Improvements in biotechnological and computational approaches to investigate microbiomes have become more robust and economically feasible over the last several years. The resulting data explosion has also lead to a commensurate rise in novel analytical approaches to parse and analyze this data. The rapidly developing field of microbiome (data) science has left many life-science programs unable to provide relevant training needs, resulting in gaps between theory and practice. To address this, many online communities have risen to the challenge. Here, I will highlight how successful communities help create an intrinsic rather than extrinsic motivation in engagement and learning.
