Building software documentation for community engagement: lessons
learned with OGGM
Abstract
The Open Global Glacier Model (http://oggm.org) is an open source
modelling framework, helping various research groups to simulate and
understand mountain glacier change at the regional or global scale. OGGM
is modular, which means that we encourage users to develop their own
physical parameterizations while staying compatible with the OGGM
workflow. To achieve this goal, we need OGGM to be easy to understand,
install, apply, and extend. In this presentation, I will talk about how
we make use of the wealth of open-source tools available in the python
and Jupyter ecosystems to provide an online documentation platform for
OGGM. Our documentation combines text with interactive examples that run
in your web browser, avoiding the typical installation and data download
burden for newcomers. With selected examples from the collaborative
educational content platform OGGM-Edu (http://edu.oggm.org), I will show
how anyone can apply these ideas and tools to their own documentation or
outreach project. Finally, I will talk about some of the challenges
faced by the OGGM project in its pursuit of becoming a community model.
With the increasing pressure on geoscientists who have to learn new
complex technologies while navigating the “publish or perish” career
model, the growing demand for better open science practices can be a
blessing as well as a curse for many early career scientists.