Governance changes and maintenance

[melissawm]

Hi all,

You are being pinged in this issue as a previous maintainer of this repo. You may have seen some recent changes in the governance documentation and activity in the Cookbook.

Due to the new DISC Committee not having the bandwidth to maintain this repo, we are wondering if you are interested in working in the Cookbook again. @aterrel is doing a fantastic job, and it is great to see more people interested in contributing.

Please let us know!

Cheers,

Melissa

cc @noatamir @mikofski @terezaif @numfocus/disc-committee

[mikofski]

I will try to make some time to help. I think governance is a good place to start, because of the unique value of the DISCOVER cookbook. It’s important to get the content right, especially now, because of the importance of inclusivity in science. We need to build a community of contributors while also maintaining consensus on quality.

I would recommend archiving versions on zenodo because cookbook has referenced by others

Ten simple rules to host an inclusive conference
Joo R, Sánchez-Tapia A, Mortara S, Bellini Saibene Y, Turner H, et al. (2022) Ten simple rules to host an inclusive conference. PLOS Computational Biology 18(7): e1010164. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1010164

I would also reconsider the goal of updating the cookbook. At the time of its creation it may have been the first of its kind. However now there are several online articles on hosting diverse workshops, what makes the NumFOCUS DISCOVER cookbook unique?

Rather than rushing to make new contributions, I suggest focus on building a committed community with shared purpose. My 2 cents.

[aterrel]

I agree that we should create archived version. Perhaps two as the original push in 2019 and then the one in 2023 have distinct updates. If we are in agreement I can make some issue and see how we can support versions in jupyter book.

[aterrel]

I think the content of the book could be improved. I presume that is why there are so many content issues. Unfortunately, I see a lot of pull requests that are clearly generated by some AI systems. Writing books is as hard as writing code and we should decide if this resource is an edited collection with subject experts for each section or a singular work. It seems different from a wiki but simillar in the collective editting. Over the past month I've stayed away from the editing of content unless it is obvious copy editting. @kamila-NF has suggested we discuss at the next DISC meeting. I prefer discussions on the repo, but synchronous meetings have their place too.

[aterrel]

It is my belief that this resource should be kept up to date and maintained simply because NumFOCUS hosts dozens of events a year. It's unique property is that it sets the tone for the program committees at all those events. Not having details on how to handle health concerns and perhaps the proposed security section means that each committee is making decisions on an individual basis. By hosting this document, NumFOCUS gives a community built guide that represents all of our teams guidance.

[aterrel]

As rule 10 of the article linked above mentions, inclusive events create mechanisms for passing the torch. Participating in GSOC and maintaining the repo is a way to build the community of shared purpose.

I think by creating the kind and inclusive space that NumFOCUS seeks to foster in all our projects (see https://numfocus.org/projects-overview) the community around this book will grow.

[mikofski]

Maybe https://www.outreachy.org/ and/or https://developers.google.com/season-of-docs or an experienced DEI consulting org (maybe like Boston Consulting Group ? IDK any TBH) might be good resources to build community and content.

[melissawm]

Initially, the cookbook was created by members of the DISC Committee. Over time, the project lost its maintainers due to the changing composition of the Committee, and currently it seems like we don't have folks from the committee volunteering to manage it. I don't speak for the committee but I'm pretty sure we don't want to block work on the Cookbook either, meaning it would be great if others could pick up the torch as we don't have bandwidth for it right now.

The DISC Committee is currently focusing on the organization of the DISC Unconference which will take place in March, and which would be a great place to discuss new maintenance for the cookbook. I am happy to support others when possible and direct questions about the cookbook here.