Where Open Research Meets Open Source: The OSF as a Gateway to Academic Collaboration
329 | Sat 02 Aug 2 p.m.–2:45 p.m.
Presented by
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Daniel Steger
@OSFSupport
https://osf.io/b8d27/
Daniel Steger is a technical community manager with a passion for open infrastructure, scientific transparency, and inclusive research practices. He currently leads user engagement and product feedback initiatives at the Center for Open Science (COS), where he supports over 750,000 researchers worldwide on the Open Science Framework (OSF). Daniel also spearheads COS’s open source community, cultivating contributor pathways for developers, researchers, and advocates who support the OSF’s mission through collaborative development. He coordinates documentation efforts, facilitates community events, and oversees onboarding for new contributors as the team builds toward a public launch of the community space. With a background in life sciences and science education, Daniel specializes in demystifying complex tools and building welcoming ecosystems for open collaboration. He regularly delivers live demos, webinars, and conference talks, translating user needs into action and championing transparency across all stages of research.
Daniel Steger
@OSFSupport
https://osf.io/b8d27/
Abstract
The Open Science Framework (OSF), developed and maintained by the Center for Open Science (COS) is a free, open-source platform that helps researchers around the world manage and share their work openly and transparently. With more than 800,000 users across disciplines and continents, the OSF supports a global community of scholars seeking reproducibility and openness in scholarship. But the OSF is also something more: a unique open-source ecosystem built to bridge the gap between research needs and technical contributions.
In this session, we’ll explore how OSF offers a low-barrier entry point for students, educators, and developers who want to make a meaningful impact on the research world. Through its modular architecture and integration of microservices, the OSF enables contributors to build tools that directly improve how science is done, supporting workflows from study planning through to publication and sharing of any resource type.
Beyond technical infrastructure, OSF fosters a “social open” environment that welcomes and supports new contributors. We offer active community spaces like our Discord server, regular onboarding events, transparent project boards on GitHub, and continually updated documentation and guides. We also collaborate across open-source communities to stay aligned with shared values and best practices in open development.
Attendees of this presentation will learn and experience:
-Highlighting the OSF as a free, open platform that lowers the barrier for sharing scholarly and educational materials for researchers around the world
- Showcasing opportunities for researchers and educators as both end-users and code, feedback, and feature contributors through the OSF open source community “help wanted board,” showing tasks ready for all levels of developers.
- Spotlighting our new open-source integration ecosystem as a low-friction entry point for technical contributors in academic settings that brings new users and expanded capabilities for OSF and integrated tools and services
- Provide real-time opportunities for participants to grow their FOSS engagement through an interactive feedback and co-design activity
- Examples of institutional collaborations and feature feedback loops directly from OSF researchers and educators
- Demonstrate how the OSF builds and supports an open-source community committed to reproducibility and access of academic research.
Getting involved is easy and impactful. Whether you're a small developer group, a classroom exploring real-world FOSS engagement, or an individual contributor, there are many ways to plug into our community. We’re always looking for collaborators, especially those excited about making tools that amplify open science around the world. Whether you're a dev team exploring ways to contribute to the future of knowledge sharing, an educator guiding students through real-world projects, or simply someone passionate about building for impact, the OSF community welcomes your contribution—and your curiosity.
The Open Science Framework (OSF), developed and maintained by the Center for Open Science (COS) is a free, open-source platform that helps researchers around the world manage and share their work openly and transparently. With more than 800,000 users across disciplines and continents, the OSF supports a global community of scholars seeking reproducibility and openness in scholarship. But the OSF is also something more: a unique open-source ecosystem built to bridge the gap between research needs and technical contributions. In this session, we’ll explore how OSF offers a low-barrier entry point for students, educators, and developers who want to make a meaningful impact on the research world. Through its modular architecture and integration of microservices, the OSF enables contributors to build tools that directly improve how science is done, supporting workflows from study planning through to publication and sharing of any resource type. Beyond technical infrastructure, OSF fosters a “social open” environment that welcomes and supports new contributors. We offer active community spaces like our Discord server, regular onboarding events, transparent project boards on GitHub, and continually updated documentation and guides. We also collaborate across open-source communities to stay aligned with shared values and best practices in open development. Attendees of this presentation will learn and experience: -Highlighting the OSF as a free, open platform that lowers the barrier for sharing scholarly and educational materials for researchers around the world - Showcasing opportunities for researchers and educators as both end-users and code, feedback, and feature contributors through the OSF open source community “help wanted board,” showing tasks ready for all levels of developers. - Spotlighting our new open-source integration ecosystem as a low-friction entry point for technical contributors in academic settings that brings new users and expanded capabilities for OSF and integrated tools and services - Provide real-time opportunities for participants to grow their FOSS engagement through an interactive feedback and co-design activity - Examples of institutional collaborations and feature feedback loops directly from OSF researchers and educators - Demonstrate how the OSF builds and supports an open-source community committed to reproducibility and access of academic research. Getting involved is easy and impactful. Whether you're a small developer group, a classroom exploring real-world FOSS engagement, or an individual contributor, there are many ways to plug into our community. We’re always looking for collaborators, especially those excited about making tools that amplify open science around the world. Whether you're a dev team exploring ways to contribute to the future of knowledge sharing, an educator guiding students through real-world projects, or simply someone passionate about building for impact, the OSF community welcomes your contribution—and your curiosity.