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CogX 2020

Authors

Malvika Sharan

Resources

Talk Title

Building a culture of collaboration in our research communities

Talk Description

Please give a brief description of your talk (max 500 words). The evaluation criteria of proposals will be:

  • Expected general interest of the talk
  • Academic standard and global impact
  • Breadth of domain application

Online behaviour over the last months during the COVID-19 pandemic has shifted significantly. With buzzwords like "flatten the curve" and trending hashtags on Twitter like "#StayHomeSaveLives", we have become more inclined to keep abreast of what exactly is going on in our communities. Digital technologies and approaches are playing vital roles in creating opportunities for us to take meaningful actions as leaders, researchers, innovators and community members. Already 100s of online projects have been launched to promote data-driven solutions that can take on medical and social challenges related to coronavirus pandemic. Individuals, who want to lead and participate in such projects, are collaborating to identify interdisciplinary applications of artificial intelligence and machine learning.

There has never been a better time for online platforms and communities to thrive and test innovative ideas for a common social cause. However, this is also a time that demands a common understanding of project design, data management, software development, leadership and collaboration techniques: skills that are not widely taught to academic leaders and data scientists.

In this talk, I will introduce The Turing Way project that aims to bridge the gap between innovative data research techniques and best practices that make them accessible and comprehensible for everyone. The Turing Way is a community-driven book project that involves and supports a diverse research community in ensuring that reproducible and ethical data research is "too easy not to do". Using this project as a model, I will discuss the importance of documenting and sharing recommendations in data science that can be adopted by various stakeholder in the current crisis, and beyond.

Built upon a culture of collaboration, The Turing Way is designed to be welcoming, inclusive and accessible to its members from diverse backgrounds and expertise. It is an open source project, that facilitates all contributions, questions, comments, and discussions via an online repository: https://github.com/alan-turing-institute/the-turing-way. Since last year, more than 125 researchers have contributed to this project. They have co-authored chapters and developed resources that have been used by the scientific communities worldwide in learning and promoting reproducible methods in AI and computational research. The project has grown from a small team of 10 researchers to a community of collaborators from around the world. The scope of The Turing Way book has also expanded to include the different aspects of reproducibility, project design, collaboration, communication, and ethics in data research.

Since February 2020, over 40 members have contributed to new chapters on effective collaboration (through virtual teams and events) and working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic. We continue to support our members in learning new skills and facilitate their interaction with the project via online co-working spaces and mentored contributions.

We believe that projects like The Turing Way, that promote a culture of collaboration, can have a significant impact on improving access to information and the equitable decision-making process by our peers and future generations. We further invite CogX participants to make use of The Turing Way and participate in its community by contributing and enhancing its resources with their perspectives.

Descriptors

Please select all descriptors that best apply to your talk.

  • Technical / specialist
  • Big picture
  • Detailed
  • Humorous
  • Serious
  • Retrospective
  • Prospective
  • General / accessible

Domain Application

Please select up to two domains that best apply to your research and talk proposal.

  • Natural world
  • Security
  • Engineering
  • Health
  • Society & Culture
  • Economics

Methodological Application

Please select which methodological problem areas apply to your research and talk.

  • Finding ways to automate the lengthy process spent preparing data for analysis
  • Preventing misuse of data-driven technologies and artificial intelligence
  • Using and analysing data in order to confidently infer causal relationships
  • Empowering citizens to access, understand and exploit the world's data
  • Improving the ways in which we collect and analyse data
  • Effectively and efficiently convey information to varying audiences
  • Merging multiple sources of data
  • Using data while protecting privacy
  • Merging human knowledge with data-driven machine learning and AI systems
  • Eradicating failures within interacting systems
  • Optimising algorithmic and system performance for bigger and more complex datasets
  • Building on the most effective methods across data science to produce the next gen of techniques

Relevance

Please explain the relevance of your talk to the CogX audience, and the global impact of your research. 500 words max.

When discussing how to get the next 10 years right, the topic of creating a positive culture of collaboration is undeniably among the top of the list. CogX is an excellent example of how facilitating collaborations among innovators and change-makers can lead to transformative ideas and bring about positive change in our society. Aligned with values of CogX, The Turing Way promotes the inclusion of diverse stakeholders by creating an open community-led platform that invites them to collaborate and work with each other.

With the help of The Turing Way, I would like to discuss the importance of creating a culture that promotes collaboration to ensure the long-term sustainability of our communities. In data science projects, it is required to establish common standards for software, research methods, and dataset for all the collaborators. However, it is equally important that the leaders invest their resources in designing projects that are truly inclusive and supportive of their members. This means that everyone involved in a project or research is given a fair opportunity to 1) develop a common technical understanding of the project, 2) state their expectations from the collaboration, 3) access the resources required in the project, and 4) advance their skills to contribute equitably. It is a very challenging process, especially because these skills are not formally taught to everyone in academia and data research. The Turing Way aims to fill this gap in skills for members interested in data science and leaders who want to create projects that are accessible for their community and team members.

The Turing Way is a community-led book project that offers open-source learning and teaching resources that help researchers enhance their skills. As a live book, it also provides a platform that brings different stakeholders together to read, write, edit, and update its chapters in real-time and collaborate over the internet. Contributors are encouraged to bring their perspective into the project, enhance the existing resources or create new ones, and get fairly acknowledged for their work. The Turing Way welcomes ideas, case studies, impact stories, educational resources, or any sort of participation that individuals can benefit from or use to advance their knowledge in data research.

Intending to create a rewarding opportunity for academics, engineers, industrial research partners, and policymakers, we invite the CogX attendees to share their skills and resources with a wider research community.

Additional Information

Please let us know any other information you would like to share to support your application.

  1. I am the community manager of The Turing Way.
  2. Here are the supporting links for the reviewer: