Annual SEEKCommons Network Convenings
Final Network Convening (2026)
Welcome to the 3rd Annual Research Network Convening!
The SEEKCommons Network is a transdisciplinary collaboration funded by the National Science Foundation to bridge long-standing divides between environmental scientists, open science technologists, and science and technology studies (STS) scholars who study complex socio-environmental and technoscientific issues.
We have three main goals for the gathering of our network this year: 1) Provide in-depth feedback to the team members, research fellows, and network members about the outcomes of the work we accomplished in collaboration; 2) Discuss contributions to the edited volume we are preparing based on the SEEKCommons research and community work; 3) Define our sustainability plans: how can we maintain the collaborative work we did as a network in the near future?
In the past network convenings, we examined the question of FAIR-CARE integration (2023) and the sustainability of community projects for socio-environmental research (2024). In this final gathering, we will present the results of the SEEKCommons project: what was accomplished and what is left to be done with the help of the research network we built in the past three years.
Convening Hotel
Best Western Plus Palm Court Hotel
234 D St, Davis, CA 95616
Convening Venue
UC Davis, Feminist Research Institute
307 Orchard Park Dr., Davis, CA 95616
Schedule
| Day 1 - 05/28 | ||
|---|---|---|
| 9:00am | Arrive at venue for breakfast | |
| 9:30am - 10:30am | Welcome & Introductions Feedback session to the SEEKCommons Agenda overview, code of conduct & logistics |
|
| 10:30am - 10:45am | Coffee Break | |
| 10:45 – 12:00pm | Session 1: SEEKCommons project report: - Project deliverables (LF Murillo) - SEEKCommons book project (Matias Milia) - Fellowship program (Sarah McCullough) - Fellowship curriculum on Gala (Abby Merolle) - Resource Hub (Gerd Heber and Lane Rasberry) - Q&A |
|
| 1:30pm - 3:30pm | Session 2: Network Workshops: Final Reports -“Hydrocommons research” with Lisa Blackmore, UVA & Alejandro Ponce de Leon, UC Berkeley - “Supporting digital sovereignty in face of AI enclosures” with Jeff Ward, Animikii - “Values in research” with MV Eitzel, UC Davis & Sarah McCullough, UC Davis - “Open Science in the Majority world” with Matias Milia, UAM-Azcapotzalco & Oscar Figueroa-Rodriguez, Colpos - “Semantic web tools for research” with Gerd Heber, HDF Group & Lane Rasberry, UVA - Q&A (15min) |
|
| 4:00pm - 5:20pm | Session 3: SEEKCommons Hub: Updates - Resource Hub: Deliverables (Gerd Heber) - Wikidata Interface (Lane Rasberry) - Wikidata-Gala Integration (Ed Waisanen) - Q&A (10min) |
|
| 5:20pm - 5:30pm | Day Closing & Next Steps | |
| 7:00pm | Dinner at Tres Hermanas | |
| Day 2 - 05/29 | ||
| 8:30am | Arrive at venue for breakfast | |
| 9:00am – 10:30am | Welcome & Keynote: Sarah Vaughn (UC Berkeley, Anthropology) “Programming Survival: Digital Databases and Climate Change in the Caribbean” |
|
| 10:30am - 10:45am | Coffee Break | |
| 10:45am - 12:00pm | Session 1: SEEKCommons Fellowship Projects: Situating the Archival Commons - “Media Mining Memory: Digital Infrastructure, Environmental Memory, and the Decolonization of Extractive Histories in Nigeria” Uzoamaka Nwachukwu (Max Planck Institute) - “Commoning and computation in environmental sociology: Advancing a historical perspective” Jonathan Tollefson (U. of Chicago) - “Making Meaning of Vocational Pathways using Open Storytelling: Braid as Method and Medium” Raymar Hampshire (U. of Michigan) - Discussant: Luis Felipe R. Murillo (U. of Notre Dame) |
|
| 12:00pm - 1:30pm | Lunch Break and Walk | |
