SoK/Administer the SoK

Administer an event can seem complicated even more when there is no guide about it. This page tries to be an informal guide on helping you discover what are the necessary steps to admin a SoK based on SoK 2022 and 2024 experience.

Communication Channels

SOK admins communication channels:

• kde-soc-management (ML): https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-soc-management
• Mentors only communication channels: kde-soc-mentor (ML): https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-soc-mentor

See also SOK contributor communication channels below.

SOK contributor communication channels:

• kde-soc (ML): https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-soc
• KDE Mentorship Programs (MR): https://matrix.to/#/#kde-mentorship:kde.org
• KDE New Contributors (MR) (optional for mentors): https://matrix.to/#/#new-contributors:kde.org
• kde-community (ML): https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-community
• Mailing lists or Matrix rooms specific for the project

List of KDE mailing lists: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo
List of KDE Matrix rooms: https://community.kde.org/Matrix

Creation of the event (around 1 or 2 months before the event)

• Gather admins (at least 2) and send a mail to KDE community. Example: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/private/kde-soc-management/2023q4/001307.html.

Preparation of the event

• Create https://community.kde.org/SoK ideas page for this year (copy the previous one, clean the ideas).
• Subscribe to https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-soc-management.
• Ask admin access to https://invent.kde.org/teams/mentor-programs.
• Make a Subgroup/Project at Invent for the SOK year. Example: https://invent.kde.org/teams/season-of-kde/2024 (you can copy the previous year). You may need to create a sysadmin ticket to be able to push on it the first time.
• Create a first issue for projects selection.

• Update the timeline with something like:

    T0: announcement date of SoK
    T1 = T0 + 1 month mentor/contributor applications deadline
    T2 = T1 + 1 week: announce the projects
    T3 = T2 + 2 days: start of work
    T4 = T3 + 3 months; end of work
    T5 = T4 + 3 days: results announcements
    T6 = T5 + 1 month: certificates issued + shipping of the swag/merchandise

Gathering of the ideas

• Send a mail for the potential mentors to collect the ideas in the wiki page. A mail example is https://mail.kde.org/pipermail/kde-community/2021q4/007141.html and needs to be send to the KDE soc mentors, community, devel, core-devel, edu, games, soc mailing lists.
• Also communicate it in the kde-soc Matrix channel where potential contributors should be.

Promote the event

• As soon as we know the SoK will take place, we need to prepare a blog post and communication to ensure we reach as much as good potential contributors as we can.

Publicly announce the start of SOK to potential SOK contributors.

+ Post announcement to kde-community and kde-soc-mentor. Example: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/private/kde-soc-mentor/2023-December/005280.html + Post announcement to KDE Mentorship Programs (https://matrix.to/#/#kde-mentorship:kde.org) + Post announcement on Discuss: Example: https://discuss.kde.org/t/call-for-proposals-want-to-start-contributing-to-kde-its-time-to-submit-proposals-for-our-mentorship-program-sok24-deadline-8-jan/8772 + Contact relevant projects. Example from GCompris-devel: https://mail.kde.org/pipermail/gcompris-devel/2023-November/006280.html + Contact Promo (https://matrix.to/#/#kde-promo:kde.org) to announce start of SOK in social media. Example toot: https://floss.social/deck/@kde/111584761120077303

Inform on how to register

As a contributor

• Sign up to SOK contributor communication channels (see above)
• Contact mentors, subscribe to relevant MLs and Matrix rooms
• Get involved with the teams and issues
• Use the wiki project ideas page to draft a proposal with concrete timeline
• Submit the proposal at Invent following the procedure described in the announcement
• Revise proposal based on mentor feedback

As a mentor

Check this email as reference:

• Subscribe to kde-soc-mentor ML
• Become "Project member" at Subgroup/Project in Invent for the SOK year. Example: https://invent.kde.org/teams/season-of-kde/2025/-/project_members
• Subscribe to other SOK contributor communication channels (see above)
• to-do BEFORE proposal submission deadline: review proposals and provide feedback for SOK contributors
• to-do AFTER proposal submission and before start of work: follow the procedure for accepting proposals at Invent

