Hack Your PhD Open Science Tour Diary: Difference between revisions

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[9th to 20th of August] Open Science in Montréal and Boston : A world of bubbles


 
Note: due to problems with the coding of this article, I have moved it to the talk pages - mb
<p style="text-align: left;">After California and Oregon, Montreal and Boston were my first steps on the East coast. I didn't stay long in Montreal but it was worth it and I left enriched with many interesting comments about the Open Science Movement. Once settled in Boston, I mostly explored Cambridge, a neighboring city hosting Harvard university and the MIT. I went there twice and got the impression that people live in very different bubbles. Some of them, though highly innovative were quite far from Open Science perspectives. Others give rise to refreshing initiatives both regarding form and content.</p>
 
<h3><b>Montréal : Getting out of comfort zone </b></h3>
HackYourPhD in the US made a short detour through Québec. 4 days in Montréal, 2 presentations and many questions.
<h4><strong>Open Access with Jean-Claude Guédon</strong></h4>
Freshly out of the plane, I was spending my first afternoon discussing about Open Access with <a title="jean claude guedon " href="http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Claude_Gu%C3%A9don" target="_blank">Jean-Claude Guédon</a>, an historian of Sciences at the University of Montréal. He believes evaluation and communication of science should be a continuous flow and not restrict itself to scientific publishing.  During my interview he insisted a lot on the hope that open access platforms brings to developping countries, citing <a title="SCIELO" href="http://www.scielo.org/php/index.php" target="_blank">ScieELO</a> (Brazil) and <a title="REDALYC" href="http://www.redalyc.org/" target="_blank">Redalyc</a> (Mexico) as examples.
 
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<h4><strong>HEC Montréal :</strong></h4>
My stay in Montreal was short but rich. For the first time since the launch of HYPhD, <a title="Guillaume Dumas" href="http://fau.academia.edu/GuillaumeDumas" target="_blank">Guillaume Dumas</a> and I had the opportunity to attend meetings and presentations together. Two different but complementary profiles and perspectives to answer questions of people rather skeptical about the Open Science Movement.
 
At HEC Montréal, we faced students and researchers in business and/or economy oriented. This audience was very different from the usual one consisting mostly in researchers aware of today's issues in Science and/or advocates of the principles of Open Science. Here, this was a discovery and each term had to be clearly defined. Some researchers did not understand what the notion of Open Science was meaning. Interesting questions were raised, among which about the definition and nature of Science, Research and the Open Science Movement and its sustainability. "Are the commons and Open Science movements just another trend that will soon vanish?"
 
<!--more-->This confrontation reminded us that there is a great need to study Open Science and other movement such as the Collaborative Economy in order to clarify them and prove their value. They should be studied, compared. One should dive in the history of science to understand the mechanisms of collaboration and how it evolved through centuries. One other approach would be to try to model the dynamics of such organizations. This could help to give feedbacks to these initiatives and give us some clue on their sutainability.
 
This adventure in Montreal thus led us to confront other opinions which is always something positive as long as discussions remain fruitful.
<h3><strong>MIT and Harvard : more bubbles</strong></h3>
A 10 hours bus drive crossing the border led me to Boston. The concentration of Colleges and Universities here is impressive. Among those, the MIT and Harvard can be found in the city of Cambridge.
<h4><strong>MIT and Medialab : Closed innovation</strong></h4>
I discovered a pretty bubble at the MIT and Medialab.
 
I spent 2 afternoons at the <a title="medialab" href="http://media.mit.edu/" target="_blank">Medialab</a>. <a title="xiao tedxboston" href="http://tedxboston.org/speaker/xiao" target="_blank">XiaoXiao</a>, a PhD student of the Tangible Media Group, was a great guide throught this Alibaba cavern where one can find 3D Printers, robots, legos and other U(F)Os. This multimedia <a href="http://storify.com/HackYourPhd/open-science-in-boston-mit-and-harvard" target="_blank">storify</a> summarizes the visit.
 
[caption id="attachment_1118" align="aligncenter" width="448"]<a style="line-height: 28px; font-size: 15px;" href="http://hackyourphd.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Medialab-celyagd.jpg"><img class=" wp-image-1118" alt="Medialab celyagd" src="http://hackyourphd.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Medialab-celyagd-764x1024.jpg" width="448" height="600" /></a> <span style="line-height: 28px; font-size: 15px;"> Medialab : changing places</span>[/caption]
 
The places and the projects I discovered were highly inspiring but I was surprised by some discussions I had with a few researchers. My personal feeling is that Open Science is not a core matter here. The goal is to innovate but not to be innovative in the research process. Finding funding and sponsors is a main goal here. Researchers would happily share their data if it wasn't that time consuming or if the risk to loose their funding wasn't that high...
 
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In another MIT lab, I discovered the <i><a title="little devices MIT" href="http://littledevices.org/" target="_blank">Little Devices</a> </i>team whose core is DIY. They are designing a set of kits to build cheap technological hardware in the field of health: for example, the <em>solar clave </em>can be used to disinfect surgical tools, a DIY pregnancy test, a spray working with an air-pump...
 
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<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://hackyourphd.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Quantified-self-ECG.jpg"><img class="aligncenter  wp-image-1119" alt="Quantified self ECG" src="http://hackyourphd.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Quantified-self-ECG-764x1024.jpg" width="448" height="600" /></a></p>
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Those kits are distributed in developing countries. I asked the Open Hardware question:
<blockquote>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Why don't you share your design so to allow people to build the kits themselves?</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em> </em></p>
In this lab, this is not an option. This would reduce their competitivity and reduce the funding options.
 
