Open Science devroom at FOSDEM'24

[llewelld]

FOSDEM'24 will take place in Brussels 3-4 Feburary 2024.

Last year there was an HPC, Big Data and Data Science devroom, but nothing to cover Open/Reproducible Science more generally. We could consider running a devroom for 2024.

This might be something to do in collaboration with TPS (maybe they already do something for FOSDEM?) and we could also approach the team running the Data Science room (Ghent HPC team and Big Data Instituate Oxford) to see if we could do something collaboratively. The FOSDEM organisers emphasise collaboration.

This would be a good way to make the Turing more visible amongst Open Source enthusasts, reinforce the important overlap between Good Science and Open Source, increase our understanding of Open Source and strengthen our community ties.

There are also presentations (in the devrooms) or stands which we might also/alternatively consider if this is too much work. These would need a more concrete focus (e.g. a subject to discuss or software to promote).

[llewelld]

Thanks @mastoffel for seeding this idea in our open source discussion.

[JimMadge]

Would be very keen to go to FOSDEM.

There was talk from The Turing Way of going I believe, but I'm not sure if they did in the end.

@AoifeHughes also asked about setting up a room/workshop this year but I don't think there was enough enthusiasm/effort at the time.

[AoifeHughes]

Nah no one wanted to go 😔 thanks for remembering @JimMadge! I’d love to go again!

[JimMadge]

I did! (although, I think I might have been running a training event at the same time anyway)

[mhauru]

Is there a deadline coming up for this, by which we need to decide?

[llewelld]

There are different deadlines depending on what we want to do, most haven't been announced yet. The following list includes deadlines from last year, which should give a good indication:

1. Stand proposals: 20/12/2023 (this is the only deadline currently anounced for 2024).
2. Dev room proposals: last year it was 18/10/2023.
3. Dev room talks: set individually by devroom organisers, but usually November-December time. See the 2023 CfPs.
4. Main track presentations: last year it was 15/12/2023.
5. Lightning talks: last year it was 15/12/2023.
6. Volunteers: any time before the event
7. Birds of a Feather events (BoFs): you just have to add a name to a list of rooms on the day.
8. Attendance: no registration, just turn up on the day, 3-4/2/2024

So the closest dealine is likely to be for devroom proposals some time in October. A devroom would be maximum commitment, but I also think would be a great fit for the Turing, given its role as a convening organisation.

One final point is that many of the devrooms are organised in quite an ad-hoc, distributed, manner. It doesn't have to be super-professional, it just has to attract people willing to speak for half a day.

[llewelld]

The call for devrooms is now out. Deadline 16/10/2023.

[JimMadge]

Very interested in attending. I really doubt I will have time to write a proposal for that deadline though.

[AoifeHughes]

I’d be very happy to help write any proposals, currently don’t have any significant ideas but down to have a brainstorming session sometime

[llewelld]

A short session to discuss ideas sounds like a great idea. I don't think the actual writing of the proposal should be too onerous (I'd be happy to do this part), but two questions that I think it would be useful to answer are:

1. Is REG happy to support the effort. It will take up a chunk of time reviewing submissions and arranging things in the run up to the event, so it'd be a problem if it turns out this isn't something we should be doing. We should run this past @martintoreilly (and discuss with TPS?).
2. Should we collaborate with the HPC, Big Data and Data Science devroom or go for our own? The devrooms are super-competitive and a joint effort would increase our chances a lot (FOSDEM loves collaboration). But if we go this route we should get in touch with the organisers to see if this is something they'd be interested to do.

My feeling is that collaborating, if the option is available, would be a good way in to this.

[JimMadge]

Will make introductions with TPS and Turing Way to see if we can work together on a dev room (and if they have contacts from their communities who might want to be involved).

[llewelld]

Meeting notes: https://hackmd.io/rzP1pyWeT2KcnkWwgCy3iw

[llewelld]

Quick update.

Anne Steele from TPS is involved with the Open Research Tools and Technology devroom devroom.

Thanks to @rwood-97's initiative we also heard from three other devrooms, all of which submitted proposals this year:

1. Community.
2. Python.
3. HPC, Big Data and Data Science devroom.

[llewelld]

I heard that accepted devrooms have been notified although the list isn't public yet. So now might be a good time to contact the devrooms to find out.

Also a note that the deadline for stands has been changed, from 8 December to 10 November (the Python devroom were interested in running a stand as well).

[llewelld]

The Devroom Call for Participation list is now released. To the best of my knowledge at the Turing we have some involvement with the following:

1. Python devroom (deadline 1 December): @rwood-97, @AoifeHughes, @JimMadge, @llewelld.
2. HPC, Big Data and Data Science devroom (deadline 1 December): @llewelld, @JimMadge.
3. Community devroom (deadline 1 December): @rwood-97, @JimMadge.
4. Open Research devroom (deadline 10 December): @aleesteele

The calls are all open until the start of December, so our current task is just to promote them here and everywhere, and come up with talks we might like to present ourselves.

[llewelld]

A quick update on where things are at for the HPC devroom: @JimMadge and I have been working over the last few days on HPC devroom reviews. There were 42 talk abstracts which we reviewed separately and then combined our scores.

The deadline for the final acceptance/rejection decisions is 15th December. @JimMadge and I will have a meeting this evening with the rest of the HPC devroom team to finalise things.

We also have two of our own talks submitted to the HPC devroom; we should get the outcome from these by the end of the week as well.

It's not quite clear what will happen after this point, but I'm expecting our work on things will probably largely pause until the event itself, 3-4 February.

@rwood-97: any updates on the Python devroom?

[JimMadge]

Also two talks submitted to the open research room 🤞.

[rwood-97]

Updates from python devroom: Talks are now selected and scheduled, next steps are to sort out in person arrangements (e.g. getting enough volunteers to host/operate camera for each session).

[llewelld]

It looks like we have multiple talks from Turing people accepted:

1. RCTab in the HPC, Big Data and Data Science devroom.
2. The Turing Way in the Open Research devroom.
3. Gecko dev in the FOSS on Mobile devroom.

Sorry if I missed any others.

[llewelld]

For those planning to attend, now would be a good time to arrange travel and accommodation if you've not already (things start to get booked up and more expensive from now).

I can personally recommend Eurostar to Brussels (~£100 return). In Brussels there's a good bus service (Bus 71) between the ULB venue and Europakruispunt, so any of the many hotels around the nearby Grand Place are likely to be suitable (I've personally booked a room at the nearby Ibis).

[llewelld]

We prepared, we attended and now we're following up with a tech talk (#27) and a blog post (#26). Since this ticket is concerned about the preparation and attendance, I'll close it as completed now.