TVS Software Workshop II

May 4 & 5, 2022, 8-11am PDT / 11am-2pm EDT / 5-8pm CEST

This workshop will present a number of ongoing projects to develop software necessary for TVS research. In particular, it will feature software under development as International In-Kind contributions to TVS. The goal of the workshop is to solicit input from TVS members regarding the design and functionality required from these projects.

There is no registration fee, and everyone is encouraged to come and bring their ideas to the table.

Registration

Please contact Federica by email or LSST Slack to receive the connection details for this workshop.

There is no registration fee.

Agenda

The workshop format will consist of a 2hr session each day, held in the Gather.Town meeting space.

All plenary sessions will be held in the "West Conference Room" at the top-right the GatherTown meeting space. Entering this room will present you with a Zoom link which you should click to enter the session. After you leave session, the system will return you to the GatherTown meeting.

Attendees can self-organize breakout sessions in any region of the GatherTown map, simply by moving their avatars around the space to a mutually-agreed location.

Please see the GatherTown tab for more information on the meeting space.

Day 1

Plenary Room11am EDTWelcome
Plenary Room11am EDTDiscuss SRD and survey
Independently11:30am EDTReview videos of software projects
Plenary Room12pm EDTSoftware team Q&A
Breakout Rooms12:30pm-2pm EDTBreakout room discussions

Day 2

Plenary Room11am EDTSummaries from the breakout rooms
Plenary Room11:30am EDTDiscussion of LINCC program
Plenary Room12pm-1pm EDTBreakout discussions
Plenary Room1pm-2pm EDTSummaries from the breakout rooms

The workshop will be held using the online meeting platform Gather.Town.

Please register to receive the connection details.

To enter the plenary session: Move your avatar to the top-right of the map and enter the door marked "West Conference Room". This will take you into a conference hall, and you will see a large meeting icon in front of you. You will need to move your avatar close to this icon, to see a pop up instruction "Press x to interact". Press "x", and you will be shown the link to the Zoom room for the plenary session meeting. Click the link to join the session.

Breakout sessions: The map includes several named meeting rooms which are open for use for breakout discussions. None of the rooms are reserved (except the West conference room), and attendees are encouraged to self-organize and nominate a location to meet. There are also numerous tables and smaller meeting spaces provided across the map which you are welcome to use.

New to Gather Town? Please see below for more information on navigating this space, and review the Guest's Guide to Gather Town.

Map of the meeting space

Controls

To move around the virtual meeting space, use your cursor keys or “W, A, S, D” keys

Use the “chat” at lower left to chat with individuals, people “nearby”, or everyone.

To mute or unmute your camera or microphone, click the white camera or microphone symbols over your video window.

The taskbar at the bottom of your display has the following items, reading left-right:

  • Your avatar and your name and status
  • Mini-map: click this to see the entire space. Useful if you get lost.
  • Screen-share: click this to share your screen
  • Reactions (“smiley face”): click this to raise your hand, wave, etc.

The navigation bar at the side of the display has the following controls (top to bottom):

  • Bunch of grapes: Log out of the meeting
  • Cogwheel: User preferences.
  • Hammer: Meeting space configuration - not required
  • Calendar: Meeting events calendar
  • Message individuals, people nearby or the whole meeting
  • Participants: See who else is in the meeting space

If you get really lost, go to settings (the cog icon on left), and scroll down to “respawn” your avatar in the meeting space. If all else fails, you can always close the browser tab or restart the browser, and join the meeting again.

Gathertown documentation can be found here.

Rubin Observatory enforces the AURA Harassment and Code of Conduct Policy. Harassment and unprofessional conduct (including the use of offensive language) of any kind is not permitted at any time and should be reported per the instructions in the Reporting section of this page.

Rubin Science Collaboration members are also expected to adhere to their Collaboration's Codes of Conduct.

