Bootcamps on The Carpentries

When Do Workshops Work? A Response to the 'Null Effects' paper from Feldon et al.

Mon, 11 Dec 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Author: Karen R. Word

Contributors: Kari Jordan, Erin Becker, Jason Williams, Pamela Reynolds, Amy Hodge, Maxim Belkin, Ben Marwick, and Tracy Teal.

“Null effects of boot camps and short-format training for PhD students in life sciences” is the provocative title of a recent article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Those of us who enthusiastically design and deliver short-format training promptly took note, then scratched our heads a bit. We waited a little for a response, wondering if one or more of the programs that participated in the study might step up to their own defense. Nothing happened. We thought about letting it go - we’ve got our own programs, with distinct goals, and our own assessment data, so maybe this broad-brush study isn’t so important. But … it keeps being raised. Someone will bring it up here and there, asking what we think about it. Whenever this paper comes up in conversation, its title certainly throws some weight around.

Software Carpentry workshop at EITN in Paris

Wed, 02 Dec 2015 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

The Python workshop on November 19-20th at the EITN was the first course organised at European Insitute of Neuroscience in Paris. The course offered a practical introduction to Python programming and scientific software development for PhD students and post-docs. The programme followed closely the syllabus recommended by the Software Carpentry.

An Advanced Short Course in Leeds

Thu, 04 Dec 2014 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Helped by Aaron O'Leary, Peter Willetts, Marlene Mengoni and Jo Leng, Martin Callaghan, Devasena Inupakutika and I recently delivered a modified Software Carpentry workshop at the University of Leeds. Aimed at environmental scientists from across the UK and funded by NERC, the course included an extra day where small groups got to develop tools for environmental data analysis.

Feedback from Imperial College London

Wed, 24 Sep 2014 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

On 16-17 September, EPCC's ARCHER headed down to Imperial College London to run a Software Carpentry bootcamp. My colleague Arno Proeme made his instructor debut, covering version control and Git and good programming practice, while I covered shell hints and tips, automation and Make, and testing.

Software Carpentry Workshop at Universidade of São Paulo

Tue, 09 Sep 2014 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Last week Alex Viana and I taught two Software Carpentry workshops at the Universidade São Paulo, the biggest public university in Brazil. In both workshops we took them through Bash, Git and Python over the course of two days.

An Update on Upcoming Bootcamps

Sat, 06 Sep 2014 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

So it turns out we have more events coming up than I realized:

Fall 2014 Bootcamps (So Far)

Sat, 30 Aug 2014 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Our calendar for the fall is filling up pretty quickly : we've added the following bootcamps in the last couple of weeks, and have more on the way. If you'd like us to run one where you are, please fill in this form and we'll get the ball rolling.

Software Carpentry workshop at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul

Sat, 30 Aug 2014 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

At the end of this week Alex Viana and I taught a Software Carpentry workshop at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. We had around 30 learners of very different experience (from high school students to seniors professors of the university) and took them through Bash, Git and Python over the course of two days.

Software Carpentry at Cambridge University

Fri, 29 Aug 2014 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

At the beginning of this week Thomas Kluyver and I taught a Software Carpentry bootcamp at the University of Cambridge. We had around 35 learners of very different experience and took them through Bash, Git and Python over the course of two days.

The New MATLAB Teaching Materials

Fri, 29 Aug 2014 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

When Software Carpentry started running bootcamps back in 2012, Python was used exclusively for the programming lessons. While these lessons were as language agnostic as possible (i.e. the materials focused on transferrable programming concepts as opposed to specifics of the Python language), people soon expressed an interest in running bootcamps using other languages. R very quickly established itself as a regular alternative to Python, but it wasn't until early 2014 that the first ever Matlab bootcamp was held (see here and here for blog posts about the event; the official event page is here).

Three Bootcamps for Librarians

Wed, 13 Aug 2014 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Over the past month and a half I have been fortunate to (co-)lead three bootcamps targeted at librarians, a relatively new audience for software carpentry. These bootcamps have been located in Edmonton, Toronto, and New York, and in the same way that the term "librarian" is very broad encompassing many different disciplines and skill sets, the three bootcamps had their share of similarities and important differences. I'll start with similarities and then discuss each bootcamp's differences.

