Contact Us Help
Home > About SPARC > Portal > SPARC Portal Release Notes

SPARC Portal Release Notes

The SPARC Portal Release Notes are updated after each Portal development sprint and highlights new and updated features and functionality.

SPARC Portal Release Notes - May 18, 2022

New

  • A new documentation hub has been added to the Portal.
  • A help icon and tooltip has been added on the Map's sidebar to explain filter behavior.

Improved

  • Within datasets, tooltips have been added to file names to prevent users from having to open the file manifest in order to see files with long names.
  • On the dataset details page, the Citations tab has been renamed "References" to more accurately reflect the content it displays.
  • The Tools and Resources tab now select the "Developed by SPARC" facet by default in order to highlight SPARC-developed tools and resources.
  • From the main search, selecting Resources from the dropdown menu returns results from the tools and resources section of the Find Data tab.
  • Searching for "osparc," "o2s2parc," and "o²S²PARC" all return the same results in Portal Help.
  • The bladder icon featured on the homepage is now named "Urinary System" and selects for all relevant search facets.
  • From a dataset details page, clicking on a flatmap brings the user to the most relevant species' flatmap available. Flatmap thumbnails have also been updated to display relevant flatmap icons.
  • Updates have been added to the Biolucida Image viewer to allow for easier use and a better 3D viewing experience.
  • A permalink option for the image gallery is available to save viewer states. This allows users to return to the image's same zoom level/slice/etc.
  • A new, optional URL field has been added to the Contact Us feedback form.

SPARC Portal Release Notes - March 28, 2022

New

  • An auto-generated email will be sent to users on submission of Portal feedback via Contact Us.
  • The Community Spotlight landing page is now split into three sections to highlight Success Stories, along with Fireside Chats and Community Spotlights.

Improved

  • The Dataset Details page has been updated with the following changes:
    • Under the About tab, the award number of each dataset is now linked back to the relevant projects page.
    • Dataset title breadcrumbs are no longer abbreviated.
    • The subject and sample counts under the metadata section are surfaced, when available.
    • The Primary Publication listed on datasets is now presented as the full APA citation.
    • The "Methodology" header has been removed from the Abstract tab.
    • The left-hand section has been renamed "Search related datasets" from "Search similar datasets."
    • The note about embargoed dataset permissions only appears on embargoed datasets, and only when hovering over the "Get Dataset" button.
  • The Find Data page has been updated with the following changes:
    • The publication date of each dataset is surfaced.
    • Search facets default to closed.
  • The flatmap metadata titles – taxo and uberon – were changed to species and organ, respectively, to provide more meaningful information to users.
  • Clicking on the Contact Us option opens the window in a new tab for ease of use.

SPARC Portal Release Notes - February 15, 2022

New

Improved

  • The Files tab on the Dataset Details page no longer begins in a home folder as the root directory, but in the files folder as specified by the SDS.
  • Within Portal search bars, the inputted text is darker than placeholder text.
  • Text in the hero on the homepage no longer obscures the hero image at smaller breakpoints.
  • Long URLs for tools and resources are truncated to fit within the page frame at smaller breakpoints.
  • The search icon no longer disappears intermittently while switching between tabs on the Portal.
  • The SPARC Portal Help Center presents updates to the following articles

SPARC Portal Release Notes - January 13, 2022

New

  • The dataset details page has been redesigned to provide a more user-friendly experience.
  • A new data category for Nerves and Ganglia has been added on the Portal homepage.

Improved

SPARC Portal Release Notes - November 22, 2021

New

  • The Tools and Resources page has been updated to serve as a landing page to guide user exploration of tools and resources and their uses.
  • In SPARC Portal Help, a new document is available with links to track Portal API and resource statuses.
  • On the Maps page, the sample size of the study is included as part of the surfaced metadata.

Improved

  • Within the scaffold viewer, clicking on a region brings up an opacity editing feature; the feature can now be removed from the screen upon clicking the arrow on the left side of the display.
  • On the Maps, after selecting a region of interest, the facet selection remains while the user navigates through the results.
  • The Portal now lists projects that were previously not listed on the Projects tab.
  • Additional classification options have been added to events, such as virtual conferences, funding, and cancelled.
  • The Help center is now consistently referred to as Help across the entire Portal. Breadcrumbs on help documentation correctly refer to Help.
  • At the bottom of a Tools and Resource details page, the user can now click to view all tools and resources.

