Omar Khan on The Carpentries

Introducing The CarpentryCon 2022 Keynote Presentations

Tue, 26 Jul 2022 00:00:00 +0000

CarpentryCon 2022 is nearly here! We are very excited to present the work of the CarpentryCon Task Force and our community.

In this blog post, you will find the titles and abstracts for the four keynote presentations at CarpentryCon. ES indicates a session presented in Spanish and EN indicates a session presented in English. All sessions will include English captioning and may include additional translation services as requested through registration.

Now Published: The Carpentries 2021 Annual and Financial Report

Mon, 23 May 2022 00:00:00 +0000

This past year’s Annual and Financial Reports are now available. The reports can be found on the reports page, The Carpentries’ central resource for all reports including yearly reports, grant reports, and assessment reports.

We hope you take the time to read these reports to see all the work that our Core Team and community have done in 2021.

2021 Annual Report

The Carpentries Annual Report is an effort to summarize the work done towards our mission in 2021. It is a crucial tool that helps us understand where the community and Core Team have devoted our time, while also helping us know where to focus our efforts in the next year. Additionally, the report provides an opportunity to reflect on where we have been and where we are going.

Announcing Changes to The Carpentries Logo Usage and Modification Policy

Tue, 15 Feb 2022 00:00:00 +0000

As The Carpentries grows and welcomes more and more members to our community, we are solidifying policies to ensure we are supporting our community equitably, while at the same time making sure The Carpentries’ logos, trademarks, and interests as an organisation are protected.

We want to ensure that our community has clear directions and resources when they are working with or modifying The Carpentries logo. Currently, the policy is not very clear and community members are left to parse it on their own which leads to variance and misunderstandings in the modifications.

Share Your 2021 Gratitudes with Our Community

Wed, 24 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000

In 2019 and 2020, The Carpentries published a series of posts thanking the various parts of our community. Since that time, the community has supported The Carpentries through tumultuous times - from transitioning to online workshops and a virtual conference in 2020, to new and revitalized programs like the Curriculum Advisors Committee and the Community Facilitators Program. To be sure, there is no end to what we are grateful for from our community.

Quarterly Strategic Plan Update: Q3 2021

Tue, 09 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000

In January of 2020, The Carpentries published our Strategic Plan for 2020-2025. Written and adopted before the onset of a global pandemic that has reconfigured the way the world operates, this strategic plan has served as a much-needed guidepost for The Carpentries through a period of uncertainty and change. Each quarter, The Carpentries Core Team highlights progress towards completing or fulfilling the strategic plan.

I hope you will be proud of the work we have been able to accomplish in the third quarter of 2021. Our commitment to equity, inclusion and accessibility is strong, and with your help we have improved several workflows and streamlined programs to make it easier for community members to participate and contribute. Read on to learn more, and as always, we invite you to get in touch with us to share any feedback you may have.

We Value All Contributions - The Carpentries 2021 Fundraiser

Tue, 02 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000

In 2020, The Carpentries ran our first-ever fundraising campaign. We learned a lot in that process about the mechanics of fundraising, but most importantly we learned just how passionate you - The Carpentries community - are. Without you, none of our work would meet the level that it does, and our mission of being the leading inclusive community teaching data skills would remain words on a webpage, rather than something that we see every single day in our workshops.

Hacktoberfest 2021 - Glosario Contribution Drive

Mon, 04 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Last year, members of The Carpentries community came together during Hacktoberfest to contribute to Glosario, an open source, multilingual glossary of data science terms. Hacktoberfest is a “month-long celebration of open source” run by DigitalOcean, during which participants can register their contributions to open source projects on GitHub and qualify to have a tree planted in your name.

We need you!

This month, as part of Hacktoberfest, we are encouraging all members of our community to contribute to the expansion and internationalisation of Glosario. So far, the glossary includes definitions in 17 languages and has been designed to include definitions in any language. We would love to see our international community come together to provide definitions and translations in these and other languages, to increase the value of this resource for everyone, regardless of the language(s) they use.

