Outreachy report #13: September 2020
Application review
Sage and I are always discussing ways to make the reviewing process better and this round they introduced a small tool to help us communicate which themes we’ve identified in essays. A few of them also are also useful to warn a reviewer of sensitive content (for instance, mentions of violence). Note that having more themes in an essay doesn’t necessarily mean it is a more compelling essay — this tool was implemented to support decision-making, but by no means it replaces the more complex process of understanding someone’s situation.
Communication and planning
Synchronous and asynchronous communication have been key to the success of this round — we’ve been using Etherpad to keep track of the progress of communications with all communities and to discuss ideas to improve the application review process, GitLab for more permanent internal documentation (guidelines, templates), Zulip for occasional questions and updates and meetings to get on the same page when needed.
Promotion
I participated in a livestream with one organizer and of participant of Big Open Source Sister in a show they call Talk like a BOSS. They interviewed me about Outreachy both from a former intern and current organizer perspective, technical writing and strategies to create a better environment for global collaboration in open source projects. I’m always excited to accept opportunities that allow me to promote Outreachy in Brazilian Portuguese, but this one was special because it’s an initiative created by a former intern of ours, Clarissa Borges.
I also participated in a private, informal chat with members of Projeto ADAs, a group of women in technology created by students and professors of my university. We mainly focused on my experience as an intern, talking about expectations around language proficiency and working remotely.
Pinging communities
I’ve been building a closer relationship with communities this round. I was responsible for a good amount of emails related to the participation in the December round, in special reminders of important dates and deadlines. I was also in an onboarding meeting with Mixxx DJ Software to understand better what usually brings communities to Outreachy, their expectations, struggles and success stories.