Sugar Summer Program

See http://www.mail-archive.com/iaep@lists.sugarlabs.org/msg04163.html for background and reference; also, http://www.mail-archive.com/iaep@lists.sugarlabs.org/msg04201.html.

This venture will depend on creative, community support and the cooperative spirit of participants. Please join and contribute ideas here, on this page, and on the It's an Education Project mailing list.

Sugar Institute Vision

 * Fill a house with design students, education students, and computer science students all coming together to work on Sugar. Small Scale version of this is Maple Sugar.
 * Something with work and living space for about 20 people to come together to work together for brief periods (a couple of weeks to a couple of months).
 * It could be used for training deployment teams, some weeks for hackers to work together, some weeks....
 * It could become a place for deployments and deployers to hire Sugar developers and designers for specific tasks.
 * Flophouse, or Sugar Shack, would be a precursor to an Institute to see if this is something that is useful, cost effective, and manageable.
 * Sugar Labs would be a technical sponsor.
 * Give smart, passionate students, who might not be familiar with open source and community development, a chance to immerse themselves in the culture.
 * Provide a catalyst for small groups, loosely affiliated with Sugar Labs, to form, and work on interesting projects that might feed back upstream.

Regional Institutes

 * Rochester, New York, USA (see below)
 * Barre Open Systems Institute in Barre, Vermont, USA with Paul Flint, http://www.mail-archive.com/iaep@lists.sugarlabs.org/msg04175.html
 * Sugar Labs DC, Washington, DC, USA with Jeff Elkner, http://n2.nabble.com/-Marketing--Fwd:-Sugar-Labs-DC-Summer-Workshop-tt3004044.html

RIT FOSS Co-op Vision
Rochester Institute of Technology, RIT, Rochester, New York, USA
 * Modeled after http://www.hfoss.org/index.php?page=hfoss-summer-institute
 * Support students such as those in RIT honors seminar, developing for the OLPC XO working on Math4Team/RIT who want to continue or earn required RIT Co-op credits.
 * 350-hour work commitment by students per term.
 * External to RIT Co-op program Supervisor(s) to oversee and grade the student work.
 * Prefer that students locate in Rochester, NY rather than disperse. (distance co-ops an option)
 * Paid positions when funding is available, unpaid otherwise (Student's must commit to documenting their work before leaving for a paid position).
 * Collaborating with students that will be working on independent studies, see Brian Long, Abbi Honeycutt and etc.

Opportunity

 * Serve both visions in a co-sponsored, 2009 Sugar Summer Co-op program.
 * A hybrid operation with RIT students and other interested parties would be possible.
 * Find financial sponsors.
 * Sugar Labs is not currently able to provide financial support except through community donations.
 * optionally, associate with H-FOSS.
 * self sponsor, when possible.
 * Use RIT Resources
 * Laboratory, office, and meeting spaces
 * Faculty for special projects
 * optionally: campus housing for room and board (One could get housing and a full meal plan at RIT for something like $2500-$3500 for the summer. BUT, application deadlines have passed; though, a group application exception may be possible.)
 * Use Rochester/Upstate New York Resources
 * Rochester, NY Special Interest Group and http://www.lugor.org/.
 * Local schools, colleges, and universities
 * Other local institutions...
 * Local & Regional resources for the social calendar.
 * Room and Board
 * optionally: RIT campus housing for room and board (Application deadlines have passed, but a group application exception may be possible.)
 * optionally: solicit Sponsor homes, like for exchange students, for those that might prefer or can't afford the other options.
 * a community support option for interested families
 * perhaps sponsors could invite appropriately-sized groups to summer cottages or vacation homes for reflective weekends or short, get-away periods.
 * Rochester local housing: $900-1,000/month for a 3 bedroom house $1400-1600/month for a four, etc.