ScienceLab

	Mozilla Science Lab
	Owner: Kaitlin Thaney	Updated: 2015-12-2
	The Mozilla Science Lab is an initiative of the Mozilla Foundation exploring how the power of open source can change the way science is done on the web. We believe a community of peers that work, learn and build together can make research thrive on the open web. We do this through code sprints, participatory learning and prototyping with the research community to make science more like the web: open, collaborative and efficient. For more, visit mozillascience.org.

The vision

The web has revolutionized many aspects of our everyday life, from media to education and business. But even though the web was invented by scientists, we still have not yet seen it change scientific practice to nearly the same extent. In scientific research, we’re dealing with special circumstances, trying to innovate upon hundreds of years of entrenched norms and practices, broken incentive structures and gaps in training that are dramatically slowing down the system, keeping us from making the steps forward needed to better society.

The aim of the Science Lab is to foster an ongoing dialogue between the open web community and researchers to tackle this challenge. Together they'll share ideas, tools and best practices for using next-generation web solutions to solve real problems in science, and explore ways to make research faster, more agile and collaborative.

Focus areas

Code and data literacy

Digital literacy is as important as reading, writing and arithmetic. In academia, skills training to match the tools and technology is still leagues behind where it should be. We need to find a way to better empower students to be "digital researchers" by shortening the gap and providing the means for them to learn how to share, reuse and reproduce research on the web.

Support and innovate with the community

There are some incredible tools out there pushing the limits to what the future of science on the web can be. We want to help support that work as well as find ways to help coordinate efforts and innovate together.

Convening a global conversation

Science is a global enterprise, and this needs to be a global conversation. We want to make sure we are getting tools into the hands of the people who need them most, and continually soliciting your thoughts about how we can, together, work towards more open, efficient science on the web.

The team

• Kaitlin Thaney (Director, Mozilla Science Lab): Kaitlin came to Mozilla from Digital Science, a technology company that works to make research more efficient through better use of software. She also advises the UK government on digital technology, is a Director for DataKind UK, and chairs the London Strata Conference series on big data. Prior to Mozilla and Digitial Science, Kaitlin managed the science program at Creative Commons, worked on education technology with MIT and Microsoft, and wrote for the Boston Globe. You can follow her at @kaythaney

• Arliss Collins (training coordinator, Mozilla Science Lab): Arliss handles communication, scheduling and coordination for the Science Lab's educational programs, including Software Carpentry. In her previous life she was a geophysical engineer and an IT analyst.

• Abigail Cabunoc (lead developer, Mozilla Science Lab): Abby comes to Mozilla after longtime contributions to open source projects helping science. Previously at the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research where she led development on WormBase, an online biological database aiding nematode research, she bring some serious worm knowledge to the team, as well as a background in bioinformatics and computer science. Abby's also an active member of the Toronto software development community as a mentor and educator. You can follow her at @abbycabs.

• Zannah Marsh (Instructional Designer, Mozilla Science Lab): Zannah draws on her background in interaction design, project-based learning, visual art, and storytelling to create “sticky” learning experiences around technology and design. She's taught web design, programming, interaction design, and data visualization at NYU, the New School, and in the City University of New York system. She was Senior Content Developer at the interactive design firm Local Projects, and an exhibit developer for the Museum of Science in Boston. In her spare time Zannah draws mini-comics and rides her bike around Brooklyn. You can follow her at @zannahlou.

• Stephanie Wright (Open Data Training Lead, Mozilla Science Lab): Stephanie joined the team after forming and leading the Research Data Services unit in the University of Washington Libraries. While there she was also Senior Data Science Fellow for the UW's eScience Institute. She brings expertise in data management, sharing and curation to the team. Steph is a self-proclaimed data geek and believer in open and easy access to data. You can follow her at @shefw.

• Aurelia Moser (Community Lead, Mozilla Science Lab): Aurelia is a creative developer building community around code at the Science Lab. Previously of Ushahidi, Internews-Kenya, and CartoDB, she has a background that blend a cocktail of conservation chemistry and coding for civic tech/non-profit journalism. Recent projects have had mapping sensor data to support agricultural security and sustainable apis ecosystems in the Global South, though she also dabbles in DJing and privacy art. As her about yoga, semantic web theory, web-mapping, and organic chem. You can follow her at @auremoser.

How to get involved

• Twitter: @MozillaScience
• Join our community calls: Second Thursday of every month. Come hear more about what we're up to, interact with community members and join the conversation.

Support

The Mozilla Science Lab is supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the Helmsley Charitable Trust. If you'd like to find out how you too can support the Science Lab, contact us.

License

This work by the Mozilla Science Lab is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.