> Jan/Feb 2008. This is going to be a huge conference in Melbourne next year. Good luck :-)
<br><br>Regards Roland<br><br><div><span class="gmail_quote">On 01/12/2007, <b class="gmail_sendername">Donna Benjamin</b> <<a href="mailto:donna@cc.com.au">donna@cc.com.au</a>> wrote:</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
The Google Highly Open Participation Contest<br><a href="http://code.google.com/opensource/ghop/2007-8/">http://code.google.com/opensource/ghop/2007-8/</a><br><br>Google says to Secondary School Students<br>"We'd love to see you help out these projects."
<br><br>Apache Software Foundation, Drupal, GNOME, Joomla!,<br>MoinMoin, Mono, Moodle, Plone, Python, SilverStripe.<br><br>Google has announced a new project to get young people<br>involved in open source development. They've teamed up with the open
<br>source projects listed here to give student contestants the<br>opportunity to learn more about and contribute to all aspects of open<br>source software development, from writing code and documentation to<br>preparing training materials, conducting user experience research and
<br>even designing logos.<br><br>The contest is for students aged 13 or older who have not<br>yet begun university studies.<br><br>In return, students will learn more about all aspects of developing<br>software - not just programming. They'll be eligible to win cash
<br>prizes and the all important t-shirt! Parental or guardian<br>permission is required to participate where applicable."<br><br>This has grown out of the success of the Google Summer of Code program,<br>aimed at University Students. "The Google Summer of Code program for
<br>2007 ran through August 31, 2007. This year, the program brought<br>together 900 students and nearly 1500 mentors across 90 countries to<br>contribute to over 130 different open source software projects."<br><a href="http://code.google.com/soc/2007/">
http://code.google.com/soc/2007/</a><br><br><br>--<br>Donna Benjamin<br>Conference Director <a href="http://linux.conf.au">linux.conf.au</a> 2008 <a href="http://linux.conf.au">http://linux.conf.au</a><br>Board Member Open Source Industry Australia
<a href="http://www.osia.net.au">http://www.osia.net.au</a><br>Executive Director Creative Contingencies <a href="http://www.cc.com.au">http://www.cc.com.au</a><br>2007 Conference Co-ordinator VITTA <a href="http://www.vitta.org.au/2007">
http://www.vitta.org.au/2007</a><br><br>_______________________________________________<br><a href="http://www.edulists.com.au">http://www.edulists.com.au</a> - FAQ, resources, subscribe, unsubscribe<br>Moodle Mailing List kindly supported by
<br><a href="http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au">http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au</a> - Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority and<br><a href="http://www.vitta.org.au">http://www.vitta.org.au</a> - VITTA Victorian Information Technology Teachers Association Inc
<br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Roland Gesthuizen - ICT Coordinator - Westall Secondary College<br><a href="http://www.westallsc.vic.edu.au">http://www.westallsc.vic.edu.au</a><br><br>"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has." --Margaret Mead