Episode 230: Kari L. Jordan on The Carpentries

Guest Kari L. Jordan Panelist Richard Littauer Show Notes In this
episode of Sustain, host Richard welcomes guest Dr. Kari L. Jordan,
the Executive Director of The Carpentries, to discuss the
organization’s mission, challenges, and strategies for fostering an
inclusive community that teaches data and coding skills. We explore
topics like sustaining open source projects, the importance of
teaching open source tools and practices, and how The Carpentries
contribute to the ecosystem. The conversation dives into the
funding strategies, volunteer engagement, accessibility, and the
future goals of The Carpentries, including spreading skills in data
science and coding across diverse linguistic and geographical
communities. Also, we’ll touch on broader issues such as equity in
tech and the potential avenues for increasing participation of
underrepresented groups in open source and data science. Press
download to hear more! [00:02:03] Richard asks Kari about The
Carpentries work, and she gives her elevator pitch, emphasizing
their mission of teaching inclusive data and coding skills.
[00:03:23] Kari discusses how The Carpentries incorporates open
source principles in teaching various aspects, including community
management and code of conduct. Also, she outlines the adjacent
communities to The Carpentries, mentioning rOpenSci and the Center
for Scientific Collaboration and Community Engagement. [00:05:15]
Richard jokes about The Carpentries being well-funded, and Kari
clarifies their actual funding sources and the crucial role of
volunteers. [00:07:15] Kari details how the nine paid staff of The
Carpentries structure their work across curricula development,
workshops and instruction, and community engagement. [00:08:59] A
question comes up about The Carpentries success metrics, and Kari
speaks on their goal to build global capacity in essential data
skills for informed decision-making. [00:11:56] Discussing the
ethical use of data, Kari explains The Carpentries alignment with
the FAIR Principles to ensure data management is equitable and
accessible. [00:14:47] Kari highlights the importance of
recognition and appreciation in open source contributions, and
speaks about the diversity in forms of appreciation, from LinkedIn
badges to DOIs for contributions, and the necessity of different
incentives. [00:17:34] Kari acknowledges the divide and discusses
how individuals in The Carpentries often pick a focus, be it
teaching or lesson development, though some do cross over between
data and open source contributions. [00:19:37] Richard probes into
the potential contribution of ‘data people’ to the burnout of open
source maintainers and whether they should also contribute to the
maintenance. Kari agrees on the correlation but suggests it might
be a confidence issues and emphasizes the need to educate these
individuals on the importance of their contributions. [00:21:12]
Richard seeks a clearer definition of what constitutes a
contribution within The Carpentries, and Kari responds by referring
to their Code of Conduct which clarifies that contributions are
welcome as long as they adhere to it. [00:22:45] What is Kari’s
long-term vision for The Carpentries? She envisions their lessons
being taught in hundreds of languages and spreading their
educational model without a reliance on strong internet connections
and mentions currently having a multilingual open source glossary
called Glosario. [00:25:26] Kari talks about the hardest part of
her job, which is that volunteer capacity and revenue generation
are current organizational priorities. [00:28:29] What would Kari
focus on in open source if she wasn’t with The Carpentries? She
expresses her desire to concentrate efforts on equity and
inclusion, specifically increasing the involvement of people of
color in open source within the U.S. [00:31:20] Richard asks Kari
what she’s really excited about for the future of The Carpentries.
She shares her enthusiasm about potential strategic alliances with
other organizations to share resources and thrive together, and the
creation of resources for communities to run their own inclusive
events. [00:32:58] Find out where you can follow Kari online.
Quotes [00:06:46] “We’ve supported workshops in over 64 countries,
and it’s because of our volunteers.” [00:09:31] “We know that
decisions that impact our lives are made with data.” [00:10:48]
“Before I came on staff at The Carpentries, I had never heard of R,
Python. I had never heard of GitHub, and I have a PhD.” [00:16:07]
“Appreciation is different depending on what’s important to you.”
Spotlight [00:33:55] Richard’s spotlight is Nisha Ghatak, from
NeSI, who ran two of The Carpentries workshops he attended in New
Zealand. [00:34:21] Kari’s spotlight is OpenRefine, a very powerful
open source tool. Links SustainOSS (https://sustainoss.org/)
SustainOSS Twitter
(https://twitter.com/SustainOSS?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor)
SustainOSS Discourse (https://discourse.sustainoss.org/)
podcast@sustainoss.org (mailto:podcast@sustainoss.org) SustainOSS
Mastodon (https://mastodon.social/tags/sustainoss) Open
Collective-SustainOSS (Contribute)
(https://opencollective.com/sustainoss) Richard Littauer Socials
(https://www.burntfen.com/2023-05-30/socials) Dr. Kari L. Jordan
X/Twitter (https://twitter.com/drkariljordan) Dr. Kari L. Jordan
Mastodon (https://mastodon.social/@drkariljordan) Dr. Kari L.
Jordan Website (https://kariljordan.com/) Dr. Kari L. Jordan GitHub
(https://github.com/kariljordan) Dr. Kari L. Jordan LinkedIn
(https://www.linkedin.com/in/kariljordan/) The Carpentries
(https://carpentries.org/index.html) Center for Scientific
Collaboration and Community Engagement (https://www.cscce.org/)
rOpenSci (https://ropensci.org/) FAIR Principles
(https://www.go-fair.org/fair-principles/) The Nine Core Values of
The Carpentries (https://carpentries.org/values/) Glosario
(https://glosario.carpentries.org/) Nisha Ghatak-NeSI
(https://www.nesi.org.nz/news/2024/01/nisha-ghatak-nesi-training-lead-elected-global-training-community-board-directors)
OpenRefine (https://openrefine.org/) Credits Produced by Richard
Littauer (https://www.burntfen.com/) Edited by Paul M. Bahr at
Peachtree Sound (https://www.peachtreesound.com/) Show notes by
DeAnn Bahr Peachtree Sound (https://www.peachtreesound.com/)
Special Guest: Kari L. Jordan.