ResearchStack is now public and ready for use!

[mic...@carroll.io]

Greetings ResearchStack enthusiasts!

Good news: We have finally reached a public release -- say 'hello' to ResearchStack v1.0.0.rc1!

A few things to know about the components of ResearchStack:

Backbone: The core components of ResearchStack, for those who's like to run the engine but don't want the chrome hubcaps and heated leather seats. (Try the Backbone example app here.)

Skin: The core components *and* an Android-centric UI/UX framework that can be configured and managed with JSON. Skin is comparable to ResearchKit’s AppCore, and our intention is to make all AppCore JSON fully transferable over to Skin. There are still some features that need to be completed to fully realize that goal, though, so please report them in the issues — or, better yet, build them yourself and submit a pull request! (Try the Skin sample app here.)

Now that we are public, we needed contributors! There’s a laundry list of features and bugs still outstanding to bring ResearchStack 100% up to par with ResearchKit and we are now hoping to rely on you, our dear community, to help us build them. Without community involvement with ResearchStack, the whole project is really nothing but a bunch of really poorly formatted text and brackets.

Here are some ways you can contribute:

(1) Build a project with ResearchStack — this is the easiest way to get involved... and a total trap: once you are running ResearchStack in your project, you are invested and it’s hard to go back. But don’t worry, you *probably* won’t regret it!

(2) Contribute features or fix bugs with ResearchStack — The current ResearchStack framework is, to use startup parlance, something of MVP. We meed your help to flesh out some of the missing bits, to get started just grab a tasty issue, fork the repository, and code away. You can find our guidelines for contributing here.

(3) Add to the ResearchStack knowledge base — See something wrong or unclear in the documentation? Want to blog about how to customize a user profile page? Find a ResearchStack question on Stack Overflow that nobody is answering? Please contribute your own words and increase the knowledge base around the framework! This is a good way to be involved for those with a strong interest in ResearchStack, but who are not confident with contributing code or features.

And, last, we need more volunteer maintainers — people with a passion for research, Android, Java, and open source who are willing to contribute 1-3 hours each week to help us with reviewing pull requests, patching urgent bugs, and making sure the project keeps running smoothly. If you are interested, please contact me directly at michael...@cornell.edu and let’s discuss further.

Best,

Michael

P.S. — I’ll be showing off ResearchStack at GET Conference Expo next week. Please stop by and say hi!