Kirstie Whitaker
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kirstiejane.bsky.social
Kirstie Whitaker
@kirstiejane.bsky.social
610 followers 680 following 210 posts
☀️ Executive Director for @ucbids.bsky.social
💽 Previously: Director for #OpenSource Tools, Practices and Systems at The Alan Turing Institute
🌱 Founder @turingway.bsky.social
🌎 #Inclusive #Communities
💕 Solo mum by choice
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kirstiejane.bsky.social
So proud to be partnering with @2i2c.org. @ucbids.bsky.social is the first premier member organisation!

Join us - as part of the @jupyter.org ecosystem - to build #OpenSource #Infrastructure to enable better science, faster, by & for more people around the world.

bids.berkeley.edu/news/shaping...
Kirstie, Yuvi and Chris are sitting on high stools at the front of a room. Chris is talking. There are a few folks sitting in the audience in the picture too.
October 23, 2025 at 8:58 PM
kirstiejane.bsky.social
Happy world IVF day!

Posting from the end of my first week of 2 weeks of daycare summer closures 🙀

Thank you to friends who have accompanied us on staycation adventures in California. Today was a little hike at Año Nuevo state park to see the elephant seals! 🌊
Kirstie - a blonde white woman wearing big sunglasses - is smiling at the camera and taking a selfie. In a hiking backpack is her daughter Mackenzie who is also smiling at the camera. They’re at the California coast with shrubs and trees in the background.
July 26, 2025 at 5:54 AM
kirstiejane.bsky.social
Progress… now the question is whether I can cover all this in a 30 min talk 🤔🤔 #CW25
Kirstie’s notebook with scrawled words next to each of the 26 letters of the alphabet. Some (but not all - there are a few that are crossed out or not confirmed): accessibility, brave,continuous, discoverable, empowering, funded, governed, hyper performing, interoperable, joyful, kind, lightweight, maintained, network, open source, preserved, queer, respected, sovereign, trustworthy, usable, variable, welcoming, xenial, zen!
May 3, 2025 at 6:00 PM
kirstiejane.bsky.social
I’m sitting down in the California sunshine to brainstorm my talk for @softwaresaved.bsky.social’s Collaborations Workshop 2025!

Tell me: What do you think is the future of research software?

And, can I do a whole talk based on adjectives in the alphabet??

www.software.ac.uk/news/cw25-ke...
Close up of Kirstie‘s notebook. In the background are her cup of coffee and water bottle. The water bottle has a sticker of the Turing way on it. The notebook has the 26 letters of the alphabet with adjectives written from them, for example J for joyful, M for modular, O for open source.
May 2, 2025 at 10:37 PM
kirstiejane.bsky.social
Omggg - if anyone was wondering if it’s a lot to move to a new country (that’s attacking the concepts of both “a university” and “science”), start a new job, find a new place to live (without your stuff), and then add potty training your 2 year old on the list… the answer is yes. It is. A lot.
Kirstie and Mackenzie smiling at the camera taking a selfie.
February 24, 2025 at 5:22 PM
kirstiejane.bsky.social
Two pictures as a palette cleanser (in the spirit of your self preservation).

I’ve joined a community choir here in Berkeley and they have a “kids corner” where a paid carer does crafts and plays while I sing. It’s the best freaking accessibility “accommodation” for me ❤️💐
A bouquet of pipe cleaner flowers - made with stickers - in the foreground and a blurred background of singers in a church hall. A mat on the floor of a community hall. A 2 year old girl and a middle aged woman are doing crafts together.
February 23, 2025 at 9:50 PM
kirstiejane.bsky.social
The talk wasn’t recorded but Jarrod will share his slides. I’ll post when they’re up :)

For now, enjoy a couple of useful links and a great view!

scientific-python.org

ucsc-ospo.github.io
A view from high up a hill - where the Berkeley Lab is located - over UC Berkeley campus, the San Francisco Bay, and the Golden Gate Bridge in the background. It is a beautiful sunny day with blue skies. The photograph is taken framed by large trees on either side in the foreground.
February 6, 2025 at 3:25 AM
kirstiejane.bsky.social
Great fun to go up the hill to @berkeleylab.lbl.gov to hear UC Berkeley #OPSO executive director Jarrod Millman present on our vision for collaboratively supporting - and sustaining - the #ScientificPython project (among many others!)

