Using the caGrid Portal for the First Time

The caGrid Portal provides several ways to find data sets, people, tools, communities, and institutions that participate in caBIG_^®. These entities combine to form the caGrid Portal catalog. Each entity is called a catalog item in this documentation but can be a person, institution, shared query or other tool, or even a community built around a common interest in one of these entities.

The ways to find any catalog item include clicking an icon on the Google_^TM map on the home page, entering a term in the search box to search all caBIG_^® entities, or narrowing down the catalog by category types and area of focus.

Once you find an item in the catalog, the power of the caGrid Portal becomes apparent. Click any item in the search results to get all available details about that item, then interact with other users by suggesting a related item, providing a citation or hyperlink, adding a comment, or executing a shared query on selected data sets. The caGrid Portal is a true community application, providing access to popular social media tools to bookmark and share interesting items you have found.