[SciPy-User] [Numpy-discussion] [SciPy-user] Numpy/Scipy and the Python African Tour

[Emmanuelle Gouillart]

	Dear Fernando and Stéfan,

	thank you for the very encouraging answers!

On Tue, Jul 28, 2009 at 10:39:44AM -0700, Fernando Perez wrote:
> I'm glad to hear that you've set up a mailing list for your students
> to continue growing, but I'd also encourage them to subscribe to the
> 'normal' numpy/scipy lists.  Even if they initially feel a bit shy
> about posting, simply 'lurking' on the lists for a while and reading
> the flow of information can be very useful both to learn technical
> ideas and to get familiar with the discussion patterns of a community.
>  This will ease them into naturally engaging the upstream projects
> when they feel comfortable, which I think in the long term is both
> useful and necessary.

	I totally agree: I've already prompted the scientists on the list
to suscribe also to scipy-user and numpy-discussion. I also forwarded
your mail to the Dakar list, saying that if the Great Creator of Ipython
is saying the same thing, they really have no choice but to do it :D! The
local list is only meant to be a temporary solution to help the students
to gain more confidence; of course, we all know of temporary fixes that
have stayed unchanged for years :D, so we should be wary of inertia. The
good thing is that, as you say, it is possible to start posting on the
local list and get answers to short-term problems, and, at the same time,
lurk on the normal lists and learn tons of things.

> Mmh, I just had a thought.  A number of us have by now taught
> reasonably organized workshops of this kind in different places and
> institutions. I wonder if it wouldn't be a good idea to have a page on
> the scipy site collecting this information, with a short paragraph
> about the event and a link to any additional external materials that
> may exist.  This could encourage others to create similar things in
> their own communities, whether with the help of one of the previous
> presenters or fully independently.  Does that sound useful?

	This sounds as a great idea to me. This page could be linked from
the main documentation page. If the page is created, I'd be glad to
contribute with my slides (including sources, of course), and write a
short blurb about the Dakar event. Regarding Stéfan's suggestion to find
a volunteer for translating the slides from French into English, I will
ask the Dakar students as well as the students in my lab. If nobody
volunteers I'll end up doing it myself, because slides only in French are
of limited use... Of course, if you know enthusiastic people with a lot
of free time, that know French and English, you're very welcome to probe
their interest in this task!

	Cheers,

	Emmanuelle