Day 2 focused on translating the vision of composable science into clear values, narratives, and value propositions. We began with Neanderthal poetry a playful exercise that used simple language to distill complex ideas, surfacing foundational themes like reuse, recognition, transparency, and collaboration. These themes carried into our ad-lib value proposition exercise, where participants crafted statements linking specific audiences with actionable benefits—helping shift the conversation from ideals to real-world relevance. A values exercise further grounded the group in shared principles like openness over control and empowerment over suppression. In the afternoon, participants wrote Story Spines, tracing transformations in science from closed, siloed systems to collaborative, modular, and iterative practices. These stories brought emotional clarity to the movement, painting a future where science is faster, more inclusive, and more useful to society. We closed the day with rapid-fire pitches that demonstrated how these ideas could take shape in real-world tools, labs, and policies—marking a shift from inspiration to activation.

Purpose Poetry¶

To ground our big ideas in simplicity and creativity, we used a playful exercise we called Neanderthal poetry. The idea was to take the complex, often jargon-filled language of “composable science” and break it down into its simplest, clearest terms—language that anyone could understand. But this exercise wasn’t just for fun (it was though!). It revealed the core principles of what we’re trying to build: a scientific ecosystem that is accessible, collaborative, and adaptable.

The poems brought out essential values like reuse and remixing—science as small, modular pieces (the bits) that others can easily build upon. They highlighted the importance of recognition and attribution, making sure that credit is clear and contributions are visible. Themes of transparency and trust emerged, with a collective desire for open systems where work can be verified and skepticism can be addressed. The poetry emphasized real collaboration means making it easy for anyone to join, contribute, and build on the work.

There was a strong undercurrent of iteration and evolution, showing how progress often comes from trying, learning, and improving over time. And importantly, the poems injected a sense of playfulness and fun—reminding us that the future of science communication doesn’t have to be dry or bureaucratic; it can be energizing, creative, and joyful.

Split ideas in parts, make it quick. Share with all to help us learn. Run the code, track the choice, mix them up to help us learn. Put in graph, meet new friends to help us learn.

Here are a few snippets that captured the spirit of the exercise Table 1:

• “Peeps make small bits of work—a pic, chart or code. Each bit is made to be used and built on by other peeps.”
• “We have bit. She have bit. They have bit. I have bit; me use bit from him. She used bit from me. They used bit from her. One bit good. Two bit great. Lots of bits.”
• “Break down each piece we know. Share with all friends. Mix and build new tales. All give help and praise.”
• “Split ideas in parts, make it quick. Share with all to help us learn. Run the code, track the choice, mix them up to help us learn.”

Through these simple, punchy lines, we surfaced the both values and core concepts of the movement we are building together.

Value Propositions¶

After grounding ourselves in shared purpose through the poetry exercise, we shifted gears to explore how to clearly communicate the value of the ideas emerging in the room. Using a simple fill-in-the-blank structure, we crafted focused statements that captured who composable science is for, what it enables, and why it matters:

COMPOSABLE SCIENCE helps (someone) who needs (something) by (action you provide) so that (an outcome can happen).

This exercise challenged us to move from broad ideals to clear, actionable use cases. While some early attempts drifted toward vague or overly grand outcomes—“so that the world can thrive”—others began to point toward concrete, compelling use cases. Key themes included: enabling teams to work more iteratively and transparently; creating creditable, reusable artifacts that support career advancement; and allowing researchers to remix and repurpose prior work to accelerate discovery. Several propositions also recognized the needs of resource-constrained researchers, contributors who lack formal authorship, and funders or leaders seeking to scale innovation ecosystems. The strongest statements focused on actionable value—such as faster collaboration, better attribution, and more effective knowledge transfer—anchored in real-world scientific challenges.

Composable science helps researchers and contributors who need to collaborate, get credit, and build on prior work by exposing, structuring, and sharing modular research components so that science becomes more iterative, inclusive, impactful, reproducible, and faster.

Values Exercise¶

After the poetry exercise, we asked participants to define the core values they believe should guide the composable science movement—not as abstract ideals, but as compasses for real decisions. Each person offered a value (e.g. reuse, collaboration, transparency, empowerment) and identified its opposite (e.g. finished, selfishness, gatekeeping, suppression). This exercise surfaced a shared belief that changing how science is built and shared means changing the culture that underpins it.

Story Spines¶

After framing the values, value proposition and simple language we used the Story Spine framework—a simple storytelling structure—to imagine how the future of science might unfold. Each individual followed the format:

• Once upon a time ... [What Was]
• Until one day ... [Moment of change]
• Ever since then ... [What is / will be]

This exercise helped translate abstract concepts into relatable narratives, grounding our ideas in emotional clarity and shared purpose. Through these stories, participants envisioned a shift from closed, individualistic, and slow-moving systems to ones defined by openness, iteration, collaboration, and trust.

ONCE UPON A TIME we lived in a world of dark research. Data sets and unfinished projects in file drawers never seeing the light of day because researchers were afraid to share something small and were waiting for the BIG thing. UNTIL ONE DAY one lab group at a time started changing their culture of how they shared - making it safe to share the small insights in a way that they could build on and collaborate and remix. EVER SINCE THEN the researchers saw that they were moving faster, able to see, explore and recombine insights to get to the bigger ideas together.

Common threads emerged across stories:

From Isolation to Collaboration

Scientists moved from hoarding data and fearing competition to sharing early and working as teams—across labs, disciplines, and borders.

From Publication Bottlenecks to Modular Sharing

The traditional journal article was replaced by modular, reusable components like datasets, code, and visualizations—shared in real time and remixable by others.

From Rigid Metrics to Recognition of Contribution

A new system of credit acknowledged diverse roles, enabling everyone—from graduate students to software engineers—to receive meaningful recognition.

From Opaque Decisions to Evidence in Action

Policymakers, funders, and the public gained access to executable evidence they could explore, query, and trust—closing the gap between research and real-world impact.

From Fear and Scarcity to Trust and Reuse

Many stories described a culture shift, where researchers no longer feared being scooped, but instead saw value in being part of a larger, connected community.

Whether grounded in institutional change, infrastructure, or individual action, each story painted a picture of what science could become if we embraced composability—not just in how we share knowledge, but in how we build community, culture, and trust.

Pitches¶

We then wrapped up the event by creating 3 minute pitches using a “Show Don’t Tell” framework.