Reactivating the Curriculum Advisory Committees

Tue, 24 Aug 2021 00:00:00 +0000

In early 2018 The Carpentries launched Curriculum Advisory Committees, to provide high-level oversight, vision, and leadership for a curriculum and to guide large-scale updates. We are now relaunching the program in order to better support our current curricula and ensure that they remain up-to-date and effective.

If you are interested in being directly involved with the development and leadership of The Carpentries Curricula, joining one of the Curriculum Advisory Committees (CACs) is an excellent opportunity.

Director of Community Development and Engagement Transition

Thu, 17 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Announcement from The Carpentries

We are writing to share the news that The Carpentries Director of Community Development and Engagement and Community Development Team lead, Serah Njambi Kiburu, is departing her position to pursue new opportunities. Her final working day at The Carpentries will be July 30. Erin Becker, the Associate Director of The Carpentries, will lead the Community Development team while we search for Serah’s successor.

“Serah is truly a thought leader in open science, and one of the most caring and compassionate advocates I have ever met. One of the many things I learned in my time working with Serah is the value of feedback, and creating space for all the voices to be heard,” says Kari L. Jordan, Executive Director of The Carpentries, ”Several programs that are core to our mission were developed by Serah during her time with The Carpentries. Her legacy is sound, and the organisation is better because of her contributions. We will miss you Serah!”

2020 Annual and Financial Reports

Wed, 19 May 2021 00:00:00 +0000

As with years past, we have spent some time reflecting on the past year and compiled annual reports which highlight some of our activities and shared accomplishments from 2020.

The 2020 Annual and Financial Reports are now available. The reports can be found on the Reports page, The Carpentries central resource for all reports including yearly reports, grant reports, and assessment reports.

2020 Annual Report

The 2020 Annual Report includes several highlights, notably a message from Executive Director of The Carpentries, Dr. Kari L. Jordan, and a message written by the Executive Council. In addition, there are summaries of The Carpentries progress on our core operations and affirmations of The Carpentries values and mission.

The Carpentries Strategic Plan: One Year Update

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

In January of 2020, The Carpentries published our Strategic Plan for 2020-2025. Written and adopted before the onset of a global pandemic that has reconfigured the way the world operates, this strategic plan has served as a much-needed guidepost for The Carpentries through a period of uncertainty and change. Outlined in the strategic plan are the following 6 goals:

Build regional and local capacity to empower sustainable communities
Intentionally incorporate equity, inclusion, and accessibility to support a diverse community.
Provide opportunities for growth and professional development of our volunteers and Core Team.
Facilitate the creation and maintenance of relevant, high-quality, community-curated curricula.
Strengthen organisational structure and capacity to be strategic and responsive.
Advocate for our values and vision to empower more people to work with data and software.

Each of these goals carries with it specific objectives and rationale to aid us in implementing them.

Wrapping up The Carpentries FIRST Fundraising Campaign

Thu, 14 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000

We tried something new in the last quarter of 2020. The Carpentries engaged our community and supporters in the first fundraising campaign for individual and organisational donations. First and foremost, we thank you for donating to The Carpentries. Your monetary contributions will directly support our efforts to offer greater diversity in the spoken languages we teach and interact in, recognize and appreciate the different cultural norms that exist around data, programming, teaching, and volunteering in different regions to improve our programs and services, collaborate with existing organisations to reach broader communities, and authentically engage broader communities, working with, not for them.

An update on our 2020-2025 Strategic Plan progress

Tue, 12 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Last October we shared progress toward our strategic plan for 2020-2025. We are excited to share more updates with you, and to hear your thoughts about the road ahead. Read on to learn more.

Strategic Plan Progress Updates by Team

Business Team

In Q4 2020, The Business Team explored the revenue applications of The Carpentries current assets and organisational strengths. We researched fundraising strategies and took advantage of fundraising training opportunities offered to Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) grantees. The information from these initiatives was used to support the development of a fundraising plan. As part of this project, the team launched a mailing list for members of our community who are interested in helping broaden The Carpentries’ impact on the world around us. For more information, please view the blog post: Announcing The Carpentries Philanthropy: A New Way to Get Involved with The Carpentries (2020-10-01)

Giving Tuesday at The Carpentries

Tue, 01 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0000

What is Giving Tuesday?

