Looking ahead to ResBaz 2016

By Damien Irving.

I’ve been avoiding David Flanders for the past few weeks. For those who’ve never met Flanders, he is the innovative brains behind the hugely successful Research Bazaar conference (ResBaz) that was held in Melbourne earlier this year. A whole bunch of sites in Australia, New Zealand, North America and Europe have already put their hands up to host their own ResBaz conference in 2016 (Feb 1-3), so David asked if I’d help him coordinate the global expansion of the event.

I’m trying to finish my PhD this year, so naturally my first reaction was to run for the hills. But then I got to thinking – if running this event becomes a massive burden on any single person, then we’re doing it wrong. This isn’t our event. It belongs to the whole international community, which means we can (and should) spread the load amongst that community. This post summarises my thoughts on how we might go about doing that. I’m hoping it will be a conversation starter, with a view to consolidating the plan at the next ResBaz community call (28 May).


General leadership and oversight

From conversations I’ve had with Flanders, I know that so long as ResBaz (or opportunities for digital research skills training more broadly) is successful, he couldn’t care less whether he’s the front man or not. Having said that, in these early stages I think it’s very important that he does take a central leadership role. As is often the case when Flanders has a good idea or takes on a lead role, he calls on his team of Research Community Coordinators at the University of Melbourne to help make things happen. I’ll be the one helping out for ResBaz 2016.


Website and online presence

Obviously one of the most important tools for coordinating a global event is a website. Ours doesn’t need all that much content (just a pitch to potential hosts, a list of requirements and advice for hosts, a pretty map showing all the sites, etc), but it does need to look slick and professional so that it impresses potential hosts and sponsors.* The Mozilla Science Lab were fantastic supporters of ResBaz 2015 and are all about helping researchers thrive on the open web, so I’m hoping they’ll take the lead on the website. They have a great deal of experience running globally distributed events (e.g. mozsprint), so I’m also hoping they’ll have some great ideas on how we can use the web to link up the ResBaz host sites.


Survey

An important outcome from ResBaz 2015 was the researcher survey that was included in the registration process. We had over over 450 applicants fill out the survey, which allowed us to capture all sorts of great information about the digital research tools and skills researchers are currently using and seeking to learn. Our sample size will grow enormously with the global 2016 event, so I’m hoping the Software Sustainability Institute will lead the design and implementation of the survey and also the analysis of the data it collects. They have a great deal of expertise in this area and were also strong supporters of ResBaz 2015.


Quality assurance

It’s fair to say that most of the formal classes delivered at the various ResBaz 2016 sites will be taught by Software Carpentry instructors using the Software Carpentry teaching materials (when I say Software Carpentry I also mean their sister organisation Data Carpentry). This was certainly the case at ResBaz 2015 (where we essentially ran three Software Carpentry workshops simultaneously) and it was a key factor in the success of the event, because it ensured that the quality of the classes was high. Software Carpentry instructors undergo formal training before they teach and the materials have undergone years of community development, which means the classes are the state-of-the-art in computing education. Software Carpentry also helped us run an instructor training course in Melbourne during the week prior to ResBaz 2015, so there were lots a newly qualified instructors around to teach and help out.

I haven’t asked them yet, but I’m hoping that Software Carpentry might consider running a couple of live training events (and perhaps also an online course for people who can’t get to the live trainings) in the lead up to ResBaz 2016. We’ll also need Software Carpentry’s help in encouraging their global network of workshop organisers to consider running a workshop as part of ResBaz 2016.

For non-Software Carpentry classes, we’ll need to have a think about quality assurance. We have global brand to protect, so we want to make sure participants get a great learning experience when they attend ResBaz.


Community

Flanders has put together a group of interested ResBazadors (yep, that’s what we’re calling ResBaz hosts) who had their first community call a few weeks ago. These calls will become a monthly thing and will be the place for ResBazadors to get the latest information and also to ask questions and receive advice on running their event.

If you’ve got any comments or feedback on this proposal, please jump on the ResBaz gitter room and let us know!


* There’s an existing ResBaz 2016 website that was thrown up just to make sure there’s something up on the web, but it’s pretty ugly (in my opinion) and has to go.