Instead of weekly exercises, students will have to complete a personal project. The goal of this project is quite straightforward: contribute to an existing open source project.
Besides this contribution, students are expected to send a personal report that describes their contribution and their journey through the project.
The contribution does not have to be technical but should illustrate that the student dedicated some time to enter the open source project. This project should be seen as an entry point for LINGI2402 where an important technical contribution will be expected.
The Open Source project should be an existing project, external from the university, with a strong user base, multiple contributors and a documented history. Here is a link with some projects that have a history and reputation for being welcoming to new open source contributors: https://github.com/showcases/great-for-new-contributors.
The student should submit the project of her/his choice by submitting a commit to https://github.com/ploum/lingi2401/projects.csv.
If the commit is merged by the teacher, the project is accepted.
Why a written report? The report has multiple objectives.
- Allow the teacher to better understand the contribution and have the time to understand it before the exam.
- Convince the teacher that the student has understood and applied the theory seen in class.
- Force the student to question her/his understanding and raise questions that may not appear. If you can't explain it in a report, you probably don't understand it.
- Give the student some experience of writing about technical and non-technical issues. A good exercise before the master thesis.
- Teach the student to make his own communication choice.
Given those objectives are met, the student is free to choose the format of her/his report.
No consideration will be given to formatting. Txt/markdown are fine. But as long as the report is sent in an open and readable format, it's fine.
The report should be self-explainable and standalone. But there are no mandatory sections. The teacher recommends to write the report as a "journal" and, in the end, add a few introduction/context. But it's completely up to the student. If you think that three sentences and a few links are enough to cover the work you did, take that responsibility.
Collaboration is encouraged between student. Reuse of existing documents is also encouraged. Both are seen as a smart use of your time.
But transparency is crucial. Each part of the report that has been writing in collaboration should be clearly indicated. The source of every imported material should be mentioned, potentially with the license.
The only hard deadline is the exam. And the fact that the teacher should read it before your exam. So take your responsibility.
This year, I would like to experiment with everybody presenting her/his project. So the deadline is 2 weeks before the end of the semester (the last 2 weeks will be about your project).
There is no "standard" report because there is no standard project. There's no timed deadline nor precise rules because you are adults. There's no good and bad, no black and white. In real life, everything can always be negotiated.
Use that freedom. Put your guts on the paper, write with your blood, sweat on your keyboard! Question everything, offer more questions than answers.
Good luck!