SPARC Portal Release Notes - October 11, 2021

New

Improved

  • The About page has been redesigned to provide users with more information; as a result, some Help Center content has been migrated to the new About page.
  • A dataset's author list will no longer need to be expanded to show all authors.
  • The Devices category is now displayed on the Tools and Resources page, featuring tools relevant to SPARC Portal users.
  • On the Home page, the View more button under Find Data by Category returns all datasets the Find Data page.
  • In the Footer, the Site Feedback link routes users to the new Contact Us page.
  • On the Maps page, the flatmap now includes a disclaimer indicating that all species' flatmaps are derived from rat anatomy.
  • On the Home page, the hero image now emphasizes nerves and nerve pathways more than organs.
  • The version history of datasets now includes a revisions column, which allows the last updated date to align with the version history.
  • The SPARC Portal Help Center presents updates to the Glossary, including the addition of the SPARC Image Minimal Information Standard, and to the Overview of Image Viewer help article.

SPARC Portal Release Notes - August 31, 2021

New

  • In the Gallery tab of Dataset details page, a segmentation viewer is now available for viewing relevant segmentation data.
  • The SPARC Portal Help Center presents a new help article about the SPARC Portal Data Repository Structure.

Improved

  • Page flow on the Image Details page has been modified, and more metadata are now presented for each image.
  • On the Event details pages, event images are now clickable and will link to an external URL of that event, where applicable.
  • The News and Events page has been updated with the following fixes:
    • On the Events landing page, past events are now sorted newest to oldest.
    • On the News and Events page, the wording on the newsletter widget has been updated.
  • On the Find Data page, text can now be properly cleared from the search bar.
  • On the Tools and Resources page, the category previously titled ‘Databases’ has been renamed ‘Data and Models.’
  • SPARC Portal Help Center help pages have been updated to include anchor links to the SPARC glossary.
  • Help articles with a Table of Contents now have a back button functionality. In a Table of Contents, clicking a link and then clicking the back button will return the user to the Table of Contents instead of the previous page.
  • The SPARC Portal Help Center presents updates to the following articles
  • The About SPARC page now includes SPARC's goals and their development.
  • The Contact Us option in the Portal's header now accepts feedback for both dropdown options listed.

SPARC Portal Release Notes - July 19, 2021

New

  • A Community Spotlight section has been added to the News and Events page, featuring a section that highlights SPARC science achievements and breakthroughs.
  • A new request form for Airtable and Slack accounts has been added to the help article User Accounts and Organizations to facilitate access to these accounts.

Improved

  • The Find Data page has been updated with a new and improved look, featuring more descriptive metadata.
  • Embargoed datasets are no longer shown when 'public' is chosen as the filtered criteria on the Find Data page.
  • The SPARC Portal Help Center presents updates to the articles Glossary and Navigating a SPARC Dataset.

SPARC Portal Release Notes - June 7, 2021

New

  • The scaffold viewer now supports permalinks, enabling users to easily share and save specific views on the SPARC Portal.
  • On the Tools and Resources section of the SPARC Portal, detail pages have been added; see an example here.
  • The SPARC Portal Help Center presents two new help articles:

Improved

  • On the Dataset details page, URLs now change with user navigation through the tabs/files of a dataset to promote ease of use and state tracking.
  • On the Dataset details page, icons are now used to communicate what actions are available for each file.
  • On the Tools and Resources page, the search result summary matches the number of results displayed.
  • On the Maps page, the sidebar has had minor bug fixes.
  • The share link on a News or Event details page now notifies the user that the link has been copied to clipboard.
  • The SPARC Portal Help Center presents updates to the articles Getting Started and Modeling & Simulation Core (SIM-Core) Information.

SPARC Portal Release Notes - April 27, 2021

New

Improved

  • On the Dataset details page, the citation section is more prominently featured.
  • On the Dataset details page, a full date is now included in the citation section.
  • Publication and last updated date inconsistencies on datasets were sorted out.
  • The layout of the News and Events page has been updated.
  • News and Events detail pages have been updated to include external links.
  • The Tools and Resources page has two new categories: Databases and Information Services.
  • The Tools and Resources submission form has been updated to remain consistent with other submission forms on the Portal.
  • The link to the Glossary in the Footer of all pages has been fixed.
  • The SPARC Portal Help Center presents updates to the article Accessing Public Datasets to include information on how to download partial datasets and individual files.
  • The SPARC Portal Help Center presents updates to the FAQ and Glossary.