Proudly a project nurtured in @ucbids.bsky.social 🌳
A man - Jarrod Millman - standing in front of a large screen. On the screen is the title of his talk: the scientific python project and the Berkeley open source program office. The logos are a tree with a path winding up to it (scientific python) and stylised “OSPO” letters.
February 6, 2025 at 3:22 AM
kirstiejane.bsky.social
Had a walk around UC Berkeley campus today with mum and Mackenzie. I wanted to show them where I’d be working. It was really grounding being back. And inspiring! 💛🌻

First day @ucbids.bsky.social on Monday. New pencil case is ready 🥹😬💪
Kirstie - a white woman with blonde hair - is standing in front of the UC Berkeley clock tower. It’s really tall! There are trees around the base and a couple of empty benches next to where she’s standing. Kirstie’s smiling for the camera and posing in jeans and a cream jumper. The sky is blue.
January 5, 2025 at 5:55 AM
kirstiejane.bsky.social
Omgggg we’re off! London to SFO ✈️🌎

Granny Sue an absolute super star. Mackenzie already watching Frozen ❄️ Auntie Heather (staying in London) being the world’s most amazing sister / support / packer / sandwich maker!

Bike, bike seat, car seat all packed. Excited for our adventures in California! ☀️
Granny Sue, Kirstie and Mackenzie sitting in a row of seats on a plane. Mackenzie is next to the window and is already watching the TV. Kirstie and her mum - both white womej with blonde hair - are smiling at the camera!
December 31, 2024 at 11:52 AM
kirstiejane.bsky.social
Heading back to London today after a beautiful week in the #LakeDistrict.
Low mountains perfectly reflected in a mirror-like lake. The sky is blue with white clouds and the hills are golden.
December 29, 2024 at 5:08 PM
kirstiejane.bsky.social
Not enough of old lady Luna over here.

She’s going to be 15 in January. She’ll come back to Berkeley - I got her as an 8 week old puppy there in 2010 - after I’ve found a place to live. So hopefully in February!

She’ll have an amazing extended holiday in the #LakeDistrict for a few more weeks 🏔️🐾❤️
A beautiful golden mountain in the sunshine reflected in a still lake. The sky is blue. Luna - a white dog with black patches - is standing with her feet in the lake looking quizzically at the camera. Kirstie’s mum is holding a treat behind her head and Luna wants it 😅
December 27, 2024 at 8:14 PM
kirstiejane.bsky.social
Another beautiful day with family in the #LakeDistrict.

Last day with the cousins for a long time 🥺🥺
Kirstie - a white woman wearing a purple hat, her daughter Mackenzie - also wearing a purple hat, and her nephew and niece are taking a selfie and grinning at the camera. They’re all in a forest and wearing warm outdoor coats. It’s sunny! A beautiful still picture of a lake with a low sun shining a beam of reflection along it towards the camera. In the background there are silhouetted mountains and in the foreground is a large branch lying on a pebble beach. Luna - Kirstie’s 14 year old dog, white with black patches - looking over her shoulder back at the camera in a beautiful wood. She’s walking along the path and the light is stunning: golden and warm.
December 26, 2024 at 5:17 PM
kirstiejane.bsky.social
Merry Christmas from our traditional walk in the Whinlatter Forest 🌲🌲🌲🎄🌲
Kirstie’s family - 5 adults, 3 children and 2 dogs - pose in front of a Gruffalo statue in the forest. That’s her mum, step dad, sister, brother in law, niece, nephew and daughter! They’re all wearing Santa hats and warm hiking clothes. The humans are all looking at the camera and smiling but we didn’t get either dog to care!
December 25, 2024 at 1:52 PM
kirstiejane.bsky.social
Happy Christmas Eve
🦌🦌🦌🛷🎅🏻🎁🎁🎁
Kirstie - a blonde white woman - is sitting on the floor of the living room in front of a fire place. She’s wearing black rimmed glasses and her hair is tied back in a messy bun. She’s looking and smiling at her daughter - Mackenzie, a 2 year old blonde girl - who is grinning at someone to the side of the camera. Mackenzie looks like she’s about to go walking off! She doesn’t want to sit still for this picture! Kirstie is kinda holding her to try to post for a picture but also kinda giving up a losing battle with tiredness! Mackenzie is wearing grey Merry Christmas pyjamas with a red reindeer on them and there’s a red and white stocking with her name on the floor in front of her.
December 25, 2024 at 12:13 AM
kirstiejane.bsky.social
Christmas cake icing with Granny Sue.

