Synapse is the data management platform that powers the AD Knowledge Portal — think of Synapse as the back-end storage location, and the AD Knowledge Portal as the front-end access point for your data.
Your data manager will configure a specific folder structure and access permissions within a specific Synapse project, which serves as the backend repository for the Portal, so that you (as the data contributor) and the AD-DCC can collaboratively curate and annotate your data.
Data uploaded to this project is visible only to your team and the AD-DCC until your data is released to the public — see Step 5: Release Data.
Data Upload Steps
1. Ensure your account is certified
If your Synapse account is certified, an icon indicating this will appear on your profile page. If not yet certified, see Step 2: How to Become Synapse Certified.
2. Locate your Staging Folder(s)
You'll be provided with a staging folder(s) as part of your Service Desk requestSee Submit a Service Desk Request if you haven't started one yet, or Organize Data for more on the staging folder structure.
3. Upload your data
Once you're in the correct staging folder, you're ready to upload. You can do this using the http://Synapse.org web interface or programmatically via the Python, R, or command-line client. For small numbers of files, the website upload is generally easiest; for larger uploads (large files or many files), we recommend a programmatic client.
We recommend authenticating with a personal access token rather than a password, especially for larger uploads, to prevent timeout.
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Web UI: Navigate to your folder, then Folder Tools → Upload or Link to a File.
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Python client: See the Synapse Python documentation.
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R client: See the Synapse R documentation.
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Command-line client: See the command-line client instructions (requires the Python client).
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Files already in a cloud storage bucket (e.g., AWS S3): Reach out to us through your Service Desk ticket to discuss options for transferring data between buckets, or see Custom Storage Locations for linking directly without a full re-upload.
Once your data is uploaded, your data manager will let you know how to proceed with metadata annotation — see Step 4: Annotate Data.