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Google Season of Docs 2023 (Processing)
Hello! Processing is applying for Season of Docs this year. Below is our application.
The Processing Foundation promotes software learning within the arts and artistic learning within technology-related fields. We aim to support people of all backgrounds in learning how to program and create with code, especially those who might not otherwise have access to such opportunities.
We develop and share software projects that contribute to our mission. Processing is a software sketchbook and language for learning how to code within the context of the visual arts. P5.js is a JavaScript library that makes it easy to create interactive graphics and animations for the web. Processing Android is a variant of Processing that lets you create Android apps with Processing. Processing has a extensive community of users, with about 250,000 unique users every month and up to 30,000 people using Processing every day.
We also offer a range of programs, including fellowships, advocacy partnerships, public events, and summer programs for up-and-coming coders, all designed to broaden access to technology and the arts.
As a thriving open source project, Processing relies on fostering and sustaining an active community of contributors. While we have established extensive support for community-contributed libraries, tools, and modes, the development and maintenance of comprehensive documentation to guide the creation of these resources have not received adequate attention. Our existing README and onboarding documents primarily cater to experienced developers and contributors, inadvertently excluding beginners or less-experienced users. Additionally, with the recent transition from Processing 3 to Processing 4, our contributor documentation is now partially outdated.
In order to address these challenges, our primary focus for Processing is to actively encourage a diverse and inclusive community of third-party contributors, particularly those who develop libraries, tools, and modes. By concentrating our efforts on refining the onboarding experience and enhancing documentation for third-party contributions, we aspire to not only facilitate a stronger, more engaged community but also extend opportunities to users who are enthusiastic about contributing but may be unsure of the process.
We hope that by making it easier for people to add functionality to Processing, we will foster creativity within the community, while also attracting a diverse range of new users. An active and engaged user base, combined with ongoing contributions, is a necessary condition to the project's longevity and relevance in the long term.
The Processing Foundation aims to expand and update our Contributor Documentation, with an emphasis on third-party contributions: i.e. libraries, tools, and modes.
We intend to make the contribution process more straightforward and efficient by providing clear guidelines and best practices for submitting libraries, tools, and modes and to diversify the community by making the process more accessible and attractive to a wider range of potential contributors. While our current documentation covers the essential aspects of the contribution process, we acknowledge that it lacks thoroughness in some areas and that some parts need to be updated. Specifically, the documentation on how to contribute libraries, modes, or tools is very technical, partially outdated, and does not provide clear instructions on how to get contributions added to the contribution manager.
By improving our contributor documentation, we hope to make the Processing project more appealing to beginners and seasoned contributors alike, ultimately expanding our core contributor team and fostering a stronger and more diverse community.
- Familiarity with Java and Processing: Understanding of the core concepts and principles of the Processing programming language and environment, in order to create accurate and relevant documentation. Experience with GitHub: Proficiency in using GitHub for version control, issue tracking, and collaboration, as the Processing project is hosted on this platform.
- Experience teaching Processing to beginners: Prior work teaching Processing to beginners in various educational settings.
- Experience writing coding tutorials for beginners: Ability to create clear and engaging coding tutorials for beginners.
- Technical Writing Skills: Strong skills in creating well-organized, concise, and accessible documentation.
- Communication Skills: Excellent skills for effective collaboration with the Processing Foundation team and Processing community.
- Interest in community building: A genuine interest in fostering a diverse and inclusive community of contributors.
- Project Management Skills: Ability to manage time and resources effectively, ensuring the project is completed on schedule and within scope.
- Familiarity with web development and design principles: Basic understanding of web development and design principles to collaborate effectively with designers and web developers in creating the online documentation portal.
Possible Writer: We do not have a writer on board for the Season of Docs yet, but we will be putting out a call for writers and aim to select one in time for the start of the program.
Possible Mentors: Kenneth Lim
With support from Processing Community Lead: Raphaël de Courville
To evaluate the effectiveness of the new documentation and its impact on addressing the identified issues, we will establish a set of indicators focused on assessing the onboarding experience, community growth, and contribution quality.
The following metrics will be used to gauge the success of the new documentation:
- Contributor growth: Track the number of new contributors joining the project (on GitHub) before and after the release of the new documentation.
- Contribution volume: Measure the number of contributions made to the project, with a special emphasis on new libraries, tools, and modes.
- Community engagement: Monitor the engagement levels of community members on forums, social media (Twitter and Instagram), and visits to Processing website.
- User feedback: Collect feedback from users through surveys, interviews, and direct communication. We will track these indicators before and after the release of the new documentation, enabling us to make informed comparisons.
The project itself will take approximately about six months to complete, with 250 working hours in total. Once the technical writer is hired, we'll spend a month on technical writer orientation and project mapping, then move onto the audit and friction log, and spend the last few months focusing on improving the documentation.
| Dates | Action Items |
|---|---|
| May | Orientation and project mapping with mentor, review the existing contributor documentation |
| June | Audit existing documentation, conduct interviews and tests with community testers, create friction log, and identify gaps and areas for improvement. |
| July - October | Improve the documentation structure, and content based on the friction log |
| November | Project completion, and share project findings presentation (live-presentation or blog-post to Processing Foundation Medium publication and social media) |
Our proposed budget:
| Budget Item | Amount | Running Total | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Technical Writer - Processing Contributor Docs Organization & Development | $12,500 | $12,500 | The technical writer will audit, update, test, and publish Processing contributor documentation. |
| Mentor Stipends | $1,000 | $13,500 | |
| Community Testers Honorarium | $1,500 | $15,000 | 10 Community Tester x $150 each ($50 hr x 3 hours) |
| TOTAL | $15,000 |
TOTAL: 15000.00
The Processing Foundation participated in GSoC from 2011-2015 and 2017-2021. To get a sense of the kinds of project we work on via GSOC, take a look at these reports.
- GSOC 2022 wrap-up post
- Processing Foundation articles about GSoC (pre-2022)
- GSOC 2021 wrap-up post
- GSOC 2020 wrap-up post
- GSOC 2019 wrap-up post
- GSOC 2018 wrap-up post
- GSOC 2017 wrap-up post
- Processing Foundation GSOC Page
- Archived GSOC 2014
- Archived GSOC 2013
Another collaboration with a technical writer took place in 2018 working with one of our Fellows, Vijith Assar. Over a period of six months, Vijith worked closely with his mentor Lauren McCarthy to survey the contributor-facing documentation and document the layout of the github repository, guiding design principles, and contributor docs. Through this work we were able to significantly increase the number of contributors and their ease of working on the project.