1. Report on 2017 DPS Workshops
NaNcy Chanover & Lynn neakrase
PDS Management council F2F
30 November 2017

2. Logistics “Practical Training for Archiving Data in the PDS”
We held two identical workshops at the 2017 DPS meeting in Provo, UT:
Monday October 16, 2:30-4:30 pm
Thursday October 19, 2:30-4:30 pm
“Practical Training for Archiving Data in the PDS”
11/26/2018

3. Motivation
PDS4 is far enough along that we need to educate our data providers
There is an increased demand by data providers (“how do I archive in the PDS?”)
This will save the nodes time and effort in the long run
For DPS, target audience is PDART and other DAP proposers and awardees
”I am proposing for PDART, what do I need to know?”
“I just got funded by PDART, now what?”
11/26/2018

4. Rationale and Approach
We didn’t want to talk AT the audience for 2 hours
We didn’t want the participants to have to install special software, log into a specific machine, rely on the conference venue internet, etc.
We designed a training using these guiding principles:
Develop clear learning objectives FIRST, design content around those LOs
Provide all materials to participants on USB sticks that they keep
Include PPT presentation with more detail than what we will go over in person (to serve as reference material when they go home)
Spend the bulk of the time having the participants DOING STUFF
11/26/2018

5. Rough Agenda Time Activity 2:30 2:45 3:00 4:15 4:25
Introductions, distribute materials, review learning objectives for training session
2:45
Introduction to PDS4, review data structures, walk through label structures
3:00
Exercises for generating LIDs, generating sample bundle
4:15
Recap, describe available tools to help with archive preparation, provide POCs for each node
4:25
Exit survey/feedback form!
11/26/2018

6. Exercise – General Plan
Using MSL/EDL Atmospheric Reconstruction data as sample
General tasks for building a bundle:
Organizing the collection, determining bundle id
Determining which collections will be in the bundle
Editing the XML template files (starting with bundle files)
Filling in context area
Document referencing
Editing collection files
Editing product files
11/26/2018

7. Participation On Monday we had 14 participants and 3 PDS helpers
On Thursday we had 10 participants (8 were PDS personnel!)
Most participants were SBN or ATM customers
A fair number of people came but did not stay for the activity (but took the training materials with them for future reference)
11/26/2018

8. Feedback (N=12) Familiarity with PDS:
little to no prior experience with PDS: 33%
familiar with PDS3 but not PDS4: 33%
some familiarity with PDS4: 33%
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9. Not at all
Extremely well
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10. Too difficult to follow
Too basic
Too difficult to follow
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11. Build-a-Bundle Activity
Totally unclear
Totally clear
Very easy
Very difficult
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12. PDS Presenters/Helpers
PDS presenters and helpers were unanimously deemed to be extremely knowledgeable
PDS presenters and helpers were also uniformly considered to be very helpful as the participants worked through the activity
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13. In conjunction with a scientific conference
held the day before or the day after a scientific conference
camp”-like PDS4 training workshop
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14. 11/26/2018

15. Feedback (1 of 3)
This was useful in providing training materials to supplement our existing progress with the PDS Atmospheres node.
I was extremely happy that this was offered at DPS this year. I have requested such workshops to NASA Program Officers many times.
I am looking forward for a PDS4 Workshop with special emphasis on Geosciences Node.
I would suggest a multiple day workshop only an hour/day following a conference
Need more of an overall view of the PDS and its applicability, in general. Why is PDS4 what it is today?
a 3-minute review/overview of XML could be helpful after the slides and before the exercise starts. Thank you!
11/26/2018

16. Feedback (2 of 3)
I would like to practice how to use the PDS archive, which has been built by previous mission, such as the LRO Diviner data.
Nobody is going to be hand editing xml files. For a complete novice, understanding a tool (even at the black box level) is important - i.e. the structure and all the data that needs to be collected. These workshops I think would be most beneficial to show folks high level tools, or to be at the "under the hood" level for sophisticated programmers / xml experts. As a concrete example, perhaps have different levels of workshops and tell people what skills they should bring.
I wish to get to know the PDS system to prepare a DMP section well for a proposal. I think that one complete example to be filled out by the instructor would be much more helpful to a person who has no background experience or knowledge like me. Or, you can directly describe the breakdowns by taking a full urn from a concrete example on presentation screen. Thanks!
11/26/2018

17. Feedback (3 of 3)
I was expecting a "this is how you use PDS4 to get data" and it was a "this is how you use PDS4 to deposit data". So I think a more basic class with scenarios like to retrieve this one for the bundle. As far as the bundle - I got lost a few times-once in the 'bundle collection section" and the other when starting on the "collection file" Also I know each bundle needs a bundle and a collection file, but I'm not sure why because it seems like it is linked in the bundle area.
Background: Attempted to get data from PDS and just get files names, click on the files and get incomprehensible characters. I have no idea how to actually get useful data from PDS. I go to the mission pages now to try to get the data.
11/26/2018

18. Lessons Learned Logistics: Workshop Contents: Future Plans:
Need tables for people to sit/work (not straight rows of chairs)
Make hard copies of activity so people can write/take notes on them
Workshop Contents:
Preference for workshops held in conjunction with conferences
Received encouraging feedback concerning the activity – best to have participants DO something
Very important to conduct ASSESSMENTS rather than rely on anecdotal feedback
Future Plans:
Would be desirable to have multiple workshop levels(intro/intermediate/advanced)
Need more examples to use in future activities
11/26/2018