enh(blog): more updates

Author: lwasser

_posts/2026-01-22-building-resilience-2026.md

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 ---
 layout: single
 title: "Building Resilience: pyOpenSci in 2026"
-excerpt: "2025 taught us that sustainable infrastructure requires more than grants. As we navigate generative AIs impact on scientific open source and shifting funding landscapes, pyOpenSci is building resilience through training, sponsorship, and community-centered leadership."
+excerpt: "pyOpenSci learned a lot about resilience in 2025. As we navigate generative AIs impact on scientific open source and shifting funding landscapes, pyOpenSci is building resilience through training, sponsorship, and community-centered leadership. Learn more about our plan."
 author: "pyopensci"
 permalink: /blog/2026-building-resilience-together.html
 header:
@@ -20,11 +20,11 @@ last_modified: 2026-01-22
 I'm not going to sugarcoat it—2025 was hard.
 
 Watching organizations like the [Python Software Foundation turn down million-dollar NSF grants](https://pyfound.blogspot.com/2025/10/NSF-funding-statement.html)
-because DEIA work was no longer supported made something painfully clear: the funding landscape that many of us built on is no longer stable.
+because DEIA work was no longer supported made something painfully clear: the funding landscape that has grounded so many of us is no longer reliable.
 
-At the same time, the rapid spread of generative AI use fundamentally changed how open source work happens. GenAI didn’t just change how we code--seemingly overnight, it taxed the human systems that sustain open source. Volunteer reviewers and maintainers were asked to evaluate more code than ever--often machine-generated code generated. Maintainers faced ethical and licensing questions they didn’t sign up to solve alone. Long-standing norms around learning, critical thinking, authorship, and responsibility began to blur.
+At the same time, generative AI fundamentally changed how open source work happens. Maintainers found themselves reviewing more code than ever—much of it machine-generated—while navigating ethical questions about authorship and responsibility they didn't sign up to solve on their own.
 
-These pressures revealed a fundamental shift in the scientific open source ecosystem—one that challenges how we fund, support, and sustain our communities. For many if not most of us, this  changed how we worked. The ground often felt unstable—not just months out, but sometimes day to day.
+For many of us, the ground felt unstable—not just months out, but sometimes day to day.
 
 And yet, something important happened.
 
@@ -84,9 +84,9 @@ They just dove in and began to help each other. It was magic.
 That day felt like a blueprint. It showed what happens when you create the
 right environment and empower a community to help each other. That model—
 shared ownership, peer learning, mutual support—changed how I think about
-building sustainable infrastructure.
+building sustainable infrastructure and community.
 
-Resilience is about building spaces for people to engage and support each other.
+Resilience is about building spaces for people to both engage, learn, and support each other.
 
 ## What we're building in 2026
 
@@ -115,23 +115,25 @@ best practices *and* the responsible use of generative AI in scientific and
 open source workflows. The training will be held asynchronously to reduce barriers
 to participation and increase accessibility. And it will feature leaders in the open source community in an effort to connect learners to the real heart of Open Source--people.
 
-While our courses will initially be designed for researchers, university Open Source Program Offices
-(OSPOs), and anyone looking to develop open source skills that are in high
-demand in today's tech-driven job market. Based on what we learned in 2025, these
-trainings will emphasize foundational skills, critical thinking and  judgment, and shared
-norms. Generative AI can support open source workflows, but it can't replace
-the critical thinking that only a human can do. It also can't replace
-mentorship, care and compassion—human parts of the tech world that both fuel the
+While our courses will initially be designed for researchers at university Open Source Program Offices
+(OSPOs) we see them as becoming valuable to anyone looking to develop the open source and generative
+AI skills that are in high demand in today's tech-driven job market.
+
+Based on what we learned in 2025, these
+trainings will emphasize foundational skills, critical thinking (particularly as it relates to using generative AI tools), and shared
+norms. Generative AI can support open source workflows, but it can't fully replace
+the thought, design, and vision that only a human can implement. It also can't replace
+mentorship, care, and compassion—human parts of the tech world that both fuel the
 open source ecosystem and are also straining the fragile social web that supports it.
 
 We're piloting this new training format through our [partnership with
 Stanford's Open Source Program Office](https://www.pyopensci.org/events/pyopensci-stanford-create-python-package-workshop.html),
 where we ran successful workshops in 2025. In 2026, we're expanding this
-model to other OSPOs through the CURIOSS network and building an
+model to other OSPOs, hopefully leveraging the strong connections within the [CURIOSS network](https://curioss.org/) and building an
 organizational membership program that supports researchers at scale.
 
