Important changes to OPeNDAP's community infrastructure

[Miguel Jimenez]

Dear OPeNDAP community,

First, I would like to present myself: My name is Miguel Jimenez-Urias, the new Scientific Community Director of OPeNDAP. I come from a background in physical oceanography, having done my graduate education at the School of Oceanography in the University of Washington, and my postgraduate/early career at Johns Hopkins University within the Earth & Planetary Sciences Department. I am very passionate about data democratization, open source software, and climate science. Needless to say, I am excited to be a new member of the OPeNDAP team.

We at OPeNDAP recognize the need to better improve our community infrastructure. To modernize and create effective and inclusive communication channels with our community members, we are starting by launching a new OPeNDAP website early next month, and importantly, we are starting to migrate away from Google Groups and towards a new and dynamic OPeNDAP Discourse Community Forum.

As already members of OPeNDAP's Google Groups, you will be the first to receive invitations to join OPeNDAP Discourse Community Forum. We are excited for you to accept, join, and participate within our new community infrastructure! The Discourse will be our designated space to post announcements, opportunities, reach out with questions about all OPeNDAP, and to host vibrant and insightful discussions with our community about current needs of, and future enhancements to OPeNDAP. Above all, we hope the OPeNDAP Discourse will help us to better reconnect with, grow, and foster the OPeNDAP community.

About the Google Groups: The Google Groups will remain open for now, but we intent to sunset the following: OPeNDAP, OPeNDAP Tech, and OPeNDAP Announce. Our plan is for the OPeNDAP Discourse Forum to replace all three above. On the other hand, OPeNDAP User Support will become our support email (sup...@opendap.org) for direct and narrow-focused questions.

We at OPeNDAP hope these three steps 1) new website, 2) an OPeNDAP Discourse Forum, and 3) sunset of Google Groups, are just a starting point as we migrate towards an infrastructure that can better serve the OPeNDAP community. We are also aware that its success will require work within the OPeNDAP team, that it will largely depend on the participation of the community, and that it will take time. As OPeNDAP's Scientific Community Director, I am committed to spearhead our efforts,  and for together foster a rich, vibrant, and inclusive OPeNDAP community.

Kind Regards,
Miguel Jimenez-Urias