diff --git a/minutes/2025/2025-12-16Minutes.md b/minutes/2025/2025-12-16Minutes.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b8270ff --- /dev/null +++ b/minutes/2025/2025-12-16Minutes.md @@ -0,0 +1,83 @@ +# **Minutes – December 16, 2025** + +## **Attendees** + +* Sarah Stevens (Chair) +* Deborah “Debs” Udoh (Secretary) +* Magnus Hagdorn +* Annajiat Alim Rasel +* Martino Sorbaro +* Erin Becker +* Toby Hodges (Director of Curriculum, The Carpentries) + +## **Agenda** +1. Welcome & introductions +2. Visioning exercise (continuation) +3. Goals for the next 3–5 years +4. Term lengths for committee members + +## **Notes** + +### **1. Welcome & Introductions** +Brief welcome to participants. + +### **2. Visioning Exercise (Continuation)** +A summary of the previous meeting’s visioning discussion was reviewed (see [2025-11-18Minutes](https://github.com/swcarpentry/governance/blob/main/minutes/2025/2025-11-18Minutes.md)). + +#### **Git lesson and platforms discussion** + +* **Magnus** raised concerns about reliance on GitHub, noting its centralising nature and questioning whether SWC should take a clearer values-based stance versus a pragmatic one. +* **Sarah** noted that the current Git lesson is largely platform-agnostic and suggested offering learners choices of hosting platforms. She also acknowledged growing interest in graphical-first or GitHub-web-interface-only approaches. +* **Martino** referenced a previous idea of splitting content into a “Git only” lesson and a separate “GitHub/forge-specific” lesson. +* **Magnus** highlighted similar concerns with the increasing use of VS Code in intermediate workshops and questioned the sustainability of supporting multiple tools. +* **Sarah** suggested polling the community to understand which alternative hosting services would be most welcome. + +The group agreed these topics require further, dedicated discussion over time. + +### **3. What New Things Would You Like to See in SWC by 2030?** + +* Development of more “next-step” and intermediate lessons, many of which already exist in the Incubator (Magnus). +* Lessons on reproducible workflows, reporting and document production, and ML/AI, with awareness that some content may later fit better in a different lesson program (Sarah). +* More proactive, holistic updates to existing lessons rather than only incremental maintenance. +* Creating explicit opportunities and invitations for community members to contribute larger lesson changes (Martino). +* Exploring stronger links between SWC lessons and teaching-methods expertise within The Carpentries ecosystem. +* Improving accessibility through review by people with lived accessibility needs and considering recognition mechanisms for contributors (Annajiat). +* Including clearer pointers to continued learning, alternative tools, and workflows not covered in core lessons (Annajiat). + + +### **4. Goals for the Next 3–5 Years** + +The committee discussed possible medium-term goals (dates tentative): + +* Draft and agree on a committee decision-making paradigm by **March 2026**, using consensus. +* By **end of 2026**, adopt **2–3 intermediate lessons** from the Incubator into the official SWC curriculum, with at least one related to ML/AI. +* Publish clear documentation explaining how curricula connect across SWC and The Carpentries. +* Develop and publish a clear process for lesson adoption and maintenance. +* By **end of 2026**, include Git hosting alternatives (e.g. GitLab) in the novice Git lesson, with discussion needed on maintenance models. +* Explore inclusion of a graphical-interface-based Git lesson using free and open tools. +* Improve accessibility of challenging lessons (e.g. shell) where possible. +* Conduct an annual review of **3–5 lessons** to identify larger, strategic updates. +* In **2027**, host a sprint focused on helping new contributors make substantive lesson improvements. + +Some ideas were noted as outside the committee’s direct mandate but appropriate to advocate for with the Core Team and Board. + +### **5. Term Lengths for Committee Members** + +The committee discussed whether to introduce recommended term lengths: + +* General agreement that having a defined cadence for check-ins would help avoid unintentional disengagement. +* **Two-year terms** were broadly supported as a reasonable balance, with flexibility to step off earlier if needed. +* Strong opposition to strict term limits; several members noted that long-term service can be mission-driven. +* Discussion included staggered terms to preserve institutional memory and mechanisms for off-boarding and conflict management. +* The importance of clear communication and transparency when capacity changes was emphasised. + +No final decision was made during the meeting. + +## **Action Items** + +* **Toby** to bring the discussion on term lengths back to the Library Carpentry Governance Committee and explore alignment across committees. +* **All committee members** to review and asynchronously comment on the proposed 3–5 year goals, adding suggestions and refinements. + +## **Next Meeting** + +Date to be confirmed.