FAIR Forward: Virtual Workshop Series

Welcome to the FAIR Forward Series - a comprehensive virtual workshop and hackathon program focused on open science, reproducible research, and data science skills development in public health and bioinformatics.

Overview

This initiative combines hands-on workshops with collaborative hackathons to build practical skills in data science, with a focus on FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) data principles and open source tools. This work is supported by the Open Scholarship Catalytic Awards Program. To learn more about the FAIR Forward series and to access recordings of our workshops, please visit: www.biodatasage.com/fair.

Format: Virtual workshops with interactive coding sessions
Tools: R programming with RStudio on Posit Cloud

Workshop Series

Workshop 1: Open Source Data & Career Trajectories

Explore the landscape of open data in public health and bioinformatics, plus guidance on data science career pathways.

Workshops 2 and 3: Introduction to Programming using R

Hands-on introduction to R programming.

Workshop 4: Basics of Version Control

Learn Git and GitHub for reproducible research and collaboration.

Workshop 5: Data Visualization in R

Create compelling visualizations using ggplot2.

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• No prior programming experience required for early workshops
• Computer with internet connection
• Posit Cloud account (free tier available)
• GitHub account (free)

Workshop Materials

Each workshop folder contains:

• Presentation slides
• Interactive exercises
• Datasets (public health & bioinformatics focus)
• Posit Cloud project links
• Additional resources

Technical Setup

We use Posit Cloud for all coding activities during our live-workshops.

• No local installation required: everything runs in your browser
• Pre-configured environments with R, RStudio, and specialized packages
• Persistent workspaces: your work is automatically saved

Repository Structure

├── workshops          
  ├── open-source/             # Open source data & careers
  ├── r-programming/           # Introduction to coding in R - part 1 and 2
  ├── version-control/         # Git and GitHub basics
  ├── data-viz/                # Data viz with ggplot2 

Learning Objectives

By completing this series, participants will be able to:

• Identify and access relevant open source datasets
• Write basic R code for data analysis and visualization
• Use version control for reproducible research
• Apply FAIR data principles in their work

License

All materials are released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License to promote open science and education.

Contact & Support

• Issues: Use GitHub Issues for technical problems or questions
• Email: fair@biodatasage.com

Acknowledgments

This series is supported by the Open Scholarship Catalytic Awards Program.

Ready to get started? Head to Workshop 1 to begin your FAIR Forward journey!