numfocus/DISCOVER-Cookbook

The DISCOVER Cookbook is a guide for organizing diverse and inclusive events and conferences, produced by the NumFOCUS Diversity & Inclusion in Scientific Computing Program.

The project addresses the need for practical resources and structured guidance on creating welcoming, inclusive conference and event environments. It compiles knowledge from unconferences and community contributions into a living reference that covers essential practices for organizers seeking to improve diversity and inclusion in scientific computing spaces. The approach centers on collaborative content development, with the project maintained as a website powered by a repository that separates contributions into discussions, issues, and pull requests based on their nature.

The cookbook suits event organizers, conference planners, and community leaders in scientific computing who want concrete, vetted guidance on diversity and inclusion practices. The project emphasizes quality control for content contributions, requiring ideas to be discussed and approved before pull requests are opened. This workflow means contributors should expect a deliberate review process, particularly for new content submissions, but the project welcomes bug fixes and design improvements through a more direct path.

The project receives issues from both core maintainers and external users, indicating real adoption beyond the immediate team without creating an unsustainable support burden. Responses to issues and pull requests typically arrive within one to two weeks. Work in the issue tracker focuses primarily on writing new content, enhancing existing content, and copy editing, reflecting the project's nature as a living guide that evolves through community input and refinement.