---
tags: turing way, onboarding, core team
---
# ☀️ Welcome to *The Turing Way* Core Team!☀️
:::success
This onboarding document is a living document – as is *The Turing Way* itself. As you'll learn from being in this community: this is a constantly-evolving project that holds [emergence as a core value](https://hackmd.io/kVkwKSYuSLWWhLzlNSuT0g). In other words: as the project evolves – so will the team that enables its sustainability as a project.
From April to August 2022, Anne (TTW CM, 2022) documented [documented her research of/within *The Turing Way* community on Github](https://github.com/alan-turing-institute/the-turing-way/discussions/2552). Much of that research has been used to make this onboarding document.
:::
[TOC]
# TTW Core Team Onboarding checklists
- [ ] Review [TTW Onboarding document](https://hackmd.io/pBysnLn2QxKMCHqPKvj9uA?both) (this document!)
- [ ] Review [TTW Offboarding document](https://hackmd.io/@turingway/ttw-core-team-offboarding) (not to be used for now!)
## Accounts and Permissions
- [ ] Add to #ttw-core-team channel on Slack
- [ ] Add to [TTW Github repository](https://github.com/alan-turing-institute/the-turing-way) with "Maintainer" permissions (change as needed for role)
- [ ] Add to [Ways of Working](https://github.com/alan-turing-institute/the-turing-way/blob/main/ways_of_working.md) page on TTW Github repository
- [ ] Share [zenodo link for The Turing Way community](https://zenodo.org/communities/the-turing-way/?page=1&size=20)
- [ ] Add to [Core Team Google group](https://groups.google.com/u/1/g/core-team-2022) (currently dormant)
- [ ] (If applicable) Add to HackMD team for The Turing Way
- [ ] (If applicable) Give Accounts/Password Access on Keybase
- [ ] (If applicable) Add directly to [The Turing Way Core Google Drive](https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1bdjA-fBotMi9CnjDqu84d5hPZWwjgi-x)
- [ ] Share [promotion pack](https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/1mzGmbJkPnP5q1goQesxDc_E5zAPL0eTF) folder
- [ ] Share [conference talks/workshop applications](https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1eNHq9sXq6Z8Q5Ep0MzNS0GsB3FKgTi3E) folder
- [ ] (If applicable) Add to Canva team
- [ ] (If applicable) Add to Penpot team
- [ ] (If applicable) Add to Keybase group
## About yourself
- [ ] Add your information to [TTW Team slides](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1PeQ_gg5tOJVhOA4aSnVumsowD-bfRFEroWfGsxxaGCw/edit#slide=id.g1aee8e18598_0_0)
- [ ] (If applicable) add yourself to [TTW project page](https://www.turing.ac.uk/research/research-projects/turing-way) on Alan Turing website
- [ ] (If applicable) add yourself to [TPS/Whitaker Lab slide deck](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1g-plncmi00FK97QuYDfqq7oPzUmL0xkHm1hy4X81IX8/edit#slide=id.gf5e62e1b31_1_0)
- [ ] Introduce yourself on the Turing Way slack (in #introductions)
## Events & Calendars
- [ ] Give links to TTW Community Calendars
- [ ] The Turing Way Community (public-facing)
- [ ] The Turing Way Core Team (internal)
- [ ] Add to calendar invites for The Turing Way core team
- [ ] Coworking Calls
- [ ] Collaboration Cafes
- [ ] Fireside Chat
- [ ] Community Chats
## Communication Channels + Platforms
- [ ] Share links
- [ ] [Slack](https://theturingway.slack.com/)
- [ ] [Twitter](https://twitter.com/turingway)
- [ ] [Mastodon](fosstodon.org/turingway)
- [ ] [Newsletter](https://tinyletter.com/TuringWay)
- [ ] Useful Links/Information Hub
- [ ] [Core Team note of notes](https://hackmd.io/@turingway/ttw-team-note-of-notes)
If applicable, see [TPS Project Management Repository](https://github.com/alan-turing-institute/tps-project-management) about being onboarded onto the Tools, Practices, and Systems programme more broadly at the Alan Turing Institute. Other research teams and/or groups may have their own onboarding practices and/or repositories (i.e. the [Research Application Manager (RAM) team](https://github.com/alan-turing-institute/research-application-management) or [Community Management (CM) team](https://github.com/alan-turing-institute/open-community-building)).