Those MIT meetings gave me the impression that those labs were another bubble where strong innovation was paired with a highly competitive traditional research system.
 
A few underground stations away, Harvard university was a very different story.
<h4><strong>Harvard : the Dataverse Network Project and the Open Data licences question</strong></h4>
At the <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.iq.harvard.edu/" target="_blank">Institute for Quantitative Science</a>, a team is working on a 100% Open Science project : <a title="Dataverse Network Project" href="http://thedata.org/" target="_blank"><i>The DataverseNetwork Project</i></a>. It consists in building a platform allowing any researcher to archive, share and cite his data. It has many functionalities cleverly linking it to other aspects of Open Science ( open access journal with <a href="http://pkp.sfu.ca/?q=ojs" target="_blank">OJS</a>, citation, altmetrics..)
 
The head of the project, Mercè Crosas, has been working on Open Data Licencing for over ten years. This was also a main topic of our discussion.
 
During my trip, I realised that Data Licencing was a big puzzle for many. Most institutions still do not know which licences to use. People have diverging opinions on the issue, mostly when it is human related data. The <a href="http://privacytools.seas.harvard.edu/project-description" target="_blank">Privacy tools</a> project to which Merce also contributes will probably help to solve the problem.
 
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Boston and its surroundings are a great place to ask such questions regarding data licencing and sharing and to experiment with new solutions
<h3><strong>The Boston Ecosystem: A life Science and Medically oriented bubble</strong></h3>
During my stay around Boston, I met many people involved  in projects related to health and medicine. Different approaches have been taken to deal with sharing human data.
 
In 2005, the <a title="personal genome project" href="http://www.personalgenomes.org/" target="_blank">Personal Genome Project</a> (PGP) was launched by a team of the Harvard school of Medicine. The PGP find volunteers, the genome of which they sequence and publicly share. According to Jason Bobe, the 3"O"s Open Source, Open Science, Open Consent form the basis of the project. Their data become part of the public domain and are not anonymised. This choice is summarized here:
<blockquote><i style="line-height: 28px; font-size: 15px;">« Privacy, confidentiality and anonymity are impossible to guarantee in a context like the PGP where public sharing of genetic data is an explicit goal. Therefore, the PGP collaborates with participants willing to waive expectations of privacy. »</i></blockquote>
<span style="line-height: 28px; font-size: 15px;">[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/107040335" params="" width=" 100%" height="166" iframe="true" /]</span>
 
<a href="http://www.openresearchexchange.com/">Open Research exchange</a> is another project in the medical field. Pushed forward by the startup « Patients like me », it is a real collaboration between patients and researchers. Surveys are proposed to patients. Patients answer them and provide feedback leading researchers to come up with an updated version etc.. Those questionnaires, published under creative commons licences can then be used at larger scale, which is one of the crucial idea behind the project. Listen to Shimon Rura discussing about the project:
 
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The <a title="h@cking medecine" href="http://www.letudiant.fr/educpros/opinions/hacking-medecine-des-hackathons-pour-apporter-des-solutions-innovantes-aux-services-de-sante-grace.html" target="_blank">H@cking Medecine</a> project goes even further. It organizes hackathons to provide new solutions again in the medical world. They get medical doctors, <i>data scientists</i>, designers, students and entrepreneurs to work together. Boston hospitals collaborate with them by providing them with databases, in a secured way.
 
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These hospitals seem to play a crucial role in the development of Open Science projects. For example,  <a href="http://swan.mindinformatics.org/" target="_blank"><i>Domeo</i></a> are <a title="stem cell commons" href="http://stemcellcommons.org/" target="_blank"><i>Cell Stem commons</i></a>  -other projects that I discovered here - are funded by the Massachussets General Hospital.
 
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During this week in Boston, I discovered a very rich ecosystem where hospitals, biological institutes, universities and start-up work together. Its potential appears to be huge. Most projects are pushed forward by students or young researchers or even entrepreneurs. The blossoming initiatives are and will even more in the future blur the boundaries between academia and the private sector. What lacks however is a link between those isolated projects that do not really talk to one another. Federating such initiatives around common values is of great importance for Open Science.
 
Next Stop: New York City, last but one stop in this large us loop...
 
<em>Thanks to Matthieu Lechanjour for proof reading and Vincent Adam for translation into english.</em>
 
 
[1st to 8th August 2013] Open Science in Seattle : Big Data, Complex Systems and Open Data
 
<p dir="ltr"><em>After California, the last step on the West Coast led me to Seattle. During this week, I was fortunate to have an outstanding guide Brian Glanz, co-founder of the Open Science Federation. In Seattle, I was able to explore a facet of the Open Science different from San Francisco. In fact, the directions taken by big software and services companies, such as Microsoft or Amazon, strongly oriented themes treated in Open Science. Open Data, administration and management of Big Data in Life Sciences, were the recurring themes of the various meetings and interviews.</em></p>
<p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-69555e74-c7fa-fb23-b85d-e6494ae86781">If San Francisco has been an immersion in the world of startups and<a href="http://storify.com/HackYourPhd/hyphdus-hackerspace" target="_blank"> hackerspaces</a>, Seattle instead was diving in the world of innovative academic. I had 9 meetings, 13 interviews and one event. The week was busy with Brian Glanz, who planned the entire program and took the time to accompany me to every meeting. Brian Glanz is one of the busiest people I know in the community of Open Science. He is the co-founder of the Open Science Federation (<a href="https://twitter.com/openscience" target="_blank">@openscience</a> on Twitter), organizer of<a href="http://scienceonlineseattle.org/" target="_blank"> ScienceOnline à Seattle</a>, founder of the chapter<a href="http://us.okfn.org/" target="_blank"> OKFNUS</a>. He is also very active in civic activities (open government, open food…) and wants to see research more involved in each of his actions.</p>
 
