Changing Language under General Information

[sclayton29]

As we are getting more participants from the social sciences and humanities, we have gotten some feedback that the first paragraph under General Information is a bit exclusive. We have tweaked the language to make it more inclusive. I'm not sure if this is something the large community would want to adapt, but I wanted to put it out there for discussion.

Here is what we came up within our local SWC Instructor Community: "Software Carpentry teaches researchers the basics of writing and maintaining code to help them get more done in less time with less pain. This hands-on workshop will cover basic concepts and tools, including program design, version control, data management, and task automation. Participants will be encouraged to help one another and to apply what they have learned to their own research problems."

The changes are at https://github.com/oulib-swc/workshop-template-ou. I'd be happy to submit a pull request if that is appropriate.

Thanks! Sarah

[lexnederbragt]

I agree with the need for rewording. However, we teach more than 'the basics of writing and maintaining code' as exemplified by the shell lesson. May I propose you put in the pull request to get the ball rolling?

[rgaiacs]

@lexnederbragt Thanks for your contribution.

May I propose you put in the pull request to get the ball rolling?

We can keep the discussion here and when we got to an agreement I will create the pull request and merge it giving credit to everyone. 😄

[sclayton29]

Thanks, @lexnederbragt and @rgaiacs. We had a bit of discussion around this phrase in our local group.

Here are some of the other options that were brought up to replace "the basics of writing and maintaining code".

• "basic programming, version control, and command line computing"
• "the basics of using code to control your computer"

[wking]

On Fri, Dec 16, 2016 at 09:12:45AM -0800, Sarah Clayton wrote:

• "basic programming, version control, and command line computing"
• "the basics of using code to control your computer"

Maybe “the basics of using, writing, and maintaining software”? That's pretty generic, but our goals are pretty generic ;). And it avoids “control your computer” and “command line computing”, which I think are accurate but potentially intimidating.

[lexnederbragt]

I work with many people that need first and foremost to be able to run other people's software through the commandline, probably followed by running some packages in R. Too much focus on 'software' in this general description may make them think the workshop is not for them.

What is it in the current that is off-putting text for the social sciences and humanities people?

[sclayton29]

It was the first sentence that was a bit off-putting: "Software Carpentry's mission is to help scientists and engineers get more research done in less time and with less pain by teaching them basic lab skills for scientific computing."

In my view, the biggest problem was by specifically naming scientists and engineers you are discouraging others from participating, which is why we replaced it with a more generic researchers.

If you change the first part, the second half of the sentence ("basic lab skills for scientific computing") becomes problematic. Perhaps we could change it to "basic lab skills for research computing." I noticed that is what the SWC website is using as it's tagline.

I don't know that "basic lab skills for research computing" would mean much of anything to potential participants, but the next sentence does break it down to the specific topics.

[lexnederbragt]

Hmm, interesting. Forgive me if I'm wrong, but you seem to say that participants from the social sciences and humanities see themselves more as 'researchers', than 'scientists'? (this may be a language thing, I am not a native English speaker). Or is it bscause 'science and engineering' is being associated with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics)?

Anyway, I like your suggestions which are neutral, clear and encouraging!

[sclayton29]

I think both. From my experience, many scholars in the humanities and to a lesser extent social sciences shy away from the term 'scientists' because of it's association with STEM fields. Researcher is a term I've seen applied across the board.

There are more and more applications for the material we teach in Software Carpentry in English, History, Political Science, etc., and I just wanted to make sure we weren't scaring anyone off before they got started!

[jduckles]

I'm very much for this tweak, I've been slowly changing every occurrence of "Scientist" around the web page and marketing material to "Researcher" as I encounter them.

[lexnederbragt]

Good to know! It looks like we have consensus, then :-)

[rgaiacs]

Good to know! It looks like we have consensus, then :-)

I will make the change later today or tomorrow.

Thanks a lot to all who contributed on this discussion.

[lexnederbragt]

@sclayton29 is it a crazy thought to suggest you to write a short blog post about this? How the increased reach of Software Carpentry leads to 'us' rethinking some of the wording on our website and other materials, and why? With as example this change towards 'Researchers' we discussed here.

[gvwilson]

:+1: (at least). I think this is a great example of how the community can recognize a need and reach consensus on filling it.

[rgaiacs]

Thanks to all involved on this discussion. Special thanks to @sclayton29 for raise the issue. I'm closing this now since #371 was merged. If needed please open another issue. :-)