Mozilla Science Lab Week in Review, November 24 – 30

Shoutouts

Congratulations to all the Software Carpentry instructors who completed the latest round of instructor training this week – we’re excited to work with all of you in your first workshops soon! It’s your contribution that helps drive Software Carpentry’s efforts forward – never hesitate to reach out to us for anything we can do to make your experience the best it can be.

In & Around the Lab

The Lab was heads-down this week, busily preparing to meet up in Portland now! We’re refining our 2015 strategy in Portland, which makes this a perfect time to let us know what you want to see. What events, programs or content do you think is missing from the open science space? What do you think of the things we did in 2014? Feedback now will directly translate into our action plan for the following year, so get those comments in!

Abby has been busy on new site features for the Science Lab, in Collaborate, our education offerings, and the broader website at large; is there any information or any community supports you’d like from our web presence? Let us know while we build!

Meanwhile, Bill spent a big part of the week talking to people about what it’s like to be an instructor, for Software Carpentry or otherwise. What are the challenges new instructors face? What does the community need to do to support instructors better, what questions do new instructors need answered, and how do our instructors experience the process of teaching workshops? These are big questions, but we’d like to start just by hearing your stories – tell us in the comments, on the forum, or contact us privately; understanding your experiences is going to inform how we make adventures in teaching better for everyone.

Reading List

Skills, Tools & Community: MozFest Adventures | Research Bazzar

Software Carpentry Bootcamp: An Organizer’s Story | GARNet Community Blog

In the Digital Age, Scientific Publishing Needs an Upgrade | LiveScience

Programmers, Please Don’t Ever Say This to Beginners | Philip Guo