Bosc

Diversity, inclusion and accessibility (also known as Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, DEI) are a major part of BOSC’s mission and core values, and we pursue these goals in multiple ways. BOSC 2022, for example, included a panel on Building and Sustaining Inclusive Open Science Communities, with panelists who not only were experts on the topic but also themselves belong to various groups that are typically underrepresented in our community. And with generous support from our sponsors, each year we provide free registration to 10-20 BOSC participants as part of the OBF Event Fellowship program), which aims to increase diverse participation at events related to open source bioinformatics and open science.

On March 14, 2023, we held a webinar (hosted by ISCBacademy) about “Re-Thinking the Patient’s Role in a Learning Health System: Lessons from the Patient-Led Research Collaborative” presented by Hannah Wei, co-founder and technologist at the Patient-Led Research Collaborative. See the webinar announcement for a full description.

BOSC organizing committee member Monica Munoz-Torres introduced Ms. Wei and fielded a lively Q&A session. The webinar recording is available on YouTube at https://youtu.be/M2vAotWKd_Q.

The ISCBacademy is a series of free webinars offered by the ISCB, which runs the annual ISMB conference, through the ISCB Communities of Special Interest (COSIs), which include BOSC/OBF. Each COSI gets two webinar slots per year, so watch for our next one in fall 2023!

ISMB/BOSC is around the corner! We can hardly wait for the abstracts to start pouring in!

We realize that some people can’t get conference travel approval from their institution until they get confirmation that their abstract has been accepted for a presentation.

To help you, this year we have decided to offer Early Poster Acceptance: if you submit your abstract by March 31, we will let you know by April 6 whether it has been accepted or not for (at least) a poster. (The regular abstract submission deadline is April 20, and authors who submit in that round will be informed of poster/talk acceptance on May 11.)

Date and Time: Tuesday, March 14, 11am EDT/ 15:00 (not 16:00!) UTC Location: Online webinar hosted by ISCB and free to the public. (Video now available at https://youtu.be/M2vAotWKd_Q)  Speaker: Hannah Wei, co-founder and technologist at the Patient-Led Research Collaborative Topic: Re-Thinking the Patient’s Role in a Learning Health System: Lessons from the Patient-Led Research Collaborative

The ISCB, which runs the annual ISMB conference, is offering a series of ISCBacademy webinars hosted by the Communities of Special Interest (COSIs), which include BOSC/OBF. These webinars are now open to the public; you’ll just need to create an ISCB Nucleus account to register for the webinar.

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We asked the community to nominate potential BOSC keynote speakers, and we were pleased with all the great suggestions! Now it’s time for the next phase of our process: we’re giving the community a chance to let us know if there is anything that makes any of the nominated individuals NOT appropriate as BOSC keynote speakers.

Our invited speaker process and rubric gives examples of some possible reasons for exclusion. If you have concerns about any of the people on our list, please let us know (with as much specificity as you feel comfortable providing) via this anonymous form no later than February 16, 2023.

BOSC usually includes two or three keynotes. We want these invited speakers to be prominent individuals or emerging leaders who are accomplished in their fields, and whose work is likely to be informative and of interest to the bioinformatics open source community. Please see our invited speaker rubric for more information about our keynote speaker selection process and criteria.

We would like to assemble a diverse list of potential BOSC 2023 keynote speakers. We invite the community to nominate keynote speakers using this form by February 9.

Going home after attending BOSC was a little bittersweet. It’s my favorite conference because it brings together such a welcoming group of people, and the lineup of talks typically offers a great balance of technical learning and community-building insights. So on my flight home, I was coasting on dopamine from the good times, but also getting a little sad that it was over for this year. With the help of a few fellow BOSC enthusiasts (special shout-out to Nomi Harris for the event summary notes, photos and help recruiting contributors), I put together this little recap of the conference, with highlights and personal accounts contributed by a number of other participants. I couldn’t fit everything people shared into the blog post, but you can find the full quotes in the original google doc.

The Open Bioinformatics Foundation (OBF) Event Fellowship program aims to promote diverse participation at events promoting open source bioinformatics software development and open science practices in the biological research community. Festus Nyasimi, A co-founder and lead of the Bioinformatics Hub of Kenya Initiative (BHKi), attended the ISMB/BOSC conference 2022, supported by this fellowship granted to him in the first round of 2022.

In mid-May, I attended a different conference where I shared my experience with community building in the bioinformatics space with one of the attendees. I had a chance to brief them about the BHKI community we are building and growing in Africa. Immediately they suggested I should check out the ISMB/BOSC conference happening on July 11th - 14th, 2022.

’ello Co-Fest Friends!

After failing to find a good spot for an in-person CoFest, we decided to have the CoFest remotely! I was really excited to meet you all at this event (and have you all meet each other) in the real world, but we’ll have to settle for doing that at BOSC (for those who are there).

By all means, don’t let this stop your in-person innovations! Want to meet up and work at a café? Do it! Hotel room? It’s your room! Get some of your newest friends together and collaborate!

Guest post by Thomas Schlapp, CoFest organizer

This year we’re looking to have another post-BOSC CoFest! Last year (my first year being involved in BOSC at all) showed me just how collaborative and innovative this community can be. I’d absolutely LOVE to see more of it again. Last year we saw six very fascinating projects see progress (look them over HERE!). Let’s see if we cannot do just a few more in the name of innovation and collaboration!