SPARC Portal Release Notes - March 16, 2021

New

  • On the Dataset details page, users can now find all versions of datasets and studies.
  • The SPARC Portal Help Center presents a new document about the Gallery Viewer.
  • A "Policies" section has been added to the SPARC Portal footer, so users can easily find them all in one place.
  • On the Home page, a "view more" button is now featured under 'Find Data by Category' to navigate to datasets by organ easily.
  • Maps now support permalinks enabling users to easily share and save specific views on the SPARC Portal's flatmap section.
  • The following file formats now launch viewers in the file action menu on the dataset details page: PDF, TXT, JPG, PNG, SVG, and MP4.

Improved

  • The Contact Us form has been updated, allowing users an easier way to contact SPARC Portal administrators.

SPARC Portal Release Notes - February 2, 2021

New

  • Under the About tab on the Dataset details page, the user can now find associated publications below references.
  • The SPARC Portal Help Center presents a new article on SPARC Data and Usage Statistics.
  • Each News and Events now have a landing page that can display more information.

Improved

  • When navigating back to the Dataset listing page from a Dataset landing page, the user will now be redirected to the same position they left in the list.
  • On the Dataset details page, under the "About" tab, the user can now easily find the "Corresponding author".

SPARC Portal Release Notes - December 21, 2020

New

  • The SPARC Portal Help Center presents a new article on K-Core under the Data & Resource Center section.
  • The SPARC About Page now exhibits an additional article on the future plans of the SPARC Portal.
  • The SPARC Portal Help Center presents a separate article regarding the other platforms associated with the SPARC Portal.

Improved

  • The revised high-level diagram describing the SPARC submission steps is available here: https://sparc.science/help/7k8nEPuw3FjOq2HuS8OVsd
  • The protocols are now listed on separate lines on the dataset details page, increasing their visibility and legibility.
  • The “Getting Started” document in the SPARC Portal Help Center has been revised.
  • The Resources Page was reworked, so each resource now presents some contact information and whether SPARC developed them.
  • The Resources Page now has tabs to organize the resources by categories.
  • Sorting by date in the Organ and Project sections now works.

SPARC Portal Release Notes - November 9, 2020

New

  • The SPARC Portal and its pipeline now recognizes these additional file formats: CRAM, JPEG2000, NDPI, NIFTI, OIB, OIF, ROI, SWC
  • The SPARC Portal Help Center presents a separate article about the dataset details gallery viewer.

Improved

  • On a Dataset details page, users can now select more than one file to download.
  • The SPARC Portal Help Center incorporates cross-referencing within the article to allow users to navigate through documentation more efficiently.
  • The visual display of the News & Events section of the SPARC Portal homepage is enhanced on different devices.
  • The File details page link correctly opens on a new webpage for every file; this functionality malfunctioned previously.
  • The datasets listing page organizes the dataset by reverse chronological order by default.

SPARC Portal Release Notes - September 28, 2020

New

  • At the bottom of all pages, “Glossary”, “Terms of Service” and “Material sharing policy” options are added to allow users to navigate to the respective SPARC project pages effortlessly.
  • The SPARC Portal Help Center presents a separate article about the SPARC Materials Sharing Policy.
  • The About SPARC page now has a new section regarding the SPARC's Plans for the Future.
  • On the Projects listing page, the NIH Award is now a clickable link redirecting to the NIH RePORT page.
  • On Dataset details pages, there is now a "Cite Dataset" button in the upper portion of the page so the user can easily navigate to the citation section.

Improved

  • On Project details pages, the datasets listing is now fixed and displays the correct datasets.
  • The performance and appearance of the SPARC Portal have been improved for narrow screens.
  • The font size of projects and simulations have been enhanced for supporting mobile devices.
  • The Dataset details pages now display the complete contributor list.
  • The ability to download datasets has been restored.
  • The Home page's banner image is now displayed consistently across different web browsers.
  • The organ images are replaced with a new set of images.
  • The previous SPARC events are now displayed along with the event dates.

