GSoC 2023: Android Client improvement proposal and brainstorming

Greetings to the community of OpenMRS!

Wiki Page link : GSoC 2023 : OpenMRS Android Client Project

As a member of the OpenMRS community, I have been actively engaged in proposing and contributing to Android client of OpenMRS in the past. My past project improvement proposal have been selected and implemented successfully in GSoc 2022 by @salahoamro , and I have received positive feedback from the community.

I am committed to contributing to the OpenMRS community and would like to propose a new project improvement for this year. My proposed project aims to address a critical need within the OpenMRS community and focuses on improving the usability and accessibility of the OpenMRS platform.

I have already conducted research and analysis of the requirements for the proposed project, and I am confident that it will benefit the OpenMRS community. I have also identified potential areas of collaboration with other members of the community to ensure the success of the project.

I would like to put forward some project ideas for the android client. Following @kdaud 's post, I have created a wiki page for the same.

Wiki Page link : GSoC 2023 : OpenMRS Android Client Project

I request fellow members and enthusiasts to pitch in any follow-ups or ideas so that I can add them to the list. I believe that with your help, we can make a significant difference in the OpenMRS community and improve the lives of those who use this platform.

@jennifer @grace @herbert24 @jwnasambu @rishabh997 @salahoamro @kdaud @ian @dkayiwa @dennis @vasharma05 @anjisvj @jayasanka @hadijah315 @piumal1999 @heshan @kumuditha @dev2 @dev3

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@kdaud @jayasanka Please add this to the project list for this year. It is important that we keep adding features from the web app to the Android client to keep it updated. Also it’s stable version is not yet released on the PlayStore. It’s one of the objectives for this year.

Update: I have added this to the project list.

@abertnamanya @sharif @jonathan @shekharshinde99 @theprateek I would like to inquire about your interest and availability to serve as a mentor for the Android client improvement project for this year’s GSoC program?

Hi @elonshubham

@elonshubham are you part of the OpenMRS GSoC admin team? Or are you planning to apply as a GSoC Mentor? I received an email notification where you said that: I am pleased to announce the appointment of the following mentors for the Android Client improvement project for this year’s GSoC program...

From your original post and your other activities around the android client, you are a more qualified mentor for this project than the people you have mentioned above.

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@dkayiwa Please accept my apologies as I was not aware that I am not authorized to announce or appoint any mentors for any project. I asked all of the people mentioned above personally and they accepted to mentor the project that’s why to rectify that I created this post so that community members can have an involvement and the mentioned members can show their interest about mentoring the project.

@elonshubham no need to apologise. :slight_smile:

You can simply join our GSoC admin team because the activities you have done of personally reaching out to these people makes you a very suitable candidate to join this team. And i also emphasize that you have done way much more openmrs android client work than any of those people that you have reached out to. Which makes you a more suitable candidate than any of them, for mentoring the android client project. :slight_smile:

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Thank you @dkayiwa for extending the opportunity to assume the mentorship role for the Android client improvement project.

However, my preference lies in actively contributing to the project. Having dedicated the past two years to working on the Android client, I am now eager to apply for the GSoC project and participate in its advancement.

@elonshubham I also see u a a possible candidate for this :upside_down_face:

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Thank you @elonshubham, I also go with @dkayiwa you’re the best fit for this project. Personel I have done enterprise android projects before but I haven’t contributed to Openmrs android client project extensively like you have done before.

Good luck,

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@abertnamanya Are you willing to be appointed as a Backup mentor for this project?

Thank you for tagging me @elonshubham. I am really interested in this project. I have a good knowledge about the tech stack that has been used in this project. I have also contributed to this project. I would love to serve as a mentor for the Android Client improvement project for this year’s GSoC program.

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@elonshubham our practice is for a mentor to have more experience for a particular project, than the student. That way, the student can learn as he or she is guided by the mentor. But in this case, looking at [theprateek’s one commit](Commits · openmrs/openmrs-contrib-android-client · GitHub) and your many commits in number and complexity, it turns out that you would mentor him instead of the other way round. Not forgetting that you are already a /dev2 and he is not yet even a /dev/1

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@dkayiwa I intend to submit a proposal for this project, however acknowledging the possibility of its rejection. In such an event, there exist numerous interested (new) members with limited experience and no prior contributions (even with no commits), who may get selected instead. In that case, Prateek will be able to guide them.

