Genomics Data Carpentry, University of New Orleans

May 16-17

9:30 am - 5:00 pm

Instructors: Kapeel Chougule, Jason Williams

Helpers: TBA

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: 2000 Lakeshore Dr, New Orleans, LA. Get directions with OpenStreetMap or Google Maps.

When: May 16-17.

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). They are also required to abide by Data Carpentry's Code of Conduct.

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

Materials will be provided in advance of the workshop and large-print handouts are available if needed by notifying the organizers in advance. If we can help making learning easier for you (e.g. sign-language interpreters, lactation facilities) please get in touch (using contact details below) and we will attempt to provide them.

Contact: Please email williams@cshl.edu for more information.


Surveys

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

Pre-workshop Survey

Post-workshop Survey


Schedule




We will use this collaborative document for chatting, taking notes, and sharing URLs and bits of code.


Setup

To participate in a Data Carpentry workshop, you will need working copies of the software described below. Please make sure to install everything and try opening it to make sure it works before the start of your workshop. If you run into any problems, please feel free to email the instructor or arrive early to your workshop on the first day. Participants should bring and use their own laptops to insure the proper setup of tools for an efficient workflow once you leave the workshop.

Platform-specific Notes

This workshop will be using the software outlined in the install instructions below. Please see the section for your operating system for those directions.

Windows

Please go through all the installation steps below and make sure that you not only installed them, but start them up to make sure they're working. If you have any problems, don't hesitate to email the instructors to ask for help, or arrive early on the first day of the workshop to get help.

  1. A spreadsheet program

  2. For this workshop you will need a spreadsheet program. Many people already have Microsoft Excel installed, and if you do, you're set!
    If you need a spreadsheet program, there are a few other options, like OpenOffice and LibreOffice. Install instructions for LibreOffice, which is free and open source, are here.
    • Download the Installer
      Install LibreOffice by going to the installation page. The version for Windows should automatically be selected. Click Download Version 6.0.3 or later. You will go to a page that asks about a donation, but you don't need to make one. Your download should begin automatically.
    • Install LibreOffice
      Once the installer is downloaded, double click on it and it should install.
    • To use LibreOffice, double click on the icon and it will open.
  3. Putty

  4. You will need a terminal program to access the AWS Cloud/HPC cluster.
    • Go to the Putty download page
    • Click on putty.exe link to download the install file
    • To use it, double-click on the downloaded file
    • Follow any installation instructions, if any
  5. FTP Client (Filezilla)

  6. An FTP client will help you transfer files easily between your computer and the cloud.
    • Go to the Filezila download page
    • Chose the download link appropriate to your system
    • To use it, double-click on the downloaded file
    • Follow any installation instructions, if any
    • At the workshop we will give you additional information (e.g. host, username, port) to connect
  7. R

  8. In the workshop, we will use RStudio. RStudio is a nice interface to the programming language R. To use RStudio, you need to install both R and RStudio.
    • Download R from here
    • Run the .exe file that was just downloaded
    • Go to the RStudio Download page
    • Under Installers select RStudio 1.1.447 or later - Windows XP/Vista/7/8
    • Double click the file to install it
    • Once it's installed, open RStudio to make sure it works and you don't get any error messages.
  9. IGV
    If time permits, we will use The Broad Institute's IGV (Integrated Genome Viewer) for looking at SAM and BAM files, SNPs, and variant calls.
    • To download IGV, please visit this page and log in. Please register if you do not already have a login.
    • Click on the large button for the Download Binary Distribution
    • Find the zip archive on your computer and expand it
    • To run IGV, double-click on the IGV.bat file.

Mac

Please go through all the installation steps below and make sure that you not only installed them, but start them up to make sure they're working. If you have any problems, don't hesitate to email the instructors to ask for help, or arrive early on the first day of the workshop to get help.