#HappyHolidays #Christmas #SoloMum #SoloParent #GranniesAreTheBest
Mackenzie - a little girl in an orange hoodie - is rolling out marzipan on a kitchen table Mackenzie - a little girl in an orange hoodie - and Granny Sue - a white woman with light hair - are rolling out marzipan on a kitchen table. In the foreground is a Christmas cake glistening because we covered it in apricots jam! Mackenzie - a little girl in an orange hoodie - and Kirstie (but with her head cut off!) are adding icing snowflakes to the Christmas cake Mackenzie - a little girl in an orange hoodie - and Kirstie - a white woman smiling at the camera - are cutting out snowflakes from icing on the kitchen table
December 22, 2024 at 11:19 AM
kirstiejane.bsky.social
There are two wonderful things that Mackenzie does when we listen to Hercules (literally every day).

One is that she calls the hydra “angry snakes”.

“I don’t like the angry snakes mama! Bit scary!”

“What do you do when you’re scared?”

“Give mama cuddle and then feel better.” 🥹🥹🥹
A still from the Disney movie showing the hydra. It’s a monster with one body but 3 heads. They have red eyes and fangs. It’s raining and the whole scene does look pretty scary!!
December 18, 2024 at 11:52 AM
kirstiejane.bsky.social
A final thank you from @malvikasharan.bsky.social to all the community management team of @turingway.bsky.social.

Thank you so much to Malvika, @arielleb.bsky.social, Anne, Léllé 🙏

A great starter page for joining The Turing Way community is the-turing-way.start.page

#TuringWayCommunityForum
A slide from a deck. Title: The Turing Way Project Delivery Team & Community Pictures of Malvika, Arielle, Anne Lee Steele, Léllé Demertzi and Kirstie. Text reads "Visit our start page: the-turing-way.start.page to get links to GitHub, Book, Slack, Newsletter, social media channels etc. We are on Mastodon, LinkedIn, Buttondown and Bluesky. Email: turingway@turing.ac.uk" There's a cartoon illustration of people sledging around words that read "Happy Holidays from all of us at The Turing Way".
December 12, 2024 at 4:25 PM
kirstiejane.bsky.social
There are @turingway.bsky.social community members in the @softwaresaved.bsky.social cohort:

On this call we have (part 1/2):

Arielle Bennett: @arielleb.bsky.social
Deborah Udoh: www.linkedin.com/in/deborah-u...
Esther Plomp: @phdtoothfairy.bsky.social

#TuringWayCommunityCall
A screenshot of the zoom screen highlighting the SSI fellows who are on the call today. Arielle (white woman with red lipstick), Jyoti (Indian woman wearing glasses), Esther (white woman wearing glasses), Debs (Black woman with pink hair), Joe (white man with neat, dark facial hair), Nicky (white woman wearing glasses), Phil (white man wearing glasses) and Rosa (white woman wearing big tortoiseshell glasses).
December 12, 2024 at 4:00 PM
kirstiejane.bsky.social
@turingway.bsky.social community manager Anne Lee Steele submitted applications for all 4 of the working groups to the @hiddenref.bsky.social awards.

Read the applications: github.com/the-turing-w...

All the work is amazing. And 2 were awarded a high commendation 😍🌟

#TuringWayCommunityForum
Slide from a deck: Title: Second round of submission for recognising hidden roles in 2024 Categories under which The Turing Way Working Groups (WG) were nominated: Accessibility WG - Miscellaneous Book Dash WG - Community building Infrastructure WG - Hidden Roles Translation and Localisation WG - Translation category Thank you Anne Lee Steele for facilitating all submissions drafted with WGs!
December 12, 2024 at 3:41 PM
kirstiejane.bsky.social
We're celebrating our #WorkingGroups achievements (& recognising challenges):

🌏 Translation & Localisation
📚 Book Dash
♿ Accessibility
🛠️ Infrastructure

We are so grateful for everyone who contributes to these working groups - the heart and soul of @turingway.bsky.social!