Feedback from Cranfield

Mon, 28 Jul 2014 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

On 21-23 July, EPCC's ARCHER training team visited a sun-drenched Cranfield University to run a Software Carpentry bootcamp and Introduction to Scientific Programming in Python. The 3 days combined a traditional bootcamp with a new day course providing an Introduction to Scientific Programming in Python.

Bootcamps in Cyprus and Jordan

Thu, 17 Jul 2014 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Last month, we held two bootcamps in Cyrpus and Jordan organised by the LinkSCEEM project. Both camps were part of larger workshops, with the final two days of the workshop in Cyprus focussed on the OpenMP and OpenACC APIs for shared-memory multi-processing and accelerators. It was held June 10-13 with 35 participants coming from 6 different countries (Cyprus, Greece, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, and Egypt) with all the non-local participants being funded by the project.

ARCHER Software Carpentry Bootcamp at Imperial College London

Fri, 11 Jul 2014 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

ARCHER, the UK's new national supercomputing service, offers training in software development and high-performance computing to scientists and researchers across the UK. As part of our training service we are running a 2 day Software Carpentry bootcamp at Imperial College London, UK, on 16-17 September.

Feedback from the bootcamp at Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare in Pisa

Mon, 30 Jun 2014 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

At the beginning of June (3-6) Software Carpentry supported the leaning tower of Pisa. Well, no really. We actually supported the students at Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare at the University of Pisa in becomming more effective using their computational skills. The instructors were Rémi Emonet and Aleksandra Pawlik. The main organisers and hosts were Chiara Roda and Luca Baldini. Needless to say, running a bootcamp early June in Tuscany does have its perks. The memories of gelati and focaccine di ceci are still very vivid. How can you not love being a Software Carpentry instructor?

Reflections on Claremont

Thu, 19 Jun 2014 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

The Claremont Colleges bootcamp just wrapped a couple of hours ago, and judging from my pile of happy sticky note responses, I think we nailed it pretty good. Things were a bit fast on the first day of intro shell and Python, but I think we hit something pitch perfect for day two on intermediate Python and Git. As this Python-heavy workshop progressed, some questions started coming into focus from student responses, discussions with instructors and organizers, and examinations of just how to teach this ascendent skill in scientific computing. To be clear: I have never taught our Python material, and I consider myself a fairly casual Pythonista. This is a debate that the masters need to consider, but I'm hoping here to use my agnostic outsider's perspective to help set the conversation up.

Engineering-Focused Bootcamp

Wed, 18 Jun 2014 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Summary: In advance of a bootcamp to be held for a Midwestern university's mechanical engineering department this fall, I've started reworking the traditional Software Carpentry (SWC) curriculum, and will be creating new teaching materials to accompany the workshop. Content changes are being made to accommodate the instructional needs of engineering students at the sponsoring university, while remaining consistent with the basic tenets and goals of the SWC movement. Comments and suggestions from the community on this matter are welcomed and encouraged, particularly in the area of PowerShell scripting (at which I'm currently a novice.) I'm also looking for instructors that might be willing to help teach such a bootcamp in the Detroit area this fall.

A Double Handful of Bootcamps

Sun, 15 Jun 2014 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

The next couple of days are going to be busy, with bootcamps in Amman and Toronto, and at Duke, UC Davis, and Claremont Colleges. The week after will be just a crowded: we'll be at the universities of Reading and Notre Dame, the Canadian Applied and Industrial Mathematics Society, Rockefeller University in New York, and an event for women in science and engineering in Philadelphia. As always, we're grateful to our hosts and instructors for making all of this possible.

A Success Story from KAUST

Sun, 15 Jun 2014 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Our ACM student chapter at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) is active in supporting the diverse research community at our university. We decided to offer Python tutorials to our community by the end of 2013. Due to no information on the background and interests of KAUST community, we crafted a short survey to help us in tailoring our tutorials. The following image shows the summary of the responses we got:

ARCHER Software Carpentry Bootcamp and Introduction to Scientific Programming in Python

Mon, 09 Jun 2014 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

ARCHER, the UK's new national supercomputing service, offers training in software development and high-performance computing to scientists and researchers across the UK. As part of our training service we are running a 3 day Software Carpentry bootcamp and Introduction to Scientific Programming in Python at Cranfield University, UK, on 21-23 July.

Keeping the Bootcamp Fun Alive!