<h3><strong>The University of Washington: a wealth of actors and projects for the Open Science</strong></h3>
<p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-69555e74-c7fe-0018-65a2-e2381b3cd046"> First day in Seattle, I discovered the <a href="http://fish.washington.edu/people/Roberts/" target="_blank">School of aquatic and fishering sciences </a> which is part of the <a href="http://coenv.washington.edu/" target="_blank">College For Environment</a>. This is a classic laboratory in appearance, but with innovative research practices. We meet Steven Roberts, who manages one of the <a href="http://faculty.washington.edu/sr320/" target="_blank">research laboratorie</a>s. Behind his computer, he begins to explain to us how he manages his research notebook: he shares all his data and the progress of his work on<a href="http://ipython.org/"> Ipy</a>. Student involvement contributes for many to the dynamic image of the laboratory: they communicate on the progress of their work on social media but also on a Wiki. Steven Roberts is an « openscientist » in the soul; for him it’s quite normal to implement these practices, and try, and test these new tools like<a href="https://github.com/"> Github</a> ( a collaborative platform for writing code, increasingly used in research).</p>
<p dir="ltr">A few yards away, we have an appointment at the <a href="http://commons.lib.washington.edu/">Research Commons</a> space, tables and walls in whiteboard, open 7/7… Everything is done to facilitate the emergence of new ideas. The administrators of the center are also interested in the training of researchers in data management. How to organize and label them? How to standardize them? They recently organized a workshop on the reproducibility of data in research. The University of Washington evolves in data culture. This can be explained by the particular structure of companies and research institutes in Seattle area. This old library has been completely restored to foster creativity and collaboration between researchers and students.</p>
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[caption id="attachment_1031" align="aligncenter" width="560"]<a href="http://hackyourphd.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/IMG_0472.jpg"><img class="size-large wp-image-1031" alt="Steven Robert" src="http://hackyourphd.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/IMG_0472-1024x764.jpg" width="560" height="417" /></a> Steven Robert : Open Scientist en action..[/caption]
 
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[caption id="attachment_1032" align="aligncenter" width="800"]<a href="http://hackyourphd.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/research-commons-osf.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-1032" alt="research commons osf" src="http://hackyourphd.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/research-commons-osf.jpg" width="800" height="542" /></a> Research commons by OpenScienceFederation[/caption]
 
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<h3><strong>A strong OpenData culture in Seattle</strong></h3>
<p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-69555e74-e026-90d6-59b6-22e8f8caee2e">Indeed in Seattle, I noticed a strong orientation of Open Science issues around Open Data. The background, made of big software and services companies like Microsoft or Amazon, play a major role.</p>
<p dir="ltr">I discussed it with <a href="https://twitter.com/jamesian">Sally James</a>, scientific journalist in Seattle. She gives some explanations in this interview:</p>
 
<blockquote>
<p dir="ltr">“There is an interesting mix in Seattle. Many people look at the signal/noise ratio. Some build applications for mobile, others observe how proteins are expressed in cell. This city is a place where different domains overlap.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p dir="ltr">These ideas are contained in a book published by Microsoft, <a href="http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/collaboration/fourthparadigm/contents.aspx">The Fourth Paradigm: Data-Intensive Scientific Discovery</a><em></em>. This book states that we are entering in a new era of research: At experimental, theoretical, and computational studies are added the fourth key concept of data mining.</p>
<p dir="ltr">It strongly inspires Eugene Kolker Co-founder of <a href="http://www.delsaglobal.org/">DELSA</a>. DELSA project – Data Enabled Life Science – seeks to place the question of data, their analysis, sharing and reproducibility at the heart of research in Life Science.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The huge amount of data generated – what is called Big Data – by the study of increasing complex system in Science, certainly brings a new era for research, but accelerates thereby the development of news practices.</p>
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<h3><strong>Big Data and Open Data: a need for an approach of complexity in Science</strong></h3>
<p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-69555e74-e029-d4d8-1a17-5cfc378663d7">Many research groups in Seattle, including those related to Life or Environmental Sciences, adopt a multi-disciplinary and multi-scale approach. The ISB « <a href="https://www.systemsbiology.org/" target="_blank">Institute for Systems Biology </a>» is one of these organizations. Created 13 years ago, it is one of the first to study Life Science as a complex system. There, they try to understand how different parts of an organism, a cell and a gene interact with each other. Researchers are studying the emergence of new properties in these systems, depending on the context. The ISB has a longstanding Open Science policy; it publishes all the articles in Open Access, shares data and also the code source of software.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The Open Science seems fundamental to analyze Big Data especially in the context of complex approach of the living. Indeed, such research objectives require the collaboration of large number of researchers from different fields. Such collaboration is permitted by models of Open Publications and Open Science approach type…</p>
<p dir="ltr">Thirteen years ago, the IBS was one of the few such institutes. Today, hundreds of organizations are created on the same principle. Their use of Open Science is certainly ahead of our time, but is nevertheless one of the most appropriate responses to the challenges of Life Science and Health.</p>
 
