Help Shape Our Lab: Contributing to the Lab Guide

collaboration
open-science
for-undergrads
for-grad-students
for-postdocs
Author

James Doss-Gollin

Published

June 26, 2024

Ever read through our lab guide and thought, “Hmm, I have an idea to make this even better”? Great news – we’re all ears! Our lab guide is a living document, and we believe that the best ideas come from collaboration. So, whether you’re a seasoned GitHub pro or new to the world of version control, we’ve got a way for you to contribute. Let’s walk through how you can help improve our lab guide.

The Easy Way: Creating an Issue

Not comfortable diving into the code? No problem! Here’s how you can suggest improvements:

  1. First things first, create an account on GitHub if you haven’t already. It’s free and takes just a minute.
  2. Head over to our lab guide repository and click on the “Issues” tab.
  3. Click the green “New issue” button and describe the change you’d like to see.
  4. Hit submit and voila! You’ve just contributed to improving our lab guide.

Don’t worry if your idea isn’t fully fleshed out. We can use the issue for further discussion and refine the concept together.

The Git-Savvy Way: Making the Change Yourself

Feeling a bit more adventurous? If you’re comfortable with git and GitHub, you can make the change yourself:

  1. Start by forking the repository. This creates your own copy of the lab guide that you can modify.
  2. Clone the repository to your computer. This brings the files to your local machine.
  3. Fire up your favorite text editor (we’re fans of VS Code around here) and make the changes you’d like to see.
  4. Commit your changes and push them to your fork. This updates your personal copy on GitHub.
  5. Finally, create a pull request. This is your way of saying, “Hey team, I’ve made some changes. What do you think?”

We’ll review your pull request, potentially suggest some tweaks, and if all looks good, merge it into the main lab guide.

Why Your Contribution Matters

Every suggestion, no matter how small, helps make our lab guide more comprehensive, clear, and useful. Your unique perspective could be just what we need to improve our processes or clarify a confusing section.

Plus, contributing to the lab guide is a great way to familiarize yourself with GitHub – a skill that’s increasingly valuable in the world of collaborative research.

So, what are you waiting for? Dive in and help us make our lab guide the best it can be. Your future self (and your labmates) will thank you!

Got questions about the process? Don’t hesitate to reach out.