This report outlines the work completed during Google Summer of Code 2022, along with its outcomes, improvement potential, and future plans. This is also the final project report, which includes all contributions.
- Name: Yash Prakash
- Email: yash2002109@gmail.com
- Github Username: yash-yp
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yash-prakash-yp/
- University: Indian Institute of Technology (BHU), Varanasi
- Organization: CHAOSS
- Project Title: Build Knowledgebase Application on CHAOSS Website
- Project Link: chaoss/website#708
I dedicated the past year to learning as much as I could about web development. I'd always hoped that I'd get to contribute to an impactful project. After collaborating with the CHAOSS team during GSoC'21, I secretly wished they would unveil a new development project this year.
When CHAOSS released the GSoC project ideas, I immediately decided that I would want to work on the website and the knowledge-base project during the summer.
The CHAOSS Project’s website is an invaluable resource for newbies and core project members alike. The website is crucial as it provides information necessary for the project’s smooth running.
However, since the CHAOSS Project has grown in size over the years, one can wonder if the current design is too overwhelming. Reducing the burden of information from various individual sources is necessary.
The website, community handbook, documentation for initiative and software are all separate pieces of information that may be difficult to link together.
The knowledge base project is, thus, critical to establishing a centralized platform for information sharing.
- Reduce the burden of information on the community handbook, website, and individual repositories, making information easier to find.
- Create a one-stop solution for all kinds of users, whether new or old, to easily obtain information concerned with CHAOSS.
- Establish clear paths for users/contributors to follow in order to get started quickly, reducing the amount of time spent linking different pieces of information.
The main motive of this project is to have a unified platform where users of all types can access reliable information. The entire work for the project was done on the CHAOSS Project's website and the website repository.
The project involved identifying information that could be added to the knowledge base and its scope—this involved collaboration with the GSoD'22 team, who were working on restructuring the documentation for CHAOSS.
Further several KnowledgeBase plugins, such as BetterDocs, Echo Knowledgebase, BasePress etc., were tested to find the most suitable plugin for the website. After careful consideration, a paid plugin - Minerva KB was adopted for the knowledge-base.
After trying various designs and categorization options, it was finally decided that there would three knowledge-bases, each of them catering to different community requirements. The knoweldge-bases are categorized as:
- The knowledge-base contains information that could help a newcomer get started with CHAOSS.
- A newcomer could come in two capacities, either as a user or a contributor.
- The motive is not to provide the visitor with lots of information. Instead, it is about guiding them with clear paths they could take per their choice.
- This knowledge-base provides information about CHAOSS, such as the working groups, community, local chapters, governance etc.
- The different initiatives (DEI Badging) and software (Augur, GrimoireLab, etc.) of CHAOSS are also included in this section.
- The knowledge-base is specifically designed for the regular community members providing frequently requested information.
- The metrics and metrics models are a vital part of the CHAOSS Project's output; hence including them in the knowledge-base was essential.
- A unique approach was adopted by categorizing the metrics and models into different topic areas. More information about topic areas can be found here
- The motive behind categorizing the work into topic areas was to introduce a new way of presenting the metrics and models contrary to previous approaches, which linked the metric to the working group in which it was developed.
Note:- While the structure and design of the knowledge-base have been finalized, some articles need to be updated. This would be an ongoing task continuing as the project evolves.
- Weekly video conferences over the CHAOSS Zoom Channel were the primary mode of communication with the mentors.
- Bi-weekly calls with the website working group were scheduled to collaborate on the website redesign and ensure the knowledge-base aligned with the website's new structure.
- The CHAOSS slack workspace was used to communicate with the mentors and working groups.
- The project involved coordination from various working groups and communities, and maintaining communication with the stakeholders was the key to the project's success.
The knowledge-base can be enhanced as CHAOSS's requirements continue to evolve. Maintaining the knowledge-base would be a straightforward task since the knowledge-base is completely hosted on CHAOSS's website. Furthermore, documentation can be found related to the knowledge-base to allow contributors to update it easily.
Working on the website this summer was one of the year's highlights. I got several opportunities to broaden my horizons and meet fascinating people.
Due to the nature of the project, I could zero in on the front-end development's user interface and experience design. I finished the project because I could anticipate the needs of the various user-groups and communities that make up the organization.
Skills-wise, I was able to get my hands on understanding web development via WordPress and its plugins. I also learned how to solve problems while taking into account the needs of various parties.
There are over fifty articles in the knowledge-base that are meant to document the different aspects of the CHAOSS Project. In addition, I worked with over seventy metrics and models that were a part of the project.
Having people from all over the world participate in the video conferences was crucial, as it allowed for a wider variety of opinions to be shared and discussed.
In conclusion, I believe that growing expertise in the disciplines of information architecture and UI/UX Design were my most valuable takeaways from the project, in addition to other insights.
The project would not have been possible without the support of numerous people. I would especially like to thank
- The mentors of the project, Kevin Lumbard, Matt Germonprez, Elizabeth Barron and Ritik Malik, for discussing, suggesting improvements and patiently answering my questions about the project.
- The GSoD'22 team, Ruth Ikegah and Xiaoya Xia, for actively providing feedback and helping realize the knowledge-base.
- The CHAOSS community for supporting me throughout the year and being incredibly appreciative about my contributions.
- Shivansh Saini and COPS-IIT(BHU) for their continuous guidance and help.
- Friends and family for their encouragement and assistance throughout this project.