 Our goal is to create learning spaces that reduce isolation, build
-confidence, connect learners to the open source community, and strengthen the
+confidence, connect learners to the humans that drive open source, and strengthen the
 communities behind scientific software.
 
 <figure>
@@ -147,17 +149,15 @@ communities behind scientific software.
 
 ### Mission-aligned corporate sponsorship
 
-We're leaning into corporate sponsorship to support scientific software
-infrastructure while building deeper relationships with organizations whose
+We're also leaning into corporate sponsorship to support scientific software
+infrastructure. We will build deeper relationships with organizations whose
 tools and values align with our community.
 
-Value alignment matters—from [how we choose the tools we teach]({{ site.url }}/blog/how-we-choose-python-tools.html)
-to the partners we work with. We prioritize organizations that support open
-source, open science, and inclusive practices. Sponsorship allows companies to
-invest meaningfully in the ecosystems they rely on while helping sustain
-pyOpenSci's work. We're especially excited about partnerships that feel
-reciprocal—supporting our mission while strengthening the tools and practices
-we teach and use together.
+Value alignment matters—from [how we choose the tools we teach]({{ site.url }}/blog/how-we-choose-python-tools.html) to the partners we work with. We prioritize organizations that support open source, open science, and inclusive practices.
+
+Corporate sponsorship allows companies to invest meaningfully in the ecosystems they rely on. It helps sustain pyOpenSci's work in [software peer review](https://www.pyopensci.org/about-peer-review/index.html) and development of [open education resources](https://www.pyopensci.org/python-packaging-science.html) that support researchers in making their scientific workflows more open and accessible.
+
+We're especially excited about partnerships that feel reciprocal—supporting our mission while strengthening the tools and practices we teach and use together.
 
 ### Rethinking how we communicate and stay connected
 
@@ -176,16 +176,16 @@ None of what we learned in 2025—or what we're building toward in 2026—
 happened in isolation.
 
 I'm deeply grateful to our 2025 Executive Council, **[Karen Cranston](https://github.com/kcranston)
-and [April Johnson](https://github.com/aprilcs)**, for their steady guidance
+and [April Johnson](https://github.com/aprilmj)**, for their steady guidance
 and support as we navigated a challenging year. They encouraged me to embrace
 sustainable leadership and supported me as I developed new programs to ensure
 our long-term sustainability.
 
 Our Editors-in-Chief—**[James Balamuta](https://github.com/coatless),
-[Eliot Robson](https://github.com/erobson), and [Lauren Yee](https://github.com/laurenyee)**—
+[Eliot Robson](https://github.com/eliotwrobson), and [Lauren Yee](https://github.com/yeelauren)**—
 led the peer review process through a period of rapid change, navigating
 AI-fueled submissions while keeping quality and care at the center.
-**[Carter Rhea](https://github.com/CartWheel65)** stepped up as an editor
+**[Carter Rhea](https://github.com/crhea93)** stepped up as an editor
 numerous times, supporting volunteers who were overburdened and leading one
 of our largest reviews—Astropy—which was just accepted in early 2026.
 
@@ -213,19 +213,19 @@ with wisdom and generosity.
     alt="Carol Willing presenting on micromentoring">
   </picture>
   <figcaption>Carol Willing from our Advisory Council presenting on
-  micromentoring at SciPy 2025.</figcaption>
+  micromentoring at PYCON US 2025.</figcaption>
 </figure>
 
 And to the many community members who contributed through reviews, workshops,
 sprints, writing, mentoring, and quiet acts of support—thank you. This
 organization exists because you choose to show up.
 
-## This is how we help
+## Navigating uncertainty in 2026
 
-When things are uncertain, community infrastructure matters more, not less.
-It's how people find support when institutions can't provide it. It's how
-knowledge gets shared when traditional pathways break down. It's how we take
-care of each other.
+When things are uncertain, community infrastructure matters most.
+It's how people find support that institutions can't currentlyprovide. It's how
+knowledge gets shared when traditional collaboration pathways break down.
+It's how we take care of each other.
 
 That SciPy sprint showed me what's possible. When you create spaces where
 people can show up, learn together, and support each other—when you do that
@@ -236,4 +236,4 @@ researchers across the world. Sponsorship models that align values with
 action. Spaces—both online and in-person—where beginners and experts learn
 side by side.
 
-This is how we build resilience. This is how we help. Together.
+This is how we build resilience. This is how we help make the world better. Together.