Thu, 05 Jun 2014 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

In the later part of 2013, I started the process of co-hosting a Bootcamp with Peter August and Judith Swift both from the University of Rhode Island (URI). During our discussions it became quite clear that as fantastic as the bootcamps are, it would be even better if we could extend the opportunities for learning. We tossed around several ideas but eventually decided we would try a special topics course at URI. Thus, Scientific Computing and Programming for Coastal Resource Managment was born. We opened the course up to any of the bootcamp participants who had an interest; official enrollment in the course was not required. In the end we had about 10 participants who attendend regularly, including a few students who enrolled for credit. Pete August (URI), Adam Smith (URI), and myself co-taught the course.

Teaching Librarians in Montreal

Wed, 28 May 2014 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Preston Holmes, Jessica Hamrick, Luke Lee, and I helped deliver a Software Carpentry bootcamp during the PyCon sprints in Montreal in April 2014. The audience consisted of roughly 35 librarians coming mostly from the Montreal area.

A Lot of Bootcamps in the Works

Tue, 20 May 2014 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Last week, we ran our first bootcamp in Brazil—many thanks to Raniere Silva for this writeup about what worked and what didn't. We'll visit several other new countries over the next three months, as well as running a bunch of other events—we'll post again as registration opens up for these:

Our First Data Carpentry Workshop

Wed, 14 May 2014 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Update: for more information on Data Carpentry, please see their web site.

On May 8 and 9, 2014, 4 instructors, 4 assistants, and 27 learners filed into the largest meeting space at the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent) for the inaugural Data Carpentry bootcamp. Data Carpentry is modeled on Software Carpentry, but focuses on tools and practices for more productively managing and manipulating data. The inaugural group of learners for this bootcamp was very diverse. They included graduate students, postdocs, faculty and staff, from three of the largest local research universities (Duke University, University of North Carolina, and North Carolina State University). Over 55% of the attendees were women and research areas ranged from evolutionary biology and ecology to microbial ecology, fungal phylogenomics, marine biology, and environmental engineering. One participant was even a library scientist from Duke Library.

Software Carpentry bootcamp at GARNet

Tue, 22 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

The second week of April the University of Warwick in the UK hosted its first Software Carpentry bootcamp. The bootcamp was organised by GARNet which is a UK-based research network for the UK Arabidopsis and wider plant research community. GARNet facilitates collaboration and interaction between different researchers and supports skills development.

Workshop at University of Southern Denmark, Odense

Fri, 18 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

The workshop at University of Southern Denmark, Odense was my first workshop for Software Carpentry, the same is true for Luis as well. We had taught before, Luis more than me, but it was still exciting for me to see how this workshop would go given that we never taught together before. While I taught bash, regular expressions and Git, Luis taught Python, unit testing and SQL. Initially, make was also on that list, but due to time constraints was kicked out to make room for a second Git lecture.

Building a Minimal Online Presence

Thu, 27 Mar 2014 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Titus Brown and Ethan White led a half-hour discussion today of the minimal online presence people in academia ought to have. Notes from the call are below; to make a point-form story even pointier, please make yourself findable and shareable.

Software Carpentry at TGAC

Fri, 14 Mar 2014 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

In February The Genome Analysis Centre (TGAC) in Norwich hosted their first Software Carpentry bootcamp. TGAC is keen to intensively develop their training programme and facilities and Vicky Schneider who leads the Scientific Training, Education & Learning Programme strongly supports Software Carpentry, we are looking forward to more bootcamps in Norwich, UK.

Our Biggest Event Ever

Thu, 13 Feb 2014 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

If you have friends or colleagues in or near Montreal, please let them know that we're running our largest bootcamp ever on April 14-15 in conjunction with PyCon 2014. Material will include our usual topics:

the Unix shell (and how to automate repetitive tasks);
Git and GitHub (and how to use version control to track and share work);
Python or R (and how to grow a program in a structured, testable, reusable way); and
databases (and the difference between structured and unstructured data).

but we'll split people between several rooms based on how much they already know so that each group can move at its own pace.

Register now!

Keeping Track of Problems

Wed, 05 Feb 2014 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Setup and configuration is often the biggest challenge bootcamp participants face, particularly on Windows. Our installation instructions are pretty good, but to make them better, Justin Kitzes has started building a wiki page on GitHub to keep track of what's gone wrong and what fixes have worked. Many thanks to Justin for getting the ball rolling—contributions would be very welcome.

