WorkSpaces Secure Browser
OpenVPN access to Researcher Platform extended
Based on your feedback on our release of the Amazon WorkSpaces Secure Browser, we are making improvements to ensure a smoother transition. You will continue to have access to the Researcher Platform through OpenVPN. As we make these updates, please note that your current environments and data remain unaffected. We will communicate a revised timeline soon.
Researchers can access Meta research tools hosted in Researcher Platform through Amazon WorkSpaces Secure Browser. The Researcher Platform runs a modified version of Jupyter within a WorkSpaces Secure Browser instance. This provides researchers access to multiple standard statistical packages including SQL, Python and R.
Getting started
When you navigate to a Meta research tool URL such as Meta Content Library API, Ad Targeting or URL Shares, you will see the option to redirect to the WorkSpaces Secure Browser URL for your product. Log in with your Facebook account to the WorkSpaces Secure Browser to begin using it.
Ignore the option to redirect if you are already in the WorkSpaces Secure Browser environment. Just proceed with your login.
When you log in for the first time, you will see a prompt to install the WorkSpaces Secure Browser Chrome extension.
The Chrome extension is optional to install, but it can greatly improve your experience on WorkSpaces Secure Browser by reducing additional login prompts to your Facebook account. You can also install the extension directly from the Chrome webstore.
Once you begin your WorkSpaces Secure Browser session, you will land on the JupyterLab instance for your intended research tool. You will be prompted to sign into JupyterLab using your Facebook credentials. After this, you can start your server and run code in Python or R to analyze the available data.
Working within WorkSpaces Secure Browser
Within WorkSpaces Secure Browser, Researcher Platform functions as a cleanroom in which certain activities are restricted. For example:
The only URLs accessible in WorkSpaces Secure Browser are Researcher Platform's and the user's Facebook login URL. You cannot access other internet sites.
You can copy and paste text into your JupyterLab notebook, but you cannot copy text from your notebook and paste it outside of the Researcher Platform environment. See Export notebooks for an alternative method of exporting a Jupyter notebook. This method keeps the code intact but scrubs the outputs in conformance with privacy rules.