W15 - Carpentries Instructor Training Workshop

Unsolicited contributions considered? No

This special 2-day pre-conference workshop is limited to 20-30 people and requires prior payment and registration.

Abstract

Workforce development in biodiversity computing skills for our community is strongly needed. Before the last three TDWG meetings, iDigBio conducted Data or Software Carpentry workshops to teach these skills. Before SPNHC 2017, the Smithsonian, SPNHC, and iDigBio organized a Biodiversity Informatics 101 workshop. However, not everyone can attend an international meeting to get this training. Therefore, to increase the number of Carpentry workshops in our community, we decided to organize a 2-day Carpentry instructor training workshop. The Carpentries instructor curriculum teaches methods and pedagogy for running inclusive technical workshops for beginners. Attendees can go on to complete a certification process to become certified Carpentry instructors. Certified instructors can lead their own Carpentry-branded workshops at their institutions. Our goal is for attendees of this instructor workshop to return to their home institutions and teach regular Carpentry workshops. This will provide an economically sustainable capacity building strategy, removing the need for outside support to improve local biodiversity informatics skills and knowledge. Potential participants include SPNHC and TDWG attendees interested in the research data pipeline: collectors, researchers, collection managers, data managers, and data scientists. To integrate this workshop into the main program, we will propose a plenary talk during the joint meeting to present experiences and outcomes of this workshop as well as introduce the Carpentries communities we have started at Florida State University and University of Florida, which have trained nearly 300 participants.