During challenging times, it’s critical to pause and reflect on who we are, what we care about, and why our work matters. Since its inception, pyOpenSci, a global community fiscally sponsored in the U.S., has been committed to actively building an inclusive, welcoming, open source community of practice that supports better, more open science. Our Code of Conduct reinforces our values, as does the thought that we put into the events that we run, the accessible resources that we develop, and the work that we do to make our peer review program inclusive and creating Python software easier.
Today, we celebrate the core values that drive pyOpensci. Today, we reaffirm our long-standing commitment to building an inclusive, open source community and highlight our mission.
pyOpenSci broadens participation in scientific open source by breaking down social and technical barriers.
And this is how we achieve our mission:
We are a community of novice to expert Pythonistas; together, we make creating, finding, sharing, and contributing to reusable code more accessible to everyone everywhere, supporting open science and advancing discovery.
Carving out space for everyone
Creating an inclusive and welcoming space is core to broadening participation in open source and open science.
- When people feel supported, they contribute
- When knowledge is shared, communities grow and thrive.
Through mentorship, beginner-friendly events, and accessible resources, we actively invite those who might not otherwise see a place for themselves in open source. Our review process includes both developers and those who use the software; here, inclusion ensures that our reviews consider usability and accessibility in addition to the technical nuances of packaging.
Through mentorship and support, we carve out space for new reviewers, which includes those from historically underrepresented backgrounds in open source to contribute to peer review. Similarly, our beginner-friendly lessons and training events are co-developed with beginner-to-expert contributors to ensure the technical concepts are accessible to more people.
Inclusion invites everyone to the table; it creates space for new contributors and supports existing community members. Inclusion creates opportunities for everyone to work together. Together, we share knowledge, shape best practices, and ensure our work serves the broader community.
A blossoming ecosystem of contributors
By breaking down barriers, we create open science on-ramps that help everyone learn, contribute, and grow together. In many ways, open source communities are like thriving gardens—diverse, vibrant, and sustained by many contributors.
The most vibrant and resilient gardens are full of diverse color, texture, and life, attracting pollinators that sustain the whole system. Cultivating diversity builds resilience. Similarly, contributors in our pyOpenSci community come from different backgrounds, identities, and experience levels.
When we make space for all contributors—ensuring they have what they need to grow—our community becomes more resilient as the ecosystem evolves. Scientific discovery happens organically. The more perspectives and experiences we include, the more impactful our work becomes.
Connect with us!
There are lots of ways to get involved if you are interested!
- If you read through our lessons and want to suggest changes, open an issue in our lessons repository here
- Volunteer to be a reviewer for pyOpenSci’s software review process
- Submit a scientific Python package to pyOpenSci for peer review
- Donate to pyOpenSci to support scholarships for future training events and the development of new learning content.
- Check out our volunteer page for other ways to get involved.
You can also:
- Keep an eye on our events page for upcoming training events.
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