Information Commons Community

Questions? Contact Academic Research Services (ARS)

Overview

Information Commons (IC) provides structured support to help researchers navigate data, tools, and computing environments efficiently and confidently.

Whether you are getting started or building advanced AI workflows, multiple support pathways are available.

Office Hours & Tutorials

Bi-weekly live sessions featuring:

  • Tool demos and workflow tutorials
  • Dataset deep dives (DEID CDW, OMOP, Imaging, Genomics)
  • AI and computational research use cases
  • Open Q&A

When: Every other Wednesday, 1:10–2:00 PM (Pacific)
Recordings, slides, and summaries are archived for later viewing.

Office Hours Information and Upcoming Schedule

IC Documentation Copilot (AI Assistant)

A Versa-powered assistant built specifically for IC documentation and workflows.

Use it to:

  • Identify the right dataset or environment
  • Understand data provenance and clinical context
  • Get step-by-step query and workflow guidance
  • Locate relevant wiki pages and prior Slack discussions

Access:

  1. Go to https://versa.ucsf.edu
  2. Select Information Commons Documentation Copilot
  3. Ask your question (include dataset name, e.g., DEID CDW vs OMOP)

UCTech Slack Community

Join the #ucsf-deid-cdw-omop channel in the UCTech Slack workspace to:

  • Search prior Q&A
  • Ask technical questions
  • Clarify query logic
  • Discuss IC tools and data interpretation

One-on-One Consultations

Free consultations are available with IC team members to support:

  • Project planning and environment selection
  • Cohort definition and data specifications
  • Query development and code review
  • AI/ML and high-performance computing workflows

Experts include specialists in:

  • DeID CDW / OMOP
  • PatientExploreR and EMERSE
  • IC AWS Secure and Wynton HPC
  • Epidemiologic cohort construction
  • Imaging and genomic data

Email Support

Questions or feedback:
[email protected]

Join the IC Community

Information Commons supports an active research community of clinicians, trainees, and data scientists.

To stay engaged:

  • Subscribe to the RDA_USERS ListServ
    To subscribe to our research data listserv, send an email from your desired account to [email protected] with a blank subject line. In the body, type subscribe RDA_Users FirstName LastName, replacing "FirstName LastName" with your name. Ensure your email signature is removed.
  • Join the UCTech Slack workspace
  • Attend Office Hours
  • Explore the UCSF Information Commons Wiki (VPN required)