Current phase:
The 2019 Season of Docs program finished on March 6, 2020. See
timeline.
This page contains guidelines for organization administrators on how to create an application to take part in Season of Docs. This information helps you understand what the Google program administrators look for when selecting organizations for Season of Docs.
The application form
The application form is available in the organization administrator guide during the organization application phase.
After submitting the form, you can continue updating the information on the form until the end of the organization application phase (April 23, 2019).
Information to include in your application
Project ideas: Spend some time creating your list of project ideas. Publish your project ideas on a public web page, in a blog post, or in some other publicly visible document, and include a link to the document in your application. See the detailed guidelines on creating your project ideas list.
Previous experience with technical writers or documentation: If you or any of your mentors have worked with technical writers before, or have developed documentation, mention this in your application. Describe the documentation that you produced and the ways in which you worked with the technical writer. For example, describe any review processes that you used, or how the technical writer's skills were useful to your project. Explain how this previous experience may help you to work with a technical writer in Season of Docs.
Previous experience with similar programs, such as Google Summer of Code or others: If you or any of your mentors have taken part in Google Summer of Code or a similar program, mention this in your application. Describe your achievements in that program. Explain how this experience may influence the way you work in Season of Docs.
Accepting the Season of Docs stipend: Season of Docs pays a sum of money to the open source organization for each successfully completed technical writing project, provided the organization wants to accept the stipend. See the information about stipends for mentor organizations. The stipend is optional. If your organization does not want to receive the stipend, indicate your choice on the application form. Accepting or waiving the stipend does not affect the organization selection process.
Other factors
In addition to the content of the organization's application, the Google program administrators take the following factors into account when selecting organizations:
- Open source projects should be active. For example, the Google program administrators may look at the number of contributors and the contribution trends on GitHub.
- Season of Docs aims for a diversity of projects. The Google program administrators examine the set of candidate organizations and make a balanced selection to ensure that there's a range of organization types, industries, geographical areas, product types, and organization sizes.
- Season of Docs can only accept a certain number of projects. See how slot allocation works.
- The open source organization must be eligible to participate in Season of Docs, as described in the program rules.