diff --git a/content/blog/2024-09-19-celebration.md b/content/blog/2024-09-19-celebration.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..06a5019a --- /dev/null +++ b/content/blog/2024-09-19-celebration.md @@ -0,0 +1,251 @@ ++++ +title = "CodeRefinery - Celebrating eight years" +slug = "2024/09/19/celebrating-8-years" +description = "Continuing eight years of collaboratively teaching good enough research software engineering practices" + +[extra] +authors = "Samantha Wittke" ++++ + +CodeRefinery logo as a hand-carved wooden stand + + + +## CodeRefinery started 8 years ago + +In October 2024 the CodeRefinery project was celebrating the conclusion of its +8th year of existence. During that time about 9 online and 28 in-person +workshops were held by ~30 instructors, organizers and facilitators teaching +good enough research software engineering practices to ~3000 participants from +~20 countries, of many scientific fields, career stages and preferred +programming languages. We would like to celebrate this achievement with you, +by looking back at the history and achievements unlocked over the years and +also ask you to share your best memories. Spoiler: Even though this is a +"looking back" post, CodeRefinery will not cease to exist anytime soon if we +can help it. We'd just like to celebrate the project and highlight the +contributions of key members. + +The project grew out of an initially local course (given at KTH Stockholm in +2014 and 2015) and in 2016 became a Nordic project. Rossen Apostolov (KTH +Stockholm) submitted a proposal to the Nordic e-Infrastructure Collaboration +(NeIC) in 2015 and NeIC quickly recognized it as a potentially impactful +project worth co-funding. The project was started in 2016, under the leadership +of Radovan Bast, project manager of CodeRefinery for the whole duration of the +project. + +Thor Wikfeldt remembers: "[...] I have had the privilege of working with +Radovan Bast since 2016 when the CodeRefinery project was launched, and I +joined under his leadership. Among all the highly competent individuals I have +encountered in my career, Radovan stands out for his relentless dedication and +selfless commitment to making a meaningful impact on the world. He has +inspired me to not only become a better teacher and developer of training +materials but also to be more productive, collaborative and generous in my +professional life. Radovan took CodeRefinery from a mere concept to a +pioneering educational project that is now well- known not only in the Nordic +region (where it started) but globally. [...] " + + +## What is CodeRefinery? + +CodeRefinery acts as a hub for FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and +Reusable) software practices. It currently focuses on the Nordic/Baltic +countries, but aims to expand beyond this region. CodeRefinery aims to operate +as a community project with support from academic organizations. The project +started in 2016 and has developed a broad curriculum of openly maintained and +reviewed lessons, has taught hundreds of participants across all academic +disciplines, and has managed to build a community of instructors, learners, +team leads (who help learners during exercises), expert helpers (who support +team leads), local organizers and partner organizations. + +The project idea/directive grew out of two courses given at PDC/KTH in 2014 and +2015, which focused on research software engineering tools and techniques. The +courses were popular and it was clear that the demand is not limited to the +Stockholm region and we approached NeIC to bring this project to a Nordic +level, both to have more impact, but also to connect instructors across Nordic +borders. The first CodeRefinery workshop was given late 2016 and since then +the lesson material has evolved a lot and we have delivered many more +workshops, both in-person and online. + +CodeRefinery has established itself as a highly successful initiative that +improves coding skills at an intermediate level, bridging the gap between +Software Carpentry for beginners, and the more advanced/bespoke training +offered by other universities and HPC/computational research initiatives. + +The objectives of the CodeRefinery project are: +• Organize and deliver workshops and events +• Develop and maintain a lesson portfolio +• Build a community and network of instructors and volunteer helpers +• Operate a Nordic GitLab service +• Support the community of Nordic research software engineers + + +## CodeRefinery workshops + +The CodeRefinery project provides open, reusable and self-learning ready lesson +materials developed by experts from different countries, organizations and +scientific backgrounds. CodeRefinery focuses on maintaining collaboration in +lesson development, teaching and workshop organization. Workshops with multiple +roles especially highlight the value of collaborative efforts. + +The workshops are focused around exercises and discussions and participants are +encouraged to form teams for these sessions. The learning outcomes for each +lesson are defined and shared in the beginning of each lesson. + +We kindly request feedback from participants after each workshop day. Feedback +is gathered using known tools with no separation between workshop and feedback. +If necessary and possible, given feedback is already implemented for the next +workshop day. + +The CodeRefinery project maintains manuals with a collection of work processes +and ideas (). It summarizes how +meetings, workshops and other topics work and serves as basis for e.g. the +helper onboarding for the workshop. + + +## Bring your own classroom + +When switching from in-person to online workshops the CodeRefinery team put a +lot of effort in embracing the online workshop format. A lot of thought has +been put into our online hand-on, demo and screen sharing setups in order to +provide the best possible learning experience to participants. + +Since 2020 we had multiple local classrooms join our workshop and have adapted +the format to accommodate these special circumstances. + +Paula Martinez Lavanchy shares: "[...][W]e have been ‘bringing our own class’ to +the CodeRefinery workshops by joining the streaming of the lessons from the classroom with +our participants and helpers. +TU Delft researchers provided very positive feedback about this initiative reflected in +comments such as: +“It's great and extremely useful. If it was it for me I would make it mandatory knowledge. It's +really important that TU Delft continues promoting these workshops.” +“Excellent workshop: the graduate school would be so much better with more of these +practical & technical workshops” +The CodeRefinery initiative has helped us and benefit TU Delft researchers in several ways: +- The possibility of joining the workshops allowed us to advance with the +implementation of our Vision for Research Data & Software management training +and the implementation of TU Delft Research Software Policy by providing high +quality and well-received training on FAIR software practices.