Internet Archive Summer of Code (IASoC) 2022

Spend your summer reimagining core experiences for OpenLibrary.org, an open source project at the non-profit Internet Archive. IASoC is a paid, flexible, remote fellowship opportunity for early-career designers and developers.

TIMELINE

May 6, 2022: Applications are open
May 23, 2022 May 29, 2022: Deadline for applications
Jun 6, 2022: Selected applicants will be announced

ABOUT US

What is the Internet Archive?

The Internet Archive is a 501(c)(3) non-profit digital library which creates backups of the world’s cultural heritage, spanning everything from websites, government documents, scholarly research, books, music, television news, software, and more. Like a physical library, the Internet Archive provides free access to researchers, historians, scholars, persons with print disabilities, and the general public. Our motto is Universal Access to All Knowledge. The Internet Archive runs several initiatives including the Wayback Machine, OpenLibrary.org, Archive-it, and Archive.org.

What is Internet Archive Summer of Code (IASoC)?

IASoC is a paid, flexible summer fellowship program that awards stipends to help support the journey of exemplary students and early career software engineers, designers, and researchers into the open source world. Three goals of IASoC are to:

offer support to fellows who may otherwise not have the opportunity to contribute to an open source project
offer high impact, highly visible projects to help jumpstart one’s career
promote interest in contributing to public good initiatives.

IASoC is modeled after Google’s Summer of Code (GSoC) program, but is not affiliated. For several years the Internet Archive has participated in GSoC with great success and has been inspired to emulate Google’s model to extend more opportunities to members of the open source community.

DETAILS OF IASoC 2022

IASoC 2022 is focused on improving the core experience of the Open Library project.

Open Library is the Internet Archive’s open-source book catalog service, which helps more than 5 million patrons borrow 4 million books a year. Open Library’s mission is to catalog the world’s books and make them universally accessible and useful.

Internship Details

Project: OpenLibrary.org
Duration: 2 paid months (flexible schedule) ~200h (~20h/wk)
Location: Remote, anywhere in the world
Digital meetings twice a week (once with community, once with mentor)
Stipend: $3,333 USD ($1666 per month)
Applications welcome from: UX Designers or Product / Front-end Engineers

APPLICANTS

Who are you?
You are a student, graduate student, or early-career designer or front-end engineer who is eager to apply your skills to help reshape the future of an open source digital library for millions of book lovers. You may also:

❤️ Love books, libraries, and digital rights: You love books, libraries, and the idea of rethinking an open book logging experience like Google Books and Goodreads.
📈 Aspire to make a positive impact: You want to make reading more accessible, equitable, and contribute designs which are appreciated by millions of readers.
🔓 Value non-profit, open source, and community ethos: You are excited about improving public services and contributing back to the open source community.
🤝 Are excited for chances to lead: You may like the opportunity to make creative decisions and inform the shape of progress with the aid of mentors and a supportive community of contributors.

Ways to stand out
Having a portfolio of projects or designs, relevant course-work, internship experience, relevant side-projects, previous open source contributions, or passion for book experiences are great ways to stand out:

A portfolio of user-facing designs or projects (design, code, demos)
Participation in internships doing front-end, product, and/or design
College or graduate course work in HCI, design, or product engineering
Contributions to open source projects

You may have a chance to learn more about:

Design software, e.g. Figma
Programming best practices, e.g. Git & github
Docker basics
Javascript & JSON APIs
Python & Web.py

APPLICATION PROCESS

All candidates are warmly invited to apply, especially those who may otherwise have difficulty contributing to an open source project without financial support. Applicants may email their resumes to Mek Karpeles <mek@archive.org> and those looking for a chance to stand out are encouraged to submit a short 1-page Google Doc Proposal including the following sections:

About You

1 paragraph introducing yourself, your reason for applying, and why this program is a good fit for you.
Link(s) to your resume and/or LinkedIn profile and any websites profiling your work (E.g. your portfolio, GitHub, Dribbble, etc.)

Your Idea Note: You may be asked to work on a different idea

Describe an opportunity you see for improving Open Library.

What impact do you hope to accomplish with your idea?
Why is this an important idea for us to invest in?
What tools or processes might one use to implement this?
What risks or challenges do you foresee in implementing this idea?

Feel free to also include sketches, mockups, or any other materials you feel might be useful in conveying your idea

Please submit your proposal here by May 23, 2022. We will be reaching out in late May for an interview, and hope to select a fellow by May 31, 2022.

Note: Volunteering or making open source contributions to OpenLibrary prior to IASoC is not a requirement for being accepted as a fellow.

APPLICATION TIPS

Here are some potential ways to familiarize yourself with our work, as well as tips on how to write a good application.

How to get setup as a contributor

Read our Contributing Guide and get
Try setting up a Development Environment
Explore the codebase
Browse Good First Issue

How to write a good proposal

Read Tips & Examples of writing a good Proposals
See the work product of a past IASoC fellow
Get ideas from our 2022 Strategic Roadmap and Service Design

EXAMPLES & INSPIRATION

Here are some examples of previous concepts which may help inspire your creative energies!