May 2014 Summaries

GitHub is actively working on initiatives to foster a more inclusive and welcoming environment, with a focus on improving the experiences of women, enhancing feedback mechanisms, and supporting diversity. A task force has been established to explore the experiences of female employees, and efforts are underway to develop a formal feedback system to ensure constructive communication across the company. Additionally, GitHub is planning diversity and communication training programs and has begun informal leadership workshops. The company is also increasing its support for diversity-focused community groups and events, such as sponsoring gatherings and hosting diversity-related activities at its San Francisco headquarters. GitHub emphasizes the importance of creating a culture where employees feel safe to share their experiences and feedback, recognizing that understanding and addressing issues require ongoing dialogue and support. The company plans to continue updating stakeholders on its progress and initiatives to maintain a positive and inclusive workplace.

A GitHub user group in Tokyo is hosting an event called GitHub Kaigi on June 1st, featuring participation from several GitHub employees. In addition to this main event, various pre- and post-event activities are being organized by collaborators in Japan, including a meetup hosted by DeployGate in Shibuya on May 30th for those unable to attend GitHub Kaigi. Three seminars are scheduled for the week of June 3rd in Osaka, Kyoto, and Tokyo, focusing on design, engineering, and beginner GitHub training. These events, including GitHub Kaigi, will be streamed live on the GitHub Kaigi home page to allow broader participation.

GitHub has introduced a new feature called nested task lists to enhance task organization by allowing users to break down tasks into more manageable steps. This update is particularly useful for complex projects that require multiple stages, such as figuring out wormholes or building prototypes, by providing a clear visual representation of task progression. Users can interact with these lists by checking items on and off to reflect their completion status, maintaining the functionality of previous task management features. For further assistance, users can refer to the Writing on GitHub article in the GitHub Help section, as announced by Matt Todd.

GitHub is increasingly being utilized in scientific research for developing software that assists in discovering Earth-like planets, analyzing DNA, and creating open-source rockets. As scientific endeavors become more complex, researchers are dedicating significant time to software development, often working in isolation. To enhance collaboration and ensure academic credit, GitHub, in partnership with Mozilla Science Lab, Figshare, and Zenodo, now allows users to obtain a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) for their repository archives, making their code citable. Additionally, GitHub offers discounted academic accounts, providing individual researchers and research groups access to private repositories. Noteworthy scientific collaborations on GitHub are highlighted, such as the rOpenSci project that hosted a Hackathon at GitHub HQ to develop open-source scientific tools.

GitHub enthusiasts in Sofia are invited to a casual meetup with @danishkhan and @joewadcan at Halbite 3 on Friday, May 30th at 19:00, coinciding with the Bulgaria Web Summit 2014. The event aims to facilitate informal interactions with local GitHub users, offering a chance to enjoy drinks and conversation. The venue includes a playground, making it family-friendly, and if the weather is pleasant, attendees can take advantage of the outdoor patio. This gathering provides an opportunity for GitHub fans in the area to connect and socialize in a relaxed setting.

Brent Beer invites GitHub users in Helsinki to join him for snacks and drinks at Faro on Wednesday, May 14th, at 21:30, following his speaking engagement at HelsinkiJS. The event provides an opportunity for attendees to discuss various aspects of GitHub and engage with the local developer community.

Businesses are increasingly experimenting with open source by maintaining projects and integrating open source methodologies, though these efforts often involve a steep learning curve and necessitate cultural shifts that can be prolonged and challenging. To address these issues, GitHub hosted its first public Town Hall on May 28, 2014, featuring speakers from companies like Twitter, Autodesk, SAP, and GE, moderated by Eric Knorr of InfoWorld. The event was held at GitHub's headquarters in San Francisco, and attendees could also join via a live stream. The discussion aimed to explore the evolving role of open source within corporate environments and provide insights into the experiences of different organizations.

On December 15, 2016, a feature was rolled back concerning Gists, GitHub's tool for sharing code snippets, notes, and other content. The update introduced the ability for users to change the visibility of their Gists between Public and Secret at any time without altering the URL, addressing a common issue where users inadvertently created Public Gists instead of Secret ones, and vice versa. The visibility toggle was designed to enhance user control over the privacy of their shared content, and further information on the distinctions between Public and Secret Gists is available in the Help documentation.

