Knative

More and more workload is moving towards running on the edge. We saw experiments running Kubernetes on vehicles, fighter jets, 5G antenna and various far edge, near edge and fat edge environments. We would like to see what the challenges are when Knative is run in a resource limited environment. While there are multiple edge-friendly Kubernetes distributions, we would like to see [Microshift](https://github.com/openshift/microshift) used as the base platform. Knative consists of Serving and Eventing modules but focusing on Knative Serving as a first step should be more approachable. The project consists of 2 stages. First one is to run Knative on Microshift with minimal resources. This requires finding out problems here, solving them. A stretch goal is to find out what happens with architectures other than x86_64. - Expected outcome: Having Knative Serving with an ingress layer running on top of Microshift. Having a Hello-World Knative Service running on top. Finding issues blocking the edge setup, and possibly fixing them.

Current design of the Knative website (https://knative.dev) does not look modern and contains inconsistent style. Knative UX working group has prepared a new design for the website. We would like to get this design implemented on the website. We also want to ensure with this implementation that the figures in the website include alt text descriptions. We are not looking for full WCAG compliance though. Also, currently the website is not really responsive and doesn’t look good on a mobile device. The group also has a design for the mobile. Finally we have many diagrams on the website that have different styles. We would like to have these diagrams more cohesive. This part is an extended goal though. Expected Outcome: New design applied to website; website is made responsive; diagrams look and feel more cohesive.

Knative Functions enables you to easily create, build, and deploy stateless, event-driven functions as Knative Services by using the func CLI. With this LFX project, we aim to conduct a comprehensive UX evaluation of the func CLI. The focus will be on identifying usability issues, understanding developer workflows, and gathering structured feedback on CLI interactions. The findings will help improve the CLI's intuitiveness, efficiency, and user satisfaction. Expected Outcome: A detailed analysis report documenting func CLI’s usability findings, including (but not limited to ): 1. Assessment of CLI command organization, structure, and discoverability for new and experienced users 2. Review of help text quality and completeness across all commands 3. Mapping of common developer workflows with identified pain points 4. Evaluation of error handling and the user guidance during failures 5. Comparison with industry best practices for CLI design, with recommendations for closing identified gaps

The Knative community is developing an educational game to teach concepts about event driven architectures and how to build them with Knative. A good overview of the project was presented at KubeCon NA 2024 (https://youtu.be/TTBKh6F4v-g?si=MRmx6a2YJsl7y0Q-). We are currently looking to tale our initial prototype and turn it into a full game. In this project, you will help achieve this by designing levels that teach architectural concepts, and implementing those levels in the Godot game engine. - Expected Outcome: Identify key event driven architecture patterns, design levels to teach the patterns, implement the levels in Godot.

Onboarding new end users into a sophisticated system like Knative Eventing presents significant challenges, especially as it involves understanding not only the operational components but also a distinct architectural style - event driven architecture (EDA). These issues are also seen in the current documentation which is often too technical and not geared towards practical guidance. This project seeks to perform a thorough investigation into the barriers that prevent smooth user onboarding and sustained engagement. By identifying these obstacles and developing clearer, more actionable onboarding materials, we aim to enhance the ease of entry and ongoing use of Knative Eventing for all users. Expected Outcome: 1. Produce a detailed report based on user research that outlines the current onboarding experience for new users of Knative Eventing. This report will highlight key barriers and challenges in the documentation and setup process, and recommend actionable improvements to make the onboarding process more user-friendly and less technically daunting. 2. Implement the proposed changes within the Knative community by developing comprehensive onboarding materials and enhancing existing documentation to better support new users.