How to Share Your BC-workspace

Sharing a BRAINCommons™ BC-workspace allows you to benefit from a "team science" approach to meeting research challenges. When multiple professionals access the same BC-workspace it is possible to leverage the strengths and expertise drawn from different fields and experiences.

Important!

The person with whom you share your BC-workspace must have at least your same level of Zone access. Once shared, everyone using your BC-workspace does so under your API credentials. As the owner of the BC-workspace, you are responsible for your team's compliance with the relevant BC-workspace agreement.

There are two types of BC-workspaces: Linux and Windows, and  each type of workspace has its own operating features. For more information see the articles What can I use a WorkSpace for? and WorkSpace Types and Costs.

How Sharing Works

The following table describes the sharing functionality of each BC-workspace type.

Type Concurrent
Users Allowed? 		Details
Linux Yes A Linux BC-workspace allows multiple users to work concurrently in what is known as "mirroring" mode. However, Jupyter Notebooks is the only pre-installed application that supports this functionality. All users connected to the BC-workspace, and they can take turns interacting.

Warning! In mirroring mode all connected users have access to the same view. You need to ensure that no confidential information is accidentally shared with other users who may be watching your work.

Warning! RStudio does not support multiple concurrent connections. If a user connects to a Linux BC-workspace already occupied by another user, then the first user's session is terminated, without warning that user.
Windows No  A Windows BC-workspace does not support concurrent connections. Therefore, no matter the number of users who share a Windows BC-workspace, only one user can be active at a time. BRAINCommons notifies you if a user is currently active, and if you proceed then that user's session is terminated.

Note: Once you logout of a Windows BC-workspace, other users with access to the BC-workspace can use your Jupyter Notebook and RStudio sessions. Therefore, you must save your work so that you can continue where you left off.

How to Share Your BC-workspace

To begin sharing, follow the steps below.

  1. Navigate the path Explore>Tools>WORKSPACE to the icon of the BC-workspace you wish to share.

  2. Click the three-dot menu in the bottom right-hand corner. The BC-workspace details appears.

  3. Select Share Workspace. The Share BC-workspace window appears.

  4. Locate the User list.
  5. Select the user.
    1. Click the desired user name in the list.
      Note: Only a user with at least your same level Zone-access appears in the list.
    2. Click the Add User button.
    3. Repeat steps a–b until you have selected all of the users for sharing your BC-workspace.
    4. Click the X in the top-right corner to close the window.

How to Stop Sharing Your BC-workspace

To stop sharing a BC-workspace with a user, follow the steps below.

  1. Navigate the path Explore>Tools>WORKSPACE to the icon of the BC-workspace with the user you wish to remove from sharing.
  2. Click the three-dot menu in the bottom right-hand corner. The BC-workspace details menu appears.

  3. Select Share Workspace. The Share BC-workspace window appears.

  4. Locate the icon tile with the user's name and click the X in the top-right corner of the tile.
  5. Click the X in the top-right corner of the Share Workspace window to close.