Our Values

Rubin Observatory adheres to the following principles in order to provide a learning environment that produces rigor and excellence:

Be Kind

Acting with and encouraging kindness strengthens individuals, relationships, and communities.

Trust

An inclusive, collaborative environment is best achieved when there is mutual trust, based upon honest behavior, throughout the community.

Respect

Inclusive environments foster excellence by challenging us to consider a variety of viewpoints and approaches. We honor alternate viewpoints as opportunities for discussion and learning, and therefore treat others with respect, even if we disagree.

Diversity

In a diverse community, differences between people are recognized and acknowledged as assets. Our community is stronger, more creative, and more innovative because it is fueled by a broad range of ideas and perspectives.

Inclusiveness

Rubin recognizes the importance of actively including and encouraging involvement from all corners; diversity is only a benefit if all members feel empowered to participate. Quoting from the AAS guidelines: "Scientists should work to provide an environment that encourages the free expression and exchange of scientific ideas. They should promote equality of opportunity and fair treatment for all their colleagues, regardless of gender, race, ethnic and national origin (including Indigenous Peoples), religion, age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, disability, veteran status, etc. Scientific ability must be respected wherever it is found."

Inclusive environment

Guidelines are given to presenters encourage them to use color palettes and fonts that are suitable for color-blind and dyslexic participants. Dedicated Slack channels and social platforms with a dedicated hashtag will help people to follow essential parts of the discussions; this meeting's hashtag is #hst-lsst-sci-prep on the LSST Slack Team.

Participants are advised to be mindful and respectful of cultural differences between the participants. Many countries with very different cultural backgrounds, languages, and timezones are represented at this virtual meeting, and it is every participant’s duty to make sure everybody feels welcome in our community. The organizers have made an attempt to schedule the meeting at times that maximize participation across the globe but recognize that the schedule will not be suitable for everyone. Session recordings will be made available.

The program organizers firmly reject all kinds of abusive behavior. The organizers have worked towards providing a welcoming, safe environment that encourages the free expression and exchange of ideas of all the participants. Every attendee is expected to make their individual contribution towards a respectful and inclusive meeting climate. Any discriminatory behavior against colleagues on any basis, such as gender, gender identity, race, ethnic background, national origin, religion, political affiliation, age, marital status, sexual orientation, disabilities or any other reason will not be tolerated during any Rubin Observatory event.

All sessions may be recorded. As a presenter or participant of the meeting, your image and/or your voice may appear in recordings that may be publicly accessible. If you prefer your image not to appear, presenters and participants are welcome to keep the video muted. As a participant, to avoid your voice being recorded you may consider asking questions in the chat or on slack.

Presenters or attendees acting inappropriately or using inappropriate language may be muted (video, voice, chat) or removed from the meeting by the moderator.

Reporting bullying, harassment or aggression at the Workshop

The Program Lead, Rachel Street, (rstreet at lco.global) will act as the designated contact person for reporting instances of bullying, harassment, or aggression.

In the case that an event is reported, and with the approval of the reporting person, the designated contact person will approach the offending person(s) to discuss how their behavior is causing distress to other participants and remind them of the code of conduct applicable to all participants. If more serious measures are needed, the designated contact person should inform the reporting person(s) of the procedure to follow in these cases.

Should a participant witness events of bullying, harassment or aggression, the recommendation is to contact the person who suffered the abuse to show support, ask how they are doing, and possibly suggest for them to talk to one of the designated contact people. The decision to approach the contact person should, however, ultimately be left to the the person who suffered the abuse.

Principles of Engagement

The following are a few basic social rules, adapted from those of the Recurse Center. These rules make explicit certain norms of social behavior that help uphold our values stated in the Code of Conduct above, as well as the ethical guidelines we endorse. If you mess up on any of the below, don’t panic: we all make mistakes sometimes. Apologize, reflect, move forward. If someone points out that you have engaged in this behavior, it can be tempting to become defensive—but instead, apologize, reflect a moment, and move on.