SPARC Portal Release Notes - August 17, 2020

New

  • At the bottom of the SPARC Portal homepage, the “SPARC Publications” option is added to allow users to find all the publications linked to a SPARC project.
  • On the “Find Data” page, the title of the page now appears over the search bar, so users know which page they’re on.

Improved

  • On the SPARC Portal homepage, the "Resources" menu item has been renamed to "Tools & Resources" to represent the content of the page better.
  • In the SPARC Glossary under the SPARC support center, all the links get opened in a new tab/window allowing the user to keep track of their ongoing tasks on the portal.
  • On the dataset details page, the protocol and DOI links are now shown in the proper style for links so users know they can click on them.
  • The appearance of citations is enhanced across different web browsers (Firefox and Safari).
  • Some technical changes were introduced for the "News & Events" section of the SPARC Portal, so it always displays the most relevant information.

SPARC Portal Release Notes - July 6th, 2020

New

  • The SPARC portal is enhanced with a new “Maps” section which provides a visually appealing user interface to navigate through anatomically/physiologically accurate structure of various species.
  • A new gallery viewer interface is introduced on the dataset page for the user to view the graphical thumbnail gallery of images (including 3D image stacks), videos, and scaffold data.
  • A documentation link is added to the File browser of a dataset to present guidance on how to navigate the dataset format.

Improved

  • The searched keyword(s) are now highlighted on the result page of the document for easy identification of the search results.
  • Each dataset now displays the point of contact for the user to reach them for more information directly.
  • The project pages are renewed to display the complete descriptions of the projects.
  • The citation formats are updated along with a new button to copy them quickly. More so the datasets are properly ingested by Endnote, Mendeley, and Zotero.

SPARC Portal Release Notes - May 25th, 2020

New

  • A new documentation article on "How to use and download data" is now available to help users interact with the SPARC Portal in the right way.
  • A Glossary feedback link is added to the SPARC Portal footer for the users to submit a new term to the SPARC Glossary.
  • Pagination options are updated on all tables to provide a better user experience around browsing multiple entries.
  • The DOI link on a dataset details page is now clickable and navigates users to Blackfynn Discover, the dataset publishing platform for SPARC datasets.
  • A link to the SPARC Portal status page was added in the footer so users can have full access to the current and historical availability of the Portal and related technologies.
  • The search bar has been updated and allows users to search all sections of the SPARC Portal by selecting which kind of results they expect.

Improved

  • Enhanced communication between different servers to ensure the users can always view and browse the files in a dataset.
  • The updated project listing page displays all projects regardless of the associated logo with the project.
  • The Dataset details page now opens on the “Description” tab so that users can have immediate access to the most important information of the dataset.
  • The SPARC Portal documentation was updated and improved to include grammatical and stylistic updates in accordance with UX best practices.
  • For the SPARC events, dates were added to all events listed on the front page to make this immediately visible to users. Moreover, we ensured that modifications and cancellations of events, particularly due to COVID-19, were reflected on the SPARC Portal.
  • The Organ listing page was updated and now only displays organs with associated datasets, following UX feedback.
  • We have fixed multiple minor visual issues throughout the site to ensure that all users have a smooth experience on our portal.
  • The banner video on the homepage of the SPARC Portal was updated to present a more visually impressive page.

SPARC Portal Release Notes - April 13th, 2020

New

  • Every table on the portal is now sortable to allow you to reorder it the way you need.
  • When using the "Find Data" page, you will now be able to clear your search by clicking the cross in the search bar, this will also reset your search.
  • We added a documentation article to describe the Material Sharing Policy of the SPARC Program

Improved

  • Clicking on a protocol link on a Dataset page will now open the protocol in a new window, so you do not lose track of what you were doing on the portal.
  • Our documentation has been improved, including but not limited to consistency in the acronyms, better quality images, added information about supported browsers.
  • In order to present full information to you, we remove the character limit of the description paragraph on the organ page.
  • We made the main banner of our portal more visually pleasing.

The NIH Common Fund’s Stimulating Peripheral Activity to Relieve Conditions (SPARC) program aims to transform our understanding of nerve-organ interactions with the intent of advancing bioelectronic medicine towards treatments that change lives.

Learn More

Policies

Help Us Improve

Stay Up-to-Date

This website uses cookies to ensure that you get the best experience.

To learn more, please refer to the Privacy Policy. By closing this banner or clicking accept, you agree to the use of cookies.

Accessibility Standards