15 Years of rOpenSci, and We’re Just Getting Started 🎉

Digging through our memory box, we came across a conversation from which we tried to piece together when it all began with rOpenSci.

On July 13, 2011, an email was sent with the idea of a shared blog, a clever domain name, and a way to connect R package developers who cared about open science. The name “rOpenSci” appear in that email. A few months before that, the first commits had already been pushed to what would become taxize and treeBASE, two packages that quietly planted the seed of something much bigger.

That was 15 years ago. This year, we celebrate. 🎉

🔗 Quinceañera time 🎂

Fifteen years¹ is a milestone worth marking properly, that is why we want to celebrate with our community. We have a full year of activities planned, and we want you along for all of it.

Expect several diverse events, retrospectives and a few surprises we’re still stitching together. We’ll be reflecting on what we’ve built, highlighting the work of contributors old and new, and dreaming out loud about the next 15 years.

Stay tuned to this blog and our newsletter for announcements as the year unfolds.

🔗 First up: co-working session and casual virtual community celebration

We’re kicking things off with one co-working session on Tuesday, June 2 and two virtual celebrations on Wednesday, June 10 and Wednesday, June 17 in different timezones, so as many people as possible can join.

Each 90-minute celebration is built around rotating small-group conversations. You’ll meet community members you may not know yet, and together you’ll dig into questions to reflect on rOpenSci’s past and future.

Old friends and new faces alike, we would love to share this celebrations with you. No registration needed.

🔗 Thank you

To everyone who has contributed a package, reviewed code, written a blog post, helped in the forum, showed up to a community call, or simply used our tools in your research, thank you!

Here’s to 15 years and to whatever comes next.