[2025.08] Data Umbrella Newsletter: August 2025
We organize data science events for the community.
Data Umbrella is a non-profit global community for underrepresented persons in data science. We organize online data science events for the community. All levels are welcome. Our Code of Conduct applies to all of our spaces.
Announcements
Data Umbrella: Milestones
1K views on YouTube!!
These videos have hit 1K views on Data Umbrella YouTube.
A Briefer History of Open Source by Juan Luis Cano Rodríguez
Contributing to Core Python by Carol Willing
Community News
MIT Learn offers “a whole new front door to the Institute”
MIT has now launched a dynamic AI-enabled website for its non-degree learning opportunities, making it easier for learners around the world to discover the courses and resources available on MIT’s various learning platforms.
MIT Learn elevates learning with personalized recommendations powered by AI, guiding each learner toward deeper understanding. It is a stepping stone toward a broader vision of making these opportunities even more accessible to global learners through one unified learning platform.
Explore Wikipedia through a data map
You can now explore Wikipedia through a data map thanks Leland McInnes. Pages are grouped by semantic similarity, for topic clusters. Hover to see details, zoom to explore more fine-grained topics, click to go to a page. Search by page name to find interesting starting points for exploration. Full code can be found here.
Source: Leland McInnes on LinkedIn
Python 3.14 release candidate 1 is go!
The first Python 3.14 release candidate is out!
The second candidate (and the last planned release preview) is scheduled for Tuesday, 2025-08-26, while the official release of 3.14.0 is scheduled for Tuesday, 2025-10-07.
Source: Just released, this Pi Approximation Day, 22/7: | Hugo van Kemenade
NumFOCUS Names Rachel Kerestes as Executive Director
The NumFOCUS Board of Directors announced the appointment of Rachel Kerestes as the organization’s new Executive Director. Kerestes is trained in both the natural and social sciences, and her career spans strategy, advocacy, management, and communications.
PyData Global 2025 CFPs: Deadline, August 6
Submit your proposal to speak at PyData Global 2025 here.
PyData Global will be a three-day virtual event with talks, keynote speakers, and community events. Speakers will receive a free ticket to the entire event. All presentations will be given live virtually.
PSF Board Election Nominations Opened July 29th
This year’s PSF Board Election nomination period opens on Tuesday, July 29th, 2:00 pm UTC and closes on Tuesday, August 12th, 2:00 pm UTC.
For more details on nomination and election timelines, check out the announcement blog.
Resources
Data Umbrella Blogs
Check out our latest blogs:
Contributing to the NumPy Documentation: A rich list of demos and resources to get started in contributing to NumPy.
Intro to Zenodo - Advancing Open Science: Learn about a general data repository where any research output can be shared and preserved for the long term, increasing its visibility and impact.
The Evolution of Open Source: From Hacker Culture to the Age of AI: Explore how open source software has revolutionized technology, collaboration and innovation over the past 50 years.
Contributing to Core Python: Carol Willing Shares How to Contribute to Core Python.
Interview with Sam Miyamoto: Giving My First Talk: Discussion with Sam Miyamoto on giving her first talk.
Getting Started with Bash Scripting: This blog explores the fundamentals of Bash scripting, focusing on how it’s used in data science workflows and how to write more effective scripts.
Introduction to Git: an introductory session on Git, the quintessential version control software used by developers to collaborate and manage projects.
Data Umbrella Calendar of Conferences
Check out Data Umbrella’s preliminary calendar of conferences here.
SciPy 2025: videos
SciPy 2025 videos (yes 2025!) are slow appearing on their YouTube channel.
All Things Open 2024 Keynotes
All Things Open 2024 keynotes are up. Watch the full playlist here.
PyData Global 2024 Videos
PyData Global 2024 videos have been posted. Watch the full playlist here.
Timestamps
CONTRIBUTE TO TIMESTAMPS: We still have about one-half dozen videos which need timestamps. We have instructions on how you can contribute to this project on GitHub. Help us help the community. Pick a video and get started.
Call for Suggestions
Do you have suggestions for future webinar topics or speakers? Would you like to speak on a topic? For these and any other suggestions, please complete our Online Suggestion Box or email us at info@dataumbrella.org.
Call for Speakers
We are looking for speakers on the following topics:
Data Privacy
Data Engineering
Generative AI
Software engineering
Code quality
Email us if you are interested in speaking or have a speaker or topic suggestion: info@dataumbrella.org
Upcoming Events (free & online webinars)
A Tutorial for Getting Started with PyMC
August 12, 2025
This one-hour tutorial introduces new users to version 5 of PyMC, a powerful Python, open source library for probabilistic programming and Bayesian statistical modeling. Participants will learn the fundamentals of PyMC, best practices for installation and setup, and gain hands-on experience building their first Bayesian model.
Videos
In case you missed our recent events, the videos have been posted. Subscribe to our Data Umbrella YouTube to receive notifications when the videos premiere.
NOTE: Link to SLIDES are available in the video description.
Contributing to the NumPy Documentation
NumPy is a fundamental, open-source Python library for N-dimensional array programming used extensively for data analysis and scientific programming. As a community-driven project, NumPy is mainly sustained by open-source contributions. This talk focuses on avenues of contribution to the project documentation, an integral part of the software.
Exploring a Career in Evaluation & Learning
This session is a practical introduction to the field of program evaluation. We'll cover what evaluation is, how it differs from research, and the tools, methods, and metrics used to assess impact. You'll see examples from nonprofits and workforce programs, and learn about career paths in evaluation for data analysts and researchers. We'll also discuss how evaluation relates to equity, nonprofits, and grant making. Suitable for those new to evaluation or considering a career shift.
Git Graph Walk Through
Git Graph is a Visual Studio Code extension that displays a graphical view of a repository's commit history.
Intro to Zenodo: Advancing Open Science
Zenodo is a general data repository where any research output (data, presentations, research articles, software, and much more!) can be shared and preserved for the long term, increasing their visibility and impact. It was built by researchers to ensure that anyone can join Open Science. The repository welcomes research from all over the world and all disciplines. Zenodo does not impose any requirements on format, size, access restrictions or licence. "Quite literally they wish there to be no reason for researchers not to share!"
Zenodo: FAIR Principles (Findable, Interoperable, Accessible, Reusable)
What are FAIR Principles in Zenodo?
Zenodo Tutorial: Upload Research Files (documents, slides, datasets & GitHub repos)
This is a step-by-step tutorial on uploading files such as PPT, PDF, slides, datasets and GitHub repositories into Zenodo.
Using JupyterLab Extensions
Make your own JupyterLab extension in this tutorial. JupyterLab is a free and open source, browser based integrated development environment (IDE) that is the successor to Jupyter Notebook. Designed from the core to be extensible, JupyterLab is itself an extension of the Jupyter framework. JupyterLab extensions can customize or enhance any part of JupyterLab. They can provide new themes, file viewers and editors, or renderers for rich outputs in notebooks. Extensions can add items to the menu or command palette, keyboard shortcuts, or settings in the settings system.
Featured Resources
Video Playlists
Data Umbrella Resources
Visit our blog site: blog.dataumbrella.org, and see articles written by our community members on their experience in recent sprints.
Our Data Umbrella YouTube is growing! Subscribe to our channel to receive notifications of when our event videos are posted.
Connect with Us
Website & Blog: dataumbrella.org - - blog.dataumbrella.org
Meetup: Data Umbrella & Data Umbrella Africa (*upcoming events*)
YouTube (*past recorded talks*)