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+# Chapter 8: Starting Open Science methodologies and initiation within your own network
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+**Authors: Eduarda Centeno, Mona Zimmerman, **
+**Reviewers:??? **
+
+In this chapter, we would like to take you on a journey and show you how our working group came about. Maybe this inspires you to kick-start your own working group and spread OS in your department. \n
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+When we first started to set up our group, there was just one idea in our minds: How can we make our department more *open sciency*? 
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+We quickly realized that a full bag of motivation and enthusiasm is not enough to answer this question… or even get started. More questions than answers followed: How can we motivate people to adopt OS practices? Is the infrastructure of the department even there to adopt OS principles? And how can we make our efforts sustainable and not just another buzzword endeavour? 
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+To put it shortly, in the beginning, we were lost. What we eagerly needed was a plan and a step-by-step guide about how to set up this OS working group. But what followed was more of a trial-and-error adventure. We had many ideas and said yes to many of them. And eventually, this helped us to find our groove. 
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+Now looking back at our process, a few things came our way that greatly helped us to form our group and become effective in what we do. 
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+We have curated these experiences here as a step-by-step plan, a blueprint for starting an OS working group in your own department:  
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+ **Getting the Green Light:** An important first step in the journey was to obtain the green light from the seniors to even form a working group. Having the full support of the department head made us confident that change could happen. It also ensured that we felt like we were doing something valuable with our time that our supervisors support. With time we broadened this support by including supervisors in some of our projects and reporting back our progress, showing how the work is also valuable for them.
+
+*Tip: If your department head is not convinced at first, try to build a case on why OS is important. For instance, politically OS has become a priority in the Netherlands. Also, finding as many people as possible in the department to join your group will help make a case. * 
+
+**Building a Diverse Squad:** But what is a working group without enthusiastic, diverse members? Very importantly, we tried right from the start to bring together a dream team representing all facets of the department for a well-rounded approach (students, PIs, techs, educators, etc). This ensured that every group of the department was on board and that the word of OS could be spread to all corners of the department. Especially for the Neurosciences, this is valuable, as it is such a diverse field ranging from molecular research to whole-brain network neuroscience. Importantly, this means that the OS practices that need to be implemented really depend on the subfield of neuroscience (see previous chapters). Strive to represent this diversity in your group and make use of every member’s expertise!
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+*Tip: Including members with different (cultural, educational) backgrounds, experience levels and perspectives greatly helped to get the most out of our ideas. It helped to make well-rounded content that is relevant for everyone in the department. Also, representing a diverse group surely made it easier to convince the last non-believers.*
+
+**Spotting the Interest:** Now let’s get started with the actual work. As mentioned above, at first we had many questions. Where to start? What is the most relevant OS topic that needs to be addressed? Which practices are already adopted or need to be introduced to the department? Inventorisation was our friend here. We created a simple but informative survey in Google Forms and sent it around the department. We included questions about the current adaptation of OS principles, the hurdles and reasons for adopting it and whether people generally feel open and ready to follow OS. We also asked about what resources and events people would find useful to get started. In general, this survey majorly helped to get our working group started. We knew at what level to begin and got ideas about what is needed to become more *open sciency*. 
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+*Tip: Of course other ways to get an overview are also useful. For example, we made an overview of which practices each team is already implementing in their day-to-day work. This was not only useful for developing workshops, but it was also fun to share with the department as a motivation and inspiration for the other groups.*
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+**Monthly Brainstorm Sessions:** Cue the monthly meet-ups! We brainstormed, laughed a lot, and cooked up a vision and plan for our OS adventure. Meeting regularly every month was really necessary to organize and orchestrate our next steps. 
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+* Tip: Meeting every 4 weeks was the right amount of time to cross things off our to-do lists and to not procrastinate our efforts too much. But of course, it takes some time to figure out the right rhythm. Maybe one or two weeks between meetings suits your group better if you are a smaller group for example. *
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+**Team Trio:** As our group was quite large from the get-go, we quickly noticed that delegating tasks was kind of messy. As a solution, we split into three squads for maximum impact:
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+*Communication Crew:* The communication crew is responsible for events, seminars, and creating a cool bi-monthly newsletter (Find them here[https://osf.io/v9fru/]). We found it very important to continuously show our department as a whole what we are currently doing and what we have achieved so far. Especially since we are running this working group voluntarily, next to our ‘real’ work, our PIs found it important to know what we are spending our time with and whether it is fruitful. Also, the newsletter allowed us to give timely, neuroscience-specific advice and tips in an accessible manner. 
