CommunityData:Onboarding Checklist

From CommunityData

Welcome! This page walks you through getting set up in the CDSC and by CommunityData:Introduction to CDSC Resources. You'll be referring this page a a few times as you set things up.

Note: Doing all of these things might take you a few hours. Please plan accordingly!

IRC[edit]

We use IRC for chat.

  • [TODO] Read the CommunityData:IRC page for info.
  • [TODO] log onto IRC for the first time / set up your choice of IRC client
  • [TODO] create and register your nick
  • [TODO] join #communitydata and #communitydata-casual
  • [TODO] say hello to folks in the group!

You might run into problems or struggles with the rest of the things on the list. You will definitely run into places where you need to ask your faculty advisor or someone else to help do something. As you work through this list, you should feel free to ask others on the #communitydata IRC channel for help. When you need a specific person (like your advisor) to do something, you should just send them a private message by IRC!

Wiki[edit]

Welcome to this wiki!

  • [TODO] create a wiki account
  • [TODO] Once you do, send a note to a more senior group member with your username (perhaps on IRC?!) and we'll grant your account some privileges (to help ensure none of your edits get caught up in our spam filters and so that you don't have to solve CAPTCHAs any more!) Details for the person adding your account are on CommunityData:Wiki)
  • [TODO] add information and a picture of yourself to the People page. To add a picture of yourself you need to scroll to the bottom of the people page and click tools. Select "UploadFile" and upload your file. From there name your jpg and save the name. After you upload your file open another tab and add your info to the people page under the correct category. Insert "
    File:YOURFILENAME.JPG
    YOURCAPTION.
    " and edit the jpg part with your filename. Save it and you should have photo uploaded. Press edit on this part to see the formatting of how to save your file.

Now that you're on the wiki, there are a few optional but highly recommended steps:

  • If you notice things that are wrong or that could be better, please go ahead and edit these instructions or this page (or any other pages!) on the wiki!
  • If you want to use this checklist as a checklist, you can click the Edit button on this page and copy the page "source" into your userspace (just add something like "User:Benjamin Mako Hill/Checklist"—except with your name in the URL—and then copy-and-paste the text into that new page; then you can you can just start changing all the {{todo}} items to {{done}}).

Email[edit]

  • [TODO] Read over email lists to familiarize yourself with the email lists.
  • [TODO] Sign up for your local collective-LOCATION email list. Once you subscribe to one of these lists, you will also be on the collective@communitydata.science (the full group) list. The first message you send will typically need to be approved by the administrator (i.e., the faculty supervisor) of the list you are joining.
  • [TODO] Once you are on the list, verify that you can send mail to it by sending a message introducing yourself. Perhaps you can link to or share your text from the People page on the wiki?

Shared group calendar[edit]


Zotero[edit]

We use Zotero for keeping track of citations and notes.

  • [TODO] Install Zotero on your laptop as well as the Zotero connector.
  • [TODO] Ask your advisor or the faculty you are working with to add you to the Zotero group (you will need to share the username of your Zotero account)
  • [TODO] Carefully read the CommunityData:Zotero page and follow those instructions to add one new source to the repository.

Git[edit]

NOTE: We are migrating our git resources to new software, please skip this until that is resolved (as of 9/5/2024)

  • [TODO] Read over the CommunityData:Git page (it's OK if you don't follow everything)
  • [TODO] Following the instructions on that page, install Git on your computer and then following the other steps on Configuring Git for submodules
  • [TODO] Generate a public SSH key on your computer and then share that key with one of the CDSC git administrators (your faculty supervisor will work)
  • [TODO] once this is finshed, follow the instructions to clone the cdsc_examples_repository git repository

Overleaf[edit]

We use Overleaf for writing research papers---it gives us a shared platform for editing documents using scientific typesetting and styling (e.g. discussion here.

  • [TODO] Create an account on Overleaf (https://overleaf.com) and be ready to share the email address
  • Only if/when your faculty advisor has requested it, contact User:Aaronshaw to be added to the group "pro" account. The pro account isn't necessary to use Overleaf so we typically only do this when we need to.
    • UW Students: UW provides pro accounts for students, faculty and staff. Just link your account to your UW email address following the guide here.
    • Purdue students: Purdue provides pro accounts for students and faculty. Just link your account to your Purdue email address at this URL.

Useful information for group contacts etc.[edit]

Group Blog[edit]

We blog to share our work with the world—and we want everyone to be able to pitch in. Our blog is https://blog.communitydata.science/

  • [TODO] You should create an account by asking your faculty supervisor to create an account by telling them (a) your email address and you preferred username.

UW Specific Requests[edit]

Optional Next Steps[edit]

  • Ask your faculty member on IRC to be added to the social media accounts
    • If you would like access to the group Twitter, you will need to share your existing Twitter account
    • If you like access to the group Youtube, you will need to send your existing Google account
  • Become familiar with any servers or computational resources relevant to your work
  • If you want write access to the Google Calendar, ask your faculty supervisor to add yourself to the list.
  • You might like to get set up in our dataverse to archive code and data for the awesome papers you'll surely be generating.

Investigate some pieces of group culture[edit]