Talk:Open projects

Request for better problem statements

I'm looking at some of the projects listed on the page and am puzzled how I, as a potential developer, would get started/involved in many of these (and in fact, what some of them are). Some comments below.

• Activity Handbook: wikify, convert to LaTeX (because DocBook sucks)

can we have a wiki page just for this project? What exactly needs to get done? Are there deadlines? Who should the final result be sent to - who will it be used by? who can provide feedback?

• OLPC pilots: comprehensive overview of where pilots are happening and contact info (if possible) for each pilot

can we have a wiki page just for this project? What exactly needs to get done? Are there deadlines? Who should the final result be sent to - who will it be used by? who can provide feedback? Is this Map updating?

• Projectdb: clean up source-code

(Imagine I'm a newbie.) What is projectdb? How do I get access to the code? What bugs exist that need to be fixed? Do I need to check with the maintainer (who?) before making commits? How do I get my fixes deployed on the live system? How do I test the live system to see if my changes work?

• activity to control power on USB port (for keyboard illumination)

Why is this useful? Who wants it done? Who can provide feedback? Is there someone who will immediately use this if I make it, and who? What is the problem we are trying to solve? What are some suggested first steps for me to explore if I can't think of a good way to start making this?

• sleep ;-) (and test the Alarm clock activity)

Test what? For whom? any particular areas of focus? Why is testing for this needed - is the lack of testing harming somebody right now?

• Set up a build server of your own

Why would I do this? What results would I be looking for? Who wants these results? By when? What are they using my results for? How do I start?

• • One for a Demo build
  • One for a joyride-with-activities-and-fun-things build

Mchua 16:10, 7 June 2008 (EDT)