SORSE Launch Event

Wednesday Sep 2, 2020, 1:00 PM → 3:00 PM UTC

Virtual (Zoom)

Sandra Gesing (University of Notre Dame)

With the cancellation of many research software events in 2020, the SORSE team have been working hard over the last couple of months to put together a series of online events to help you learn new skills, keep up to date with what is happening in the world of research software engineering and connect with the international research software community.

To kick our series off, we’re delighted to announce that the SORSE Launch Event will take place 13:00-15:00 UTC on Wednesday 2nd September. We’re pleased to be welcoming two keynote speakers at this event:

• Dr. Mariann Hardey, Associate Professor, Durham University: Switching off the label "women in tech"
• Dr. Kari Jordan, Executive Director, The Carpentries: I wanna dance with somebody

The session will begin with a short welcome and introduction to SORSE followed by two 30 minute keynote talks. Dr. Mariann Hardey will speak on the subject of women in tech and Dr. Kari Jordan will speak about the Carpentries (both recorded). Further details and abstracts can be seen below. The talks will be followed by time for questions and then an opportunity for further discussion and networking in breakout rooms.

Language: English

By joining the event in Zoom, I hereby confirm that I have read and understood the privacy policies for participation.

1:00 PM → 1:15 PM Introduction

1:00 PM Welcoming Words

• Opening – from Chair, Sandra Gesing
• About SORSE – from Claire Wyatt
• The International Committee – from Stephan Janosch
• Future events – from Mateusz Kuzak

Speakers: Claire Wyatt (Software Sustainability Institute), Mateusz Kuzak (the Netherlands eScience Center), Sandra Gesing (University of Notre Dame), Stephan Janosch (MPI-CBG)

1:15 PM → 2:35 PM Talks

1:15 PM I wanna dance with somebody

The Carpentries vision is to be the leading inclusive community teaching data and coding skills. Our first lesson program, Software Carpentry, was founded on several core values, including feedback, gratitude, and collaboration. The role research and data plays in your personal and professional life may contribute to your personal values and confidence in working with data. Have you ever considered your journey to data, your personal values, and whether they align? During this talk we will explore your personal journey to data and research, all while contemplating the following: How do your personal values align with your work as a Research Software Engineer? This talk is a pulse check. Be prepared to take notes, dig deep, and wrestle with issues of equity, inclusion, and accessibility.

Speaker: Dr Kari Jordan (The Carpentries)

Recording at Youtube

1:55 PM Switching off the label "women in tech"

The focus of the talk is on the ways in which women are discursively constructed in the context of professional spaces in tech clusters. This is to give time to consider how the label ‘women in tech’ (WiT) is dominated by the masculine perspective of tech work and characterised by how individuals perform ‘identity work’. It has become apparent that the WiT label was already being used as shorthand for a problem very much with a name and her name is “woman”.

The casual use of the label is significant. While notable as a term in industry and policy, the visibility and dysfunction of the new problems at play through the WiT label are more complex, loaded and woven through the backbone of this talk.

Speaker: Dr Mariann Hardey (University of Durham, UK)

Recording at Youtube

2:35 PM → 3:00 PM Discussions & Networking

... in Zoom breakout rooms.