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Contributing to open source can be very rewarding, but also incredibly intimidating.
When we asked about first time contributions on the rOpenSci Slack,
people recalled the challenges and mistakes they made,
but mostly how much they learned from and enjoyed that experience.
In this community call moderated by Hugo Gruson, our speaker,
Yaoxiang Li will discus the importance of tests with respect to first-time contributions, and share best practices and advanced techniques for supercharging
R package quality with testthat, Pascal Burkhard will discuss is the basic git
skills that can help to make a first contribution, and Sunny Tseng will share
practical advice for making first contributions, common challenges and how to
overcome them.
This event is supported by NumFOCUS Small Development Grants.
See below for speaker bios and resources.
Speakers
Yi-Chin Sunny Tseng
Sunny Tseng is a Vancouver-based data scientist and PhD candidate specializing in avian acoustics. She enjoys the welcoming community that open-source science brings to her career. Sunny is also a scientific infographic designer, blending art with conservation research. As a 2023-2024 rOpenSci Champion, she recently released her first R package, bbsTaiwan, linking her passion for open science with her Taiwanese roots—and featuring her bird art as the logo.
Pascal Burkhard
Pascal is a geography and computer science teacher in a Swiss high school, and has been using R for about 15 years now. Pascal mostly does visualizations for lessons (graphs and maps), but is also a big fan of Quarto to create documents, presentations and books that can all be organized into clean websites to use as a teaching platform.
Yaoxiang Li
Yaoxiang Li is a Senior Bioinformatician at Georgetown University. He has extensive experience in developing R packages, focusing on making complex bioinformatics data accessible. He is passionate about improving open-source software quality, supporting new contributors, and promoting reproducibility in computational biology. Yaoxiang is deeply interested in both statistical theory and the application of machine learning in biomedical research. He has made significant contributions to the R ecosystem, including co-authoring several rOpenSci packages and contributing to R-core through bug fixes.
Hugo Gruson
Hugo Gruson is an evolutionary biologist who fell in love with R and R package development during his PhD. He is now working full-time as an R package developer, with a current focus on making the ecosystem of R packages for epidemiology more robust.
Join Us!
-
Who
Everyone is welcome. No RSVP needed, simply connect and/or dial in at the time of the event. -
When
Monday, 20 January 2025 08:00 PST (Monday, 20 January 2025 16:00 UTC) - Find your timezone
- Add to Calendar.
-
How
Everyone is welcome. No RSVP needed.
Test your Zoom setup https://zoom.us/test.
Join the meeting: https://numfocus-org.zoom.us/j/82222962127?pwd=P93L8kALJvYfzFJzv0UoRarNqCRpt8.1
Meeting ID: 82222962127
Passcode: 393120Find your local number to join by phone: https://zoom.us/u/adAyZGMYrE
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Continue reading: From Novice to Contributor: Making and Supporting First-Time Contributions to FOSS
Analysis of the Key Points: Open Source Contributions and its Importance
Contributing to open source projects can present a significant learning opportunity and it is becoming increasingly popular among various groups, including data scientists and even educators. According to the discussed event, it also opens a platform for diverse and unique backgrounds, from avian acoustics to evolutionary biology, united by a common love for R package development and open-source community collaboration.
Possible Future Developments
If more experienced developers and experts, like Yaoxiang Li, Pascal Burkhard, Yi-Chin Sunny Tseng, and Hugo Gruson, can provide guidance and best practices to newcomers, it will expedite the learning process and create a smoother transition for first-time contributors. With public figures from diverse fields showing their support and involvement in the R community, it can influence people from various disciplines to participate, enriching the open source community with a wide array of expertise.
Long-term implications
This increased involvement and guidance can democratize and decentralize innovation in the field of data science, genomic research, geographic data visualization, to name a few. By fostering a community spirit and focusing on contributors’ experience, rOpenSci is promoting inclusivity. In the long run, it could lead to more significant innovations and advancements due to the multifaceted team contributing to the same project. Furthermore, it will help leverage a diverse talent pool and combat the monoculture generally found in tech.
Actionable Advice and Insights
- Keep Learning and Sharing: New and experienced open-source contributors alike should continuously seek out ways to improve their skills and also disseminate this knowledge. This will help accelerate the growth and development of the R community.
- Promote Diversity: Encourage experts from varied fields to contribute. This could stimulate innovation and bring forth unique perspectives to the open-source project. It is also crucial for leaders to create an environment where a diverse range of voices are heard and valued.
- Key Onboarding Best Practices: Key best practices such as giving a brief introduction to newcomers, assigning them a mentor, and encouraging their active engagement can help assimilate them into the community. This would enable them to contribute meaningfully and learn from the experience effectively.
- Organize Contributor-friendly Events: Events like the one discussed invite everyone, irrespective of their experience level, which normalizes the process of getting involved and offers a platform for learning and networking.
Open-source contributions have the potential to significantly shape fields of study and the future of science and technology. By fostering a contributor-friendly environment, there is significant potential for growth and innovation.