General Information

Data Carpentry develops and teaches workshops on the fundamental data skills needed to conduct research. Its target audience is researchers who have little to no prior computational experience, and its lessons are domain specific, building on learners' existing knowledge to enable them to quickly apply skills learned to their own research. Participants will be encouraged to help one another and to apply what they have learned to their own research problems.

For more information on what we teach and why, please see our paper "Good Enough Practices for Scientific Computing".

Who: The course is aimed at graduate students and other researchers. You don't need to have any previous knowledge of the tools that will be presented at the workshop.

Where: This training will take place online. The instructors will provide you with the infromation you will need to connect to this meeting.

When: July 8-10,13,15, & 17th, 2020 . Add to your Google Calendar.

Requirements: Participants must bring a laptop with a Mac, Linux, or Windows operating system (not a tablet, Chromebook, etc.) that they have administrative privileges on. They should have a few specific software packages installed (listed below).

Accessibility: We are dedicated to providing a positive and accessible learning environment for all. Please notify the instructors in advance of the workshop if you require any accommodations or if there is anything we can do to make this workshop more accessible to you.

Contact: Please email kassam.altaf@gene.com for more information.

Roles: To learn more about the roles at the workshop (who will be doing what), refer to our Workshop FAQ.

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Code of Conduct

Everyone who participates in Carpentries activities is required to conform to the Code of Conduct. This document also outlines how to report an incident if needed.

Report a Code of Conduct Incident

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Surveys

Please be sure to complete these surveys before and after the workshop.

Pre-workshop Survey

Post-workshop Survey

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Schedule

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Syllabus

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Setup

To participate in a Data Carpentry workshop, you will need access to the software described below. In addition, you will need an up-to-date web browser.

We maintain a list of common issues that occur during installation as a reference for instructors that may be useful on the Configuration Problems and Solutions wiki page.

The setup instructions for the Data Carpentry Ecology workshops (with R) can be found at the workshop overview site.

Slack

During the workshop, we will use Slack as a place for learners to ask questions, get help, and participate in polls. You will receive an invitation to join the Slack workplace via Instructor, Eve Bohnett. If you have not yet received this email, please contact workshop host: Altaf Kassam

Spreadsheet Program

To interact with spreadsheets, we can use LibreOffice, Microsoft Excel, Gnumeric, OpenOffice.org, or other programs. Commands may differ a bit between programs, but the general ideas for thinking about spreadsheets are the same. For this workshop, we recommend using either Microsoft Excel (paid software) or LibreOffice (free and open source). Other spreadsheet programs may not have all of the features we will be exploring in this workshop.

To install LibreOffice, go to their download page . The website should automatically select the correct option for your operating system. Click the "Download" button. You will go to a page that asks about a donation, but you don’t need to make one. Your download should begin automatically. Once the installer is downloaded, double click on it (you may need to open your Downloads folder) and LibreOffice should install.

Open Refine

OpenRefine is a Java program that runs on your local machine (not on the cloud). Although it displays in your browser, no web connection is needed and your data remains local. You need to have a ‘Java Runtime Environment’ (JRE) installed on your computer to run OpenRefine. If you don’t already have one installed then you can download and install from http://java.com by going to the site and clicking “Free Java Download”.

To install OpenRefine, go to their download page . From the download page, select either "Windows kit", "Mac kit", or "Linux kit" - depending on your operating system - and follow the instructions next to your download link. This lesson has been tested with all versions of OpenRefine up to the latest tested version, 3.2. **If you are using an older version, it is recommended you upgrade to the latest tested version.** After installing, you can delete the installer `.dmg` file.

You may get an error message: "OpenRefine.app can't be opened because it is from an unidentified developer." If you get this message, open your system preferences and click "Security & Privacy". You will see a message "OpenRefine.app was blocked from opening because it is from an unidentified developer." Click "Open Anyway" and "Yes". OpenRefine should open in your default web browser.

OpenRefine does not support Internet Explorer or Edge. Please use Firefox, Chrome or Safari instead.