Google Season of Docs

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Google Season of Docs (GSoD) is a program by Google that funds documentation work in free/open-source projects.

GSoD is similar to Google Summer of Code (GSoC) with the exception that there is no requirement to select university students.

GSoD has been going for the last several years. There should be an announcement soon, sometime in February and the first step is for organizations to apply to join.

I think it would be a good opportunity for Incus to take part in this year’s GSoD.

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The Google Season of Docs 2024 timeline has just been posted,

Organization application are accepted from: February 22, 2024 at 18:00 UTC

Deadline for organization applications: April 2, 2024 at 18:00 UTC

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What part are you interested in? I am not a professional technical writer but I spend a lot of time doing it.

My uncle was, though.

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We will need to see what are the needs of Incus.
People tend not to look through the traditional documentation and the priority is to figure out what would make the most significant impact to the project.

In addition, GSoD is quite competitive and they do not take in many organizations. The risk of rejection and not knowing what went wrong, is high. We would likely need to make it an open call.

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Exploration phase

Although Google Season of Docs applications open February 22, 2024, we strongly suggest that organizations take the time to complete the steps in the Exploration phase before submitting their application.

  • Create a project proposal page. The proposal page includes a list of key needs, goals, or problems, possible documentation solutions, and possible metrics. This page should be public, and allow for community contribution and discussion. Include information for technical writers who would like to participate—where should they ask questions, express interest, or go learn more about your project? We suggest adding an email address for contacting your open source organization about Google Season of Docs. However, we strongly advise against using a personal email address as the email address for contacting your open source organization. (See the project ideas list for examples.)
  • Publicize your proposal page in your community channels and add your organization to the list of interested organizations in the Google Season of Docs GitHub repository. You may also want to share your link in the #season-of-docs channel in the Write The Docs Slack. The promotion and press page includes logos and other content that you can use when talking about Google Season of Docs.
  • For each documentation idea, consider what experience and qualifications a technical writer would need to work successfully with your community and organization. What skills would your community be able to help a technical writer develop (for example, using GitHub or your docs toolchain)? (See the guide for working with technical writers.
  • Ask for volunteers to help answer questions from interested technical writers.
  • Begin reviewing any submitted statements of interest from technical writers interested in working with your project.