## Useful links
- [The Turing Way Core Google Drive](https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1bdjA-fBotMi9CnjDqu84d5hPZWwjgi-x)
- [Community Handbook](https://the-turing-way.netlify.app/community-handbook/community-handbook.html)
- [TTW Guide to Using Slack](https://hackmd.io/@turingway/ttw-slack-intro)
- [TTW Github repository guide](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/19IfeIxtWQpDglzfOY8vpq6TFhM1jEJa1OnNdAYWjzg8/edit#gid=1136871433)
- [TTW Translation Github team](https://github.com/TWTranslation)
- TTW Core Team Google Drive Guide
# About *The Turing Way* project
This section will introduce you *The Turing Way* project: a (brief) history of its origins, more information about the Github repository. Most importantly, it aims to peel back the layers of this massive open source project. There is no expectation that you will get it all at once: getting to know the community takes time, and amidst your other responsibilities, will likely take you into your first few months into the Turing (if a staff member on the team).
### Project History
*The Turing Way* is the flagship project of the Tools, Practices, and Systems. Founded by Dr. Kirstie Whitaker, the project began as a Book of Reproducible Research in 2018, created by Dr. Whitaker and close allies and partners: assisted in creation by working with members of the REG team at the Turing. The project was incubated during Kirstie's time as a [Mozilla Open Leader](https://mozilla.github.io/leadership-training/), and was funded by a grant within the Turing. Due to close relationships with the Jupyter Project, the book was written in a JupyterBook, and hosted openly on Github. The first 'book dash' was held in person, with workshops on Binder held across the UK.
With the addition of Dr. Malvika Sharan in late 2019, The Turing Way expanded into five guides. As a co-founder of Open Life Science (which uses many Mozilla OL frameworks), Malvika helped to incubate what are now key partnerships for The Turing Way. With other key collaborators, she facilitated the creation of 4 more guides (on Project Design, Collaboration, Community, and Research Ethics), alongside a Community Handbook that captured meta-practices by and for other open source communities. The scope and project expanded massively during the 2020-2022 period, as well as transitioned online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2022, Malvika and Kirstie became co-leads of *The Turing Way*, and welcomed Anne Lee Steele as the new community manager. The Turing Way team now counts more than 30 members as "Core Team". The Turing Way has also developed into a kind of ["community of communities"](https://ben.balter.com/2019/07/18/a-community-of-communities-oscon-2019/), as people in the community work on projects related to localisation and translation, reviewing & editing, training and mentorship, accessibility, and infrastructure. Initial governance work began in 2022, with hybrid hubs hosting events across time zones.
2023 aims to usher even more changes for the project, with the development of The Turing Way Practioner's Hub that aims to bring The Turing Way into the hands and ways of working of industry leaders. This project will hopefully see the as governance continues to develop, and see its sustainability solidify, alongside supporting a vibrant open ecosystem. It also saw an expansion of the team, with the addition of Alexandra Araujo Alvarez as TTW's first Project Manager.
You can learn more about the project's origin story in this [Fireside Chat recording](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuNA3Qa8A-k) from December 2022 or this [2018 article](https://www.turing.ac.uk/research/impact-stories/changing-culture-data-science) from the Alan Turing Institute website.
It is important to note (and as you'll likely hear time and time again!) that while The Alan Turing Institute hosts *The Turing Way*, it is meant to be a **Turing-agnostic** project. *The Turing Way* has been created (and continues to be maintained) by a global network of scholars, practioners, experts, graduate students, developers, and more.
### *The Turing Way* Book
The Turing Way is a *huge* project, and there is no expectation that you'll either read the book from front to back, or that you'll know where to look for all the relevant materials. In fact, we have a lot to work on in terms of findability and knowledge management!
#### Book and Chapter Guide
These guides are *absolutely not meant to be read from front to back*. It is a first and foremost a documentation-first project, which means that its goal is the concretise or make explicit many things that are otherwise implicit in the research process.
This means that there are lots of gaps in what is covered in these guides, and thereby lots of room for improvement. Think of it as a kind of small Wikipedia: an iterative, open resource that is very much a work in progress.
- [Guide for Reproducible Research](https://the-turing-way.netlify.app/reproducible-research/reproducible-research.html)
- [Guide for Project Design](https://the-turing-way.netlify.app/project-design/project-design.html)
- [Guide for Communication](https://the-turing-way.netlify.app/project-design/project-design.html)
- [Guide for Collaboration](https://the-turing-way.netlify.app/collaboration/collaboration.html)
- [Guide for Ethical Research](https://the-turing-way.netlify.app/ethical-research/ethical-research.html)
- [Community Handbook](https://the-turing-way.netlify.app/community-handbook/community-handbook.html)
#### Anne's tips for success
*Note: these recommendations are just suggestions from Anne, based on how she read and learned about The Turing Way during 2022. Each chapter and guide has a story about how it emerged, and this archeological work into the history of the project is still ongoing.*
- One of our most frequently cited images and titles is [this page](https://the-turing-way.netlify.app/reproducible-research/overview.html) on reproducibility. I recommend being familiar with this chapter as it is an entry point into talking about other parts of 'open research', as much of it stemmed from these initial concepts.
