2013 GMOD Survey

Thank you for participating in the 2013 Generic Model Organism Database (GMOD) community survey!

The GMOD project provides free, open-source bioinformatics software and support to a huge, diverse community of users around the globe. This survey aims to find out how you are using GMOD, what you find useful (or otherwise), what support you need, and some information on the GMOD components you use. The responses gathered in this survey will help us to serve our user community more effectively and to suggest future directions for the GMOD project.

Participants who enter an email address will be entered into a prize draw; the winner can choose between a Journey Through Your DNA genetic testing kit from 23andMe or a $50 Amazon gift voucher.

The survey will be open until March 8th, 2013. The survey results will be discussed at the 2013 GMOD Community Meeting in Cambridge, UK , and documented on the GMOD wiki.

This survey should take about ten minutes to complete. All responses are anonymous and completely confidential, and responses will not be identified by individual. All questions are optional, but the more information you give, the better we are able to serve our community.

Navigating the survey

The survey is split into two sections; the first has more general questions, and the second has questions on specific GMOD components.

We recommend that you enable JavaScript in your browser to enable paging through the survey. Use the page numbers or the "Prev" and "Next" links to navigate between pages, and click the "Submit" button on the last page of each section to submit your responses.

After completing the two survey sections, you have the option to submit your name and email address for entry into a draw to win a genome test from 23andMe. Your email address will not be connected to your survey responses or used for any other purpose.

Contact

If you have any questions or technical issues with the survey, please contact Amelia Ireland at help@gmod.org .

Thank you for your help!

Amelia Ireland, GMOD Community Support

About You

What is your relationship to GMOD? Check all that apply

User
Developer of GMOD component(s)
Sys admin (installing/configuring/maintaining, etc., GMOD tools)
Other:

What organization or research group are you affiliated with? Please include a website URL if available; we are happy to link to your site from the GMOD website.

What types of entity is your database or website concerned with? e.g. Mus musculus ; plant parasites; marine invertebrates; protein phosphatases; economically-important legumes; regulatory regions in the genome; etc.

Do you have a helpdesk or general email address that we can use as a contact for your organization?

Your GMOD Usage

How do you use GMOD?

Currently use (or provide for users) one or more GMOD components
Planning to use (or provide) GMOD components
Assessing GMOD and other software to see what fits our use cases best

What type(s) of biological data do you use or plan to use GMOD tools to manage, visualize, or annotate? Select all that apply

What do you find most valuable about the GMOD project and/or its components?

What aspects of the GMOD project are you least satisfied with? How could we make GMOD and its components more useful or easier to use?

Are there any tools or functionality that you think are missing from GMOD?

What would you like to see GMOD work on in 2013 and 2014?

What other bioinformatics tools do you use in your day-to-day work?

GMOD Help Desk

Please rank the performance of the GMOD Help Desk in the following areas. Leave blank if you have no opinion or have not used the Help Desk

	1 (poor)	2	3 (average)	4	5 (outstanding)
Answering user questions: providing helpful and timely answers to help queries
GMOD website: maintaining the GMOD website and making it useful and relevant for the GMOD community
Education: providing online and in person training on GMOD and components
Outreach and community building: spreading the words about GMOD; encouraging an active community of GMOD developers and users
Developer support: enhancing documentation, integration and beta testing services; bridging the developer-user gap

Which of these help desk activities is most important to you? Leave blank if you have no opinion

	1 (least important)	2	3	4	5 (most important)
Answering user questions
GMOD website
Education
Outreach and community building
Developer support

Are there other areas that the GMOD Help Desk should spend time on or allocate resources to?

Training

See the Training and Outreach section on the GMOD wiki for GMOD tutorials and training opportunities.

Have you used the tutorials and training materials on the GMOD website?

No, I have not needed them
No, I could not find them
Yes, but they were inadequate
Yes, and they were adequate
Yes, and they were fantastic

If you found the tutorials and training materials inadequate, how could we improve them? Please leave blank if you have not used the training and tutorials

What training courses would be most useful for you and your colleages? E.g. installation/configuration of X; how to use Y; developing plugins for Z; etc.

Would you be interested in attending a live online tutorial? e.g. using Skype or web conferencing software

Yes
No
Yes, depending on timing / software requirements

Would you be interested in attending a training course in your geographic region? Note that GMOD would need to charge attendees a fee to cover the instructors' travel and accommodation costs.

Yes
No
Yes, depending on distance / cost / timing

If yes, where are you located (city / country), and can you suggest any organizations that may be willing to host the course?

GMOD Community Meetings

Do you intend to attend the 2013 GMOD meeting in Cambridge on April 5-6, to be held in conjunction with Biocurator?

Yes
No
Unsure

If future meetings offered an audio or video feed, or the option to attend remotely, would you be interested in participating?

Yes, I'd like to attend remotely (i.e. be able to ask questions and participate)
Yes, I'd listen to audio / watch video but not participate
No, I am happy to read the meeting minutes

Have you attended GMOD meetings in the past?

Yes, multiple meetings
Yes, one meeting
No

If you have attended GMOD meetings, please rate the following aspects:

	1 (very poor)	2	3 (average)	4	5 (very good)
How well organized was the meeting?
How useful was the meeting?

What aspects of the GMOD meetings are most useful?

What aspects of the meetings could be improved?

If you have not attended a GMOD meeting, what are your reasons?

Click submit to continue to the second part of the survey.