[open-science] science.okfn.org: New Local Groups Page

Mon Aug 15 05:21:45 UTC 2011

Thank you.  Jenny and Egon, you have both sent me some very valuable suggestions.  I will try to make progress on this idea this week.

Chris Maloney
NIH/NLM/NCBI (Contractor)
Building 45, 5AN.24D-22
301-594-2842

From: jcmcoppice12 at gmail.com [mailto:jcmcoppice12 at gmail.com] On Behalf Of Jenny Molloy
Sent: Sunday, August 14, 2011 6:52 PM
To: Maloney, Christopher (NIH/NLM/NCBI) [C]
Cc: open-science at lists.okfn.org
Subject: Re: [open-science] science.okfn.org: New Local Groups Page

Hi Christopher!
On Sat, Aug 13, 2011 at 9:38 PM, Maloney, Christopher (NIH/NLM/NCBI) [C] <maloneyc at ncbi.nlm.nih.gov<mailto:maloneyc at ncbi.nlm.nih.gov>> wrote:
Seeing this page, I got the idea to try to start an open-science local interest group in the Washington, DC area.  I've introduced myself to this group before - I work at PMC on the NIH campus in Bethesda, MD.  I think a DC group could potentially be a big win for pushing the cause of open-science at US government institutions, including the NIH.

I've never tried to do something quite like this before, so I'd really like to get suggestions for the best way to go about it.  Here are some specific questions:

-          Do you think it's a good idea?
Yes!

-          Would it be best to get a select group of people committed to the idea first, before sending out any kind of announcement?

-          More generally, any advice on the timing of rolling it out, so as hopefully to draw the most interest, would be appreciated.
Not necessarily, as Egon says you can start off very informally. I've mentioned the Oxford one, because I know there are people who are potentially interested but as of yet no one else is officially on board! To give you my plan for rolling out, we have an open community pub meet planned next week and I'll enlist any scientists that come along and try to arrange a science specific event. We'll then try and hold a larger launch event once several people are already involved. This isn't really advice because I don't know yet whether it will work, but it's an idea!

-          Anyone else on this list who's interested in helping on this group specifically?

-          Could I get help setting up a mailing list / web site?  (Maybe we don't need a web site at first).
Yes! You can email okfn-help at okfn.org<mailto:okfn-help at okfn.org> and this list to ask that one is set up and the admins will sort it out.

-          Could I get help drafting up an announcement?  I think I would send it to the NCBI staff, once it's ready.
If you send a draft/link to a draft to the list I'm sure people will join in helping to edit. I can set you up an okfnpad for collaborative drafting if you like. It would be useful for other people who might like to set something similar up to read and reuse.

-          Any advice on how to run the group - details of running meetings, etc.
Not currently, but I think the most important thing is to follow the interests of the people you manage to get involved, because being able to do that is the main benefit of having smaller local groups. Egon and I can both keep you informed about how our plans pan out, what works and doesn't for us. OKF tends towards 'doing stuff' meetings so I guess you'd want a mixture of talking about what you want to happen and workshops/hack sessions to get it done. That is what I'll be attempting to do here.

Jenny

Cheers!

Chris Maloney
NIH/NLM/NCBI (Contractor)
Building 45, 5AN.24D-22
301-594-2842<tel:301-594-2842>

From: Jenny Molloy [mailto:jenny.molloy at okfn.org<mailto:jenny.molloy at okfn.org>]
Sent: Saturday, August 13, 2011 1:29 PM
To: open-science at lists.okfn.org<mailto:open-science at lists.okfn.org>
Subject: [open-science] science.okfn.org<http://science.okfn.org>: New Local Groups Page

Hi All

Just to let you know we now have a page for local groups interested in open science.
htttp://science.okfn.org/local-groups/<http://science.okfn.org/local-groups/>

Currently featuring MIT, Stockholm and the (hopefully) soon to be established Oxford group. Let me know if you have info on more groups or would like to start one, as I can put an entry inviting interest. These do not need to be directly affiliated with OKF but as Jonathan pointed out in an earlier email, once they are up and running we can offer
*  local mailing lists via lists.okfn.org<http://lists.okfn.org>
*  local groups e.g. http://okfn.org/groups/open-knowledge-london/
*  local websites e.g. science.okfn.org<http://science.okfn.org>
Jenny

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