Episode 228: Yani Bellini Saibene on better scientific coding communities

Guest Yani Bellini Saibene Panelist Richard Littauer Show Notes In
this episode of Sustain, host Richard welcomes guest Yani Bellini
Saibene from Argentina. Yani, with a rich background in open source
community management, shares her journey into the tech and open
source world, and highlights her roles as the rOpenSci Community
Manager, R-Ladies Project Lead, and Vice President for the Board of
Directors for The Carpentries. The discussion dives into the
challenges of funding, sustainability of volunteer-based models,
and the importance of including diverse voices in open source
development. The conversation also explores the economic
disparities and cultural differences affecting contributors form
the global south and how building strong local communities can
empower individuals by providing them with tools, knowledge, and a
sense of belonging in the wider world. Press download to hear more!
[00:01:47] Yani describes her start as a researcher at INTA while
at university, her degree in computer science, and her initial work
developing software and teaching scientists to use computing tools.
She also details her career progression and her master thesis at
INTA. [00:04:49] We hear about the foundation and global expansion
of R-Ladies, as Yani emphasizes community strength and the
organizers’ passion. She discusses the flexibility and inclusivity
of the chapters, and the support and resources shared among the
community. [00:08:56] Richard questions about the distinct roles
and activities between rOpenSci, R-Ladies, and The Carpentries,
which appear to have similar goals in teaching R, and Yani explains
the different objectives of the three organizations. [00:12:50]
Yani lists the funders, including the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative,
Sloan Foundation, and others. She describes the funding models for
R-Ladies and Carpentries and the challenges of sustaining such
community-oriented projects. [00:14:52] Richard inquires about the
role of the board of directors in establishing post-grant funding.
Yani explains The Carpentries’ membership model where institutions
pay for benefits like workshops and instructor training, she
mentions the perks for members, discusses the challenges of
maintaining services without sufficient membership or grants, and
highlights cultural and financial barriers in Latin America.
[00:20:17] Richard is curious about cultural barriers and asks for
further insights into overcoming cultural barriers and the
limitations of translations. Yani discusses her personal journey
with the English language and its importance in coding beyond
syntax and shares some data from a recent study that was done, and
the paper is called, “The manifold costs of being a non-native
English speaker in science,” from PLOS Biology. [00:24:42] Yani
discusses additional studies, mentioning the Linux Foundation
report on English as a barrier in open source contribution and its
influence on perceived expertise. [00:25:55] Richard asks Yani
about the point at which translation efforts start to yield
benefits for the community and inquires about the visible impacts
and dividends from investments in internationalizing materials.
Yani cites examples of immediate benefits, and discusses her
involvement in translating educational materials, which has
supported teaching many Spanish speaking teachers. [00:32:38]
Richard raises concerns about the possibility of global
exploitation through talent extraction from non-English speaking
regions. Yani addresses the issue of local versus international
business compensation and the ethical implications for non-profit
organizations. [00:36:30] We hear Richard’s concerns about how to
have conversations about open source contributions and community
building in a non-extractive way and he wonders if it’s feasible to
collectively support open source maintainers financially. Yani
explains the concept of three “currencies” in any job: money,
heart, and brain. [00:39:16] Yani discusses the champions program
at rOpenSci, where stipends were important for participants to
allocate time to the tasks and do an excellent job. [00:41:05] Find
out where you can follow Yani online. Quotes [00:06:17] “In
R-Ladies, you have enough informality and enough expertise to make
this a special place to learn.” [00:18:26] “There is little funding
for maintaining what you already have.” [00:20:40] “I have to
confess that I approached the English language because I loved
code.” Spotlight [00:42:26] Richard’s spotlight is a book he’s
reading called, Theodore Rex. [00:43:10] Yani’s spotlight is a
friend and someone she works with at R-Ladies, Athanasia Mo
Mowinckel. 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) Yani Bellini Saibene
GitHub (https://github.com/yabellini) Yani Bellini Saibene Mastodon
(https://fosstodon.org/@yabellini) Yani Bellini Saibene Website
(https://yabellini.netlify.app/) Yani Bellini Saibene LinkedIn
(https://www.linkedin.com/in/yabellini/) Teaching Tech Together
(https://teachtogether.tech/) R-Ladies (https://rladies.org/) The
Carpentries (https://carpentries.org/index.html) rOpenSci
(https://ropensci.org/) The manifold costs of being a non-native
English speaker in science (PLOS Biology)
(https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3002184) Chan Zuckerberg
Initiative (https://chanzuckerberg.com/) Sloan Foundation
(https://sloan.org/) Drive: The Surprising Truth About What
Motivates Us by Daniel H. Pink
(https://www.danpink.com/books/drive/) Theodore Rex by Edmund
Morris (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Rex_(book)) Dr.
Athanasia Mo Mowinckel (https://drmowinckels.io/) 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: Yani Bellini
Saibene.