In the Research Software Support modules we want to provide a comprehensive overview of the different aspects of Research Software and how to provide support to researchers. This, as you can imagine, is no easy feat, and we need your help! So first of all, thank you very much for your interest in contributing to this project.
- Contribute to the content discussion in the module issues, e.g. by listing good resources for information.
- Author a new module by creating a new issue and pr, while taking into account the documentation for creating a new module
- Review a lesson module; both by looking at open PRs, as well as flagging issues for improvement in the existing content.
- Provide feedback on the different subjects covered: what did we miss? Should something be restructured?
If you want to contribute to the content: look whether the issue you want to tackle already exists or make a new issue, and create a PR with your changes from a fork or a branch.
It is useful to take a look at the NEBULA documentation and specifically review the section on directory structure and content tags before you start.
The target audience for this material is University management and support staff. University management taking part in courses involving these modules may be involved in creating university policy around research software. The University support staff targeted are not themselves researchers or software engineers, but they support researchers and research software engineers in creating research software.
On a practical level, this means that these modules do not need to be very technical. For example, a module on version control does not need to explain the details of Git and the different commands. What it does need to do is explain why version control is important, and why it matters particularly in a research context. A participant should walk away with a more elaborate vocabulary around a subject, knowledge on where and how to find more information, and motivation that they could transfer to others.
As you are contributing to this material, please keep a few principles in mind:
It should be ready for teaching both online and offline; in a regular and a flipped classroom; and even for self study.
The modules in this repository will be used as lesson materials for a live audience, and provide a resource for self-study. Every module should therefore contain some essential classroom elements (e.g. slides, group exercises), as well as exercises that can be done individually, and reference material that can be read at home.
It is important that anybody can work with the material in this repository. Slides should therefore contain complete notes for an instructor, which can also be used in self-study. Exercises should be clearly explained, and where possible, times should be given for different parts of the lesson so an instructor can plan a workshop around these materials.
We all know how fast things change, and how quickly information becomes outdated. It is important to keep this in mind when creating lesson materials, and focus on core concepts, rather than specific tools and details. Where it is useful to mention these, consider linking to external resources that will be maintained by others.
In general, it is better to link to external resources than to rewrite information that already exists elsewhere. This, too, will limit the amount of maintenance that is required.