Cultivating Community around software and data

Scott Chamberlain (@sckottie/@ropensci)

UC Berkeley / rOpenSci

Open science ecosytsem

After working with A LOT of data providers

API first! GUI website after (if ever)

see #1

see #2

Think about data size/use cases/how often updated/etc.

Clients, clients, clients - users may use website, but reproducbility should be paramount

Reach out to rOpenSci - we can help

for any 1 resource, work can be distributed among groups

e.g., Fishbase - rOpenSci built/maintains API

e.g., SeaAroundUs - rOpenSci took over maint. R pkg

e.g., BIEN - rOpenSci working on building API

How to nurture comm. around software?

• software review!*

• nurture comm. members at all entry points (code, docs, bug reports, use cases, etc.)

• hire specifically for comm. management (shutout to ours: Stefanie Butland)

• helps to have people in many time zones

• empower people to do what they love that helps build community *

*: will talk more about these

rOpenSci Software Review

• Completely open source tools

• Free to run

• All reviews/conversations in the open

• Reviews are/can be linked to code changes

• Paired with submission to a journal - JOSS (more to come ...)

what it looks like

empower people to help build community

how to make a large and resilient contributor base?

• be really nice!!!

• > 1 contributor

• give direct access to contributors

• contributor diversity

• turn users into contribs

make software work easier

• make software count for tenure/grad school decisions

• more

• more academic software jobs!!!!

• drop "novel" work req.(~software maintenance)

• provide (at least facilitate) software training (don't make people learn on their own)

Open Questions

in the face of dwindling budgets, academia not valuing software, etc., how do we:

• maintain software through time, while people come and go?

• attract at least 2 people to all software projects, no matter how small?

• incentivize users and contributors to engage more?

• connect users to data through software in a way that facilitates reproducble science?

• minimize bad actors from spoiling communities?

scotttalks.info/esa17

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