Original artwork by Dr. Allison Horst helps bring Openscapes ideas and feelings to life.

Open landscapes

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Openscapes Champions


A landscape consisting of a grassy meadow next to a sandy beach and ocean, a winding river, and distant mountains. In the foreground, a sad bunny and skunk are working alone on their laptops, each with a rain cloud over their heads. Nearby is a trailhead with a fox holding a 'Welcome!' sign for a variety of different critters to see. Past the trailhead are branching pathways through the Openscapes landscape. No matter the path, however, there are small groups of animals working together to find their way. Nods to data science are scattered throughout the image, including mountains made of data points and a satellite in the sky.

Learn more about the behind-the-scenes creation of this piece in our 2021 CascadiaR keynote Open science as a movement and the art of Openscapes


Openscapes Theory of Change


The Openscapes theory of change illustrated as concentric circles. The outer gray circle represents approaches. The phrases, 'Data, Evidence, Knowledge', 'Theory, Understanding', and 'Methods, Science, Policy' are written aatop this gray circle. Blue boxes sit atop the gray circle as well. They say, 'QUESTIONS teams tackle', 'TEAMS: scientists, researchers, practitioners', 'PARTNERS + COMMUNITIES'. A green circle representing Open Data Science Practices sits within the gray outer cricle. The following words are writtedn atop the green circle: 'Kindess + Inclusion', 'Robust Analyses', 'Streamlined Collaboration', 'Expanded Communications'. At the center of this diagram is a Ven Diagram of three overlapping orange circles representing Open Data Science Tools. Once circle represents 'Code + Version Control' (tools such as git, R, Python), 'Contribution Platforms' (tools such as GitHub, disqus), and 'Publication + Distribution' (tools such as R Markdown, dashboards, websites).

Openscapes Theory of Change: As teams tackle research questions (blue), their approaches (grey) can be accelerated through open data science practices (green), which are underpinned by existing open source tools (orange).


Seaside Chat illustration


Three people working and learning together. Two people sit at their open laptop computers at a round table. A third person stands near the table and points to a large projection screen on the wall, which displays a workflow for wrangling data. A large window provides a view of the rolling green hills made of data points outside.

Let’s normalize talking about data (analysis & stewardship)!


Julia Lowndes useR! 2019 keynote illustrations

From Allison’s openscapes artwork on github:

This folder contains artwork that was conceived of, and presented by, Dr. Julia Lowndes (@jules32) - director of Openscapes for talks including her opening keynote at the useR! 2019 conference. (Slides are here).

Please credit this Openscapes artwork with: “Artwork from @juliesquid for @openscapes (illustrated by @allison_horst).”

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

A three-part schematic. On the left is a natural landscape made of data points -- the stars in the sky, the mountain ridge, and the rocks in the river represent data points and line graphs. The flowers in the foreground are actually a part of a lolipop chart. A satellite hovers in the sky overhead. The words 'Environmental data' are written at the top of the image. An arrow leads us from 'Enviornmental Data' to the step, 'import', then to 'TIDY' as we transition to the middle schematic. At the center of this middle 'Data Analysis' schematic is the 'Transform' > 'Visualize' > 'Model' > repeat cycle. Different data science community logos surround this cycle, including RStudio, R-Ladies, Mozilla, The Carpentries, and rOpenSci. The right-hand side of the image illustrates the communication phase of environmental data science. At the top, a person presents data visualizations with the slide title, 'Conservation Benefits' to an audience. In the middle is a naturalist on the beach with a family. The naturalist is holding kelp and pointing to a whale in the ocean. At the bottom is a paper report with text and a data visualization sitting next to an open laptop. On the laptop screen reads the words, 'My Science Blog!' atop some text and another data visualization.

An extended version of the classic R4DS schematic from Grolemund & Wickham, with environmental data science, communities, and communication added


A feedback loop. On one half of the loop, differnt colored hands reach towards the center of a circle. On the other half of the loop is a field with three trees standing against blue sky. A light grid underlies the landscape as if it were a data visualization.

Data science & teamwork feedback loop


In the foreground, Luke sits on the bank of a bog with his head hanging in his lap. R2D2 leans up agains a tree. In the background, an X-wing is half submerged in the bog.

Luke doesn’t have the tools when he crashes on Dagobah…

Data-intensive research can feel lonely and demoralizing. Like Luke Skywalker, we have all had moments where we feel stuck staring at a challenge that we can’t solve with the skillsets we have.

This might not be so obvious to describe as this situation, and could be many things at once that are hard to tease apart. Could be having a tedious process to organize and store data, not being able to run someone else’s code, or not knowing how to get started with software like GitHub.It’s often searching through emails, something like untitled14.xls or analysis_final_final.R

But it doesn’t have to be this way –


In the foreground, Yoda stands facing towards the bog and his right arm outstretched. In the background, Luke and R2D2 stand on the opposite bank looking up at the X-wing, which hovers just above the water's surface. Water and bog vegetation drip off of it.

…but Yoda shows him what’s possible with the foRce.

Open data science approaches are open, collaborative, & empowering – it’s like the Force from Star Wars because it enables us to solve challenges in ways we never would have imagined was possible. 

And it doesn’t just help with the challenges in front of us, it also broaden our mindsets for the scope and scale of the research questions we can tackle. And again, it’s not just one thing all at once, it’s many smaller things that you can incrementally introduce that become more and more powerful.


Rey uses the force to levitate open data science tools, platforms, and data visualizations, including the R, GitHut, and Twitter logos, a bar plot, line plot, area plot, and petal plot.

Which is so powerful!


Yoda, Han, C3PO, R2D2, Luke, Lei, and Chewbacca all put their hands in a circle.

But even if you become a Jedi, you still need your community to defeat the Empire

And like the Force, open data science is not something that you do alone, but that you do with community.

Diverse, inclusive teams and communities are key to tackling our research so that it can have enduring impact. Just like in this illustration where not everyone is a Jedi, not everyone needs the same analytical skillsets but we can do more if we work together with a shared mindset and value each other.


Tidy Data Illustrated Series

Tidy data for efficiency, reproducibility, and collaboration — an illustrated series as a blog and slides for reuse in the classroom and beyond.

Digital illustration of two cute fuzzy monsters sitting on a park bench with a smiling data table between them, all eating ice cream together. In text above the illustration are the hand drawn words 'make friends with tidy data'.

Digital illustration of two cute fuzzy monsters sitting on a park bench with a smiling data table between them, all eating ice cream together. In text above the illustration are the hand drawn words “make friends with tidy data.”