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Getting Involved

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Tim Dobbs edited this page Jan 17, 2021 · 2 revisions

BioAreBot is entirely open-source and we welcome your contribution.

Our collaborative workspace is the git repository. For a contribution to be "in" the project, it must be submitted to the git repository. Not familiar with git? No problem - come to a meeting and we'll be happy to help.

Contributions can be software, but also lab protocols, hardware bills-of-materials, or documentation. It's also super helpful to have people simply try to run the platform and offer feedback.

What To Read

We are managing everything on GitHub. Start with this wiki for a qualitative overview, then take a look at the Projects page to understand the project status, then check out the Issues page to get into the weeds on specific details of each task.

A Bit About Issues: Any work that should be done on the project can be submitted as a GitHub Issue. The webpage for that issue will then be the central point of discussion for figuring if/when/by-who the work should be done. GitHub Issues are typically used for software-related tasks, but we also use them for discussing labwork and documentation.

A Bit About Projects: We track our progress with GitHub Projects. Our project board can be found here. It uses a Kanban approach, so each task that we are working on is written onto a virtual card, and each card is placed into a column according to its status (e.g "To Do", "In Progress"). We also added some extra nuance to our columns to help project flow:

  • To Do - New issues start here when no work has been done on them
  • To Do Critical Path - Issues that must be completed for the project to be viable are moved here for higher visibility
  • In Progress - Cards that have been claimed and are being worked on go here
  • Ready To Review - Once the person working on an issue feels their work is ready to review, a reviewer is assigned and the card is moved here
  • Ready To Merge / Report - Once a reviewer has approved the work from a card, the card is moved here before the work is merged into the main repository
  • Done - Completed card go here
  • Deferred - If a card is put off to a later phase of the project, it can be moved here so that it's not lost entirely

Who To Talk To

You can join the community mailing list to ask questions via email.

We also meet over video chat every Wednesday at 18:00 US/Pacific Time. The meeting is "office hours" style, so you can bring any specific issue you have, or just come to get familiar with the project and community.

Contributing Code or Documents

Fork the repository to your account, make a new branch, make your changes, then submit a pull request back to the main repository. If your changes are related to an issue, link your pull request to that issue.
The README notes a few things you need to do to update the data model if you contribute code.
If you're contributing a lab protocol or other non-code document, simply add that document to the repository and the process is pretty much the same.

Running It In The Lab

If you have access to a BSL1 Bio Lab and a liquid handling robot, absolutely run this platform there. Come to a meeting or join our community mailing list to discuss details

Clone this wiki locally