- We have an active Research Data Management community within The Turing Way, as you can see in the slack channel by the same name. Many folks in the RDM space have contributed to TTW from its origins, and are active within the community. This [chapter](https://the-turing-way.netlify.app/reproducible-research/rdm.html) is related to that work.
- The [Research Infrastructure Roles](https://the-turing-way.netlify.app/collaboration/research-infrastructure-roles.html) chapter is often cited and used across the project, and in the wider "open science" ecosystem as an example of recognising all kinds of roles in research. We also have an active RIR community.
- There are also many resources for building computational environments that are important to read more about, housed in the Guide for Reproducible Research and Project Design. While this project has a long tail in
- The Community Handbook plays an important role in the community, in that it hosts meta-practices and provides a reference point for others to learn more about the community.
- The translation team has a README.md file/WIP guide to their work as well, hosted in an issue.
#### How contribution happens
Most of the contribution process of writing in the book happens through Github, a platform for open source collaboration. If you have never used Github before, we have plenty of resources available for you to use:
* [CarpentryCon 2022 workshop for using Github](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vcckl-2dASM)
* [The Turing Way Github guide](https://the-turing-way.netlify.app/collaboration/github-novice.html)
As you can see on the [list of issues](https://github.com/alan-turing-institute/the-turing-way/issues), there are also a lot of things BESIDES the guides that we document within the github repository. This is for open and transparency purposes, to ensure that we practice what we preach as a community.
We use the Markdown format: https://github.com/adam-p/markdown-here/wiki/Markdown-Cheatsheet
#### Pacing yourself
The Turing Way project is a *huge* project, and there is no expectation that you will be contributing immediately. I suggest the following timeline:
- **Month 1**:
- Participate in Community Calls (Coworking call + Collaboration Cafes + Fireside Chat/Community Chat)
- Correct a typo on The Turing Way -> Get to know Contributors Bot
- Schedule call with Community Manager (CM) - Anne Lee Steele, asteele@turing.ac.uk to schedule onboarding
- **Month 2**:
- Join working group channels or meetings, to learn more structured ways of contributing to the project
- Read chapters related to your ongoing work, ask CM or community members if you have questions
- **Month 3**:
- Join a working group or team within *The Turing Way*
- Strategise your engagement over ~year-long period (optional: set up call with CM to discuss plans)
- **Month 4-6**
- Give first TTW talk and/or workshop (optional)
- Participate in Book Dash
- **Month 7-12**
- Integrate and cite TTW workflow within your projects
### Github Repository
To add: Github repository workshop - CarpentryCon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vcckl-2dASM&feature=youtu.be
The Github repository is the center of The Turing Way project, and there are a *ton* of resources here, as well as dead links, outdated information, etc.
- `CONTRIBUTING.md`: Has a lot of information about the contribution process.
- `README.md`: This is a huge file, that has all things related to
[ Note: adding more ]
### Google Drive
- Promotion Pack
- Talks and Workshops archive
### Community Calls
The Turing Way hosts a series of regular community calls to bring together folks from across the Community
**Note:** We primarily use HackMD (the same document you are using to read this onboarding document!) to
#### Coworking Calls
While these calls are open to the public, they are attended primarily by members of the organisational team. They are currently undergoing a change, and will evolve in their format in 2023.
#### Collaboration Cafe
The Turing Way Collaboration Cafes (or ‘Cafés’ with an accent) are virtual co-working spaces that are held fortnightly on the first and third Wednesdays of each month for 2 hours. Please read about the [Collaborate Cafes on The Turing Way](https://hackmd.io/@turingway/collaboration-cafe).
We encourage all community managers to attend Collaboration Cafes regularly. The chair for each Collaboration Cafe will be assigned based on who from the core team is available and joining that week. Please familiarise yourself with the format, resources and what involves in the participation and chairing of Coworking Calls.
#### Translation and Localisation Team calls
The T&L team hosts calls every other Thursday, in order to organise their ongoing work.
#### Book Dash
Book Dashes happens bi-annually, usually in May and November. The people in these events are primarily folks who have interacted with the project previously, and are a key mode of contribution.
### Community Share-outs
Community Share-outs are usually hosted on the Friday of Book Dash.
