Attendees

  • [DC] Daniel Collins
  • [JB] Justin Baker
  • [MS] Manodeep Sinha
  • [NL] Nooriyah Poonawala-Lohani (Chair)
  • [NM] Nicholas May

Apologies

  • [HP] Heidi Perrett

Discussion

For the detailed agenda see: GitHub Issue 10

1. Approval of Previous Minutes

See link: Minutes from Meeting No.4. Passed unanimously.

All actions carried forward.

2. Impact of COVID-19 outbreak on Plan for 2020

Note: Goals & Deliverables for 2020 see Google DocThe committee discussed the impact on face-to-face events, including conferences:

  • eResearch Australasia 2020 - was scheduled for October in Perth. This has not been cancelled as of today. However, it is more likely that it will be virtual, like C3DIS.
  • PyCon 2020 is online now and for the next four weeks: (https://us.pycon.org/2020/)

It was reported that the Society of Research Software Engineering (https://society-rse.org/) has cancelled the annual RSE-UK Conference for 2020. Instead they have initiated a program called the ‘International Series of Online Research Software Events (SORSE)’. Members of RSE-AUNZ committee have been invited to join the operating committee of SORSE, which meets for the first time in early May, to represent Australia and New Zealand. We will advertise these events and call for talks via rse-aunz twitter a/c.

The committee agreed that we should aim to co-locate with other online events. This will require us to decide on the type of events that we can run online. In addition, we will need to identify opportunities that may become available. Examples include:

  • Science Coding Conference NZ (Sept.)
  • CSIRO Technology & Human Aspects conference.

The committee agreed that we should set a goal of running three webinars or online events for the rest of 2020. To initiate the discussion around this goal, NM to create a document for the committee to share ideas about:

  • Subject, content, format, delivery platform
  • Collaborations: ARDC, ReSA, etc.

3. Casual Vacancies

One application received from Rebecca Lange. The application was discussed and the decision was made to invite Rebecca to join the committee.

4. Website

The need to transition ‘rse-aunz.org’ from http to https was discussed. Further investigation is required by NM and MS to determine if this is feasible using the current domain registration.

5. Any other business

  • ARDC: The status of the Skilled Workforce program was raised. It appears that this program has been downgraded or de-prioritised by ARDC. The committee agreed to investigate the potential impact on RSE-AUNZ activities.
  • Melbourne Data Analytics Program: A talk at C3DIS highlighted that there is an overlap between this program and RSEs. It was decided that we should investigate possible collaborations with MDAP.
  • AARNet provided the infrastructure for the C3DIS and RDA virtual conferences. We should investigate what platforms they can provide for us to run virtual events.

Actions

  • [NM] Create a discussion document for online events.
  • [ML, NM] Investigate transitioning rse-aunz.org to https.
  • [NL] Follow up with enquiries concerning Casual Vacancies.
  • [NL] Draft a post for the website summarising the eResNZ’20 workshop.
  • [HP] Contact Rowland Mosbergen about pictures from the eResAus 2019 workshop.
  • [HP, NL] Gather content from Workshop and BoF at eResAus 2019 and eRNZ 2020
  • [DC] D1 (Manifesto): re-draft (if appropriate) and outline steps to advance.
  • [NL] D7 (Survey): re-draft (if appropriate) and outline steps to advance.
  • [HP] D2 (Personas): re-draft (if appropriate) and outline steps to advance.
  • [NM] D4 (Web Presence): re-draft (if appropriate) and outline steps to advance.
  • [JB] D5 (Meetings): re-draft (if appropriate) and outline steps to advance.

Next Meeting

Scheduled: 2pm (AEST) on Tuesday 26th May.

Notes: These minutes have been drafted under part of the Chatham House Rule. This promotes openness, and inclusion, by not attributing any specific comment to any individual/s. The exception is that participants are necessarily listed as attendees of the Steering Committee meeting.