KEY POINTS:
Kiwi high school students are getting the chance to work with global search giant Google, courtesy of go-ahead Wellington software company SilverStripe.
SilverStripe, one of ten organisations selected as part of the Google Highly Open Participation Contest, will assist the students over the next two months to work on small computing tasks which will then be fed back into high profile global software projects.
Participants are rewarded with Google T-shirts and US$100 for every three tasks completed.
The top ten students will then get the ultimate reward - an all-expenses paid visit to Google's massive Mountain View headquarters in California for an awards ceremony.
Tasks set for the students include programming, testing and design.
SilverStripe co-founder Sigurd Magnusson says the contest endeavours to teach the students an appreciation of the progressive ideals embraced by Google and open source companies like his own.
"In today's daily commentary about global warming and people's wariness of the greed held by large music, oil, banking, and software giants, companies like Google are boldly demonstrating how to make money and still operate for the human good," said Magnusson.
"With Google Earth, for example, Google purchased millions of dollars of satellite photography to then release the world's best mapping tool," he said.
"By making it free, Google genuinely improved the world we live in. Through this contest, Google hopes to teach the next generation to appreciate the importance of collaboration, open standards, and freedom of information - and encourage them to live by the same ideals."
SilverStripe's innovative open source CMS platform has drawn massive praise around the world, and the company was this week named in the Deloitte Asia Pacific Technology Fast 500
Check out more details on the competition's tasks at Google's code site.
- NZ HERALD STAFF