#### Fireside Chats
The Turing Way Fireside chat series feature experts, champions and their projects from across different international communities in reproducibility, open research, ethics, collaboration and everything in between. This is an opportunity for catalysing cross-community collaboration and knowledge sharing. Previous topics include an introduction to The Turing Way, shared concerns in cross-community collaboration and translation in data science. Find details in the [Fireside Chat HackMD](https://hackmd.io/@turingway/fireside-chats).
You are invited to design and chair future discussions that can include topics related but not limited to building cross-community collaborations, establishing context-specific support systems and working together towards global sustainability of the open infrastructure.
#### Upcoming Community Calls (2023)
During the 2023 year, we will be experimenting with new formats for community calls, hosting 1:1 conversations with community members and close collaborators.
#### Core Team Meetings
The core team meets as a project every three months. While this format is evolving, it aims to gather folks from across the project in order to
### Key Partners and Projects
Many of our key partners are listed in our Record of Contributions, under ["Collaborating Organisations and Projects"](https://the-turing-way.netlify.app/afterword/contributors-record.html#collaborating-organisations-and-projects).
### Platforms
- **HackMD**: For the past few years, we have used HackMD in order to make easily-editable and shareable documents within the community.
- Need to know how to use HackMD? [Use this page](https://hackmd.io/@turingway/hackmd-guide)
- **Pad**: Pad is another tool we use for
- We use pads made by the [Software Freedom Conservancy](https://sfconservancy.org/) in order to support, use and maintain other organisation's open infrastructure, and not reinvent the wheel. So while it may not seem like
- Pads are more accessible for screenreaders, so our aim is to move our writing materials over to pad from HackMD in the near future.
- **Slack**: Slack hosts many conversations within the community, and has many conversations that do not take place elsewhere.
- Visit our [Slack Channel Guide](https://hackmd.io/@turingway/ttw-slack-intro) to learn more about each
- Note: Anne is undergoing a [slack audit](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11MmzROZGpSkzoB01ATOTpklXrIg86eKSm1xUmPZuhlA/edit#gid=0)
**Note: You'll notice that we aim to use other open architecture within the project.**
### Emergence as *The Turing Way* Strategy
What is perhaps most important to know about The Turing Way is that getting to know the community will take time – there are established ways of working and thinking within the community that have emerged from the ground up. Observing and understanding this is important, as is the notion of [emergence](https://hackmd.io/kVkwKSYuSLWWhLzlNSuT0g), core to Kirstie's strategy when she started the project.
# About The Turing Way Core Team
The Turing Way core team is a group of folks who enable the sustainability and continuity of The Turing Way project.
The Core Team of *The Turing Way* is composed of both staff members of The Alan Turing Institute as well as volunteer contributors from various institutions who lead teams and working groups within the project.
The "core team" phrase is currently a catch-all term for many folks who do many different types of work, and may change.
You can learn more about who is a member of the TTW Core team on this [Ways of Working document](https://github.com/alan-turing-institute/the-turing-way/blob/main/ways_of_working.md) or in this [slide deck](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1PeQ_gg5tOJVhOA4aSnVumsowD-bfRFEroWfGsxxaGCw/edit#slide=id.g131bb79b4ab_0_0).
## Working Groups and Teams
A series of working groups and teams have emerged within The Turing Way to operationalise tasks in different directions.
Some of this work is documented in this [Github discussion on the repository](https://github.com/alan-turing-institute/the-turing-way/discussions/2646).
- **Trainers and Mentors WG**
- **Reviewers & Editors WG**
- **Infrastructure Maintainers WG**
- **Translation & Localisation Team**
- Pending: **Accessibility WG**
- Pending: **Communications WG**
## Responsibilities for Core Team members
All TPS Senior Researchers, Community Managers, Research Project Managers and Research Application Managers are onboarded as the Core Staff Members of The Turing Way. This means that 5-10% (Full Time Equivalent) of their work should be invested in the development, maintenance and sustainability of The Turing Way. Some roles, responsibilities and engagement pathways have been described in the roles for core members document. Also, see the Ways of Working in The Turing Way.
This team also involves Core Volunteer Members who are invited from the broader contributors community of The Turing Way. They take on various leadership roles in the community and engage with the project in "in-kind capacity".
**Membership within The Turing Way staff team consists of**:
- Attendance at weekly Coworking calls
- Attendence at regular Core Team calls (every 3-months)
- Attendence at Book Dash (bi-annual, May and November)
- Membership in working group or team (see above for details)
- Optional/Recommended
- Give TTW Talk and/or Workshop
- Support Workshop development
**Membership within the volunteer team consists of:**
For core team volunteers, the responsibilities listed above are optional. You define your role with the community, and we will do what we can to support.
# Other Information
## Open Source Ecosystem
*The Turing Way* contributes to a much broader ecosystem of open source projects.