Normandy Unconference 2019

For immediate release March 7, 2019

Agile
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Agile is hosting a new collaborative scientific event in May 2019
‘Unconference’ in France will include skill-shares and software development sprints

Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia: Agile Scientific is excited to announce that it will host TRANSFORM, a new collaborative scientific event in Normandy, France from 5–11 May 2019.

The event will create the perfect conditions for people to connect, share skills, and grow an open-source toolset in geoscience. The emphasis throughout will be on computational subsurface science and engineering, powered by openness and cooperation. Our goal is to accelerate innovation and entrepreneurship in the energy industry — by connecting people, building things, and having fun. Organizer Matt Hall says,

The geoscientific computing community is alight with ideas and activity right now. In particular, people are collaborating in the Python programming language, building new tools, sharing data, and exploring the possibilities of machine learning. This unconference provides a chance to make rapid progress on some core projects.

TRANSFORM is not a conference—it’s an extraordinary experience where participants will find an inclusive, welcoming community, enjoy open, candid conversation and purposeful collaboration, and develop high productivity. Each day will be packed with opportunities to learn skills, share ideas, and discover. Coders and non-coders are welcome; anyone can contribute.

For organizational support the event will draw from the Software Underground community — an open Slack team, also known as Swung, rooted in applied computational geoscience and the energy industry. With over 1200 members, Software Underground also provides a deep pool of potential participants from all over the world. Visit https://softwareunderground.org/ for more info.

We are seeking financial support from champions of open geoscience in our vertical, or potentially in nearby verticals. Agile has contacts at the handful of petroleum operators, service companies, and technology companies that see real value in an open software stack, and in a strong community. We are also seeking three 'founding partners' to help with funding, fundraising, organization, and to participate in the event. Those interested should email matt@agilescientific.com.

TRANSFORM will include about 40 participants and take place in an outstanding location in Normandy, France called Château de Rosay. This residential seminar venue is not your average conference centre. The château is part of the Châteauform properties which specializes in hosting all-inclusive, fully catered corporate gatherings all over Europe. This is a place for doing extraordinary things.

If you are interested in finding out more, please get in touch.

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About Agile: We are a scientific computing company that operates all over the world. For further information, interviews, and publication-quality photographs, please contact Matt Hall at 902.980.0130 or write to us at hello@agilescientific.com. Visit agilescientific.com to see more of what we do.

Geophysics Sprint 2018

For immediate release Oct. 2, 2018

Agile                                                                                      
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Agile to host first 'geophysics sprint' in October 2018
Event focuses efforts around open source projects

Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia: Agile Scientific, based in Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, is excited to announce that it will host its first code sprint in Anaheim, California on October 13th and 14th, 2018.

A code sprint is a type of hackathon in which efforts are focused around a small number of open source projects. They are related to, but not really the same as, sprints in the Scrum software development framework. They are non-competitive—the only goal is to improve the software in question, whether it's adding functionality, fixing bugs, writing tests, improving documentation, or doing any of the other countless things that good software needs. Organizer Matt Hall says,

Agile has been hosting hackathons for years. These usually spawn about 10 new projects, but most of them don't have a life after the hackathon. This year, we wanted to try something new, and see what a difference our community of digital scientists can make to some existing open source projects. We hope the event continues to evolve how subsurface software is conceived, developed, and improved.

During the event, participants will be hacking on 3 projects:

Devito: a high-level finite difference library for Python. The project needs help with code, tests, model examples, and documentation.

Bruges: a simple collection of Python functions representing basic geophysical equations. It needs more equations, better docs, and better tests. The project is basic enough for anyone to contribute to it, even a total Python newbie.

G3.js: a JavaScript wrapper for D3.js, a popular plotting toolkit for web developers. Experience with JavaScript is a must.

The event is supported by Dell EMC (NYSE:EMC) and Enthought, enthusiastic champions of change in science and industry. It will be held at a small joint called MAZ Café Con Leche, located in Santa Ana about 15 minutes from the Anaheim Convention Center where the SEG Annual Meeting is happening the following week.

If you are interested in finding out more, please get in touch.

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About Agile: We are a scientific computing company that operates all over the world. We love data and specialize in solving subsurface problems in the natural resources industries. We have expertise in machine learning, geophysical interpretation, seismic modelling, geodata manipulation, uncertainty analysis, and knowledge management. Our domain includes conventional petroleum resources, oil sands, shale gas, mining, and geothermal energy. If you have a tough subsurface problem, call us.

For further information, interviews, and publication-quality photographs, please contact Matt Hall at 902.980.0130 or write us at hello@agilescientific.com. Visit agilescientific.com to see more of what we do.