 
[caption id="attachment_1035" align="aligncenter" width="560"]<a href="http://hackyourphd.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/IMG_0522.jpg"><img class="size-large wp-image-1035" alt="Laboratoire de l'ISB" src="http://hackyourphd.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/IMG_0522-1024x764.jpg" width="560" height="417" /></a> Institute for Systems Biology laboratories[/caption]
 
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<h3><strong>Departure from the West Coast: “Bidouille Ton Doc” in Montreal</strong></h3>
<p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-69555e74-e02b-576d-914e-bb736165b120">After a busy week in Seattle, the « <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-eye_flight" target="_blank">redeye flight </a>» took me to Montreal for a few days. The expression describes well the passengers of these flights, arriving with 3 hours of confiscated sleep by the time zone difference. HackYourPhD became “Bidouille Ton Doc” for a few days.</p>
<p dir="ltr">For more pictures and interviews, here is the<a href="https://storify.com/HackYourPhd/seattlle" target="_blank"> story of</a> the week in Seattle.</p>
<em>Thanks to Rodrigue Asseu for the english translation from french.
</em>
 
[22th to 30th of July 2013] OpenScience Week in San Francisco
 
<em>My initial schedule was to spend a week in San Francisco. But it took me a few extra days to immerse myself with the dynamism of the bay Area in term of OpenScience and innovative spaces.</em>
 
The schedule of the week was busy with 2 or 3 meetings per day, a presentation of HackYourPhD at Sudoroom (hackerspace in Oakland), a day in Berkeley and two in Palo Alto. I met many people from various backgrounds: researchers, students, entrepreneurs, artists, hackers. San Francisco is a city where you experiment, you try without fear of failure. I felt in love with this city three years ago, and I was not disappointed this second time.  In San Francisco, there are a lot of inspiring hybrid spaces. I met a lot of people in different places of the city : bars, cafes, parks, hackerspaces and undefined places ... The different background sounds will give you the atmosphere. Here are some strong elements of these 10 days. More specific articles will come in a second time.
<h3><strong>Thoughts about the future of academic and non-academic research</strong></h3>
I met three major advocators of Open Access this week. I was glad to discuss with them and ask several questions about the future of research.
<h4><b>Cameron Neylon : the future of Open Access</b></h4>
Despite a long overseas trip, Cameron Neylon accepted to give two hours to HackYourPhD.  Cameron is the Director of Advocacy for <a href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Library_of_Science">PLOS</a>, a non-profit Open Access Publisher created in 2001. We discussed the future of the Open Access model.  To familiarize yourself with Open Access: Here is a short article I wrote on <a title="EducPros L'étudiant openaccess" href="http://www.letudiant.fr/educpros/opinions/innovation-l-editeur-scientifique-plos-pour-une-immersion-dans-le-monde-de-l-open-access.html" target="_blank">EducPros</a> about it (in french).
 
According to him, the current models <a title="mysciencework open access" href="http://www.mysciencework.com/fr/MyScienceNews/2524/l-edition-scientifique-son-modele-ses-scandales" target="_blank">« green » and « gold »</a> will work on the short term. For the long term, there are new innovative infrastructures that will emerge. A point of particularly interest to me was the arrival of traditional Publisher on the market of Open Access.  Is there any « Open washing », meaning the promotion of Open Access for commercial purposes? According to Cameron Neylon, it is definitely the case. They adapt themselves to news uses to keep their market. But, this also means that Open Access is becoming the standard (norm and term) of scientific publication.
 
Here is the <a title="cameron neylon PLOS" href="https://soundcloud.com/hackyourphd/hyphdus-cameron-neylon-plos-openaccess" target="_blank">interview</a> of Cameron Neylon that I recorded at Union Square ( with the bagpipes as a background sound).
 
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<h4><b><!--more-->Ethan Perlstein : What will be the researcher of the future?</b></h4>
A few weeks ago, I met <a title="perlstein" href="http://www.perlsteinlab.com/" target="_blank">Ethan Perlstein</a>  at the opening of the new center <a title="biotechandbeyond" href="http://storify.com/HackYourPhd/hyphdus-biotechandbeyond-opening-citizen-science" target="_blank">BioTechAndBeyond</a>. We planed to meet again in SF. Ethan is an independent researcher who also works as a consultant on a platform of scientific crowdfunding <a title="microryza" href="https://www.microryza.com/" target="_blank">«  microryza »</a> The discussion focused among others on the development of a new kind of research outside the academic world.
What will be the researcher of the future? According to Ethan, he will create a community around research, writing on a blog, while also sharing on twitter. Consulting and micropayment will be his business model. For Ethan, this researcher will be more than an independent scientist, he will be carried by a mission (a social goal) "mission driven scientist."
<h4><strong>William Gunn : Mendeley a junction between two worlds?</strong></h4>
I Met William Gunn in a park not far from Embarcadero. William has been working for over 4 years with <a title="mendeley" href="http://mendeley.com" target="_blank">Mendeley</a>. The startup has developed a bibliographic management tool for researchers with a collaborative space. Part of their mission includes providing additional evaluation metrics and analyzing it.  Open Science  helps to make more transparent the whole process of research with open data but also with new metrics called altmetrics. Today, scientists are primarily judged on the number of citation of their articles. Why not take into account other criteria? Mendeley works with universities to provide new criteria such as the number of items read by Mendeley users (or 1.9 million people).
 
