User:Mchua/Internships

This is a draft proposal for a future program - it is not a formal program (yet).

An internship program operating in 3-month cycles (intern terms may be for any multiple of 3 months) where Interns go to work (on specific projects, on many projects, on general help, on inter-organization collaborations) for Foster Orgs at their offices.

Funding for the intern positions comes from Umbrella Orgs, which also act as "facilitation umbrellas" to get different interns and foster orgs talking, updating, and collaborating (...and they can send out t-shirts, too).

One level above that is the overall program, which:

• provides an easy way to handle legal and funding issues and assists foster and umbrella orgs in cutting through the red tape *: acting as a donation channel

  escrow and payment distribution service

  can assist with visas, taxes, etc

• points towards resources for collaboration (potentially hosts mailing lists, etc.),
• moderates and hosts the application process (although applicants are all chosen by umbrella and foster orgs),
• sends out reminderpings at set dates throughout the 3-month cycles
• and runs a publicity/recruitment campaign in general.

Small, well-specified projects that can be completed fairly independently should be handled by Google's Summer of Code, the Summer of Content program, or the Bounty program.

Schedule

3 month cycles will run in the winter (Jan-Mar), spring (Apr-Jun), summer (Jul-Sep) and fall (Oct-Dec). A sample schedule for the fall term is displayed here. For internship terms longer than 3 months, the same dates hold, with the "kickoff" being their first party and their "ending celebration" being their last one.

Stage 1: recruitment (-3 to 0 months)

• Before Jan 7 - Umbrella orgs post requests; umbrella and foster orgs talk and make arrangements
• Jan 7 - Foster orgs post positions; applications begin
• Jan 30 - applications due
• Feb 15 - all applicants notified of status
• Feb 15 - Apr 1 - Foster and umbrella orgs and interns work out payment, travel, etc.

Stage 2: work (0-3 months)

• Apr 1 - Party. Kickoff! T-shirts, introductions, local get-togethers in-person.
• May 15 - Party. Check-in! (not necessarily in-person get togethers) Interns encouraged to post to the Brag Blog.
• July 1 - Party. End celebration! (Coincides w/ kickoff for next group.) Get-togethers in person.

Stage 3: postmoterm (4 months)

• July 5 - Massive publicity/press release push, coinciding with application period start for next round

Resources/inspirations

• kiva.org
• donorschoose
• mysociety
• summer of code
• openplans
• open source code bounties