Herding Octocats: GitHub in the Information Management Workflow

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GitHub is a an open-source, version-controlled sharing system for software projects based on the "git" tools enabled for the development of the Linux kernel. While more than 16.7 million repositories are housed on GitHub, many scientists and information managers are still unaware of how using GitHub in their research workflow aids organization, security, and distribution. At a recent meeting of the Federation of Earth Science Information Partners, we presented a symposium on GitHub with positive feedback from the scientific community. In light of the increasing importance of citing, managing, and sharing data, it is essential that LTER scientists and information managers consider incorporating GitHub into their laboratory or site infrastructure. In this poster, I will present the basic principles and semantics of GitHub and explore cases where GitHub has been incorporated successfully into scientific workflows.