Those who follow OpenScience News are certainly aware of a mini scandal related to Mendeley. The startup was acquired by Elsevier, a publisher, seen by many as an Evil Publisher. I asked to William Gunn the reason of this partnership. It would not be the financial aspect but rather a strategic choice. Elsevier would have convinced them of their sincerity to develop Open Access. Mendeley tries to bridge the gap between two worlds:  OpenScience vs traditional search system which lets a lot of people skeptical ..
<h4><b> </b></h4>
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<h3><strong><i>Hackerspaces</i></strong><strong>, </strong><strong><i>Makerspaces</i></strong><strong>, </strong><strong><i>freespaces</i></strong><strong> : </strong><strong>spaces and atmospheres showing how diverse are communities here </strong></h3>
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--></style>Since the beginning of the trip, I visited many spaces calling themselves <i>hackerspaces</i>, <i>makerspaces</i> and <i>freespaces</i>. Each of them has its own identity defined by its community but they also have a few characteristics in common: communal spaces, open 24/7, 3D printers in a corner, free WiFi. Everyone can bring its own project or join and create a group already working on a particular topic. I met for example Kevin from <a href="http://hackyourphd.org/2013/08/hyphdus-open-science-san-francisco/LIEN?PHPSESSID=cd75pockdc5udflkku1eequvo5" target="_blank">Noisebridge</a>. But each of these spaces have also their own special atmosphere, which makes them more <i>makerspace</i> or <i>hackerspace</i>. They take shape and find their model thanks to people using them.
 
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<h4><b>Techshop : Makers Kingdom </b></h4>
<a href="http://techshop.ws/" target="_blank">Techshop</a> is an impressive space regarding the quality and quantity of tools made available. It gives the possibility to everyone to create its own objects (“Do It Yourself” DIY): from its own bike to chocolate boxes. An important integration effort is made in order to engage a large audience thanks to the many classes for learning how to use the tools.
 
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[caption id="attachment_947" align="aligncenter" width="448"]<a href="http://hackyourphd.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/IMG_0395.jpg"><img class=" wp-image-947  " title="techshop : Boites pour chocolat DIY spéciale dédicace à Gayané Adourian" alt="techshop : Boites pour chocolat DIY spéciale dédicace à Gayané Adourian" src="http://hackyourphd.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/IMG_0395-764x1024.jpg" width="448" height="600" /></a> Techshop : DIY Chocolate boxes (special dedication to Gayané Adourian)[/caption]
 
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<h4><strong>A diversity of hackerspaces in the SF Bay Area</strong></h4>
Other spaces such as Noisebridge or <a href="https://sudoroom.org/" target="_blank">Sudoroom</a> leave more freedom, are more rough and “fiddle-friendly”. They invite each of us for experimenting and testing, following the <i>hacker</i> ideology.
 
Sudoroom is based in Oakland. It's part of a larger space where people live and gather for organizing citizen movements, which enables spontaneous interaction with a very mixed audience.
 
&nbsp;
 
[caption id="attachment_948" align="aligncenter" width="560"]<a href="http://hackyourphd.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/IMG_0315.jpg"><img class="size-large wp-image-948  " alt="sudoroom" src="http://hackyourphd.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/IMG_0315-1024x764.jpg" width="560" height="417" /></a> Sudoroom: a familiar space for the daughter of an Amateur Radio operators (special dedication to F6AJW and F6AYK)[/caption]
 
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<p align="JUSTIFY"><a href="http://www.hackerdojo.com/" target="_blank">Hackerdojo</a> gathers a more specialized audience. It is located in Mountain View, not far from Google. Space is more of a gigantic coworking space and is more <i>software</i>-oriented.</p>
[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/102550805" params="" width=" 100%" height="166" iframe="true" /]
<h4><b>Unidentified Spaces
</b></h4>
<p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-1ee9a6b5-560e-9ce8-16bc-43508c70b5ba">I've visited some other, quite astonishing, places such as Freespace. Located downtown San Francisco, premises are rented by a co-operative for a peppercorn rent corresponding, at first, to one month. Members settled in and built a real living space. This temporary location managed to sustain itself and survive for a month thanks to the every members contributing for the rent, that was this time truly exorbitant.</p>
&nbsp;
 
[caption id="attachment_949" align="aligncenter" width="560"]<a href="http://hackyourphd.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/IMG_0371.jpg"><img class="size-large wp-image-949" title="freespace  (spéciale dédicace à PhotonQuantique ;) )" alt="freespace  (spéciale dédicace à PhotonQuantique ;) )" src="http://hackyourphd.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/IMG_0371-1024x764.jpg" width="560" height="417" /></a> freespace (special dedication to PhotonQuantique ;) )[/caption]
<p dir="ltr">I also had the opportunity to leave for 5 days in a peculiar place : the MI7. Premises are hosting 3 startups at the same time and also the members. What a surrealistic time that was to live side by side with a 3D scanner !</p>
<p dir="ltr">For more pictures of these different places, check the is <a title="Storify HackYourPhd" href="https://storify.com/HackYourPhd/hyphdus-hackerspace" target="_blank">storify</a> page i've made.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://storify.com/HackYourPhd/hyphdus-hackerspace"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-962" alt="hackyourphd storify" src="http://hackyourphd.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/hackyourphd-storify.png" width="292" height="290" /></a></p>
 