| 1:30 - 2:30pm | Session 2: SEEKCommons Fellowship Projects: Grappling with the Digital Commons - “Advancing geospatial data infrastructure in Dataverse via metadata automation, interactive tools and LLM case study“ Ana Trisovic (MIT) - “Green Onion: Exploring the Energy Cost and Carbon Footprint of the Tor Network” Rohit Nagubandi (UC Santa Cruz) - “Mixing natural science and socioenvironmental data from the AmazonFACE program: A dashboard for exploring interdisciplinary possibilities of data about the Brazilian Amazon Forest“ Felipe Mammoli (UNICAMP) - Discussant: Edward Waisanen (U. of Notre Dame) |
|
| 2:30 - 2:45pm | Coffee Break | |
| 2:45 - 3:45pm | Session 3: SEEKCommons Fellowship Projects: Emergent Environmental Data through Ethnography - “Open hardware and the commons in wildlife conservation“ Brianna Johns (Monash University) - “Documenting the legacies of lignite in Lusatia through digital cultural heritage: a fractured political landscape” Cynthia Brown (Max Planck Institute) - “Situating Openness in Latin America: Agroecology, Open Science, and Grassroots Technology in Mendoza, Argentina“ Keren Reichler (Rice University) - Discussant: Sebastian Zarate (Siderus Nuncius, Comunidad Peruana de Ciencia, Tecnología y Sociedad) |
|
| 3:45 - 4:00pm | Break | |
| 4:00 - 5:00pm | Planning session: Next steps for our research network |
|
| 6:00pm | Dinner (location TBD) |
Organizing Team
The event was organized this year by Sarah McCullough (UC Davis) and LF Murillo (U. of Notre Dame).
Special thanks to all the SEEKCommons project team members who provided help as well!
Second Network Convening (2024)
Welcome to the 2nd Annual Research Network Convening!
The SEEKCommons Network is bridging long-standing divides between environmental scientists, community organizers, FOSS technologists, and science and technology (STS) researchers by addressing common social, technical, and environmental problems. For our second year of network-building efforts, we will focus on the issue of sustainability of Open Technologies and Open Science practices.
The plan is to discuss the challenges of the work we are doing on the topic and decide on how to allocate resources for collaborative research in 2025. We will also prepare an inventory of “patterns” and “anti-patterns” that we observed in our experiences with Open Science and Socio-Environmental research.
Convening Hotel
Hotel Shattuck Plaza Berkeley, 2086 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA 94704
Convening Venue
UC Berkeley MaCSS, 2nd floor, 2121 Allston Way, Berkeley CA 94720
Schedule
| Day 1 - 12/07 | |
|---|---|
| 9:00am | Arrive at Venue |
| 9:30am - 10:30am | Welcome & Introductions LF Murillo (Notre Dame) and Erin Robinson (Metadata Game Changers) |
| 10:30am - 11:00am | Coffee Break |
| 11:00am – 12:30pm | Session 1: SEEKCommons Fellows - Lessons Learned from Fellowship Projects Discussion with 2024 Fellows, facilitated by Sarah McCullough (UC Davis) |
| 12:30pm - 1:30pm | Lunch Break |
| 1:30pm - 3:15pm | Session 2: Digital Sovereignty with Data Vulnerable Communities: Implementation Strategies and Challenges Ciera Martinez (UC Berkeley DSE) and Annie Snyder (UC Berkeley DSE) |
| 3:15pm - 3:45pm | Coffee Break |
| 3:45pm - 5:00pm | Session 3: SEEKCommons Hub UI-UX workshop Gerd Heber (HDF Group), Lane Rasberry (UVA), Rebecca Hardin (U of Michigan) and Nate Papes (Atomic Objects) |
| 5:00pm - 5:30pm | Day Closing & Next Steps |
| 7:00pm | Dinner at Comal Restaurant |
| Day 2 - 12/08 | |
| 8:30am | Arrive at Venue |
| 9:00am – 9:15am | Check-in & Introductions Erin Robinson (Metadata Game Changers) and Annie Snyder (UC Berkeley DSE) |
