Science platform and user support

The US Extremely Large Telescope Program (US-ELTP) is a joint endeavor of NSF's NOIRLab and the organizations building the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) and the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT). It will provide all US astronomers the opportunity to use this powerful, bi-hemispheric ELT system and to conduct research using archived data from GMT and TMT.

The US-ELTP is currently developing their plans for data services and science platforms (SP). Current users such as yourself of existing SPs, like NOIRLab's Astro Data Lab and Rubin Science Platform (RSP), already have significant experience. Thanks for taking this short survey (less than 10 minutes) to help the US-ELTP in understanding the science platform needs of the community, including needed user support and training.

Question Title

* 1. How often do you use a science platform such as, e.g., NOIRLab's Astro Data Lab or Rubin's RSP?

Never

Rarely

Occasionally

Frequently

Question Title

* 2. How important are the data services provided by science platforms for your current and/or future research?

Not important

Of little importance

Important

Essential

Question Title

* 3. What are your main use cases for a science platform? (Please check all that apply)

Getting catalog data

Getting images / image cutouts

Cross-matching my data against large catalogs

Using Jupyter notebooks close to the remote data

Using personal remote file storage

Using personal remote DBs

Data discovery (on website)

Sharing data with collaborators

Other (please specify)

Question Title

* 4. How useful to you are the following forms of user support with respect to science platforms?

	Not useful	Somehow useful	Quite useful	Very useful	Have not tried
Online help forum where users and the science platform team can post	Online help forum where users and the science platform team can post Not useful	Online help forum where users and the science platform team can post Somehow useful	Online help forum where users and the science platform team can post Quite useful	Online help forum where users and the science platform team can post Very useful	Online help forum where users and the science platform team can post Have not tried
Online FAQ	Online FAQ Not useful	Online FAQ Somehow useful	Online FAQ Quite useful	Online FAQ Very useful	Online FAQ Have not tried
Q&A	Q&A Not useful	Q&A Somehow useful	Q&A Quite useful	Q&A Very useful	Q&A Have not tried
Live chat (e.g., Slack)	Live chat (e.g., Slack) Not useful	Live chat (e.g., Slack) Somehow useful	Live chat (e.g., Slack) Quite useful	Live chat (e.g., Slack) Very useful	Live chat (e.g., Slack) Have not tried
Support via email	Support via email Not useful	Support via email Somehow useful	Support via email Quite useful	Support via email Very useful	Support via email Have not tried
Support via social media (e.g., Twitter)	Support via social media (e.g., Twitter) Not useful	Support via social media (e.g., Twitter) Somehow useful	Support via social media (e.g., Twitter) Quite useful	Support via social media (e.g., Twitter) Very useful	Support via social media (e.g., Twitter) Have not tried
Issue tracking on GitHub	Issue tracking on GitHub Not useful	Issue tracking on GitHub Somehow useful	Issue tracking on GitHub Quite useful	Issue tracking on GitHub Very useful	Issue tracking on GitHub Have not tried
Organized hack sessions	Organized hack sessions Not useful	Organized hack sessions Somehow useful	Organized hack sessions Quite useful	Organized hack sessions Very useful	Organized hack sessions Have not tried
Assistance at science meetings	Assistance at science meetings Not useful	Assistance at science meetings Somehow useful	Assistance at science meetings Quite useful	Assistance at science meetings Very useful	Assistance at science meetings Have not tried
Virtual office hours	Virtual office hours Not useful	Virtual office hours Somehow useful	Virtual office hours Quite useful	Virtual office hours Very useful	Virtual office hours Have not tried

If any useful form of user support is missing, please let us know:

Question Title

* 5. How useful to you are the following forms of user training at science platforms?

	Not useful	Somehow useful	Quite useful	Very useful	Have not tried
Online documentation	Online documentation Not useful	Online documentation Somehow useful	Online documentation Quite useful	Online documentation Very useful	Online documentation Have not tried
Tutorial videos	Tutorial videos Not useful	Tutorial videos Somehow useful	Tutorial videos Quite useful	Tutorial videos Very useful	Tutorial videos Have not tried
Example computational notebooks	Example computational notebooks Not useful	Example computational notebooks Somehow useful	Example computational notebooks Quite useful	Example computational notebooks Very useful	Example computational notebooks Have not tried
Demos at scientific meetings	Demos at scientific meetings Not useful	Demos at scientific meetings Somehow useful	Demos at scientific meetings Quite useful	Demos at scientific meetings Very useful	Demos at scientific meetings Have not tried
Annual instructional workshop	Annual instructional workshop Not useful	Annual instructional workshop Somehow useful	Annual instructional workshop Quite useful	Annual instructional workshop Very useful	Annual instructional workshop Have not tried
Recorded training sessions	Recorded training sessions Not useful	Recorded training sessions Somehow useful	Recorded training sessions Quite useful	Recorded training sessions Very useful	Recorded training sessions Have not tried
Step-by-step command-line tutorials	Step-by-step command-line tutorials Not useful	Step-by-step command-line tutorials Somehow useful	Step-by-step command-line tutorials Quite useful	Step-by-step command-line tutorials Very useful	Step-by-step command-line tutorials Have not tried
Organized workshops at meetings (e.g., AAS)	Organized workshops at meetings (e.g., AAS) Not useful	Organized workshops at meetings (e.g., AAS) Somehow useful	Organized workshops at meetings (e.g., AAS) Quite useful	Organized workshops at meetings (e.g., AAS) Very useful	Organized workshops at meetings (e.g., AAS) Have not tried

If any useful form of user training is missing, please let us know:

Question Title

* 6. Most science platforms offer a Jupyter notebook environment that allows remote computation close to the large data. If you are using Jupyter notebooks, please indicate your most common use cases. (Please check all that apply)

Data exploration

Obtaining data (from catalogs or image collections)

Crossmatching of my data

Image search

Visualization

Accessing my remote file storage or my database tables

Coding

Machine learning

Education / outreach activities

Teaching students

Collaboration with others

Science platform and user support

Question Title

* 1. How often do you use a science platform such as, e.g., NOIRLab's Astro Data Lab or Rubin's RSP?

Question Title

* 2. How important are the data services provided by science platforms for your current and/or future research?

Question Title

* 3. What are your main use cases for a science platform? (Please check all that apply)

Question Title

* 4. How useful to you are the following forms of user support with respect to science platforms?

Question Title

* 5. How useful to you are the following forms of user training at science platforms?

Question Title

* 6. Most science platforms offer a Jupyter notebook environment that allows remote computation close to the large data. If you are using Jupyter notebooks, please indicate your most common use cases. (Please check all that apply)

Question Title

* 7. Please share with us any further comments about science platforms and user support that you feel are not covered by the previous questions.