Hacky Hour

Queensland currently has Hacky Hours at five universities.

Hacky Hour occurs mostly weekly (monthly at USQ) and its aim is to help researchers (staff and students) with research-related IT problems.

Hacky Hour is free, informal and all researchers are welcome to drop in for advice, or offer their IT expertise to help others.

Researchers attend Hacky Hour to ask or answer research-related IT questions. Popular topics for discussion include high performance computing (HPC), cloud computing, general programming, R, Python, data processing, data storage, and data management.

Check the relevant Hacky Hour's Twitter feed, if available, for updates as occasionally a Hacky Hour is cancelled for a particular week when the regular IT experts are unavailable. Also check Twitter in case any details about the university's Hacky Hour change in the future, e.g. its day, time or venue. Hacky Hour organisers may revise these details if an alternative proves more convenient for researchers.

James Cook University

Day: Mondays
Time: 2pm–4pm
Location: ground floor foyer, The Science Place, Townsville campus
Twitter: @JCUHackyHour
Website: jcu.hackyhour.org
Contact: Daniel Baird (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

The University of Queensland

Day: Tuesdays
Time: 3pm–4pm
Location: Café Nano, St Lucia campus
Twitter: @HackyHourStLuc
Website: hackyhourstluc.wordpress.com
Contact: Dr Nick Hamilton (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
Special sessions (in addition to the usual research IT questions):

Bioinformatics Hacky Hour: First Tuesday of the month — come and ask bioinformatics analysis, software and pipeline questions.
BioLab Hacky Hour: Last Tuesday of the month — experts will answer your experimental design and technical sample processing questions to get you started in the lab.

Queensland University of Technology

Day: Thursdays
Time: 2pm–3pm
Location: The Pantry cafe, Gardens Point campus
Twitter: @GPHackyHour
Website: QUT’s Hacky Hour currently does not have a website
Contact: David Warne (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) or Jason D'Netto (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

Griffith University

Day: Thursdays
Time: 2pm–3pm
Location: G’s Wine Bar, Nathan or G’s Café, Gold Coast. Griffith's Hacky Hour alternates weekly between the Nathan and Gold Coast campuses.
Twitter: @hackyhourGU
Website: griffith.edu.au/hackyhour
Contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

University of Southern Queensland

Day: Monthly on Tuesdays (check the QRIScloud training calendar for exact dates)
Time: 10am–3:30pm
Location: Room B319, Springfield campus
Twitter: n/a
Website: https://www.usq.edu.au/research/events/2018/03/eresearch-hacky-day-mar
Contact: Francis Gacenga (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

Want to set up a Hacky Hour at your institution? Amanda Miotto, QCIF's eResearch Analyst at Griffith University, has created a Hacky Hour Handbook. Amanda co-founded Griffith's Hacky Hour in August 2015.

Please note: Hacky Hours end for the year in early to mid-December, and will resume in late January or early February the following year. Check the relevant Hacky Hour's Twitter feed for updates.

Events

IASSIST 2019: International Association for Social Science Information Services and Technology

27–31 May 2019, Sydney

Brisbane Microscope Facility Forum

Monthly, UQ St Lucia

ARDC consultation in Brisbane

3 December 2018, Brisbane

eResearch Australasia 2019

21–25 October 2019, Brisbane

News

New data storage service for USQ researchers

USQ researchers now have access to the new USQ Research Data Bank (ReDBank) service, which makes it straightforward to store, share and synchronise data during research projects.

QCIF releases new ReDBox Research Activity Portal

A free online resource allowing data managers and institutions to quickly and easily register a research activity and generate a Research Activity ID (RAiD) is now available.

Highlights from Research Bazaar Brisbane 2017

Brisbane’s Research Bazaar at UQ attracted more than 300 participants across its three days from 7–9 February.

Nectar and QRIScloud’s new shared filesystem service for virtual machines

Nectar has a new shared filesystem service for virtual machines that is available to QRIScloud users.

QCIF Projects

Live traffic congestion mapping

Providing travellers with real-time information on traffic conditions and congestion in the South East Queensland area.

Visualisation of methane gas on Little Nerang Dam

The interactive 3D visualisation shows how the greenhouse gas is generated in the dam's sedement zone. It allows non-technical stakeholders to make better informed decisions about methane management.

Improving the Automated force field Topology Builder (ATB) and repository

Helping the UQ Molecular Dynamics group to improve the capacity of their software to handle at least 100 molecules at a time, up from 20, QCIF has enabled the group to continue its disease research at the cutting edge.

Tropical Data Hub

The Tropical Data Hub (TDH) is a JCU developed centralised data store making it easier for researchers to manage data related to the tropics. An open portal, it facilitates a multi-disciplinary approach to issues around climate change and conservation.

Adapting to climate change: Terra Nova

There's an important distinction between climate change and climate change adaptation. Research into climate change looks at questions of how the climate is changing and how this change will affect the environment. Climate change adaptation looks at how we can respond to these changes – how we can reduce the impacts of stresses on human and natural systems including our cities and regions, our agriculture and aquaculture, and the biodiversity of our environment, and how we can harness any beneficial opportunities. In other words, what should we do to prepare and adapt?