| 9:15am – 10:30am | Session 4: Challenges and promises of FAIR+CARE+Commons through real-world examples Jeff Ward (Animikii), Ana Trisovic (MIT) and Lisa Blackmore (U. of Essex) |
| 10:30am - 10:45am | Coffee Break |
| 10:45am - 12:00pm | Session 4: Challenges and promises of FAIR+CARE+Commons through real-world examples (Part 2) |
| 12:00pm - 1:00pm | Lunch Break at Jupiter Pizza |
| 1:00 - 2:00 | Session 5: Sustainability of Open Technologies for Open Research Projects Jarrod Millman (UC Berkeley, Scientific Python) |
| 2:00 - 2:15 | Coffee Break |
| 2:15 - 3:00 | Session 6: Workshop Activities and Network Projects for 2025 Melissa MV Eitzel (UC Davis) and LF Murillo (Notre Dame) |
| 3:00 - 3:30 | Convening Wrap Up Erin Robinson (Metadata Game Changers), Ciera Martinez (UC Berkeley DSE) and LF Murillo (Notre Dame) |
Organizing Team
The event was organized this year by Erin Robinson, Ciera Martinez, Annie Snyder, Lane Rasberry, Jessica Reyes, and LF Murillo.
Special thanks to all the SEEKCommons project team members who provided help as well!
First Network Convening (2023)
Welcome to the first SEEKCommons RCN Convening!
The NSF SEEKCommons Network aims to bridge long-standing divides between the social and environmental sciences and between action researchers and frontline communities, as well as to find common ground between advocates and skeptics of open. The network comprises researchers and practitioners from three areas of inquiry and action: socio-environmental research, open science, and science and technology studies (STS).
Convening goals: We hope to foster collaborative ties within the network, while debating and designing solutions to challenges at the intersections of open science and socio-environmental action. We will delve into the complexities of these topics using projects represented in our network, as well as through the ongoing activities of the SEEKCommons team. We will also share progress on the SEEKCommons team’s work, and provide opportunities for input from our RCN.
Prior to the Workshop
- Covid-19 Policy: Please review our Covid-19 and masking policy.
- Event Code of Conduct: Please review our event Code of Conduct.
- Media Disclaimer: Please review our Media Disclaimer.
Convening Venue
Internet Archive
300 Funston Avenue San Francisco, CA 94118
Schedule
| Day 1 - 12/09 | |
|---|---|
| 8:30am | Breakfast |
| 9:00am | Welcome, group agreements, and overview of the day |
| 9:20am | The State of SEEKCommons: Our work to date, and themes that have emerged |
| 9:45am | Understanding “openness” in knowledge production from different perspectives through group interviews |
| 10:30am | Break |
| 10:50am | Digging into FAIR and CARE |
| 12:00pm | Lunch |
| 1:00pm | Visioning FAIR and CARE |
| 1:20pm | Invited Network member reflections |
| 2:20pm | Break |
| 2:40pm | Continued reflections (open session) |
| 3:20pm | Revisiting our themes, set up for Day 2, and closing (end at 4:00 pm) |
| 4:30pm | Optional tour of the Internet Archive |
| 7:55pm | Optional dinner will be provided at Cable 55 (Parc Hotel) |
| Day 2 - 12/10 | |
| 8:30am | Breakfast |
| 9:00am | Welcome and presentation: “Commoning” and the “Data Facilitators Consortium” |
| 9:15am | SEEKCommons Fellowship: Our first cohort |
| 9:45am | Data Facilitators Consortium + Resource Hub |
| 10:30am | Break |
| 10:50am | Building a SEEKCommons pattern book |
| 12:00pm | Lunch |
| 1:00pm | Introductions, project ideas |
| 1:30pm | Knowledge exchange, un-conferencing and prototyping |
| 2:15pm | Closing and next steps (end at 3:00 pm) |
Organizing Team
The event was organized by Kate Wing (Intertidal), Katie Hoeberling (OEDP) and LF Murillo (U. of Notre Dame).
Special thanks to all the SEEKCommons project team members who provided help as well!