Workshops at the Data Science Centers

Thu, 30 Jan 2014 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

We are pleased to announce that we will be running workshops simultaneously at the data science centers at UC Berkeley, New York University, and the University of Washington on March 17-18, 2014. These workshops will introduce participants to the skills they should master before they tackle anything with "cloud" or "peta" in its name, including task automation, version control, modular programming, and structured data management. Novice and intermediate learners alike are welcome; for more information on topics and other details, please mail us or check out the registration pages for the three sites:

Teaching Online (Sort Of) in 2014

Tue, 28 Jan 2014 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

We have tried several times to teach Software Carpentry online, but the results have always been disappointing. We are therefore going to try something different this spring. Instead of running a purely online course for several hours a week, we are going to run regular two-day workshops in four selected cities with a mix of in-person and remote instructors.

Workshop for Women in Science and Engineering: April 14-15 at LBL

Tue, 28 Jan 2014 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

We're very pleased to announce that registration is now open for our second workshop for Women In Science and Engineering, which will be held at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory on April 14-15, 2014. We have a stellar roster of instructors and room for over 100 learners, so please sign up early and pass the word on to your friends and colleagues.

Workshops at PyCon in Montreal This April

Tue, 28 Jan 2014 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

We are pleased to announce that registration is now open for our largest event ever: on April 14-15, 2014, in association with PyCon 2014 in Montreal, we will run three Software Carpentry workshops in parallel, along with a master class in next-generation sequencing for bioinformaticians and an introduction to R for Python programmers. (Note that these workshops are during the two days after PyCon, so you can attend both.)

Feedback from the First MATLAB Bootcamp

Fri, 24 Jan 2014 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Jan 28: Michael Croucher has also written a good post about what worked and what didn't at this bootcamp.

Last week Software Carpentry paired up with MATLAB to run a bootcamp at the University of Manchester. Apart from shell and version control, the remaining core topics (verification and testing, modular programming with algorithm design) were taught using MATLAB.

Feedback from the First Cambridge R Bootcamp

Sat, 18 Jan 2014 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

The first R Software Carpentry bootcamp in Cambridge took place on January 7 and 8, 2014. Hosted by the Centre for Mathematical Sciences, the bootcamp was organised by two SSI Fellows, Stephen Eglen and Laurent Gatto. There were 24 participants and a long waiting list of those who wanted to learn R, version control and make.

Wrapping Up in Narrangasett

Sat, 18 Jan 2014 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

I've just came back from the Software Carpentry bootcamp at Narrangasett, RI, held at the Coastal Institute of the University of Rhode Island and the US Enviromental Protection Agency. I taught with Patrick Fuller and Jeff Hollister, who was also the organizer. The local helpers were Betty Kreakie and Bryan Milstead.

The bootcamp was R-based and lasted two and a half days. The people at the Coastal Institute are using this bootcamp as the starting point for a class on "Computing for Natural Resources" during the next semester, so the extra half-day was used to talk about this coming class and to add a lesson on data visualization using R. Besides the standard syllabus, we extended a bit the lessons on R, added a short lesson on databases, and made a longer than usual session on testing.

Oxford, One Year On

Wed, 25 Dec 2013 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Philip Fowler recently posted a nice study of the impact last year's Software Carpentry bootcamp at Oxford had on its participants. The key finding for me is that 10 of the 13 respondents to his survey agreed or strongly agreed with the statement, "A year on, the workshop really encouraged me to change how I do my research." If you'd like to help us gather similar information from participants at other bootcamps, please get in touch.

The Art of Cold Calling (Updated)

Thu, 21 Nov 2013 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

This is an update to an earlier post about how to approach potential bootcamp hosts.

Newly-trained instructors have asked how we go about approaching potential workshop hosts. The short answer is, however we can. The longer answer is, we collect names from journal articles, our Twitter followers, people we bump into at conference, or (increasingly) people who've been through bootcamps, then send emails like the one below. But there's an art to it:

What to Say at a Bootcamp, After It's All Said and Done

Tue, 19 Nov 2013 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

I'm going to be teaching my first ever bootcamp in the coming days. My biggest fear (and there are many!) is that the participants will walk out of the room on the final afternoon and go straight back to their old habits, never taking the time to incorporate what they've learned into their daily workflow. In an attempt to avoid this eventuality, I've planned a rousing concluding address to explain why the content taught at a Software Carpentry bootcamp is so important. It goes something like this...