<h3><strong>Talking about OpenScience
</strong></h3>
<p dir="ltr">This week, thanks to Matthew Senate once again, one of the cofounder of Sudoroom, i had he opportunity to present HackYourPhD.  At my presentation, the audience was quite varied : from researchers to "hackers" but also students were present.</p>
<p dir="ltr">OpenScience arouses attention because it allows an entry point into the research world. During the course of our discussions, i discovered that this guy was an ex postdoc from Berkeley, who had left the academic research for a job at Facebook… Other, still PhD students, had decided to start their own startup company.</p>
<p dir="ltr">For these <em>dropouts</em>, research was a quick experience that they didn't particularly want to highlight. Yet, my discussions with Todd Huffman, founder of <a title="3 scan" href="http://www.3scan.com/" target="_blank">3 Scan</a>, and William Gunn suggest that some permeability in the boudaries between different worlds including the one of research was crucial, in particular to bring new skills and new perspectives that could potentially to research.</p>
[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/103215076" params="" width=" 100%" height="166" iframe="true" /]
<h3 dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-1ee9a6b5-5611-022d-66a9-1d61323be9fe"><strong>On the road again : Seattle, last step on the West coast</strong></h3>
<p dir="ltr">After more than 17 hours driving from San Francisco to Portland, the next stopping place is Seattle. Brian Glanz, with whom i've been in contact with for several months, has prepared an Open Science schedule for the week. The <a title="OpenScience hacknight" href="http://scienceonlineseattle.org/events/2013/08/open-science-hack-night/" target="_blank"><em>OpenScience HackNight</em></a>, with several presentations including the one for HackYourPhD, will be on Thursday August 7th.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><em>Thanks to Mathilde Berchon, Rodrigue Asseu and François Asperti-Boursin for their collaborative translation of this article from french to english.</em></p>
&nbsp;
 
&nbsp;
 
[ 8th to 16th of July 2013] First days on the new continent : Last preparations and beginning of the great "tour"( Boca Raton and San Diego!)
 
A week has passed since I landed in the United States of America. I've already traveled around 8000 kms and swiched time zone 3 times. I will here describe the key moments of my firsts stops at Boca Raton, Florida and then in San Diego, California. It's quite difficult to deal with organizing the many interviews and to add material online. But people I meet are amazing!
<h3><b style="color: #49352f; font-family: 'Poiret One', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 27px; line-height: normal;">The many joys of air travel...</b></h3>
My air travels didn't all go as smooth as planned.
 
After more than 18 hours in transit, 2 air travels (with a nice stop in NYC), I arrived in Miami at 8.30pm where Guillaume Dumas (cofounder of HYPhD) kindly picked me up. My suitcase was less lucky and stayed in NYC. Hopefully I stayed a few days in Miami and could wait for it and had enough with me to survive, namely my passport and my computer.
 
&nbsp;
 
[caption id="attachment_837" align="aligncenter" width="778"]<a href="http://hackyourphd.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/photo1.jpg"><img class=" wp-image-837" alt="Miami" src="http://hackyourphd.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/photo1.jpg" width="778" height="581" /></a> Ambiance biologie végétale sur le sol de l'aéroport de Miami[/caption]
<h3></h3>
<h3><strong><!--more-->The last preparations before the official beginning of HackYourPhD in the US</strong></h3>
Thanks to the 3 days I spent in Roca Raton (1h from Miami), I had time to finalize the preparation before the official start in San Diego. I spent 3 days non stop to organize meetings, couchsurfing, to write down the interviews etc. Guillaume helped me a lot with setting up the different parts of the website.
It is no easy task to organize a two months long trip. Long life to multitasking!
<h4><strong>A dive into the research world.</strong></h4>
This stay in Miami was an occassion to get back into the world of research, that of Cognitive Science. I spent my days working in the Center for Complex Systems and Brain Sciences where Guillaume works.
I rediscovered those sexy wide poster filled scientific corridors...
For a deeper dive, I took part in an EEG experiment and ended up with 120 electrodes on my head. While signing consent form, I insisted that the experimenter should open my data.
 
<dl class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_838" style="width: 498px;"><dt><a href="http://hackyourphd.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Photo1.jpg"><img class="  aligncenter" title="Pour la Science : 101 électrodes sur la tête le visage le coude.. " alt="Célya EEG" src="http://hackyourphd.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Photo1.jpg" width="293" height="392" /></a></dt></dl>
<h3><strong>Departure to San Diego</strong></h3>
<span style="line-height: 28px; color: #555555; font-family: Gudea, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">The departure to San Diego was quite a rush. I woke up one hour before take off. I still </span><span style="line-height: 28px; color: #555555; font-family: Gudea, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">can't believe we managed to get into that plane after a 30min car drive and a sprint in the airport passing everybody at the security gate. This travel and the two following ones went fine. I particularly enjoyed the last one in a small propeller aircraft.</span>
 
