Building the PyData Community

Introduction to Numfocus and thoughts about building and contributing to the PyData community.

Transcript

1. PyData Building a strong and vibrant community Spyder
2. Numfocus Num… Foundation for Open Code for Usable Science
3. Numfocus (http://numfocus.org) NumFOCUS is a 501(c)(3) public charity in the USA. ! It supports and promotes world-class, innovative, open source scientific software to enable open science and reproducible research. ! It supports the PyData and SciPy communities.
4. Numfocus (http://numfocus.org) • Women in Science and Technology events • John Hunter Technical Fellowship • Grant programs to loosely organized communities • Fiscal sponsorship • Legal protection and ownership of community websites Activities
5. Women in Science and Technology Thanks to
6. John Hunter Technical Fellowship John Hunter (1968-2012) author of matplotlib initial board member of Numfocus Honorable mention: Damien Irving (University of Melbourne) Connie Gao (MIT) Olga Botvinnik UC San Diego to create open source analysis software for the single-cell and biology communities, and to pioneer data, code sharing, and computational reproducibility within the single-cell and RNA biology communities.
7. Numfocus Money donated to NumFOCUS goes to sponsor things like: ! • Coding sprints (food and travel) • Technical fellowships (sponsored students and mentors to work on code needed by the community) • Equipment grants (to developers and projects) • Conference attendance for students (to PyData, SciPy, and other conferences) • Fees for continuous integration and other software engineering tools • Documentation development • Web-page hosting and bandwidth fees for projects
8. Numfocus Supports the PSF code of conduct. ! Governed by a board of 9 directors: Jarrod Millman Ralf Gommers Andy Terrel Perry Greenfield Cindee Madison Lorena Barba Didrik Pinte Anthony Scopatz Brian Granger ! Open membership model — just need a name, contact information, and which country you live in. All proceeds from PyData go to fund Numfocus
9. Why Numfocus? When we founded Continuum, we also wanted to create a place where community members (including companies that compete with each other) could work together to fund open source projects that benefit science, engineering, math, and data-science. ! Through both significant personal and company donations of money and time, several people at Continuum have continued to work to get Numfocus organized, funded, and operational as well as the create, organize, and promote the PyData conference series.
10. A little context Edd Dumbill Julie Steele The first PyData Workshop ! Spring 2012 at Google HQ Peter Wang Travis Oliphant Wes McKinney
11. — Peter Wang, PyData SV 2014
12. — Peter Wang, PyData SV 2014 Birthplace of Conda and Anaconda “Guido, please help us convince core dev to work with us to solve the packaging problem!” “Meh. Feel free to solve it yourselves.” Anaconda
13. — Peter Wang, PyData SV 2014
14. PyData: the First 20 Years • Numarray: 2001 • Numeric: 1995 • Matrix Obj: 1994 • IPython Notebook: 2005-2011 • pandas: 2008-2009 • scikit-learn: 2007 • NumPy: 2006 • SymPy: 2006 • IPython: 2001 • matplotlib: 2002 • SciPy 2001 (1999 Multipack)
15. — Peter Wang, PyData SV 2014
16. Tools matter
17. “For there is but one veritable problem - the problem of human relations…” — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
18. Code of Conduct Members of the community are open to collaboration, whether it's on PEPs, patches, problems, or otherwise. We're receptive to constructive comment and criticism, as the experiences and skill sets of other members contribute to the whole of our efforts. We're accepting of all who wish to take part in our activities, fostering an environment where anyone can participate and everyone can make a difference. Open Considerate Members of the community are considerate of their peers -- other Python users. We're thoughtful when addressing the efforts of others, keeping in mind that often times the labor was completed simply for the good of the community. We're attentive in our communications, whether in person or online, and we're tactful when approaching differing views. Members of the community are respectful. We're respectful of others, their positions, their skills, their commitments, and their efforts. We're respectful of the volunteer efforts that permeate the Python community. We're respectful of the processes set forth in the community, and we work within them. When we disagree, we are courteous in raising our issues. Overall, we're good to each other. We contribute to this community not because we have to, but because we want to. If we remember that, these guidelines will come naturally. Respectful
19. Principles Philia φιλíα “brotherly love” — the fellowship that should exist between members of the same community. “the central idea of φιλíα is that of doing well by someone for his own sake, out of concern for him (and not, or not merely, out of concern for oneself). [... Thus] the different forms of φιλíα [as listed above] could be viewed just as different contexts and circumstances in which this kind of mutual well- doing can arise" — John M. Cooper
20. Principles Seva (Sewa) A Sanskrit word meaning selfless sacrifice, volunteering for the community “Helping out is not some special skill. It is not the domain of rare individuals. It is not confined to a single part of our lives. We simply heed the call of that natural impulse within and follow it where it leads us.” — Ram Dass
21. Principles Tithe The concept of giving 10% of increase back to the community If every company that uses NumPy stack gave 10% of profits (or even those profits connected to use of the NumPy stack) back to Numfocus — we would have no problem of sustainability.
22. Issues The Free Rider Problem The community has enormous contributions from certain people and companies while others just take what the community creates for their own benefit — without contributing back real value.
23. Solutions • Supporting with your money organizations and companies that are driving PyData solutions • Buy a product • Buy support • Donate to Numfocus ! • Be a company that is contributing to PyData (with sponsorships and code contributions from your developers) ! • Work for a company that is driving and contributing to PyData efforts
24. Issues Lack of Diversity For whatever reason, we tend towards a fairly homogeneous group. This can make some feel alone and make it difficult for them to contribute. ! Yet, it’s the contributions of diverse members that will make the community robust and able to reach its full potential.
25. Solutions • Particular events encouraging less represented members to attend • Diversity scholarships and invited speakers • Particular sub communities (PyLadies, etc.) • Using our frontal lobe to overcome the natural, biological tendency to stereotype and exclude as we form community • Diverse individuals becoming a role-model for others: • Build something useful • Be accessible to talk about it and promote it • The community must be formed based on ideas in our minds and not on the incidental details of our DNA.
26. Issues “Bad Actors” People that are do not follow the PSF Code of Conduct, make it difficult to attract diversity, or who tend towards leeching from the community without giving back significantly.
27. Solutions • Patience (recognize that your perspective on someone or something may not be accurate) ! • Speak up and defend when necessary (but listen as well and get other points of view) ! • Routing around the “troublemakers” ! • Supporting positive activities rather than give voice to a “bad actor” (“this too shall pass”)
28. Summary •Python has had a long and fruitful history in Data Analytics •It will have a long and bright future with your help! •Contribute to the PyData community and make the world a better place!
29. Donate to Numfocus and Become a member http://numfocus.org Become a PSF Member https://www.python.org/psf/ Sponsor, Present, Attend PyData events: http://pydata.org Community Commercials