papr: Tinder for pre-prints, a Shiny Application for collecting gut-reactions to pre-prints from the scientific community

papr is an R Shiny web application and social network for evaluating bioRxiv pre-prints. The app serves multiple purposes, allowing the user to quickly swipe through pertinent abstracts as well as find a community of researchers with similar interests. It also serves as a portal for accessible "open science", getting abstracts into the hands of users of all skill levels. Additionally, the data could help build a general understanding of what research the community finds exciting. <br><br> We allow the user to log in via Google to track multiple sessions and have implemented a recommender engine, allowing us to tailor which abstracts are shown based on each user's previous abstract rankings. While using the app, users view an abstract pulled from bioRxiv and rate it as "exciting and correct", "exciting and questionable", "boring and correct", or "boring and questionable" by swiping the abstract in a given direction. The app includes optional social network features, connecting users who provide their twitter handle to users who enjoy similar papers. <br><br> This presentation will demonstrate how to incorporate tactile interfaces, such as swiping, into a Shiny application using a package we created for this functionality shinysense, store real-time user data on Dropbox using drop2, login in capabilities using googleAuthR and googleID, how to implement a recommender engine using principle component analysis, and how we have handled issues of data safety/security through proactive planning and risk mitigation. Finally, we will report the app activity, summarizing both the user traffic and what research users are finding exciting.

July 12, 2017

12:30 PM – 1:30 PM

useR!2017