Thanks from Woods Hole

Sun, 17 Nov 2013 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

We ran a bootcamp last week at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. It seems to have gone well:

I just want to say that Will and Ross are rock stars. They may have started something big here in Woods Hole, a sort of revolution. They have taught us how to step back from our machines, think about what we are doing, and join forces with our neighbors, We will return to our respective projects on Monday morning in a more efficient and collaborative way. Thank you Software Carpentry.
— James Manning

Our First Bootcamp in Adelaide

Fri, 08 Nov 2013 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

We ran our first bootcamp at the University of Adelaide from the 24th to the 26th of September 2013. Teachers and helpers came from all over the place: Ben Morris from the University of North Carolina acted as Principal Instructor, along with Jerico Revote from Monash University, Diego Barneche from Macquarie University, Philipp Bayer from the University of Queensland, Nicholas Crouch from Flinders University, and Nathan Watson-Haigh from the Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics (ACPFG), who also acted as the main organizer (thanks for that!).

Enrolment Figures (Fall 2013)

Wed, 09 Oct 2013 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Our total enrolment (or enrollment, if you're American) continues to grow steadily: if we stay on the curve below, we'll have our four thousandth learner by the end of this year.

Our Biggest Bootcamp Ever at PyCon 2014

Fri, 04 Oct 2013 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Thanks to the generous support of the Python Software Foundation, we will be running our biggest bootcamp ever in conjunction with PyCon 2014 in Montreal on April 14-15, 2014. We will have two rooms with seating for 50 people and two more with seating for 80, so our plan is to run three regular bootcamps for people of varying skill levels, and one more "master class" for scientists who are ready to learn more advanced topics.

Software Carpentry: Lessons Learned

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

With contributions from:

Azalee Bostroem (Space Telescope Science Institute)
Chris Cannam (Queen Mary, University of London)
Stephen Crouch (Software Sustainability Institute)
Matt Davis (Space Telescope Science Institute)
Luis Figueira (Queen Mary, University of London)
Richard "Tommy" Guy (Wave Accounting)
Edmund Hart (University of British Columbia)
Neil Chue Hong (Software Sustainability Institute)
Katy Huff (University of Wisconsin)

Michael Jackson (Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre)
W. Trevor King (Drexel University)
Justin Kitzes (University of California, Berkeley)
Stephen McGough (University of Newcastle)
Lex Nederbragt (University of Oslo)
Tracy Teal (Michigan State University)
Ben Waugh (University College London)
Lynne J. Williams (Rotman Research Institute)
Ethan White (Utah State University)

Abstract

Over the last 15 years, Software Carpentry has evolved from a week-long training course at the US national laboratories into a worldwide volunteer effort to raise standards in scientific computing. This article explains what we have learned along the way the challenges we now face, and our plans for the future.

Running Bootcamps

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

It's been eighteen months since we started running two-day bootcamps. We've grown rapidly:

New Camps Coming Up

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

We have arranged plenty of bootcamps in the last few weeks; here's what's coming up:

Site	Dates	Registration Status
American University of Beirut	Mar 20–21	not yet open
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Mar 24–25	not yet open
University College London	Apr 4 and 8	not yet open
EGI Forum, Manchester	Apr 11	open
University of Wisconsin - Madison	Apr 29–30	not yet open
University of Oxford	May 9–10	restricted
NESCent	May 16–17	not yet open
Duke University	May 20–21	not yet open
University of Massachusetts Amherst	May 23–24	not yet open
University of Alberta	May 30–31	open
Tufts University	June 3–4	not yet open
University of Southampton	June 3–4	restricted
University of Oklahoma	July 1–2	restricted
Indiana University	July 11–12	not yet open
Utah State University	July 16–17	not yet open
University of Notre Dame	July 18–19	not yet open
University of Iowa	September 5–6	not yet open

And of course we're always looking for more eager researchers who want to organize a camp at their institution. If you're interested, please contact us for more information about what's involved.

