by Joseph Rickert

2015 has been a good year for R user groups, both in terms of activity and the number of new groups founded. The plot below which runs 12/30/2012 through the week beginning with Monday 11/23/2015 shows that the number of weekly meeting continues to drift up to the right. You can see the seasonal pattern of fewer meetings in the late summer and winter holiday season and increased activity in Autumn. We track weekly meetings in our Community Calendar.

The table below shows 18 new groups founded in 2015. (If I have missed your group please let me know.)

Altogether, we have 174 R user groups listed in the Local R User Group Directory.

After running for more than 5 years the Revolution Analytics R user group support program closed down on September 30, 2015. However, without missing a beat, we immediately picked up with the new Microsoft Data Science User Group Program. Reflecting Microsoft's broad support for the open source community, this program provides support for data science user groups of all stripes. (even Python :) The new program works in a manner that is similar to the Revolution Analytics program. There are three levels of support Vector, Matrix and Array with the amount of funding and care package of goodies determined by a group's size and the frequency with which it meets. If you are a data science group organizer and you think a little cash and some swag can help your group grow please do apply to the program here.

Finally, a shout out to RBelgium that postponed its meeting scheduled for this week, but will pick up again on 12/16 and to RLyon meeting on 11/27.