#TuringWayCommunityForum
Slide from a deck. Title: Translation & Localisation WG - Batool Successes: We are still regularly meeting with The Chinese Open Science Network & data umbrella. We will be delivering talk about localisation in Chinese Open Science Network in Jan. We will have monthly TTW localisation onboarding call. Celebrations: Our talk proposal for FOSS Backstage 2025 was accepted. Challenges: Multi-deployment remains a challenge! Call to action: If you have any resources/tools or you know communities that are active in localisation, can you share it in https://github.com/translation-and-localisation/awesome-translation-localisation. (We would like to also link to past grants on localisation) Slide from a deck. Title: Book Dash WG - Arielle Successes: Trialled an amazing new meme making workshop. Other social sessions were a hit as well. Celebrations: November Book Dash was brilliant! Challenges: Struggled with last minute host coverage for some sessions - thank you to Kirstie and Richard who stepped in! Time for rotation on the Working Group - Esther is stepping down as chair. Call to action: Interested in helping to organise the May 2025 Book Dash? Volunteer for the planning committee! Interested in a longer term role? We will be looking for previous committee members to join the working group Slide from a deck. Title: Accessibility WG - Precious Successes: November Book Dash had lots of access-related activity. Alt-text workshop on Day 1 - hosted as always! New member (Precious) started chapter on Left-handedness. Patricia reviewed Accessibility Policy. Celebrations: Our accessibility policy was finally merged! Over 17 reviewers, 100s of reviews over 2 year process. Liz Hare and the Working Group were awarded a High Commendation in the Hidden REF competition. Challenges: Member retention & recruitment. Time commitment for volunteer-led group. Funding to work more on this! Call to action: Further embed access-centered practices across community. Advocacy for allyship. Need for community-led discussion around location for access-related practices (should it be within the guide for ethics or a separate guide?) Slide from a deck. Title: Infrastructure WG - Jim Successes: Organised our tasks on a kanban board. Split non-book things to new repositories. Celebrations: Jupyter Book 2 alphas released. Progress building the book with the new version. Working Group were awarded a High Commendation in the Hidden REF competition Challenges: Time. Multi-language support is difficult Call to action: Tell us what features you would like
December 12, 2024 at 3:36 PM
kirstiejane.bsky.social
Celebrating a fantastic year of @turingway.bsky.social!

Let me see if I can get a thread going from our #TuringWayCommunityForum event...

Starting with celebrating @arielleb.bsky.social being promoted to Senior Researcher at The Alan Turing Institute!

book.the-turing-way.org/afterword/co...
A slide with a picture of Arielle - a white woman with dark hair slicked back and red lipstick - and text on the left hand side. Text reads: Arielle appointed a Senior Researcher - Open Source Practices. Will be spending my time split between the Practitioner’s Hub delivery, JupyterHub EOSS work, and own work on open source practices. For day-to-day community not much will change! However look forward to being more visible and getting to know other aspects of community. There's a link on the slide which is also in the skeet.
December 12, 2024 at 3:13 PM
kirstiejane.bsky.social
And wish me luck shipping all my belongings across the world 🚢

Adventures await ✈️ 🍄🕸️💗
Kirstie - a white woman with blond hair tied back and black rimmed glasses - has her daughter Mackenzie - 2 years and blond hair too - on her back. They're taking a selfie and smiling at the camera together. Its a very windy day so they both look a little disheveled... but maybe like they're having lots of fun.
December 12, 2024 at 2:09 PM
kirstiejane.bsky.social
But I'm looking forward to the sunshine, the Mexican food, and the opportunities to make a real positive difference in how we use technology for the benefit of society. If you want to scheme over coffee, at a playground, or on a toddler friendly hike, please let me know!
Mackenzie - a blond 2 year old - standing in front of the UC Berkeley clock tower. Its a sunny day with blue skies and green trees at the base of the tower.
December 12, 2024 at 2:09 PM
kirstiejane.bsky.social
It's scary moving my 2 year old daughter and 15 year old dog across countries and time zones. Leaving my sister and niblings back in London is absolutely the hardest part of this adventure.
A woman - Heather, Kirstie's sister, white with blonde hair pulled back into a bun - and three children are sitting in a bed in pajamas smiling at the camera. The three children are Mackenzie - Kirstie's 2 year old daughter - and Isobel and Finn - Kirstie's niece and nephew who 8 and 6 years old respectively. They are all blonde haired.
December 12, 2024 at 2:09 PM