Assignment 1

Installation & Account Setup

In this assignment you will be setting up the software and online tools that you will be using throughout this course. Below there are links and instructions to relevant sites.

The first step is to create a Github account if you do not already have one:

Next you will need to install the software we will be using (if you already have them installed make sure they are the latest versions):

• Zotero + Friefox browser
• R
• RStudio
• Git
• Swirl Package in R

Installing Zotero bibliographic software

• You will need to install the Firefox browser to use Zotero (You can use Google Chrome but it is buggy so make your life easier and just install Firefox)
• Install Zotero Desktop
• Then install Zotero connector for Firefox

Installing R

• Choose a download mirror site from the list that is close to you geographically
• Download the version of R that is appropriate to your operating system
• Install R in a manner appropriate to your operating system (MacOSX, PC)

Installing RStudio (Graphical User Interface for R)

• Download the free version of RStudio
• Install RStudio in a manner appropriate to your operating system (MacOSX, PC)

Installing Git

• Git is a version control system to keep track of our work and collaboration
• Instructions for setup can be found here and here
• Download Git

Connecting Git-Github-RStudio

• You will also need to link your Github account to RStudio by following these instructions or these instructions.
• For many students this will be the most challenging task this semester. Several errors can be corrected by following the instructions located here.

A common error is:

error: unable to read askpass response from 'rpostback-askpass'

The fix for most systems is:

• In RStudio, click on the "Tools" menu and select "Shell"
• Run the following command: git push -u origin master (it might ask you for your git username and password. Supply this information, make sure it is correct)
• Close the window
• Now make some more edits to some file so that you have new content to push click on the "push" button in RStudio and this time the push should work

If you are using a Mac and this does not fix your error please try these instructions.

Swirl

• Once you have installed both programs, open RStudio (RStudio will automatically open R at the same time)
• R is modular, we can install mini-programs called packages within it like apps on your phone to do specific tasks, in this activity we will be using the Swirl package. Swirl is a teaching tool for learning R, it comprises questions and answers and a bit of AI (for positive reinforcement)
• Install the Swirl package by typing install.packages("swirl") in the console window (located on the left hand side of the RStudio interface). If you get an error message you can also install by clicking the "packages" tab in the right hand pane and then clicking "install".
• Once we have installed the package we need to turn it on, we do this by inputing the code library(swirl) - Swirl will tell you to type swirl() but don't do that just yet!
• First we need to load a lesson into Swirl, to do this cut and paste the following code into the console window (you will need to be connected to the internet):
  install_course_github("core-methods-in-edm", "swirl", multi = TRUE)
• Once the lesson finishes installing type swirl(), Swirl will then guide you through setting up a user Id (please use your full name so we can identify you later). Choose the Unit 1 - Introduction course and the Basic Building Blocks lesson when you have the option.
• At the completion of the lesson you will submit your answers through a Google form. We will collect information on how many questions you answer, how many attempts you took to answer each question and the time you answered