01 Call Digest [ 2024-nmfs-champions ]

[stefaniebutland]

Hi All!

It’s exciting to start our Fall 2024 NMFS Openscapes Champions Cohorts and meet you all in Zoom! Thank you to the AFSC Marine Mammal Lab Stock Assessment Reports team for sharing their story of what’s possible. Their team has had 2.5 years since participating as Champions; we will explore more about the concepts that helped them together in the next sessions. Below is a light digest of Call 01, including a reminder about your tasks, and how to find each other to meet for Seaside Chats. We want to emphasize that these open science mindsets apply no matter what your work is (does not have to be data-intensive or science; they apply to contracts and budgets teams too!).

We'll send each of you an invitation to a Google Chat for asynchronous discussions and questions among all fall 2024 Champions and Mentors.

Have a good week,

Stef, Julie, Eli

Digest: Cohort Call 01 [ 2024-nmfs-champions ]

Cohort webpage https://github.com/nmfs-openscapes/2024-nmfs-champions

Your Cohort Google folders contain all agendas, recordings, pathways spreadsheets:

• Openscapes-CohortCalls [ 2024-nmfs-champions-a ]
• Openscapes-CohortCalls [ 2024-nmfs-champions-b ]
• Openscapes-CohortCalls [ 2024-nmfs-champions-c ]

Goals

We started working towards a common understanding of the Openscapes mindset and what your pathway forward looks like for your team.

Tasks

Please see your Cohorts Agenda doc (under Closing) for details

1. Have a Seaside Chat & reflect together on what you’ve learned so far. Please list your Seaside Chats so that people can find and join them; do this on the new first tab of ParticipantsList [ 2024-nmfs-champions ]. If you’re looking for a Seaside Chat “team”, please add a time to meet and/or propose topics to discuss. You can participate in multiple Seaside Chats.
2. Share your GitHub username before Friday, October 18, in your Cohort’s tab of the ParticipantsList. NMFS GitHub Guide
3. (optional) Attend Coworking. We’ve sent calendar invites for Tuesdays and Thursdays 12:00 -1:00 pm PT, recurring biweekly. Come prepared to get your own work done, ask questions, or listen in to other conversations and screensharing.

Slide Decks:

• Better science for future us. Our Openscapes experience and journey towards improving the Alaska Marine Mammal Stock Assessment Report process - a SAR Story (slides, recording)
• Openscapes mindset, with Ileana Fenwick (slides, recording)

A few lines from shared notes in the Agenda doc

• Documentation is democratic and inclusive +1 +1 ♥️
• ‎”onboarding documentation can counteract hidden curriculum” - promotes inclusion +1 +1+1 +1 +1 +1
• “Are you stuck because of your data, or are you stuck because of your research?” - GREAT question to remember! +4
• Mindset is independent of tools used to implement change
• I resonate with Ileana’s experience as an early grad student self-teaching coding skills +4
• And I like the switch in thought process of although being alone when learning, someone on the internet (or elsewhere) was helping - an invisible community
• Documentation helps reduce miscommunication (e.g., purely verbal discussions) and increase team harmony
• Learn and adopt the process and mindset. Don’t focus on specific tool(s).
• Nice to hear another group talk about their challenges – we have some of the same! +1
• Resonated with needing momentum - that is what we are experiencing on our team right now; we are so busy with our normal jobs/tasks that we haven’t had time or made time to learn the skills to improve our workflows in the ways we know they need it +1 +1
• Openscapes Champions is a starting point–lots of progress can be made afterward
• The struggle of tracking email threads and passing back and forth project components is actually something that can be improved (and not just part of ‘the process’).+6
• Yikes! We really need to use all of these tools but it feels like it will be a full-time job to set up, and requires a lot of buy-in. Lots of work ahead! Feels intimidating but hoping the team/community idea- working together - will work. +1
• I was wondering how the “ever-evolving workflow” might pose challenges, and become overwhelming for some people…
• I’ve been working on sharing my work before it’s “done” and asking for help sooner. It feels really vulnerable, but the results are good! 🥳 +2+1
• ‘open’ doesn’t necessarily mean public, that takes some of the pressure off of making things ‘perfect’ +1 +1+1+1+1 +1+1+1+1
• Transform from “self taught” to “community-taught” +3 +1 +1+1+1+1 +1
• “I met someone who has been here for 1.5 months, I’ve been here 36 years! Different experiences that we can bring and learn here”
• Maybe “meeting people where they are” doesn’t involve staying static
• Resonated with needing momentum - that is what we are experiencing on our team right now; we are so busy with our normal jobs/tasks that we haven’t had time or made time to learn the skills to improve our workflows in the ways we know they need it +1 +1
• The reminder that these types of things take a lot of time and investment, and to remind supervisors of this when updating on progress
• How often did the group get together and reevaluate their processes, etc.?
• We have a standing ‘seaside chat’ meeting every week (we cancel frequently, though) and also have tried to schedule co-working sessions to move the process forward +1
• “Slow down to speed up” is so relevant - it does cause a slowdown in the short term and I think everyone needs to fully accept that as part of the process in order to reap the benefits of a new workflow in the long run +1+1
• One of most valuable things about Openscapes is creating time to dedicate to improving workflow, talk with others, learn, make mistakes in safe space and try new things
• The struggle of tracking email threads and passing back and forth project components is actually something that can be improved (and not just part of ‘the process’).+6
• I remember when Josh participated in the first Openscapes cohort (2021?) and this was just an idea. What wasn’t said here is that they started by creating a script to make a figure (location). Each team had been making that alone. Small task but freed up time for other ideas. Also dedication to keep meeting regularly to make slow but steady progress. +2
• I like the mindset that there is no shame in what we don’t know going into this. Even with some experience, this is still hard to shake sometimes. But it makes me feel excited to continue building skills and community in this part of my work life. It often translates into personal life too.

[stefaniebutland]

Guidelines or docs on best / good enough practices for open science? Anything for NMFS already?

• Teams that have written up their workflows: FIMS “how we work” (urls upcoming)
  • FIMS: https://noaa-fims.github.io/;
    • FIMS: developer handbook: https://noaa-fims.github.io/collaborative_workflow/
  • Stock Assessment Workflow Group - Sam Schiano’s video slides
    Sam Schiano gave a great talk yesterday on the Stock Assessment Workflow project and she reviewed the different approaches that the stock assessment teams across the science centers have taken to creating 'templates' for stock assessment reports. Even if you don't do stock assessments, the talk is very informative about different ways one could approach the problem and the also the progress that has been made. Talk is about 35 minutes long. You can watch the talk here: https://youtu.be/Q8XJTTkjcts