Giving Tuesday is an annual “global generosity movement” which was originally created as a day to mark and encourage generosity and giving in all of its forms, whether that be volunteering or donating.

As you may have seen, The Carpentries is running our first ever fundraising campaign and we are honored and truly grateful for the generosity we have seen from our community in donating. If you would like to donate any amount, we would truly appreciate it. However, enshrined in The Carpentries’ Core Values is the notion that We Value All Contributions. In the spirit of that guiding message, here are a few of the ways that you can help support The Carpentries and mark Giving Tuesday through forms other than monetary contributions.

Hacktoberfest 2020 - Glosario Contribution Drive

Mon, 05 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0000

In July The Carpentries announced Glosario, an open source, multilingual glossary of data science terms. Since that blogpost was published, almost 200 more terms have been added to the glossary in English, along with many more definitions in other languages. In the future, the resource will help lesson developers and maintainers make their materials more findable, allow learners to identify paths between lessons, and support non-English speaking learners in grasping lesson material.

Announcing The Carpentries Philanthropy: A New Way to Get Involved with The Carpentries

Thu, 01 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0000

We invite you to join the new Carpentries Philanthropy mailing list if you are interested in learning more about how you can help us be the leading inclusive community teaching data and coding skills. Sign up here

The Carpentries Philanthropy badge

The Carpentries Philanthropy is a newly launched mailing list for members of our community who are interested in learning more about how they can help support our mission of building global capacity in essential data and computational skills, and broaden The Carpentries’ impact on the world around us.

Pre- and Post-workshop discussions : Six months into 2020

Fri, 17 Jul 2020 00:00:00 +0000

The Carpentries Community Discussions are designed for everyone in The Carpentries community interested in learning, educating and advocating for teaching foundational coding and data science skills globally. Pre and Post-workshops discussions are designed for those getting ready to teach or having recently taught to come discuss their workshop with the community. Many Carpentry workshops globally are now hosted online due to the COVID-19 pandemic; these discussions also allow instructors to share unique online teaching experiences to instructors in-training who join the call during their check-out process.

Lessons Learned - Teaching Carpentries Workshops Online in Sweden, May 2020

Thu, 02 Jul 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Introduction

In May 2020, 16 learners from three universities in Stockholm, Sweden and two other Swedish universities attended online workshops focused on Carpentries SQL, OpenRefine, and Python lessons. Taught over the course of four days, the three hour sessions were led by a team of one instructor, three helpers, and a “Zoom-DJ” who kept track of things in the Zoom room, ensured a welcoming environment for the learners, encouraged questions, kept track of the time, and managed the breaks and break-out rooms. During each session, the instructor, helpers, and Zoom DJ appended their titles to their names and had video on to make it easier for participants to ask for help. Workshop leads switched between instructor and helper roles in the different sessions.

Introducing Our New Executive Director

Tue, 21 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0000

We are thrilled to announce that Dr. Kari L. Jordan is the new Executive Director of The Carpentries, effective 16 April, 2020. This announcement comes after a rigorous international search conducted by Marcum LLP and members of the search committee (Karen Cranston, Amy Hodge and Elizabeth Wickes) appointed by the Executive Council of The Carpentries.

Kari has been on the Core Team of The Carpentries since 2016 and succeeds the former Executive Director, Dr. Tracy Teal, who moved on from the role in January of 2020 to pursue other opportunities. Before becoming Executive Director, Kari served as the Acting Executive Director following Dr. Tracy Teal’s departure.

Introducing our New Communications Manager

Tue, 17 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0000

I am absolutely thrilled to be joining The Carpentries as Communications Manager. I come to The Carpentries after years of working in marketing and communications in the non-profit worlds of theater and arts in New York and Washington DC, after earning Bachelor of Arts degrees in Public Relations and Film Studies. In previous roles, I specialised in graphic design, and creation and strategy of publications and other content.

I first found out about The Carpentries through a weekly listserv highlighting opportunities in non-profits, and was immediately struck by the work that The Carpentries is doing and their mission-level commitment to inclusivity on a global scale. I am absolutely thrilled to have the opportunity to bring my knowledge and experiences to the global community of The Carpentries.