No -isms

We explicitly ban racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and other kinds of bias— whether these behaviors are overt or subtle. Subtle -isms can be particularly tricky, as they are often unconscious behaviors we engage in by mistake, and are sometimes caused by conflicting norms between cultures. To use an example from Recurse, saying "It's so easy my grandmother could do it" is a subtle -ism. Refrain from equating any category of people to a specific behavior.

Raise All Voices

During sessions and discussions, pay attention to who is contributing. Chairs are encouraged to be conscious of their biases and avoid preferentially selecting some people and/or paying attention to only some parts of the room. Discreetly invite contributions from quieter members of the group, making sure you are not embarassing them or drawing undesirable attention (ask "what do junior people think" or "people from smaller colleges" for example) and be conscientious of not dominating the conversation. We understand that it can be exciting to discuss a new idea, but always strive to listen (rather than just wait your turn to speak).

Take time to explain and do not belittle others

In an environment where participants have different backgrounds and knowledge, it is very important that people feel comfortable saying “I don’t know” or “I don’t understand.” Therefore, please do not act surprised when someone says they don’t know something, whether it is regarding a technical or non-technical subject (e.g. “What?! I can’t believe you don’t know what X is!”). Quoting from Recurse: "Feigning surprise has absolutely no social or educational benefit—instead, take time to explain so that all can follow and participate in the conversation.

Choose constructive, rather than demeaning reactions

If you experience these behaviors during the course of the meeting, you should feel free to bring it up directly with the person, or if it’s more comfortable, point out the behavior to the meeting organizers or one of the designated contacts mentioned in the reporting section above.

Thank you to Lucianne Walkowicz and Federica Bianco for contributing resource documents and language to this policy.

In addition to online meeting sessions, we will communicate with workshop participants primarily through email and Slack.

Workshop attendees are encouraged to subscribe to the LSST Slack Team channel #tvs-taskforce-software. Those who are new to Rubin are encouraged to contact Federica Bianco (fbianco at udel.edu) for access.

Workshop Content

Several software development teams are seeking feedback from potential users regarding the functionality that they need. Please use the forms below to give your input.

Short videos describing proposed software projects

SER-SAG-1 inkind contribution: Periodicity mining pipeline in time domain Angelica Kovacevic, Viktor Radovic, Mladen Nikolic, Dragana Ilic, Luka Popovic Video
Dash: a data portal for preliminary investigation and analysis of LSST-based light curves Alex Razim, Lovro Palaversa Video
Cross Matching Tom J Wilson, Tim Naylor Video
Machine Learning based classification of Variable Stars Robert Szabo Attila, Bodi Tamas Szklenar Video
Software to classify variable stars: Young Stellar Objects Sara Bonito Video
Tools for the simulation of Pulsating Stars Ilaria Musella, Marcella Marconi Video
Tidal Disruption Event Filtering Andreja Gomboc Video
Point of Interest Alert Broker Nina Hernitschek Video
PASTinPY Marcella Di Criscienzo, Silvio Leccia, Vittorio Braga, Ilaria Musella, Massimo Dall'Ora, Vincenzo Ripepi, Giuliana Fiorentino, Roberto Molinaro, Marcella Marconi Video
INAF In-Kind Contributions on Crowded Stellar Fields Massimo Dall'Ora, Sara Bonito, Sara Lucatello, Antonella Vallenari Video
Observing Program Management System Yiannis Tsapras, Markus Hundertmark Video
Day 1 Introduction, SRD discussion and user surveys Session recording
Day 1 Software proposal review and breakout discussion Session recording
Day 2 Summaries from the Day 1 breakout sessions and LINCC overview Session recording
Day 2 Breakout discussion summaries and wrap-up Session recording
Observing Program Management breakout summary [Yiannis Tsapras & Markus Hundertmark] PDF summary
Periodicity mining breakout summary [Andjelka Kovacevic & Dragana Ilic] PDF summary
Dash breakout summary [Lovro Palaversa] PDF summary