  1. A spreadsheet program
    For this workshop you will need a spreadsheet program. Many people already have Microsoft Excel installed, and if you do, you're set!
    If you need a spreadsheet program, there are a few other options, like OpenOffice and LibreOffice. Install instructions for LibreOffice, which is free and open source, are here.
    • Download the Installer
      Install LibreOffice by going to the installation page. The version for Mac should automatically be selected. Click Download Version 6.0.3 or later. You will go to a page that asks about a donation, but you don't need to make one. Your download should begin automatically.
    • Install LibreOffice
      Once the installer is downloaded, double click on it and it should install.
    • To use LibreOffice, double click on the icon and it will open.

  2. FTP Client (Filezilla)
    An FTP client will help you transfer files easily between your computer and the cloud.
    • Go to the Filezila download page
    • Chose the download link appropriate to your system
    • To use it, double-click on the downloaded file
    • Follow any installation instructions, if any
    • At the workshop we will give you additional information (e.g. host, username, port) to connect
  3. R
    In the workshop, we will use RStudio. RStudio is a nice interface to the programming language R. To use RStudio, you need to install both R and RStudio.
    • Go to CRAN and click on Download R for (Mac) OS X
    • Select the .pkg file for the version of OS X that you have and the file will download.
    • Double click on the file that was downloaded and R will install
    • Go to the RStudio Download page
    • Under Installers select RStudio 1.1.447 or later - Mac OS X 10.6+ (64-bit) to download it.
    • Once it's downloaded, double click the file to install it
    • Once it's installed, open RStudio to make sure it works and you don't get any error messages.

  4. IGV

  5. If time permits, we will use The Broad Institute's IGV (Integrated Genome Viewer) for looking at SAM and BAM files, SNPs, and variant calls.

    • To download IGV, please visit this page and log in. Please register if you do not already have a login.
    • Click on the large button for the Download Binary Distribution
    • Find the zip archive on your computer and expand it
    • To run IGV, double-click on the IGV.bat file.

Linux

Please go through all the installation steps below and make sure that you not only installed them, but start them up to make sure they're working. If you have any problems, don't hesitate to email the instructors to ask for help, or arrive early on the first day of the workshop to get help.

  1. A spreadsheet program
    For this workshop you will need a spreadsheet program. Many people already have Microsoft Excel installed, and if you do, you're set!
    If you need a spreadsheet program, there are a few other options, like OpenOffice and LibreOffice. Install instructions for LibreOffice, which is free and open source, are here.
    • Download the Installer
      Install LibreOffice by going to the installation page. The version for Linux should automatically be selected. Click Download Version 6.0.3 or later. You will go to a page that asks about a donation, but you don't need to make one. Your download should begin automatically.
    • Install LibreOffice
      Once the installer is downloaded, double click on it and it should install.
    • To use LibreOffice, double click on the icon and it will open.
  2. FTP Client (Filezilla)
    An FTP client will help you transfer files easily between your computer and the cloud.
    • Go to the Filezila download page
    • Chose the download link appropriate to your system
    • To use it, double-click on the downloaded file
    • Follow any installation instructions, if any
    • At the workshop we will give you additional information (e.g. host, username, port) to connect

  3. R
    In the workshop, we will use RStudio. RStudio is a nice interface to the programming language R. To use RStudio, you need to install both R and RStudio.
    • R is available through most Linux package managers. You can download the binary files for your distribution from CRAN. Or you can use your package manager (e.g. for Debian/Ubuntu run sudo apt-get install r-base and for Fedora run sudo yum install R).
    • To install RStudi, go to the RStudio Download page
    • Under Installers select the version for your distribution.
    • Once it's downloaded, double click the file to install it
    • Once it's installed, open RStudio to make sure it works and you don't get any error messages.

  4. IGV
    If time permits, we will use The Broad Institute's IGV (Integrated Genome Viewer) for looking at SAM and BAM files, SNPs, and variant calls.
    • To download IGV, please visit this page and log in. Please register if you do not already have a login.
    • Click on the large button for the Download Binary Distribution
    • Find the zip archive on your computer and expand it
    • To run IGV, double-click on the IGV.bat file.