F24 Self Contained Change: NeuroFedora

[Jan Kurik]

= Proposed Self Contained Change: NeuroFedora =
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Changes/NeuroFedora

Change owner(s):
* Igor Gnatenko (ignatenkobrain) Primary Contact <i DOT gnatenko DOT
brain AT gmail DOT com>
* Morgan Hough (mhough) <morgan DOT hough AT gmail DOT com>

The focus of this SIG is to package and support neuroscience and
neuroimaging applications, libraries and datasets on Fedora from the
next release on. These packages will enable researchers to use Fedora
in all aspects of their work from the design of experiments, data
collection, data processing/analysis, data modeling and simulations
through to visualization and report generation.

== Detailed Description ==
The goals of the NeuroFedora SIG were developed watching the success
of the highly lauded | NeuroDebian project in promoting the usage of
free and open source software in the neuroscience community. Their
effort has not only provided an easy means for researchers to install
packages but it has helped improve the software engineering practices
of the community as well as spawn a number of spin off developments in
terms of VM images, USB sticks and AMIs that have contributed to both
scientific research and education. We hope to use and contribute to
the work they have done to improve build systems, test harnesses and
quality assurance procedures for the community.

As with any scientifically focused SIG, there will be a great deal of
overlap with other SIGs. Like most researchers, we use Python, R and
Octave computational environments for both rapid prototyping and
established toolboxes. Each of these environments has large ecosystems
of packages and toolboxes that are widely used and make up the basis
of the Science Spin. We will complement these with the addition of big
data and machine learning tools and toolboxes that are of use to all
disciplines even though some of these developers are focused on
neuroscience and neuroimaging in particular. Finally, scientific
literature is more likely to utilize LaTeX for documents which
requires its own set of associated tools (TeXLive, BibTeX, etc.).
NeuroFedora will be an active contributor to many aspects of the
Fedora Scientific community.

== Scope ==
Proposal owners: These are a set of mostly research packages that do
not demand any changes from the main distribution. Any potential
dependencies not currently available will be packaged and included.

Other developers: N/A (not a System Wide Change)
Release engineering: N/A (not a System Wide Change)
List of deliverables: N/A (not a System Wide Change)
Policies and guidelines: N/A (not a System Wide Change)
Trademark approval: N/A (not needed for this Change)