Expanding Our Bootcamp Types

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Prompted by a recent email I gave some thought to our plans to expand the types of bootcamps we offer, especially when it comes to a sort of "next level" bootcamp and whether we might offer bootcamps that introduce traditional software developers to the world of scientific programming:

There is significant discussion on the best way to expand Software Carpentry. Longer bootcamps, advanced bootcamps, etc. At some point we need to start actually experimenting with these things, but we have many constraints, most notably a severe shortage of person-hours to devote to developing curriculum and staffing events. Scientists, it turns out, are very busy people!

A Bunch of Bootcamps

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

We've had a busy month: we've run bootcamps at the Max Planck Institute in Tübingen, the Technische Universiteit München, Mozilla's office in Toronto, McGill University, Columbia University (a double-header that's still running today), and the universities of Waterloo, Chicago, and British Columbia. We've also booked a bunch more, some of which are now open for registration:

Site	Dates	Registration
University of British Columbia	February 4-5	Open
Macquarie University	February 7-8	Full
AMOS Conference (Melbourne)	February 14-15	Full
University of Washington	February 25-26	Full
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	March 4-5 & 6-7	For LBL staff
University of Virginia	March 7-8	Coming soon
Utah State University	March 23-24	Open
University of Arizona	April 4-5	Open
University of Manchester	April 18-19	Open
Telecom ParisTech	April 20-21	Open
Vrije Universiteit (Amsterdam)	May 2-3	Coming soon
GEOMAR (Kiel)	May 6-7	For members of ISOS, IMAP and the SFB754
Howard Hughes Medical Institute (Virginia)	May 6-7	For HHMI staff
Stanford University	May 6-7	Coming soon
University of California Berkeley	May 6-7	Coming soon (in R!)
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	May 9-10	For LBL staff
University of California Davis	May 13-14	Coming soon
University of Oslo	July 3-4	Open
University of Bath	July 15-16	Coming soon

And we're hoping to finalize arrangements with the following sites real soon now:

How to Help at a Bootcamp

Sat, 03 Nov 2012 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Aleksandra Pawlik has written a five-point guide to helping out with Software Carpentry bootcamps:

Familiarity is not enough.
You're not just there to troubleshoot, you're there to troubleshoot fast.
Expect the unexpected.
Be proactive.
IT all-rounder.

This, and Katy Huff's "How to Help at a Bootcamp", are tremendously valuable: if you have tips of your own to add, please send 'em in.

Charging and Being Charged

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

As noted in the minutes from our meeting on Monday, one of the many things we want to improve about our workshops is the attendance rate. While we get near-complete turnout for some, we have 50% no-shows for others, which is disappointing for instructors, and unfair to people left on the waiting list.

One idea is to charge $20 or so to help people decide if they're serious about taking part or not. However, we've been told in the past that as soon as we start charging, some universities will start to charge us for space, network access, and so on. I agree with their reasons—it would be chaos if random people could use their facilities for profit and not give any back to the university—but in some cases, what they'd charge us would far exceed what we'd get from learners.

How to Run a Bootcamp (new and improved)

Thu, 27 Sep 2012 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

The folks at the Software Sustainability Institute have written a guide to running a Software Carpentry bootcamp that includes a lot more detail than our own. It's a great resource—if you have suggestions for improvements or additions, please send 'em to us.

How Quickly Do Workshops Fill Up?

Thu, 06 Sep 2012 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

I had to compile some data on signups anyway, so here's a graph showing cumulative registration per workshop over time (counting from the day registration opened) for past workshops:

and for upcoming workshops (excluding two that just opened up):

Doing a bit more analysis, this spring's workshops filled up a lot faster than the ones we're running this fall. I think the main reason is that those ones were organized and advertised while school was on, while the upcoming series have been set up over the summer. We'll repeat the analysis in a few months to see if that hypothesis holds.

An Updated List of Upcoming Workshops

Tue, 21 Aug 2012 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Here's an update to our upcoming workshop list:

