City selected as Google Summer of Code participant for second year

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 18, 2013

For more information, please contact:
Rick Dietz, Director, City of Bloomington Information and Technology Services, 349.3485, [mailto:dietzr@bloomington.in.gov]


City of Bloomington selected as Google Summer of Code participant for second year

Bloomington, Ind. - The City of Bloomington has been selected by Google to participate as a mentoring organization for student programmers through the company's "Summer of Code" initiative. The Google Summer of Code (GSoC) program awards stipends to hundreds of students around the globe so they can spend summers developing open-source tools for chosen mentoring organizations.

"Being included once again as a Google Summer of Code organization is recognition that Bloomington continues to be an innovator and civic leader in the use and production of open source software," said Rick Dietz, the City's information and technology services director.

Student are paired with a mentor or mentors from participating organizations, giving students exposure to real-world software development scenarios and the opportunity for professional mentoring in areas related to their academic pursuits.

Bloomington was the first city government to participate in Google Summer of Code in 2012. Other selected organizations in 2013 include CERN, Code for America, Apache Software Foundation, GNU, Creative Commons, KDE, Mozilla, LibreOffice, Linux Foundation, Twitter, WikiMedia Foundation and many more.

Proposed City projects for Google Summer of Code include developing new features for the City's GeoReporter App for Google Android and Apple iOS platforms, as well as for the City's uReport issue reporting and citizen relationship management system. Students also can suggest new project ideas. Student applications will be available starting April 22.

Information about the Google Summer of Code program and participation opportunities can be found at the Summer of Code [website|http://www.google-melange.com/gsoc/homepage/google/gsoc2013]. To view detailed descriptions of available projects, visit the City's Summer of Code [website|http://bloomington.in.gov/documents/viewDocument.php?document_id=7522].

For more information, please contact information and technology services director Rick Dietz at 349.3485 or [mailto:dietzr@bloomington.in.gov].

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