Given my interest in contributing, and taking into account Prateek’s availability, I believe he would be a suitable candidate for the mentorship position.

Hey Shubam,

I would like to express my appreciation for your outstanding work on proposing the project and contacting mentors for GSoC. Your contributions have been invaluable to the success of this initiative, and we are lucky to have you as a candidate for GSoC.

However, as Daniel pointed out, having an experienced mentor who is an expert on the project and the community is crucial for achieving the desired results. Therefore, we need to focus our efforts on finding a dedicated mentor who can provide guidance and support throughout the program.

Meanwhile, I wanted to share that the Android client is a project that our Global Product team has not been focusing much on as it has been perceived as fragile and of low value to the community. While it has come to our attention that NigeriaMRS uses it, but they use their own fork of the Android client. Therefore, we do not believe it is worth spending central resources on at this time. The only way it may receive attention or maintenance is through the dedicated efforts of mentors who are willing to offer their time to the project.

Please know that your hard work and dedication have not gone unnoticed, and we are confident that with the right mentor, you will be able to excel in your GSoC project. Let’s work together to find the best mentor possible and make this a successful endeavour.

Thank you for all that you have done and continue to do for this project. :heart:

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Thank you for your kind words of encouragement. They are greatly appreciated @jayasanka :smiley:

Additionally, I would like to draw attention to the fact that implementers always typically utilize a forked version of the project.

In order to enhance the project, it is important to introduce additional features and modules, thereby alleviating and reducing the burden on implementers to develop these components independently.

And sure! I will make an effort to locate suitable mentors.

Thanks again for the follow up!

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Hey everyone, I read the thread and looks like we need a mentor for OpenMRS-Android Client and i would like to take this position up…

I was student in this project in 2020 and mentored in 2021 and curreny working in Nutanix and i’d like to mentor all the students working in Android client…

I’ll connect with him tomorrow to catch up about android client and his goals he’d like to achieve in GSoC…

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Hey @rishabh997

It is a pleasure to see you once again. Thank you for taking the time to respond and sure we can connect to discuss the project.

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Great to have you @rishabh997 join GSoC’23 mentorship team and looking forward to working with you.

Last year @salahoamro did a great work when he discussed android client project with the community and then went a head to work on the project during the program. You may consider taking a look at the activities that transpired around the project so you get a better view of the project. As a mentor we encourage to define the project goals and objectives so the project can be guided appropriately.

i’d like to mentor Shubham…

I’ll connect with him tomorrow to catch up about android client and his goals he’d like to achieve in GSoC…

I would like to put a comment here: As a community we do not encourage mentors during the contributor application period to show up which contributor they’re willing to mentor because many potential contributors who have keen interest in the same project will likely drop off and GSoC does not acknowledge this kind of practice.

We encourage mentors to give necessary support and guidance(via public forums) to all potential contributors during the application period and when the period ends(this time will be on April 4), then the project mentors scrutinize all the applications and rank the strongest proposals for their respective projects which we send to GSoC. We aim at engaging motivated GSoCers with the right skill base and who have keen interest in becoming a part of our community for the long term engagement.

As a mentoring organisation we are obliged to work under Google Summer of Code Program Rules and since last year when the program was opened up to non college students GSoC added in more eligibility criteria and we encourage all our mentors to review these new rules so they get guidance as we go through the program. Among other rules we encourage all the community mentors to be acquainted with GSoC contributors eligibility so they select the right candidates during the contributor selection period.

/cc: @jayasanka @jennifer

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@rishabh997 we have compiled the potential projects → here so you can check it out and find the android client idea. Once we get dedicated project mentors and they define the project scope we will then move the idea(s) to Summer of Code 2023 - Resources - OpenMRS Wiki where potential contributors are picking up projects from.

If you have any inquiry, reach out to the GSoC admins.

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