GitHub has introduced several improvements to GitHub Pages, enhancing the user experience for organizations like Adobe and Netflix that showcase their open source projects. These updates include additional metadata for organization pages, which allows for easier display of contributors, public repositories, and organization members without needing client-side API calls. The jekyll-sitemap plugin has been open-sourced and white-listed, enabling automatic generation of compliant sitemaps for better search engine indexing. Improved build feedback provides users with warnings and error-specific help articles to address issues like CNAME errors or Markdown interpreter upgrades. Additionally, the introduction of the PageBuild webhook allows integration of build results into existing development workflows. Written by Ben Balter, a prominent figure at GitHub, these enhancements aim to streamline the management and presentation of open source projects on the platform.

Join Matthew McCullough and Brent Beer on Monday, May 12th, at Teerenpeli in Turku, Finland, for an informal gathering following the Turku Agile Day conference. This event, set to begin at 7:00 PM, offers an opportunity for attendees to interact with conference organizers and speakers while discussing their favorite open source projects. Conveniently located near the market square and opposite the hotel Hamburger Börs, Teerenpeli serves as the venue for this engaging evening.

A group of GitHub employees, affectionately referred to as "Hubbers," are gathering for a social event on Thursday, May 8th, from 7:30 to 9:30 pm at Townshend’s Alberta Street Teahouse in Portland, Oregon. Attendees will have the opportunity to enjoy a wide variety of beverages, including over 100 loose leaf teas, more than 10 chai lattes, bubble tea, and the locally renowned Townshend’s Kombucha. The event promises a welcoming atmosphere, encouraging both tea enthusiasts and those simply seeking a pleasant environment to join the gathering. The invitation extends to anyone interested in meeting this lively group, with the offer that the tea is on them.

Atom, a deeply programmable yet user-friendly text editor, has been made available for free and open-source download, following a ten-week public beta. Built on Chromium, Atom uses open-source technologies akin to modern web browsers, making it easily extensible through JavaScript and CSS. Released under the MIT license, the text editor has already seen the creation of 800 community-contributed packages, with further development driven by a dedicated GitHub team and the open-source community. Future improvements are focused on performance enhancements, Linux and Windows releases, and API stabilization ahead of its 1.0 version. Users are encouraged to engage with the project by creating packages, forking the repository, and staying informed via @AtomEditor on social media.

GitHub has released a new "Hello World" guide specifically designed to introduce new users to the fundamentals of Git and GitHub, such as repositories, pull requests, issues, and branches. This initiative is part of GitHub's broader effort to support newcomers in learning development and contributing to open-source projects. The guide aims to provide users with the skills needed to create their first repository and contribute to the platform, symbolized by earning a bright green contribution square. GitHub is also committed to offering support through various resources such as help documentation, YouTube guides, free online classes, and community events like Patchwork nights. The team, led by user researcher Chrissie Brodigan, is dedicated to enhancing the experience for new users and is actively seeking feedback to improve their educational offerings.

Join a gathering for a smörgåsbord of platters and beverages on Saturday, May 10th, at Hemma in Edinburgh, organized by @cobyism and @benogle, who will be in town for the ScotlandJS conference. The event, starting at 20:00 at 75 Holyrood Road, is open to all, not just conference attendees, as highlighted by local resident @mikemcquaid, who encourages participation regardless of conference involvement.

Documenting code on GitHub is crucial for project success, as accessible and readable documentation aids understanding and collaboration. Recent UI improvements to GitHub Wikis enhance the creation, editing, and interaction with wikis, aligning them more closely with other repository features and setting the stage for future updates. These enhancements include an improved sidebar that lists all wiki pages and allows for custom content, as well as consistent rendering of wiki content with other repository markup. Additional features such as emojis and task lists are now supported. For those new to wikis, GitHub provides a guide and showcases exemplary wikis for inspiration, along with updated documentation articles for further assistance.