CONTRIBUTING.md does not contain description how to add a notebook

[mitiemann]

Hi there,

I'd be interested in contributing some notebooks (eventually). However, CONTRIBUTING.md currently does not contain a description how to do it on a technical as well as process level (I guess how PRs are managed here?).

A link to Katharine Hyatt's description might be sufficient. However, I'm assuming that you want to adapt it to this repo, specifically, since you probably want to have very novice contributors in mind as well.

Also: keep up the good work in general :-)

[lukavdplas]

Good point! :)

You're absolutely right that even someone familiar with Git and Github can appreciate some extra info about how things are managed in a repository.

As for contributors who are also new to git: you're right that we also welcome contributions from programmers who may not have contributed anywhere else before, so this is a great suggestion. Perhaps we could link to https://computationalthinking.mit.edu/Fall23/climate_science/how_to_collaborate_on_software/ ?

Though for both the document from Katharine Hyatt and the Computational Thinking module: those are (respectively) about contributing to the Julia language and Julia packages. Our situation is actually simpler; for example, we don't have unit tests.

I think the Computation Thinking module may be a good place to link right now, but perhaps in the future, we can add a more simplified guide. (I think in this repository, if a contributor hasn't used Git before, it may be easier if they create their fork entirely through the Github web interface.)

[mitiemann]

Apologies that this has been stale for so long. I've had too much on my plate this last weeks.

On one hand I agree that we should aim for 'provide information for absolutely everybody'. And yes, considering someone who might not have a git command or GUI installed is definitely a valid use case.

On the other hand: a) there are some requisites even at this point (e.g., "knows how to navigate in a browser", "speaks English" etc.) and b) I'm pretty certain that my style of explanation will not suite every learner.

So having both one shot at a step-by-step guide as well as an extensive "further reading" section might be a good compromise.

All of which is to say: I'll try to keep working on it as soon as possible ;-)

[lukavdplas]

No problem at all! :)

Yes, you're right that you right that you're always going to have some skills you just have to assume! We want to support newcomers, but it's also not really the responsibility of an individual repository to explain how git works.

Let's add the link to the computational thinking module and github documentation for newcomers, but focus on contributors who know how making a PR works.

Do you have suggestions for what information would be useful? What questions did you run into yourself?

[mitiemann]

I'll answer in detail later. Right now, I just want to log an idea I just had: how about we make a featured notebook about how to contribute? I don't know whether the Markdown file in the rep will be seen be everybody, bur having it as one of the featured notebooks will definitely give you access to the entire audience. What do you think about this?

[lukavdplas]

Great idea!

I would say a featured notebook is a good place to let people know that they can submit something and where to learn more if they're interested, but CONTRIBUTING.md is still the best place for specific guidelines.