Once applications deadline is passed

• Ask mentors to mentor for the projects they are willing to mentor and that they don't wait the last moment to do it.

to-do at least 2 days before start of work

• Announce accepted projects to SOK contributors on behalf of mentors
• Publish blog post to kick off SOK

The day of accepted projects

• Accept the proposals which have mentors.
• Create the status report page for this year if it does not exist yet: https://community.kde.org/SoK/2022/StatusReport.
• Send a welcome mail including to ask for reports from contributors: https://mail.kde.org/pipermail/kde-soc/2022-January/001594.html and ask promo if they can do an article on dot.kde.org with selected projects (it is best to help them by providing the content with all selected projects).
• Don't forget to also send a mail to all contributors that were not accepted to explain that they can still contribute outside SoK and it does not have to be the end their journey within KDE.

During the SoK

• Ask willing contributors to write blog posts about their progress and publish it in the planet.kde.org feed(Git project). In all cases, they have to write regularly their status reports.
• There is no mid-term evaluations but if mentors/contributors need to, they can stop at anytime but they need to inform the kde-soc-management team.
• Be present in the kde-soc Matrix channel in case there are questions.

End of work

• Once the end of work target is reached, mentors have around one week to mark the projects as completed. To do so, go to the project page at https://season.kde.org, where there will be a new box "Feedback" with a checkbox "Completed" and a Submit button.
• Submit a short summary of the project for a wrap-up blog post about the different projects and their status (see, e.g., https://dot.kde.org/2022/05/03/season-kde-2022-conclusion).

After results announced

• Generate the certificates for each contributor: Git repository.
• Optionally, you can update the background image when it's become "too" old (or ask in krita-artists if anyone is willing to help create a new one).
• Usually, we go with FreeWear (contact) for customising the goodies. Feel free to contact the Visual Design Group if you need help with the design!
• With the KDE e.V., discuss the budget for the SoK goodies to be sure we ask a quotation that fits.
• Gather information for every contributor who wants to get the swag. Namely:

  - Project name
  - Real name
  - email
  - Phone number
  - Postal Address
  - T-Shirt size and fit

Improvement ideas/questions

Some suggestion/feedback from SoK 2022/2023.

Communication

• More communication and sooner: SoK 2022 felt a bit rushed for everybody, mentors didn't have the time to polish their ideas, promo didn't have the time to promote the event before it started, contributors didn't have enough time to prepare their proposals as the SoK was announced late.
• Deadlines: Have deadlines for mentor proposals come first, with the deadline for contributor proposals later. Or have only one deadline renamed "Deadline for SoK proposals". The way it is currently presented in the timeline is confusing.
• Announcement: Make clear that SoK is not only for developers, but also for graphic artists, translators(?), documentation writers, etc.
• Terminology: Be consistent in terms used (e.g., students or mentees).
• Promotion: Contact or interview former SoK mentees to collect materials for attracting potential new contributors.
• Contributor development: Position SoK as a possible first step in contributor development, something like: Step 1 SoK mentee -> Step 2 submit GSoC application -> Step 3 mentor an SoK project.

For mentors

• Attracting mentors: Provide information about why mentoring can be interesting and valuable for a project.
• Training: Hold a "mentor-the-mentors" workshop with old and new mentors to share strategies and brainstorm ideas for the coming year. This will also clarify expectations and align mentors across projects. Additionally, this also be a time to decide who does what and when (e.g., issuing the certificates, organizing swag, writing the final summary post).

For mentees

• Defining success: Clarify what will result in passing/failing SoK.
• Defining expectations: Provide information early on about what is expected during SoK (e.g., status reports, blog posts, etc.)

FAQ

Is there a hardcoded limit for postuling, editing proposals...?

Nothing limits anything in the code but it is better to stick to the deadlines.

What's the difference between "Accepted" and "Mentors"?

Mentors need to put themselves as mentors before the announcement of the selected projects. The project will be accepted when it is announced.

External links

KDE's Mentorship Website

Season of KDE at Invent

KDE-Soc (KDE student mailing list)

KDE-Soc-Mentor (KDE mentor mailing list)

KDE-Soc-Management (KDE admin mailing list)