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+*Workshop Wizards:* Getting hands-on with practical interventions. How can we teach about OS and bring the word of OS to everyone in the department and beyond? These are the main questions that the workshop team ask themselves. The workshop wizards are responsible for the educational part of our working group and organize OS afternoons, presentations and seminars for the department. They also are responsible for teaching about the OS group outside of our department to inspire others to create their own working group.  It is very useful to have a team specifically dedicated to this task, as preparing useful presentations and organizing a time and place to give them, turned out to be more work than anticipated. 
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+*Grant Gang:* Money, Money, Money - such a useful thing to have in science. In our team, we established a grant gang to scour the land for funds. We thought money would be useful to be able for instance to properly organize department workshops and hackathons, and to set up an OS infrastructure for data and data sharing in our department (e.g., paying for server storage to store the huge MRI NIfTI images of all those brains). Importantly, obtaining money through grants, as a side effect, helped us gain independence and status in the department. Also, this money ensures that we can continue with our work in the coming years (i.e. sustainability).
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+**Searching for important collaborations:** Even though the working group focuses on our specific department, a very important step for the development and effectiveness of the group was to search for close collaborators who could help us in this journey. Such collaborations can strengthen your case and show that your work is grounded in a bigger movement. Below you can find all the collaborations we established and movements we joined. There is a lot for OS in general that also works with or for neurosciences (for example see chapters XX, brein in beeld). However, in the future, we would love to see the movement growing specifically for neurosciences…Will your young working group help with this initiative??
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+**A continuous assessment and communication with our peers:** The last but very important step of our plan is about continuous learning and improvement. Our goal is to transform how we are working as scientists - everything we do in the working group builds towards this goal. Shortly after establishing the working group, we set out to get a snapshot of the current progress in OS practices in our department. We create yearly evaluation surveys in which we ask about the enthusiasm and reality of adopting OS. In these anonymous surveys, we ask people’s opinions about our workshops, newsletters and ambitions in general. Then, we use this information not only to create new content but also to improve our own work and set the focus for the coming year. Apart from this anonymous evaluation, it is even more important to be in constant exchange with our peers outside of the group and the department's seniors. As they provide guidance and very valuable feedback, we can use them to further improve. 
+So don't fear the feedback! 
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+
+
+And that’s it! This is our simple guide to creating an OS working group to get things rolling. Of course, this is not a one-size-fits-all kind of thing. Every department works differently and might have different needs, but we hope that these first simple steps will help you to get started thinking about creating your own working group! 
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+With this friendly and organized approach, we're not just spreading the word but actively steering our department toward the exciting world of Open Science! 
+
+Our networking and linked initiatives: 
+Open Science Communities
+The Open Science Communities in the Netherlands is a bottom-up, community-driven initiative aimed at building a social infrastructure for Open Science. It is present in various cities in the country and has recently expanded internationally (check out INOSC). Interesting point: community engagement is one of the pillars of the Dutch National Programme for Open Science, and OSCs are being granted substantial funding for sustained maintenance!
+The OSWG experience with OSCs: one of our first steps was to connect with the OSC-Amsterdam (OSCA) to learn about local developments and create a support network in our adventure toward making the department more aligned with OS. Through regular meetings and discussions, we were able to bounce back ideas and educate ourselves about the local and national picture of OS. Also, we organized and hosted ceremonies aimed at bringing incentives to the community (check out the OSCAward recap) and worked together on plans for the following years, individually and collectively. With no question, this partnership has been very important for us and has helped us grow immensely.
+
+ReproHack (invite Diana to write?)
