SciPy 2014 Talks and Lessons

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Talks from SciPy 2014 are now online, and include several from people associated with Software Carpentry. I particularly enjoyed Lorena Barba's keynote, in which she discussed how she's using the IPython Notebook in a flipped classroom. (I gave a talk too, but if you're a regular reader of this blog, you'll have heard most of it already.)

My biggest take-away wasn't the talks, though. Instead, it was this brave post by April Wright:

Last night, at the Software Carpentry mixer, a grand total of 5 men shook my husband's hand and ignored mine. My total of new people met is a dismal ten. Compare it to the Evolution meetings, which is 'my' meeting, where I met upwards of 40 new people, had a blast, and was treated by all participants like a member of the community.

There's follow-up here and here (and elsewhere), but as someone who was at that mixer I think the message is clear: we need to do better, both as individuals and as a community.