Exercise: Role playing exercise (15 minutes)

Pick a piece of software you know of or pick one from the following examples:

• ESMValTool
• LitStudy
• Haddock
• worcs
• democracy-topic-modelling

One person (the researcher) takes some time to prepare to present a piece of software, while the other person reads up on the reading materials from this module.

Then you play out one of the following two situations:

1. A researcher comes to a supporter with their piece of software and asks for support on managing it.
2. A research supporter approaches a researcher who is, according to the organization's records, a contributer to the software.

Things for the researcher to be aware of and prepare before the conversation starts:

• What is the software about? Describe its purpose.
• Who will use it?
• What is the expected lifecycle of the software?
• What potential users or applications are untapped?

Things for the research supporter to ask about and be able to give support on:

• Which FAIR principles are addressed?
• How can the software be made more FAIR?
• Is the software FOSS (Free and Open Source)?
• Is there an organization or person responsible for maintainance?
• What would be the next step (low-hanging fruit)?

Together:

• Define the next steps for the software

Goals:

• Frame an assessment positively: always start with assessing the things that have been done that contribute to good management and FAIR software. This is crucial, as well as motivating.