Hackathon on reproducibility and longevity of R code for the Aberdeen Study Group - 2021.
The Aberdeen Study Group is a Mozilla Science Lab Study Group.
We are based at the University of Aberdeen, but we organise fun, informal meetups open to everyone, anywhere to share skills, stories and ideas on using code for research. The goal is to create a friendly, no-pressure environment where people can share their work, ask for help on a coding problem, and learn and work together with their peers.
Reproducibility is important across all research, whether this is open access articles, repeatable results or giving access to code and data used for a paper. However, if you have ever tried to rerun old code and it has failed, you are not alone!
So what can we do maximise the longevity, and therefore reproducibility, of our code? That is what the ASG Reprothon 2021 aims to answer! Collating data on code reproducibility for the first time, the Reprothon will provide robust evidence on what factors are determining the longevity of code.
At the end of this we hope to share the results with the aim to provide researchers with guidelines to ensure their code remains usable beyond publishing.
If you want a look at what a previous hackathon for MozSprint was like, our founder Francesca Mancini shared her experience in 2017 as a blog
The Reprothon is ASG’s very own hackathon! A hackathon is an event where lots of people come together to work on a coding or programming problem. In our Reprothon, we are aiming to determine what factors affect the reproducibility of R code. To do this, participants will work through queries taken from StackOverflow, checking whether or not the accepted answer still works. Each participant will input this into the master spreadsheet along with details such as the package used. We will track our progress live, and after the closing date, the organisers will analyse this data and produce a blog with our findings.
Where: MSTeams
When: 9th December 2021, 3:00 - 5:00pm BST
If you want to get involved, we have a quick registration form to complete, which when completed will provide you with your unique Reprothon ID.
The session will be open for all contributors to pop in and out in their own time and will provide a space to chat with other contributors, but also watch real-time as the project moves forward.
This event is open to anyone interested! However, as it will be focused on testing code there are a few requirements you might need to consider:
- good WiFi or some way of connecting to the Internet
- R version 4.0+ (if you need to update R you can do that following the guide here
- ability to install packages in R
- familiarity with StackOverlow posts
Optional: A Github Account (this is free). You will still be able to access all the infromation on Github, but if you want to propose any changes or bring up any issues
Contributors are volunteers who offer their time and expertise to the hackathon project. All contributions are central to the project as they move work forward by leaps and bounds!
As a contributor you might:
- add your own unique perspective to the project plans and ideas
- help with the research
- create graphics an mock ups
- contribute code
- contribute mock data for testing out code
You should be aware that all contributions to the project will fall under the project's license and can be reused, remixed and shared according to that license.
Part of the “open” nature of the hackathon is connecting and sharing our work, processes and experiences. During the event, we encourage you to post updates– both in the MS Teams chat, and on social media.
You can follow the #reprothon2021 and #hackers2021 hashtags on Twitter to see what others are up to.
Please make sure to read the general Hackathon Code of Conduct Please make sure to read the Contributors Code of Conduct
This work by the Aberdeen Study Group is licensed under Mozilla Public License 2.0