Alfred3 is a package for Python 3 offering an easy way to create computer experiments that meet the highest standards of Open Science. Specifically, experiments created with alfred3 are transparent, accessible, reproducible, and adhere to the FAIR principles for research software. In its core version, alfred3 comes well-equipped for the creation of dynamic content that can be delivered online via a webserver or offline running on local machines. In addition, the alfred3-interact plugin enables users to create interactive group experiments with features such as automated group forming, quick access to members' experiment data, and a prepacked chat functionality.
Further advantages include:
If you have Python 3.7 or newer installed, just install alfred3 via pip
$ pip3 install alfred3
Documentation and tutorials for alfred3's most important features is available here: Link to docs
We use GitHub Discussions. You can ask questions, share ideas, and showcase your work there. Do not hesitate to ask!
Creating a hello-world experiment is as easy as writing this script.py
file. You can even do it in a simple text editor. Note that the file
must be named script.py
import alfred3 as al
exp = al.Experiment()
exp += al.Page("Hello, world!", name="hello_world")
To run the script, open a terminal and change the working directory to your experiment directory:
$ cd path/to/experiment
Next, simply execute the following command in the terminal::
$ alfred3 run
If you have Google Chrome installed on your machine, a browser window
with the experiment opens automatically. Otherwise, open any webbrowser
and visit http://127.0.0.1:5000/start
to start the experiment.
Of course, this "Hello, world" experiment does not contain much content: Only a single page with a heading. To learn how to add content to an experiment, visit our tutorials in the alfred3 documentation.
If you are publishing research conducted using alfred3, the following citation is required:
Treffenstaedt, C., Brachem, J., & Wiemann, P. (2021). Alfred3 - A library for rapid experiment development (Version x.x.x). Göttingen, Germany: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1437219
If you want to use alfred3 and need more information, don't hesitate to contact us via alfred@psych.uni-goettingen.de.
If you want to stay up to date with current developments, you can join our mailing list. We use this list to announce new releases and spread important information concerning the use of Alfred. You can expect to receive at most one mail per month.