[caption id="attachment_839" align="aligncenter" width="653"]<a href="http://hackyourphd.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Carlsbad-Los-Angeles.jpg"><img class=" wp-image-839" alt="Carlsbad Los Angeles" src="http://hackyourphd.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Carlsbad-Los-Angeles.jpg" width="653" height="488" /></a> Vol Los Angeles Carlsbad[/caption]
<h4><strong>First event: the official opening of BioTechAndBeyond</strong></h4>
<h3><span style="line-height: 28px; color: #555555; font-family: Gudea, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Just after I arrived in Carlsbad (1h North from San Diego), I attended the official opening of </span><a style="line-height: 28px; font-family: Gudea, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" title="biotechnbeyond" href="http://biotechnbeyond.com/" target="_blank">BioTechAndBeyond</a><span style="line-height: 28px; color: #555555; font-family: Gudea, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">.</span></h3>
It is 550m2 space that defines itself as both a biohackerspace and a startup incubator. Its business model is based upon a subscription fee to get access to the space. BioTechAndBeyond was created by Joseph Jackson, co-founder of BioCurious and organizer of the OpenSience Summit who clearly states during my interview (available <a title="Joseph Jackson" href="https://soundcloud.com/hackyourphd/hackyourphdus-josephjackson-biotechandbeyond" target="_blank">here</a>) that this is BioTechAndBeyond is not a classical biohackerspace. Rather, he wants this space to be used by biotech experts to turn their ideas into a prototype with the aim to present it to investors.
 
I discussed with other guests and many were suprised by the fact that the material was quite old. As for me, I did find the place was very business oriented.
 
However it does remain an initiative that tries to bring biotech companies and researchers together, which is probably needed in California. But I'm not sure such an initiative would work in France where it is rather unusual to find private biotech investors. But who knows!
 
More information can be found in the <a href="https://soundcloud.com/hackyourphd/hackyourphdus-josephjackson-biotechandbeyond" target="_blank">storify</a>.
 
[caption id="attachment_841" align="aligncenter" width="746"]<a href="http://hackyourphd.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/IMG_0017.jpg"><img class=" wp-image-841 " alt="Joseph Jackson" src="http://hackyourphd.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/IMG_0017.jpg" width="746" height="558" /></a> Joseph Jackson lors de l'ouverture officielle de BioTechAndBeyond[/caption]
<h4><b>The Green Neuroscience Lab : </b><b>Open Neuroscience in all its splendor!</b></h4>
I attended to the celebration of the first year of one of the more innovative lab in neuroscience: the <a title="GreenNeuroscienceLab" href="http://greenneuro.org/" target="_blank">Green Neuroscience Lab</a>.
 
It was co-created by Ann Lam and Elan L.Ohayon. This lab is hosted in the amazing « <a title="aicenter" href="http://aicenterca.com/" target="_blank">ansir innovation center</a> ». It is both a coworking space, and startup incubator and a research lab. It diffuses an extremely soothing and relaxing atmosphere. Have you ever seen a lab in which people remove their shoes before entering the lab as if they were entering a dojo.
 
This event was really intense. I discussed with Jai S. Coggan, director of the  <a href="https://neurolinx.org/" target="_blank">Neurolinx Institute</a>, the institute which hosts the green neuroscience lab (interview can be found <a title="Jai S Coggan" href="https://soundcloud.com/hackyourphd/jai-coggan-openscience-neurolinx" target="_blank">here</a>). His view of neurosciences is very innovative. He wants to bring researchers to think out of the box and to engage in unexplored paths that normally wouldn't get any funding.
 
I was also very impressed by the maturity of the young students of the lab. They are often only undergrad but already present their early work in prestigious neuroscience conferences such as <a title="SFN2013" href="http://www.sfn.org/annual-meeting/neuroscience-2013" target="_blank">SFN 2013</a>. See the interviews of <a title="Laura Frutos" href="https://soundcloud.com/hackyourphd/hyphdus-laura-frutos-green-neuroscience-lab" target="_blank">Laura</a> and of <a title="Hailey" href="https://soundcloud.com/hackyourphd/hailey-chu-creativity-consciousness-greenneurolab" target="_blank">Hailey</a>
 
We went back to the place two days later to discuss with Ann and Elan for more than 2 hours. (Interview <a href="https://soundcloud.com/hackyourphd/hyphdus-green-neuroscience-lab-research-autonomy" target="_blank">here</a>)
 
[caption id="attachment_842" align="aligncenter" width="653"]<a href="http://hackyourphd.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/photo-1.jpg"><img class=" wp-image-842  " alt="green neuroscience lab" src="http://hackyourphd.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/photo-1.jpg" width="653" height="488" /></a> The Green Neuroscience Lab[/caption]
 
This place was highly inspiring and I hope that a Green Neuroscience lab will open in France as well someday.
 
I'll soon co-write a post on this project with  <a title="Thanh Nghiem" href="http://www.thanh-nghiem.fr/tiki-index.php" target="_blank">Thanh Nghiem</a> (OpEEE)
<h4><b style="color: #49352f; font-family: 'Poiret One', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 27px; line-height: normal;">Attending an international conference and hacking it a bit... check</b></h4>
I attended a neuroscience conference in San Diego ( <a title="ASSC17" href="http://www.theassc.org/assc_17" target="_blank">ASSC17</a>) and lived it from the inside. Poster sessions, conferences, the student social events. I discussed about OpenScience with the participants who often don't know much about it but always show enthusiasm and feel that things have to evolve. Here are two interviews. <a href="https://soundcloud.com/hackyourphd/july-15-2013-axel-cleeremans-openaccess" target="_blank">Axel Cleeremans</a> (research director at l'université Libre de Bruxelles) and <a href="https://soundcloud.com/hackyourphd/july-15-2013-thomas-strandberg-think-out-of-the-box/s-6y9VT" target="_blank">Thomas Strandberg </a>Phd student in Sweden. More to come soon!
<h3><b>Next Stop: Los Angeles and San Francisco..</b></h3>
In LA, I plan to visit a hackerspace and to organize an openscience meetup at USC. The following week in SF will be intense! Don't hesitate to consult the <a href="http://hackyourphd.org/USA" target="_blank">mini web site</a> where I add all the interviews and some news regularly.
 