Venue	Start Date	Instructor(s)
DAFX Conference (York, UK)	2012-09-13	Greg Wilson
University of Oslo	2012-09-17	Hans Petter Langtangen, Greg Wilson
Purdue University	2012-10-08	Michael Hansen, Anthony Scopatz, Jeff Shelton
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	2012-10-17	Matt Davis, Katy Huff
University of British Columbia	2012-10-18	Laura Trembley-Boyer, Ian Mitchell, Peter Rawsthorne, Greg Wilson
University of California Berkeley	2012-10-20	Matt Davis, Katy Huff
Caltech	2012-10-23	Matt Davis
Oxford	2012-10-30	Stephen Crouch, Mike Jackson
Scripps Institute	2012-11-15	Titus Brown, Tracy Teal
University of North Carolina	2012-11-28	Jason Pell, Ethan White, Greg Wilson
University of Edinburgh	2012-12-04	TBD
University of Texas (Austin)	2012-12-10	Rosangela Canino-Koning, Katy Huff, Anthony Scopatz
University of Chicago	2013-01-12	Katy Huff, Anthony Scopatz
Technical University Munich	2013-01-22	TBD
Macquarie University	2013-01-31	Greg Wilson
Virginia Tech	2013-01-31	Tommy Guy
AMOS Conference (Melbourne)	2013-02-14	Greg Wilson

We're currently trying to settle on dates (and instructors) for:

We're Going to Be Busy

Wed, 01 Aug 2012 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

We're going to be busy—and these are just the ones we have confirmed.

Sep 13-14, 2012:	DAFX Conference (York, UK)
Sep 17-18, 2012:	University of Oslo
Oct 8-9, 2012:	Purdue University
Oct 17-18, 2012:	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Oct 18-19, 2012:	University of British Columbia
Oct 20-21, 2012:	University of California Berkeley
Oct 23-24, 2012:	Caltech
Oct 29-30, 2012:	Oxford
Nov 15-16, 2012:	Scripps Institute
Nov 28-29, 2012:	University of North Carolina
Dec 4-5, 2012:	University of Edinburgh
Dec 10-11, 2012:	University of Texas (Austin)
Jan 19-20, 2013:	University of Chicago
Jan 22-23, 2013:	Technical University Munich
Feb 15-14, 2013:	AMOS Conference (Melbourne)

How to Run a Bootcamp

Tue, 29 May 2012 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

With so many people setting up and running Software Carpentry workshops, I thought it was time to put together a more complete how-to. If I've forgotten anything, please let me know. (Later: please also see this PLoS paper"Ten Simple Rules for Developing a Short Bioinformatics Training Course".)

Assumptions

bootcamp is 2-3 days long
For 20-50 learners...
...who are typically grad students in science and engineering
There is 10:1 ratio of helpers to learners (or better)

Goals

Space at Upcoming Events

Sat, 19 May 2012 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Here's how registration is going for upcoming events:

University of British Columbia	May 22-23	39/40
Johns Hopkins University	June 18-19	7/20
Paris	June 28-29	9/25
Boston	July 9-10	23/40
University of Waterloo	July 12-13	1/40
Halifax	July 16-17	8/40
University of Toronto (Scarborough)	July 19-20	14/40

If you'd like to join us, there's still plenty of space—and if you have friends who could use some training in basic software skills, please point them our way.

Two Bootcamps in Ontario in July

Tue, 15 May 2012 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

We are pleased to announce that we will be running two bootcamps in Ontario in July: one at the University of Waterloo on July 12-13, and another at the University of Toronto (Scarborough) on July 19-20. If you'd like to take part, please sign up, and please let friends and colleagues know about them as well.

Where Next?

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Do you know someone who'd be helped by a Software Carpentry bootcamp? Or can you introduce us to someone who'd help us organize one in a new venue? If so, please introduce us: we'd like to start planning for the fall, and we're always keen to make new friends.

We're Going to Be Busy

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Here are the bootcamps we have lined up for the next few months:

International Center for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, February 18 — March 2
University of Toronto, February 23-24
Indiana University, March 7-8
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, March 26-27
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, March 28-29
University of Chicago, April 2-3
Utah State University, April 14-15
University College London, April 30 — May 1
Michigan State University, May 7-9
Newcastle University, May 14-15
University of Alberta, May 16-17
University of British Columbia, May 22-23

We could use help with all of them, both in person as they're running, and online as participants follow up with self-paced material. If you'd like to help out, please get in touch.

Bootcamp

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

A couple of weeks ago, I went to the University of Wisconsin — Madison to speak at a three-day software skills bootcamp run by The Hacker Within, a grassroots student group that's taking the same "teach what you know, learn what you don't" approach as the Peer-to-Peer University and other efforts. I was very impressed then, and am even more so now that I've had time to reflect on what I saw (and recover from my close encounter with Delta Airlines, whose motto appears to be, "We don't care because we don't have to").