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We are excited to announce the first official release of the RDM Virtual Data Crate, a browser-based sandbox for teaching Research Data Management (RDM), file naming conventions, and directory organization. This tool provides a safe, virtual environment where researchers and students can practice "cleaning up" data without the risk of modifying actual research assets. 🆕 New Features Browser-Based Explorer: Fully interactive virtual file system (Rename, Move, Create Folder, Delete) running entirely in the client. Validation & Scoring: Automated checking against institutional rules (e.g., ISO 8601 dates, no spaces, correct file extensions). State Persistence: Training progress is saved automatically to local storage, so users can resume sessions later. Theming: Switch between Light, Dark, and Modern UI themes via the Settings panel. Export Manifest: Users can export their cleaned file structure to JSON/CSV to prove course completion. 🧬 Included Scenario: "Project CellAtlas 2026" This release ships with a comprehensive Bioinformatics & Imaging training scenario (filenames_org.csv) containing over 100 files. It represents a realistic "data horror story" designed to test specific RDM skills: Messy Casing: Inconsistent use of raw_DATA, LITERATURE, and BioInformatics. Extension Hell: A mix of .fastq.gz, .fq.gz, .FASTQ, .tif, and .TIFF. Dangerous Characters: Filenames and folders containing exclamation marks (!) and spaces. Versioning Issues: Multiple files like budget_2026_FINAL!.xlsx and Grant_Proposal_DRAFT_v4!.docx. Code/Data Mixing: Scripts (.R, .py) mixed in with data outputs. 🛠️ Deployment Fork this repository. Enable GitHub Pages in your repository settings (Source: main). The tool will be live at https://<your-username>.github.io/rdm-virtual-data-crate/. ⚙️ Customization Institutions can brand this tool by simply editing: assets/info.md: For sidebar instructions and university logos. assets/filenames_org.csv: To swap out the "Project CellAtlas" scenario with your own data story. 📄 License This project is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (Attribution-ShareAlike). Full Changelog: https://github.com/nicholas-owen/rdm-virtual-data-crate/commits/v0.2