OPEnS Guide to Sites and Management Tools

OPEnS Lab Website

The OPEnS Lab’s website is a base for general lab information and a landing page for general world-wide incoming traffic. As a staff member, you will not edit the website but you may use it for reference and information. What you will find on the website:

• Overview of the lab
• List of team members and bios
• List and descriptions of our equipment
• Information about lab access and safety
• Calendar and Lab Events (displays when staff will be in the lab, and team meeting times)
• A place for people (staff & non-staff) to schedule time with equipment

GitHub Wiki

The GitHub Wiki is where you will put the description and updates for your project. This is a technical interface between your project and the rest of the world (stakeholders, open source community, etc...). The wiki is also an internal resource for staff members. Various guides and documents are posted in our different resource pages.

Your project team is responsible for:

• Keeping information on your project’s wiki page up to date
• Posting updates on your project’s update page at a minimum every other week Templates for each of these can be found here: Project Page, Update Page

Project pages should be a full overview of your project and its goals. Updates should be brief and descriptive. Updates are not for internal discussion and minor issues, remember this is all front facing towards the public.

For a great example of a project page and updates, reference the project eDNA Sampler.

GitHub Repository

Each project has a repository in the OPEnS GitHub. These repositories are used for posting external facing code, design files, and documentation for download and use. Make sure to include a link to your project wiki page. This will eventually be packaged up in a DOI snapshot by Zenodo to use as part of publication material (paper material for HardwareX for example).

Basecamp

Basecamp is the OPEnS lab’s project management tool. On the Message board for the full lab, you will find any lab wide announcements, general/administrative to dos, and a schedule for lab wide meetings and cleaning term to term. The Campfire chat on the full lab board is for general lab discussion: think of it as a slack channel.

Each project also has an individual project board on basecamp. Within these project boards, teams are expected to:

• Have general discussions about the project in campfire (rather than a ping) so that the lab director and full project team may see them
• Post major announcements or findings on the projects message board
• List all tasks that need to be completed for the project in organized to do lists. To be updated in weekly meetings with the lab director.
  • To dos should have assigned names, “when done, notify Chet,” descriptions and any findings or documentation that result in the tasks completion should be noted / shared in a comment on that task before it is checked off as a completed to do.

Google Drive

The OPEnS Lab shared drive is a location for projects, and the lab, to organize documentation. The Google Drive is fully used for internal documentation. Items in the drive are either works in progress (not posted to Github) or documents not for the public (such as meeting minutes or rough drafts). Each project has a folder to store their documents in. This is also where any administrative documents such as the shopping list, logos, equipment lists and various guides are stored.