Setting up R and RStudio

Introduction to Social Data Science – University of Konstanz

Homework after Session 1: do this before Session 2. Session 2 starts directly with R, so we cannot spend it on installations. It takes about 30 minutes. If something does not work, use the Posit Cloud fallback below, so that you can follow Session 2 anyway, and fix your installation afterwards.

1. Install R

Download and install R for your operating system from https://cloud.r-project.org/:

• Windows: “Download R for Windows” → “base” → “Download R-4.x.x for Windows”, then run the installer with the default options.
• macOS: “Download R for macOS” → choose the installer for your processor (Apple silicon for M1/M2/M3/M4 Macs, Intel otherwise).
• Linux: follow the instructions for your distribution on the same page.

If you already have R, check that it is version 4.1 or newer (it is printed when R starts). Otherwise, update it.

2. Install RStudio

Download and install RStudio Desktop (free) from https://posit.co/download/rstudio-desktop/. RStudio is the program you will work in; it uses the R you installed in step 1.

3. Get the course materials

Download the course materials from the GitHub repository: press the green Code button and choose Download ZIP, then unzip it. If you know git, you can also clone the repository.

Open the file SDS_Intro_Konstanz.Rproj in the unzipped folder. This opens RStudio with the course folder as working directory, so that the file paths in the materials work.

4. Install the course packages

In the RStudio Console (bottom left), run:

source("setup/install_packages.R")

This installs all packages used in the course and takes a few minutes. When it finishes, it prints either “All course packages are installed” or the list of packages that failed.

5. Run the setup check

Open setup/SetupCheck.Rmd in RStudio and press Knit. If you get an HTML page that ends with “Everything is ready”, you are done.

Fallback: Posit Cloud

If your installation does not work in time, you can run all course materials in your browser with Posit Cloud. It needs no installation and has a free plan.

1. Sign up for a free account at https://posit.cloud/ (you can use your university email).
2. In your workspace, press New Project → New Project from Git Repo.
3. Paste the address of the course repository: https://github.com/dgarcia-eu/SDS_Intro_Konstanz
4. When the project has opened, run source("setup/install_packages.R") in the Console. The first time this takes 10–15 minutes.
5. Open setup/SetupCheck.Rmd and press Knit.

Every session folder of the course then works in this project, since it is a complete copy of the materials.

Keep in mind:

• The free plan is for occasional use. It has a limited number of compute hours per month and 1 GB of memory per project (see the plans). Use it as a fallback and move to your own installation when you can.
• Save your work: download files you want to keep (Files pane → More → Export).
• Posit Cloud projects share network addresses with many other users, so Google Trends and other APIs block requests more often there than on your own computer.

Common problems

• “there is no package called …”: run source("setup/install_packages.R") again, or install that package with install.packages("name").
• “cannot open file …: No such file or directory”: R is looking in the wrong folder. Open the course through SDS_Intro_Konstanz.Rproj, or knit the file (knitting always runs in the file’s own folder).
• Windows warns that Rtools is required, or asks “Do you want to install from sources the package which needs compilation?”: answer No. The course does not need Rtools, and the ready-made (binary) versions of the packages work.
• macOS asks to install command line developer tools: you can accept, it is harmless, but it is not needed for the course.