+ReproHack emerges as a dynamic initiative aimed at addressing the critical issue of research reproducibility in scientific practices. At the heart of ReproHack is a unique and participatory event format where participants gather to collaboratively replicate and validate published research findings. By bringing together researchers, students, and professionals, ReproHack creates a platform for shared exploration of open science principles and hands-on experience in reproducing scientific studies. This initiative not only emphasizes the importance of transparency and replicability but actively engages participants in uncovering challenges and solutions in the process. With events held globally, ReproHack is making significant strides in fostering a culture of openness and accountability within the research community, ensuring that reproducibility remains a cornerstone of scientific inquiry.
+The OSWG experience with ReproHack: 
+
+Software Carpentry
+With a mission to teach foundational software and data science skills, Software Carpentry offers workshops and resources designed to enhance computational literacy across various disciplines. These workshops cover topics such as version control, programming languages, and data management, providing participants with practical skills that are immediately applicable to their research.
+The OSWG experience with Software Carpentry: one of our collaborations was to organize and host a Software Carpentry event with the VU library, teaching Git and R. The material used for these lessons is very useful and straightforward, and as a team, it was great to learn how to teach them to a diverse audience.
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+OLS
+Open Life Science (OLS), through its innovative Open Seeds program, stands at the forefront of fostering openness and collaboration within the life sciences community. Open Seeds represents a dedicated effort to empower individuals and teams within the life sciences to embrace open research projects, enhancing transparency and reproducibility in their work. This program, facilitated by Open Life Science, provides participants with a structured and supportive environment for developing open projects, refining essential skills, and building a strong network of like-minded collaborators. With a focus on inclusivity and community engagement, OLS-8 exemplifies the commitment to creating a culture where open science thrives. By leveraging the power of collective knowledge and collaboration, OLS-8 contributes significantly to advancing the principles of open research within the life sciences, shaping a more accessible and collaborative future for the scientific community. Mention their YT page.
+The OSWG experience with OLS:  I had a highly positive experience with the OLS8 program. The proposal writing process was not overly extensive, and they offered funding support. We had biweekly calls with our mentor; she was lovely and supportive and tried to help as much as she could, understanding our challenges and knowing that some weeks we couldn’t progress as we would have liked.  On top of that, we had biweekly calls (on the alternative weeks) and discussion sessions with other participants, who were also really enthusiastic. I appreciated the option to watch past calls on YouTube and found them informative for my project and personal and other project-related insights. The Slack community provided a platform for seeking feedback; everyone was willing to help. Interacting with people from diverse backgrounds globally was interesting, offering different perspectives and work styles, along with insights into their challenges. Overall, the OLS team was supportive and ensured participant well-being. I would definitely recommend applying to the Open Seeds program. 
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+ReproducibiliTea
+The initiative primarily revolves around the organization of "ReproducibiliTea journal clubs," regular meetings where participants critically examine research papers. ReproducibiliTea's core objective is to cultivate a safe and collaborative environment, fostering the exchange of knowledge and insights on scientific practices and Open Science. 
+The ReproducibiliTea does not enforce any specific format for the meetings; however, they do offer kick-start guides and a great community that you can always touch base with on Slack. Here is their page on how to get started! Another tip: check out their podcast!
+The OSWG experience with RTea: one of the OSWG members has a few years of experience hosting RTea JCs, and her thoughts are that it’s a very nice way to have informal conversations and educate yourself about the OS movement; it brings a community feel to the discussion and also it’s pretty easy to set up. In case you cannot start an OSWG from the beginning, a Rtea JC could be a very nice way to go. There are a few of them in the Netherlands, you can also just join them!
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+Framework for Open and Reproducible Research Training
+The FORRT (Framework for Open and Reproducible Research Training) initiative provides a rich repository of resources designed to facilitate Open Science concepts being implemented in pedagogical training. Whether you're an early-career researcher seeking guidance on research design or an educator aiming to integrate best practices into your curriculum, FORRT offers a comprehensive suite of resources spanning various disciplines. Check it out here: Here is a page on how to get involved.
+The OSWG experience with FORRT: one of the OSWG members has contributed to the ‘Summaries’ project from FORRT, and has had a great experience communicating with the main initiative organizers, also having one of them presenting FORRT at an RTea journal club session she was organizing.