CodeRefinery2-SG-meeting-2021-10-07

Steering group meeting 2021-10-07

Time

• 2021-10-07, 13:30 - 15:00 CE(S)T, 14:30 - 16:00 EE(S)T

Location

• Video meeting: https://uit.zoom.us/j/62112271295

Invited

• Kristoffer Laigaard Nielbo
• Tomasz Malkiewicz
• Pauliina Somerkoski
• Radovan Bast
• Rossen Apostolov
• Jon Kerr Nilsen
• Terje Vellemaa

Presence

• Kristoffer Laigaard Nielbo
• Tomasz Malkiewicz
• Pauliina Somerkoski
• Radovan Bast
• Rossen Apostolov (after 13:50)
• Jon Kerr Nilsen
• Terje Vellemaa

Meeting minutes

Welcoming new project owner

• Introducing Tomasz Malkiewicz to the group.

Project status

• We need to update the budget table in the project plan
  • https://coderefinery.org/about/reports/phase-2-project-plan.pdf
  • NeIC matching previously summed up to 47 but it should sum up to 46
  • Suggestion: reduce 2021 value from 23 to 22
  • Decision: Approved. Table 3.1 fixed in version v1.3.
• We have focused on data management and sustainability and have postponed workshops to 2022
• But we do collaborate on a Python for scientific computing course end of October: https://scicomp.aalto.fi/training/scip/python-for-scicomp/
• We (Sigma2/Norway side) also collaborate on HPC user training beginning of November: https://documentation.sigma2.no/training/events/hpc-nird-toolkit-user-course-nov-2021.html
• There is interest in workshops for payment (collaboration with TU Delft/ NL e-Science Center)
• Writing final project report and lessons learned documents
• Planning celebration event
• Cleaning up personal data, registration data, certificate data, and non-public documents
• Post-processing registration data and survey data:
  • https://github.com/coderefinery/pre-workshop-survey
  • https://github.com/coderefinery/post-workshop-survey
• Work on citable lessons
• Work on GitLab future (meetings and communication with stakeholders and users)
• Process and archive feedback
• RSE work:
  • Seminar series: https://nordic-rse.org/events/seminar-series/
  • International RSE day, Oct 14: https://nordic-rse.org/events/international-rse-day/
• Community calls every 2 weeks: https://coderefinery.org/about/meeting-minutes/
• Carpentries:
  • A growing community thanks to also the monthly calls
  • Not many requests for centrally organized workshops, but also the scope of regional coordinators is being modified by Carpentries
  • Fresh instructors may require a "push" and also support to co-organize or contribute to standard Carpentries workshops

Open call decision and preparation for the next phase

• Proposal: https://coderefinery.org/about/reports/open-call-2021-proposal.pdf
• Evaluation report: https://coderefinery.org/about/reports/open-call-2021-evaluation.pdf
• Next steps: negotiation meeting with consortium representatives late October or early November

Comments/questions:

• Are PMs scheduled and available for sustainability, turning this into an independent organization? Sustainability is a significant part of the project and the challenge will be to find the right persons since this is a different skill set than technical teaching.
• Another challenge in hiring: to keep competence in the Nordics instead of hiring/involving somebody outside the Nordics.

Next steps for the remaining 1-2 months

• Lessons learned document from managing this project
• Blog post about lessons learned from organizing large scale online workshops
• Suggestion for project governance after phase 2: opening up beyond Nordics and opening up to the community
• Final project report (Will be circulated to SG via email with 2 weeks time for comments. Report will be published once approved by the SG.)
• Make lessons citable
• Data management: who owns the non-public data?
• Unsolved problem: Figure out a support framework for the GitLab service, currently RB does all user support
• Celebration event (in November)

Comments:

• Internal NeIC wiki can hold non-public documents.
• Recommendation from SE is to not continue running the GitLab service.

Carpentries membership

• The membership pricing is in the process of changing.
• In the future, regional coordinators are in charge of community building but not anymore in charge of organizing workshops. Workshop organization is moving more into the central Carpentries organization.
• If we keep the tier, the price will likely go up from 5 to 15 kUSD/year.

Comments:

• If CodeRefinery wants to become a Carpentries curriculum, would it not be the wrong time to leave?
• NeIC membership may still be cheaper than sum of local memberships.
• Central membership also gave NeIC/CodeRefinery a say in where instructor training seats go to and this may become more decentralized and more difficult to steer.
• Supporting regional coordinator can be strategic for the future of CodeRefinery.