04 Cohort Call Digest [ 2024-SWRCB-Spring ]

[Lisashirin]

Hi @Openscapes/2024-swrcb-spring-cohort,

Thanks for a great fourth session. Our team enjoyed the open discussion with our fantastic guest teacher, Julia Lowndes!! We were really inspired by the conversation because many of us have also inherited challenging data systems or architecture and are in a process of evolving or even replacing them so that our work, products, and services can be more efficient, effective, equitable, inclusive, and kind.

Below is a light digest of Call 4, including a reminder for your Seaside Chat(s) and TWO Co-Working times before our Call 5 on Thursday, May 23. Looking forward to seeing you then!

Have a good week,
Lisa & the rest of the Mentor + Instruction Team

Cohort SharePoint Folder - contains agendas, slides, recordings and the Pathway template
Cohort GitHub Repository
Cohort Webpage
Water Boards' Openscapes Teams Channel - connect with all Openscapse Champions cohorts at the Water Board

Goals: how to use GitHub for project management & data strategies for future us!

Tasks for next time:

1. Have TWO Seaside Chats with your broader team? (One is required, Two is recommended)
2. Prepare to present your Pathway on Call 5 (May 23)

• Each group has 15 minutes to share their pathway: (10 min present + 5 min Qs)
• Share your Pathway Doc in our Pathway Share folder before Call 5

3. Co-working: (optional). This is a time to come work on your own data science things, but also be able to talk things through and screenshare to get help from others. Note that we have TWO co-working sessions scheduled: May 10, 10-11 am and May 15, 1:30-2:30 pm.

Slide Decks:

Week 4_ Data Strategies for Future Us.pdf
Week 4_ GitHub for Project Management.pdf

A few lines from shared notes in the Agenda doc:

How do these topics (using Github for project management and issues) resonate with you?

• I’m curious to see if we can use github as an internal progress tracking tool/benefits over using a shared check list/table in sharepoint
• I am wondering whether our team would benefit from making a Github, or if there are enough similarities in our current platforms (ArcGIS Portal, SharePoint, Outlook) that we could accomplish all the same functions without requiring everyone to make a Github account+1 +1+1
• Its nice to have options to share ideas with coworkers, let everyone get their ideas and/or worries out in the open and have the rest of the team respond without cluttering up a document, or losing information in fully iterative versions as a document grows and takes on a new identity. +1+1+1

How do these data strategies resonate with you / in your work?

• Giving me flashbacks to all the very messy data I tried to wrangle in grad school and how I didn’t completely trust my results because of it +10000 +1!+1
• Thinking about how I’ve tried to keep documentation but going back to it in the future a lot of it isn’t useful (or organized) - I want to learn how to do it more efficiently + effectively, and only keep the info that will help me later +1+1+1 +1