UPDATE November 2019
The Mozilla Science Lab was sunsetted in September of 2018. While we had hoped to find a partnership with another organization to take the Study Group work forward, it did not take place. Please feel free to use the materials hosted here to build your own Study Groups, though keep in mind that Mozilla is no longer actively supporting this program.
Our heartfelt :sparkling_heart: and appreciation to all the Study Group Leads and participants who made this program the success that it was.
Much of the work done by the Science Lab has moved on in some way under the Open Leadership & Events Team. If you're interested in that work, you can see how that work is being continued on their website.
Mozilla Study Groups
Welcome to Mozilla Science Lab's Study Group project! From here, we'll set you up with everything you need to start your own study group.
Wait, What's a 'Mozilla Study Group'?
Mozilla Study Groups are fun, informal meetups of your friends and colleagues from around your local institution or town to share skills, stories and ideas on using code for research, and explore open research practices. The goal is to create a friendly, no-pressure environment where people can share their work, ask for help on a coding problem, and learn and work together with their peers. Anyone can start a Study Group-- you don't have to be an expert coder to do so!
What do Study Groups look like in Real Life? Check out the Boston University Study Group's website, and the University of Toronto Coders website. You can also watch a few short videos from Study Group Leads in our Orientation Guide.
For New Organizers
- Join our Gitter Chat: There are Study Groups all around the world. We use an online Gitter Chat to connect and share resources and ideas (you can sign in with GitHub, or using a Twitter ID if you're not set up on GitHub just yet). If you'd like to say hello, please introduce yourself in the chat, tell us where you are, and what you're thinking about or planning for your new Study Group. We're looking forward to meeting you.
- Check out the Study Group Orientation Guide: If you think you might want to start your own group, The Study Group Orientation Guide covers running Group meetings, the super easy setup of your Study Group website, collaborating online using GitHub, an introduction to open research practice, and more. Take a look at the About section here and the section on the Study Group Lead role-- these should help you figure out if you'd like to start a Group.
- Come to an Online Orientation Meeting: We’ll be running an online Orientation-- a series of 4 meetings, -- for new Group Leads starting next month (November 2016!) and also in January of 2017. It’s a great opportunity to meet, network, and share ideas with other Groups. If you’re interested in joining us, let us know by filling out this form.
- Read the code of conduct: this Study Group Program is for everyone - we abide by a set of rules that require everyone be treated with respect. Help us make a space where everyone feels welcome, and we'll all have a better time!
- Watch this repo: up in the top right, there's a button that says 'Watch'; click it, and set yourself to 'Watching'. This will send you email notifications of new discussions; if you don't want email, but would like an alert just on GitHub, change the setting in Settings -> Notification Center (Settings is the little cog in the top right).
How to Set Up Your Own Mozilla Study Group Website
Everything you need to set up your own beautiful Mozilla Study Group website (it looks like this!) for organizing events is right here in the Orientation Guide. If you are new to GitHub, don't worry, there's an introduction to it here. Take a look, and if you need any help, you can ask a question in the Gitter chat or email sciencelab@mozillafoundation.org.
How to Set Up Mozilla Study Group Website locally
- Fork the Repository Mozilla Study Group.
- Open Terminal (on a Mac) or the equivalent on your machine and type:
- git clone [SSH OR HTTPS CODE FOR studyGroup]
- cd studyGroup/
- jekyll build
- jekyll serve
- It shows "Server address". Open it in browser. Yes, Mozilla Study Group is set locally!!
It's Broken, I Need Help!!!
If anything in these instructions doesn't work or doesn't make sense, ask a question in the Gitter chat, open an issue here or email sciencelab@mozillafoundation.org.