[yt-dev] Community engagement

[Matthew Turk]

Hi folks,

A couple weeks ago, I shared the news that yt has been awarded a grant from
the NSF in the SI2-SSI program. (
http://lists.spacepope.org/pipermail/yt-dev-spacepope.org/2017-August/006933.html
 )

Community engagement, especially how it intersects with development, has
been a core focus of the yt project over its lifetime. Balancing
“deliverables” with a volunteer and grass-roots culture, along with growing
an inclusive and welcoming community, is something that we must pay
attention to during the execution of this grant.

So, I’d like to introduce Kandace Turner! I think I’ve briefly introduced
her once before, several years ago, but Kandace will be coming on-board
with yt as what other organizations call a “community manager.” Kandace is
located at UIUC, and a few of us (including me and Kacper) have had the
privilege of working with her on other projects, and I’m delighted she’s
able to join us.

Kandace has joined the yt-dev group (so, she can hear this … !) and will be
getting the lay of the land, but she’ll be working with us to start
organizing things like a reinvigorated team meeting schedule (and PR triage
meetings), how to develop some inclusive and welcoming practices, and
helping us navigate some project tasks and coordination efforts. The idea
isn’t to change us in any fundamental ways, but to look at how we’re
functioning, try to streamline that process, and see if we can find
force-multipliers for how we function as a team and as a community.

I’m really excited that she’s taking on this role; last week, Britton,
Nathan and I were at the NumFOCUS summit, and we got to hear about how
other projects engage with their communities, and I think this is a huge
opportunity for us as well.

Anyway, Kandace will be here on the mailing list, as well as on the Slack
team, and I hope you all get a chance to get to know her as she starts
working with us. Welcome, Kandace!

-Matt
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