Episode 221: Malvika Sharan on the The Turing Way

Guest Malvika Sharan Panelist Richard Littauer Show Notes In this
episode, host Richard has a conversation with guest Malvika Sharan,
a senior research associate and open source community manager at
The Turing Way. Malvika gives fascinating insights into the journey
and rationale behind The Turing Way, which is a data science guide
and community collaborative project, seeking to make data science
more open, accessible, and inclusive. The Turing Way is also much
more than its curated guides, serving as a space for enthusiasts to
exchange ideas and contribute to the project. Richard and Malvika
dig deep into the importance of effective recognition for
contributions, Malvika’s commitment to financial compensation
within the constraints of the system, along with the persistence of
volunteerism in open source work. Amid her busy year, Malvika is
preparing for this chapter of The Turing Way’s journey to enter an
exciting 2024 and 2025 phase as they look to engage more directly
with organizations that haven’t yet adopted open source
collaborative practices advocated by The Turing Way. Press download
not to hear more! [00:01:17] Malvika explains The Turing Way as a
collaborative book project on open science and data science,
founded by Kristie Whittaker in 2019, which has evolved
significantly with her as co-lead. Also, The Turing Way started as
a book on GitHub aimed at making data science more open. [00:04:09]
Richard clarifies that The Turing Way is a Jupyter book, and
Malvika discusses the evolution of The Turing Way and its role in
advocating for open source practices within data science projects.
[00:05:55] Richard asks why there isn’t a specific guide for open
source, and Malvika explains that The Turing Way integrates open
source principles throughout and addresses concerns about open
practices in sensitive areas. [00:08:07] Richard inquires about the
name, The Turing Way, an Malvika recounts its origin relating to
the Alan Turing Institute and the idea of reproducibility.
[00:09:26] The discussion turns to community involvement in The
Turing Way. Malvika talks about different types of community events
and how individuals become part of the community through
collaboration and self-identification. [00:12:15] The concept of
“emergent strategy” from the book by Adrienne Maree Brown is
explained as an influence on the community aspect of The Turing
Way. [00:13:13] Richard inquires about the sustainability of The
Turing Way as an open source project and its funding and staff
structure. Malvika explains that it’s funded by the Alan Turing
Institute and discusses the Institute’s support and staff dedicated
to the project, including a new project manager. [00:16:16] Richard
asks how The Turing Way collects feedback and demonstrates its
impact on sustainability for projects that use it. Malvika shares
experiences of community members using The Turing Way to influence
their organizations and mentions collaborations like The
Environmental Data Science book project. [00:18:03] Malvika talks
about how she launched The Turing Way Practitioners Hub to gather
and share evidence. [00:19:42] Richard questions what it means to
adopt The Turing Way, and Malvika clarifies that it refers to
adopting the practices of open and collaborative data science.
[00:20:16] They address the breadth versus depth of The Turing
Way’s content and the idea of creating sector-specific resources.
[00:24:00] Malvika speaks about outreach through talks and
workshops, and highlights the diversity of narratives within The
Turing Way community, such as activism for [00:26:20] Richard
notices the lack of Welsh language resources in The Turing Way and
wonders why it’s not included. Malvika acknowledges this as a
shortcoming due to underrepresentation in the community. [00:27:19]
How does The Turing Way support careers of its contributors?
Malvika talks about the importance of recognition, mentioning the
All Contributors Bot for immediate recognition, chairing working
groups, and listing significant contributors in the book.
[00:30:31] Richard asks how The Turing Way supports contributors
financially. Malvika stresses the value of volunteerism for
skill-building and personal growth. She also talks about The Turing
Way’s efforts in compensating contributors through grants and
mentions the limitations of institutional funding structures.
[00:33:58] Malvika tells us where you can find updates and
involvement opportunities on The Turing Way, and where you can
follow her online. Quotes [00:05:08] “The project itself is built
on a lot of open source technology.” [00:06:00] “The Turing Way is
a sneaky open source.” [00:09:48] “Sometimes it happens that you
don’t think you’re a part of a community, but you are part of a
community, it’s just someone didn’t tell you that you are part of
the community.” [00:24:27] “I think of The Turing Way as an
extension of digital commons that people should use and fare, but
also maintain and support.” Spotlight [00:35:31] Richard’s
spotlight is the Montpelier Library in Montpelier, Ohio. [00:36:11]
Malvika’s spotlight is Laurah Ondari, a wonderful podcaster, and
her podcast, The Science In Real Life. 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 Mastodon
(https://mastodon.social/@richlitt) Malvika Sharan X/Twitter
(https://twitter.com/malvikasharan?lang=en) Malvika Sharan Website
(https://malvikasharan.github.io/) The Turing Way
(https://the-turing-way.netlify.app/index.html) The Turing Way
start page (https://the-turing-way.start.page/) The Turing Way
X/Twitter (https://twitter.com/turingway?lang=en) Emergent
Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds by Adrienne Maree Brown
(https://www.amazon.com/Emergent-Strategy-Shaping-Change-Changing/dp/1849352607/ref=asc_df_1849352607/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312519927002&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=1321696698792624233&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9010767&hvtargid=pla-499608628957&psc=1&mcid=809f2bb32586374195942cf2c6e2aca4&gclid=CjwKCAiAvoqsBhB9EiwA9XTWGfN8LbnCRl97vsL9BOr4CpRodcEJm1tCxlv4gDnFpCXz1DpueMFthoCuQsQAvD_BwE)
The Alan Turing Institute AI UK (https://www.turing.ac.uk/) The
Environmental Data Science book-GitHub
(https://github.com/alan-turing-institute/environmental-ds-book)
The Turing Way Practitioners Hub
(https://www.turing.ac.uk/turing-way-practitioners-hub) Emergent
Strategy: Organizing for Social Justice (Forte Labs)
(https://fortelabs.com/blog/emergent-strategy-organizing-for-social-justice/)
All Contributors (https://allcontributors.org/) Montpelier Public
Library (https://montpelierpubliclibrary.oplin.org/) Laurah Ondari
LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurah-ondari-749175b6/) The
Science In Real Life Podcast
(https://podcastaddict.com/podcast/the-science-in-real-life-podcast/4513182)
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:
Malvika Sharan.