In September 2021, the Rubin Community Engagement Team (CET) invited Data Preview 0 (DP0) delegates to provide feedback about their experiences using the CET’s DP0.1 support resources. A total of 86 (out of >200) delegates responded to the survey. The purpose of this post is to summarize the top complaints and action items for the CET.
Overall, the survey results were extremely positive with only a handful of delegates identifying issues. Most of the respondents affirmed that the core DP0 support resources (e.g., kick-off info sessions, documentation, tutorial notebooks, Delegate Assemblies, and Community Forum) were serving them well, if at first the amount of information was overwhelming for some. The CET would like to sincerely thank all the delegates for their suggestions and for their kind words of gratitude for the Rubin CET.
Below is an aggregated list of the top complaints that the CET received via the feedback survey, and the action being taken by the CET to mitigate these issues. Please contact Melissa Graham if you have any further comments or specific issues not resolved by the actions below.
1. The Community Forum remains confusing to some users.
Action: Other respondents report that after spending more time in the Forum they now find it really useful, which indicates that increased use of the Forum would help to alleviate the confusion. To facilitate this, the CET has created a video tour of the Community Forum to demonstrate its functionality, showcase its benefits, and promote its use.
2. Scheduling live virtual sessions for a global community remains a timezone challenge for some delegates.
Action: The CET remains committed to recording the presentations given during the live Delegate Assemblies, posting those recordings asap, and promoting use of asynchronous communication tools like the Community Forum. Although breakout discussions and collaborative working sessions during Assemblies are not recorded, the CET can help any delegates to set up virtual meeting spaces and to organize Rubin staff presence for delegate-run sessions at delegate-selected times (contact Melissa Graham).
3. Additional beginner materials are needed by some delegates (how to use, e.g., python, ADQL, GitHub).
Action: Wherever possible, the DP0 tutorials link to external documentation and provide novice-level examples. However, the CET recognizes that the learning curve can be steep for newcomers. Fortunately, this is an area where the rich expertise of the community is a valuable resource, and where delegates can help each other out. To start, the CET has posted new topics in the Community Forum inviting delegates to share their favorite learning resources for python, SQL/ADQL, git, and github. All delegates should feel free to start their own new topics in the Forum to solicit or share scientific learning resources.
4. Some delegates report not knowing what to do with the DP0 data and request additional science demonstrations.
Action: The CET is primarily focused on developing delegates’ skills in using the RSP software and understanding the DP0 data sets, because figuring out what to do with the DP0 data is greatly aided by figuring out how to do it. As a first step, the CET recommends starting with any one of the DP0.1 Tutorials, and then altering the example to be more appropriate for the types of objects you’re most interested in. As with the above item, doing science with the DP0 data set is also an area where the rich expertise of the community is a valuable resource. Towards this end, the CET encourages delegates to:
- join one of the eight LSST Science Collaborations,
- take on one of the suggested delegate activities,
- create or join a DP0 working group,
- post examples of their DP0 science in the DP0 category of the Community Forum, or
- to share code via the DP0.1 delegate contributions repository on GitHub.
5. Some delegates report that they are missing information about how to participate, and some request more email reminders about activities.
Action: A list of the key DP0 resources is provided below. Any delegates looking to get started with DP0 should review the DP0 Kick-Off Info Session recording and the instructions in the DP0 documentation at dp0-1.lsst.io. CET staff will also be sending more frequent reminder messages to the “DP0 Delegates” group in the Forum. To receive these messages as email, in your Community Forum Preferences, under ‘Emails’, ensure that the option “Send me an email when someone messages me” is set to “always”. Also check your spam to see if that’s where the Forum notifications are going.
6. Some delegates report needing lightcurves for their science goals.
Action: None at this time, as difference imaging and data products such as light curves were always out of scope for DP0.1. However, they will be available in June 2022 as a part of the DP0.2 data release, and the CET will make new tutorials available at that time. As a temporary work-around the CET created the tutorial Notebook “Single Star LC with Butler” (which can retrieve all sources detected in all direct images within a given sky coordinate), and the RSP developer team has adjusted the Butler functionality to optimize return times for these kinds of queries.
7. Some delegates expressed dismay at ‘not having enough time’ for DP0.
Action: None at this time, but a reminder that this feedback survey did not mark the “end” of DP0!! There is still lots of time. DP0 will last throughout 2022.
A Reminder of Resources Available for Data Preview 0
- DP0 Kick-Off Info Session slides and recording.
- DP0 documentation at dp0-1.lsst.io.
- DP0.1 data products definitions.
- How to ask questions and get help with DP0 and the Rubin Science Platform (RSP) via the Rubin Community Forum and GitHub issues.
- Optional live virtual Delegate Assemblies featuring hands-on tutorials, discussions, and Q&A with Rubin staff (summaries and recordings are available at that link).
- Tutorials for using the RSP are available in the DP0.1 documentation and in all delegates’ RSP home directories (in
notebooks/tutorial-notebooks/).