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A Data Carpentry Workshop

McMaster University

December 14 - 15, 2017

9:00 am - 5:00 pm

Instructors: Jake Szamosi, Ben Bolker

Registration

Registration for this workshop must be done in advance and costs $20. You can sign up on Eventbrite. We encourage PIs to cover the cost of the workshop for their trainees out of grants wherever possible. If payment by credit card or p-card is not possible, please email us to arrange to pay with a grant number.

General Information

Data Carpentry workshops are for any researcher who has data they want to analyze, and no prior computational experience is required. This hands-on workshop teaches basic concepts, skills and tools for working more effectively with data.

We will cover Data organization in spreadsheets and OpenRefine, Git and GitHub, Introduction to R and Data management and visualization in R. Participants should bring their laptops and plan to participate actively. By the end of the workshop learners should be able to more effectively manage and analyze data and be able to apply the tools and approaches directly to their ongoing research.

Who: The course is aimed at graduate students, post-docs, and PIs who want to improve their data management and analysis skills. You don't need to have any previous knowledge of the tools that will be presented at the workshop.

Where: Hamilton Hall room 102, McMaster University, 1280 Main St. W, Hamiton, ON. Get directions with OpenStreetMap or Google Maps.

Requirements: Participants must bring a laptop with a Mac, Linux, or Windows operating sytem (not a tablet, Chromebook, etc.) that they have administrative privileges on. They should have a few specific software packages installed (listed below). They are also required to abide by Data Carpentry's Code of Conduct.

We expect all participants to come with all needed software installed. If you have trouble, or would like help with, installing any of the software, please attend our software installation party. Location and time TBD.

Accessibility: We are committed to making this workshop accessible to everybody. The workshop organisers have checked that:

  • The room is wheelchair / scooter accessible.
  • Accessible restrooms are available.

Materials will be provided in advance of the workshop; please notify the organizers in advance if you need large-print handouts.

Contact: Please mail Jake at szamosjc@mcmaster.ca for more information.


Preliminary Schedule

Surveys

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

Pre-workshop Survey

Post-workshop Survey

Thursday, December 14

Morning Data organization in spreadsheets and OpenRefine
Afternoon Git and GitHub

Friday, December 15

Morning Introduction to R
Afternoon Data management and visualization in R

Etherpad: http://pad.software-carpentry.org/2017-12-14-McMaster.
We will use this Etherpad for chatting, taking notes, and sharing URLs and bits of code.


Syllabus

Spreadsheets and Open Refine

Version Control with Git

  • Creating a repository
  • Recording changes to files
  • Ignoring files
  • Working on the web
  • Viewing changes
  • Resolving conflicts
  • Open licenses
  • Reference...

Introduction to R

Data Manipulation and Visualization in R


Setup

To participate in a Data Carpentry workshop, you will need working copies of the described software. Please make sure to install everything before the start of the workshop. Participants should bring and use their own laptops to insure the proper setup of tools for an efficient workflow once you leave the workshop.

Please follow these Setup Instructions.

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.