Steph Stammel

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

Dickens might have meant it figuratively, but in the case of the
rOpenSci OzUnconf 2019, we mean it literally. Set to the backdrop of a
[national emergency that is still
ongoing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019%E2%80%9320_Australian_bushfire_season)
from 11-13 December, our participants came from across Australia as well
as New Zealand, Japan, India and Indonesia.

An rOpenSci unconference (unconf) is about building - building software,
tools, but more importantly *community*. It operates on the premise that
we all belong.

Joining the R community doesn't start with an entrance exam - there is
no point at which you're 'good enough' to belong. A person belongs the
moment they decide to join in - sometimes people join in after a few
decades of programming, sometimes they join in before they open R for
the first time. An rOpenSci unconf is intended to support that community
and provide a place to bring a diverse group together in order to learn
from each other and build things.

An unconf cohort is diverse by design - not just gender diverse (though
this is important), but diversity of skill, background and interest.
Most participants do not know each other - and this is another feature
that is deliberate. An unconf doesn't start as a group of friends
building things together - but it is often the way it ends.

<figure class="center">
<img src="/img/blog-images/2020-02-05-ozunconf19/ozunconf19-group.jpg"
width="600" alt="group photo of 40 participants" />
<figcaption><p>Photo by Steph Stammel</p></figcaption>
</figure>

Our initial pre-conference conversations included the potential
[projects we wanted to work
on](https://github.com/ropensci/ozunconf19/issues) as well as whether or
not participants with respiratory illness [may require protective masks,
if they could be
found](https://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/its-not-rain-no-respite-from-bushfires-despite-promising-weather-radar/news-story/268103ed2b4ace385bd718fd28289689).

[Saras Windecker](https://www.smwindecker.com/) and [Nick
Tierney](/authors/nicholas-tierney/) gave interested participants a git
101 workshop on building R packages and using git and GitHub on the day
before the unconference itself. One of the purposes of this workshop is
to ensure everybody is ready and confident to jump in from the very
beginning.

In the midst of the chaos of a climate and health emergency for many
Australians, the unconf team found something to do about it - and
[project Smoky was born](https://github.com/ropenscilabs/smoky). The
project aimed to provide a way for the community to access relevant and
timely information on air quality, which was difficult to source.

During the unconf, we were working in the maths and statistics
department at the University of Sydney, and we had a number of
participants who know how to control chaos and use it for their own
ends. To whit, some team members decided to [generate valid R code
randomly](https://github.com/ropenscilabs/bnf) using BNF grammars (for
those of us who don't automatically know what those are - I think of it
as 'grokking the rules that make R work'). Others held an [impromptu aRt
class and exhibition](https://github.com/ropenscilabs/aRt_class),
generating art entirely within R itself.

Other teams set out to counter the chaos sometimes present in an
operational data science environment with
[actions_sandbox](https://github.com/ropenscilabs/actions_sandbox),
which explores how GitHub actions can automate useful tools for
improving productivity. Other groups created a tool -
[Rcademy](https://github.com/ropenscilabs/Rcademy) - for managing
academic promotion, or made
[gghdr](https://github.com/ropenscilabs/gghdr), a ggplot extension for
plotting highest density regions!

There was a selection of data-based projects at the unconf this year,
with one team, [OZdatasets](https://ropenscilabs.github.io/OZdatasets/),
working on expanding and maintaining the Australian data sets collected
at previous OzUnconfs as well as other interesting or unique Australian
datasets and resources. Another team brought together international
education data to unpack some misperceptions around Australia's rankings
in [learningtower](https://ropenscilabs.github.io/learningtower/). The
project [quizlite](https://github.com/ropenscilabs/quizlite) provides
infrastructure to create light-weight quizzes for use during teaching
(and other places) and in the spirit of the unconf, one team member
built the [praiseme](https://alycerussell.shinyapps.io/praise-app/)
package (because who doesn't need a little support while writing R
code?) into a web app (because that need isn't R-specific).

[Check out all our
projects](https://github.com/ropensci/ozunconf19/blob/f8d5a856a8b45c9106174fa82cc8a6d1b90c339f/projects.md)
and contribute if you'd like: remember that there's no entrance exam and
you're part of the community from the first time you decide to join in -
online or in person. If you're not sure where to start, but would like
to get involved, start by opening an issue in a repository and ask where
you can help- team members will be more than willing to support you, the
way they've supported each other.

[Jenny Richmond](http://jenrichmond.rbind.io/) was the
[WeAreRLadies](https://twitter.com/WeAreRLadies/) Rotating Curator
during the unconf. She generously drew attention to all the project
teams and the many R-Ladies chapters that were represented.

> Team 3 [@rOpenSci](https://twitter.com/rOpenSci?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
> [\#ozunconf19](https://twitter.com/hashtag/ozunconf19?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
> were working on PISA data. There has been some media coverage recently
> about how Australian students math scores are declining. This group
> are pulling the PISA data into an R package so that more people can
> analyse it. [pic.twitter.com/cGM9zW7FQM](https://t.co/cGM9zW7FQM)
>
> --- We are R-Ladies (@WeAreRLadies) [December 12,
> 2019](https://twitter.com/WeAreRLadies/status/1205083040562569217?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

Our OzUnconf was made possible by rOpenSci, who originated this style of
[hackathon-flavoured unconference in 2014](/blog/2014/05/14/ropenhack/).
The rOpenSci team were incredibly generous with their time, experience
and patience.

The generosity of our sponsors provided us with the means to hold the
event and make participation possible for some who might not otherwise
have been able to attend - notably the United States Studies Centre and
the Centre for Translational Data Science at the University of Sydney.
We also received support from Nous, the Australian Bureau of Statistics,
Internetrix and the Statistical Society of Australia.

Special thanks also go to [John
Ormerod](https://www.maths.usyd.edu.au/u/jormerod/), [Emi
Tanaka](https://emitanaka.org/), [Rob
Hyndman](https://robjhyndman.com/), [Di Cook](/authors/di-cook/), and
[Nick Tierney](/authors/nicholas-tierney/) - without whom we would have
had maximal chaos and no control at all! Unconfs build on each other,
and previous unconf teams' work helped us successfully hold our own
event. We'd especially like to thank Nick Tierney, for providing
guidance in transferring the leadership for this OzUnconf, passing on
his knowledge of being the lead organiser of the [original three
OzUnconfs](/tags/ozunconf/). We'd also like to thank [Miles
McBain](/authors/miles-mcbain/) and [Jesse
Roberts](/authors/jessie-roberts/), who, along with Nick, helped create
the [first rOpenSci OzUnconf back in 2016](/blog/2016/06/16/au-unconf/).
It has been a joy to see this community develop and thrive.

If you're interested in [joining the community](/community/), remember
there's no entrance exam - you're welcome whenever you choose to join
in!


It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Dickens might have meant it figuratively, but in the case of the rOpenSci OzUnconf 2019, we mean it literally. Set to the backdrop of a national emergency that is still ongoing from 11-13 December, our participants came from across Australia as well as New Zealand, Japan, India and Indonesia.

Messaggi di Rogue Scholar

The Fun of Building Things and the Challenge of Learning - the rOpenSci OzUnconf 2019