Nordic-RSE online unconference 2023 #NordicRSEunconf

October 25-26, 13:00 - 16:00 CEST (with optional social time after)

What is an unconference?

An unconference is a conference in which the content is mainly provided by the people who join the unconference on a voluntary and often improvised base. The program of our unconference will consist mainly of your contributions and we encourage you to submit a short abstract for a discussion topic, talk, demonstration, or any other type of program you would like to run beforehand. But we will also collect on-site suggestions for contributions. And of course we will all follow a Code of Conduct.

You can also help us by sharing the announcement with others.

Scope

This is our third Nordic-RSE unconference, held online October 25-26, 2023, 13:00 - 16:00 CEST (with optional social time). We invite research software engineers and everyone who develops software or tools and are driven by research/engineering in either academia or industry. It is a great opportunity to network, share knowledge and experiences with your peers. We would like this event to be an informal space for exchanging ideas and experiences, learning something new, and networking with people of the same interest group.

This year the focus will all be on us, the research software engineers themselves. So we decided to focus on two topics:

hidden gems: what are those tools and technologies that you use regularly and make your life easier, yet few people seem to know?
paper cuts: we wanna hear your big and small failures encountered in the profession, how you solved them (if you did). What went wrong?

At an unconference, all formats of communication are welcome (or check what we have done last year):

Discussion topics: is software, research software community or research software engineer something close to your heart? Come chatting with other enthusiasts!
Demonstrations: show us some tools or software that you like
Workshop or ReproHacks (max 3 hours in a day)
Talks: teach us something new
On-going projects: share with others something unfinished and almost working that you would like to get feedback on
Something else: is there something you would like to share with others that does not fit any of the previous points? We are looking forward to hearing about it!

Program

Day 1: 2023-10-25

All times are CET (convert to local time)

13:00 - 13:20 : Welcome and Intro to the unconference format (Matteo Tomasini)
13:20 - 14:20 : Hidden gems presentations (5-15 min each; chair: Jarno Rantaharju)
- Examples: data tools, VS Code plugins, efficiency hacks, programming tools, libraries, containerized Conda, other 'life hacks', calendar via GitHub, whisper for subtitles
- Emphasis on accessibility to a wide audience
14:20 - 14:40 : Break
14:40 - 16:00 : Hidden gems discussions / workshops (breakout sessions; chair: TBA)
- Examples: more presentations, deeper dives from session 1 (planned or spontaneous), tutorials, show each other our set-ups, information about Advent of Code
16:00 - 18:00 : Optional social time (Zoom)

Day 2: 2023-10-26

All times are CET (convert to local time)

13:00 - 13:10 : Introduction to the day and unconference scheduling
13:10 - 14:20 : Paper cuts presentations (5-15 min each; chair: Richard Darst))
- Examples: usability problems in computing, difficulty in support or teaching and what we can do about this, Problems you have have seen but don't have a solution for, Tell us about your coolest programming idea which did not work, security
14:20 - 14:40 : Break
14:40 - 16:00 : Paper cuts presentations discussions / workshops (breakout sessions; Matteo Tomasini)
- Examples: more presentations, deeper dives from session 3 (planned or spontaneous), tutorials. re-visiting the code skeletons in my (GitHub) closet, Halloween session (share data/software horror stories), tell us about your Advent of Code shenanigans
16:00 - 18:00 : Optional social time (Zoom)