See ya!
 
<em>Thanks a lot to Vincent Adam for the translation from french to english</em>
 
<b> </b>
 
Openscience in innovative spaces : Two inspiring examples with OpEEE and the Green Neuroscience Lab
 
<p style="text-align: left;"><em>Some thoughts that emerge during my journey "<a href="http://hackyourphd.org/USA" target="_blank">HackYourPhD aux States</a>".</em>
<em></em></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">The Open materializes itself increasingly in places, which offer the possibility to catalyze projects. Here are two inspiring samples driven by visionary people.<em>
</em></p>
 
<h3 style="text-align: left;"><b>The project led by Thanh Nghien: Open Economy Education &amp; Entrepreneurship (OpEEE).</b></h3>
&nbsp;
<p style="text-align: left;"><a title="Thanh Nghiem" href="http://www.thanh-nghiem.fr/tiki-index.php" target="_blank">Thanh Nghiem</a> plays a major role in supporting projects that embody the values of the Open in all its dimensions. She knows how to organize ideas and connects the right players to make first prototype come alive. Even more, she knows how to accelerate these kinds of projects, take them to the next level and ensure their sustainability. Her secret: recognize the key players who bring additional blocks to build multifaceted initiaves with major societal impacts.
This pollinating bee backs <a title="Ouishare" href="http://ouishare.net" target="_blank">OuiShare</a>, a group gathered around collaborative economy. She  follows HackYourPhD since its beginnings and has provided the boost to the campaign  <a title="hackyourphd states crowdfunding kisskissbankbank" href="http://www.kisskissbankbank.com/fr/projects/hackyourphd-aux-states" target="_blank">HackYourPhD aux States</a>. She is also involved at <a title="cri francois taddei" href="http://www.cri-paris.org/en/cri/" target="_blank">Centre de Recherche Interdisciplinaire</a> (CRI) alongside Francois Taddéi, which offers a innovative vision/approach to education. Going to Vietnam, she explored the importance of culture as an essential element of impact for knowledge.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Today, she starts a major project combining all her projects.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">OpEEE  for <strong>Open Economy Education Entrepreneurship</strong>  is a cross cultural collaboration between Vietnam and the CRI. She wants to create exchanges between business school students and researchers from France and Vietnam to promote innovation and its societal impact. Her idea is: Vietnam = @ccelerator of CRI and CRI= @ccelerator of Vietnam.
In the meantime, do not hesitate to watch her TED talk on knowledge sharing.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><!--more-->Her project will soon bring to existence innovative space in Vietnam, where Open Science has its place. In the meantime, do not hesitate to watch her TED talk about sharing knowledge.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/hBs1VGhNHuM" height="315" width="560" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
 
<h3 style="text-align: left;"><strong>For a renewal in the field of neuroscience: The Green Neurosciences Lab</strong></h3>
<p style="text-align: left;">During my stay in San Diego, I had the chance to meet with two researchers who can think out of the box.  Ann Lam and Elan Ohayon are both are from Toronto and have been postdocs in San Diego (<a title="Salk Institute" href="http://www.salk.edu/" target="_blank">Salk institute</a>). They decided to leave their laboratory to create their own team: The<a title="GreenNeuroscienceLab" href="https://storify.com/HackYourPhd/hyphdus-the-green-neuroscience-lab-espace-de-rech" target="_blank"> Green Neuroscience Lab</a>. Ann and Elan did not want to make any more concessions. Spending more time writing requests for funding (grant) rather than their research became unbearable.</p>
 
<blockquote>
<p style="text-align: left;">"We want to make science because we love it. We want to do something different; we want to show that there has to be other ways. "</p>
</blockquote>
<p style="text-align: left;">They have chosen not to accept any research partnership with companies. They see the academic field as a necessarily autonomous field, which is not dependent on pharmaceutical companies or military projects. However, they are not closed to projects developed by startups. In fact, they created their laboratory with the help of the <a title="Neurolinx" href="https://neurolinx.org/" target="_blank">Neurolinx Institute</a> in an innovation center / coworking space in San Diego.</p>
[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/101388160" params="" width=" 100%" height="166" iframe="true" /]
<p style="text-align: left;">Both projects have different approaches to the interaction between academia and entrepreneurship. Thanh’s project creates synergies between research and social entrepreneurship. While, the Green Neuroscience Lab decided to work in parallel with businesses and startups. However, the Green Neuroscience Lab and the future spaces OpEEE, both know how to integrate themselves in a local ecosystem. They play a major role in the use of innovation, and lead by example, especially the desire to replicate such experiences all over our planet.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><em>Thanks to Rodrigue Asseu for the translation into english;</em></p>

Latest revision as of 16:39, 13 September 2013

Note: due to problems with the coding of this article, I have moved it to the talk pages - mb