Container Camp

Take Reproducible Science to the Next Level

Learn the basics of container technologies like Docker, how to run containers with your own data and analyses, and how to deploy and share them with your collaborators across computational systems. Check out the Agenda.

Notify Me Next Container Camp - Summer 2021

Container technologies are letting researchers easily share, scale, and reuse tools and workflows for all types of computational analyses.

Join us for three intensive half-days to learn how to create, use, deploy and share software containers (e.g., Docker) across a variety of computational systems from your laptop to cloud and HPC.

We will use a blend of practical theory and hands-on exercises where small groups learn to containerize tools and workflows they bring to the workshop. Participants are encouraged to bring their own data and analyses for containerization – come with basic command line skills (required) and leave with a running container! No experience with container technology needed.

Who should attend?

Any researcher seeking to exploit container technology to make their computational analyses easier, more reproducible, and more accessible for Open Science. Must enjoy a collaborative, innovative environment. Preference is given to NSF BIO-funded PIs and early career researchers.

What will I learn?

Understand what containers are and their role in reproducible science
Find and deploy existing containers using CyVerse VICE (Visual Interactive Compute Environment)
Learn to create Docker containers using your own data and/or analyses for reproducible analysis
Understand the role of the Dockerfile in the build
Learn to apply Linux command line skills to write Docker files

What's new this year?

More hands-on time for your project (be sure to bring your own data!)
Using containers interactively (using containers in CyVerse's Visual Interactive Computing Environment)

Did you know?

What are Containers?

A container is a standard unit of software that packages up code and all its dependencies so the application runs quickly and reliably. They allow you to focus on your scientific analysis by making it easier to manage dependencies, sharing and reproducing analyses from other researchers with ease.

Real World Example

A 4-month undergraduate microbiology class at the University of British Columbia uses containers to teach the concepts and applications of bioinformatics research to biologists. The 85 students each had their own isolated container, protecting their individual work from each other, and access to a shared course folder provided by the instructor (source).

BYOD/BOYA

Bring your own data and analyses. Course participants are encouraged to bring their own data and analytical workflows for containerization.

Minimum experience required for attendees:

Able to use Linux command line, directory structures, shell commands
Able to use and run analysis tools from the command line
Able to log into and use remote systems
Have basic programming experience (language of your choice)

Instructors

Nirav Merchant

Director, Data Science Institute

Tyson Swetnam

Science Informatician

Reetu Tuteja

Science Analyst

Ryan Bartelme

Science Analyst

Jason Williams

Lead, CyVerse Education & Outreach

Amanda Cooksey

Science Informatician

What Container Campers Are Saying...

“The highlight of Camp was the moment where I got something to build faster from an existing repository than building a linux container from scratch and adding a few things.” - Anonymous Survey Participant

“I really liked the BYOD aspect of this camp and how hands-on it was. I was also impressed that there was still a lecture aspect to the camp.” - Anonymous Survey Participant

“The highlight of camp for me was being able to deploy containers on my personal computer on Day 1.” - Anonymous Survey Participant

“The trainers are helpful answering questions and helping around. The group project is very useful to apply what I learned to real problems.” - Anonymous Survey Participant

“The highlight for me was working hands on with a group on a project and the desire for other participants to help each other.” - Anonymous Survey Participant

“Container Camp was really well worth the time I spent there, thank you so much!” - Anonymous Survey Participant

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