• +- The involvement of our data stewards, software engineers and trainers as helpers in +the CodeRefinery workshops have also provided them with a great opportunity to +continuously improve their skills and learn from this great community. +- The CodeRefinery learning materials are openly available and of excellent quality. +We often refer our researchers to use them as consultation materials on our websites +and/or guides. [...]" + + +## Sharing experiences and support for doing your own thing + +But the CodeRefinery project does not only focus on own workshops, it also +wants to make it easier for others to provide clean and functional lesson +materials with all the features needed for computational topics by providing a +public lesson template (). In +addition, the ways that teaching has worked well for CodeRefinery are shared +through train the trainer workshops, which have been presented in different +forums and to various groups (). + +The lesson development process always involves multiple experts. All +discussions and reviews are public and can be found on our GitHub pages +(). + +Since it is free and open to reuse, there is no full overview about who has +reused CodeRefinery materials. But when talking to people at conferences and +other events we often get to hear that teachers are happily reusing the +CodeRefinery materials for their lectures. + +Two larger programs that have been built on top of CodeRefinery materials are +the Netherlands eScience Center workshop on "Good practices in research +software development" +() +and the "EuroCC best practices in HPC training" program lead by ENCCS Sweden +(). + +Mateusz Kuzak and his team from the Netherlands eScience center explains: +"[...] At the Center, we have been successfully using the training materials +developed by the CodeRefinery project since 2020. At that time, CodeRefinery +filled the gap in the intermediate research software skills for researchers. +We already delivered training based on the Carpentries and were looking for +more advanced content for researchers already doing some programming. What I +appreciate about the project is that Radovan and others didn’t just reinvent +everything. They build the Trainer the Trainer programme on top of excellent +Carpentries Instructor Training. They also realised that the pedagogical +methodology used by the Carpentries, heavily dependent on live coding, would +not work that well for intermediate audiences. They developed a curriculum +rich in independent work on complex exercises. At the eScience Center, we found +that approach more effective for less novice learners. CodeRefinery was also +very innovative, introducing a distributed online approach with many helpers +supporting locally or in online breakout rooms. I believe that helps with +scaling the course and reaching a new audience that otherwise wouldn't be able +to access this training. We at the eScience Center will continue reusing and +contributing to the CodeRefinery project. [...]" + + +## More than just workshops + +The main CodeRefinery workshop is organized twice a year and it is free and +open for everyone. Everyone is encouraged to ask their questions and discuss +the topics that interest them in a collaborative document. Instructors have a +variety of different scientific and cultural backgrounds and are in different +stages in their career. After each workshop participants are encouraged to +join the community which mainly lives in the CodeRefinery Zulip chat that to +date is a home to 446 people with about 10% being really active. The chat is +also home to the Nordic-RSE and Nordic-HPC communities which are tightly knit +with CodeRefinery. The chat serves as a space for planning, support and +discussions around different topics. Participants of the CodeRefinery workshops +are encouraged to use the chat also beyond the workshop to ask their questions +around workshop topics and beyond. Some participants even have found their way +into the project this way. + +While the workshops are the main event for CodeRefinery, it is also a community +with an open heart for supporting research and providing courses on a +researchers level. Research Software Hour was born from the community, and has +brought topics of Research Software Engineering that you cannot teach in a +class to the research community () +hosted by the nominee and others. + +A Zenodo community is available to collect all CodeRefinery and CodeRefinery related outputs: + + +CodeRefinery is also active on social media: LinkedIn (314 followers), X (860 followers) and Mastodon (296 followers). + + +## Reaching out + +The CodeRefinery project has been mentioned alongside other successful programs such as the Carpentries in Research Software Engineering related publications: + +- I. A. Cosden, K. McHenry and D. S. Katz, "Research Software Engineers: Career Entry Points and Training Gaps," in Computing in Science & Engineering, + vol. 24, no. 6, pp. 14-21, Nov.-Dec. 2022, doi: 10.1109/MCSE.2023.3258630 or on arxiv; page 7 + +- US Research Software Engineer Association, & IEEE Computer Society. (2023). Research Software Engineers: Creating a Career Path—and a Career. + Zenodo. ; page 19 + +- Barker, M., Breitmoser, E., Broadbent, P., Chue Hong, N., Hettrick, S., Lampaki, I., Quinn, A., & Taylor, R. (2024). Software and skills for research computing in the UK. + Zenodo. ; page 15 + +A collection of reports () and +presentations () about the project +are collected on our website. + +Project members have been actively seeking opportunities to spread the word and +share the experiences from running the CodeRefinery workshops at conferences in +the research computing world. Among others the project has been presented at +Supercomputing (SC) conference in the US, International SuperComputing (ISC) in +Germany, SIAM, RSECon and CarpentryCon in recent years. + + +## The future + +We are currently in the third round of funding by NeiC (one person to +coordinate the efforts, other partners support in-kind) and considering our +next steps. + +One thing is clear: CodeRefinery will not end or cease to exist. + +We are in contact with funders and past and potential future organizations to +make these efforts go on and likely we will continue the funded coordination + +in-kind partners model. For other structures we may collaborate with other +organizations and projects. + +If this project and its mission sounds like something you would like to join or +support, please contact support@coderefinery.org and we can discuss in more +detail. diff --git a/content/blog/2024-09-19-celebration/_index.md b/content/blog/2024-09-19-celebration/_index.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..ac36e062 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/blog/2024-09-19-celebration/_index.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ ++++ ++++ diff --git a/content/blog/2024-09-19-celebration/cr-small.jpg b/content/blog/2024-09-19-celebration/cr-small.jpg new file mode 100644 index 00000000..0ac29a8b Binary files /dev/null and b/content/blog/2024-09-19-celebration/cr-small.jpg differ