Deploy and test use of "guestbook at request" feature on Demo Dataverse

[jggautier]

Overview

After the 6.5 release:

1. Deploy "guestbook at request" feature on demo.dataverse.org
2. The HDV curation team will test the feature for eventual use on dataverse.harvard.edu

Note that sizing only covers deployment on demo; curation testing will occur separately.

[jggautier]

For more context, I'm adding a link to the email conversation that prompted this GitHub issue, where folks planning to use Harvard Dataverse expressed interest in what the "guestbook at request" feature would let them do. The email conversation is at https://help.hmdc.harvard.edu/Ticket/Display.html?id=357131

[cmbz]

@jggautier could you clarify what is meant by investigate here, beyond configuring HDV?

[jggautier]

In a Slack conversation on Feb. 20, @sbarbosadataverse wrote about wanting "to confirm it's working exactly as you described"

[cmbz]

@jggautier Is the recommendation then to turn on in demo first to confirm, then HDV if the feature behaves as expected?

[jggautier]

I'm not sure what @sbarbosadataverse had in mind.

Maybe adding this functionality to Demo Dataverse or maybe to an AWS instance so that @sbarbosadataverse can review it? Or maybe it'll be helpful for @sbarbosadataverse to review documentation related to the functionality and the results of any UX research that was done when it was being worked on?

@sbarbosadataverse what do you think?

[sbarbosadataverse]

Yes, let's move to demo and I can actively review and test.

[jggautier]

There might be some conversation happening soon in a thread in the Dataverse Users Community Google Group about using this feature.

[jggautier]

Just following up on this after reviewing my conversation with the user who's interested in this feature.

When this is picked up for a sprint and a developer can add this feature to Demo Dataverse, I imagine we'd like it configured so that by default it's turned off for all collections. And collection admins can turn it on the way Jim described in that Google Groups thread.

[jggautier]

Just noting here some GitHub issues describing recent changes and possible changes to the way this feature works:

• Emails sent to Dataset Owners from "Guestbook at Request Access" missing key information and are hard to read due to Q/As being in random order and no formatting between dataverse#10581
• Bug for ADA: the 4 fields (Name, Email, Institution, Position) for guestbooks are editable for logged in users dataverse#10625

[jggautier]

Might be helpful to keep an eye on a recent Zulip thread where the manager of another Dataverse installation is asking questions about configuring the "guestbook at request" feature.

[pdurbin]

@dliburd and I had a quick chat about this in the context of https://help.hmdc.harvard.edu/Ticket/Display.html?id=369533

I signed up for an account on ADA (where this feature is on) so I could see what the UX is like when you click "Request Access" on this file, for example: https://dataverse.ada.edu.au/file.xhtml?fileId=19166&datasetVersionId=3979

Here are some screenshots:

As you can see, the guestbook is shown. Dwayne and I agree that this behavior is quite nice!

As for trying this on demo, judging from https://guides.dataverse.org/en/6.4/installation/config.html#dataverse-files-guestbook-at-request we have a couple options:

• turn "guestbook at request" on globally
• leave "guestbook on request" off globally and selectively turn it on for a few collections for testing

If we go with the latter option, whoever picks up this issue would need to know which collections to turn on "guestbook at request", of course.

[sbarbosadataverse]

@kmika11 We plan to move this to demo for testing--fyi--something to keep an eye on since you mentioned users want it in production soon:
Related issue: #325

[landreev]

@jggautier
The setting dataverse.files.guestbook-at-request=true has been put in place on demo, so the feature can be tested there now. Please let me know if there are problems. (And/or let me know if you want me to remove the setting once the testing is done).
[edit: there was a copy-and-paste error in the first version of the comment - sorry]

[qqmyers]

FWIW: With that setting true, the default changes to using guestbook-at-request. The setting can be changed per collection (on the Edit/General Settings tab) or per dataset (via API) as well. For Harvard Dataverse, one option would be to set the setting false to keep the current default while still allowing guestbook-at-request to be turned on for specific collections.

[jggautier]

Thanks. @sbarbosadataverse and @kmika11 are talking about testing.

[cmbz]

2025/01/15: Placing on hold until Sonia and Katie complete testing. Julian will confirm with them.

[kmika11]

In demo, (presumably with dataverse.files.guestbook-at-request=true) there appears to be no way to turn off a guestbook requirement for users to openly/anonymously download files? These are the options I see in the collection edit page:

I think there should always be the option for collection owners to not require any guestbook at any point for their data files. In fact, I strongly think that should be the default for Harvard Dataverse.

[qqmyers]

This feature only affects whether a guestbook, if assigned to a dataset, is shown when the user requests data access or when they download. Is there something we should add to the text/help text to make that clearer? Or is there a case you're seeing a guestbook appear when you think it shouldn't? (FWIW: I think a ~guestbook dialog appears if there are custom terms/terms of access in a dataset, intended to assure that users see those terms (either at request access or download time now) before they get the data, even if there is no guestbook assigned to the dataset.)

[kmika11]

Ah! I see! I do think the limited info on the create/edit dataverse page and the way the tool tip is worded makes it sound like the only options an author has is between applying a guestbook at download or at request. Perhaps some short text under or with the feature label like "For datasets with enabled guestbooks..." would help clarify that this only applies to specific datasets?

[kmika11]

This dataset has no guestbook applied. It has one file with "request access" turned on.

When I am logged in as a normal user (i.e. not the creator or a superuser), when I go to request access, I am presented with a guestbook prompt.

Is this expected? Is there now a standard "guestbook" for all files with "request access" turned on? Compare with this "request access" popup example from Harvard Dataverse that displays only the Terms of Use and does not require any information from the user:

[qqmyers]

I think that's a bug - I've created a PR #11203 to fix that and another issue (terms of access don't appear if you use the per-file download menu in the table (instead of selecting a file and hitting the request access button at the top). I also made minor changes to call the collection/general info/edit option "Guestbook Mode" and to have help that includes "(when configured for a dataset)". Easy to edit that as it gets reviewed.