Articles by author: afloyd

• Digital Scholarship Lab Offers Weekly Workshops

  Friday, January 18, 2019 | By afloyd

  

  This winter, enhance your digital scholarship skills with the Brock University Digital Scholarship Lab!

  Each week the DSL is offering training on new technologies and techniques for applying various platforms and methodologies to research projects, collaborations or just to your routine computer tasks. From text analysis and citation management to writing code and creating remarkable data visualizations, there is so much to learn. These workshops are also a great way to network with people across campus and generate unique ideas for group initiatives.

  No previous experience is necessary for almost all of these Workshops. Everyone is welcome!

  Register for the workshops at ExperienceBU or contact us dsl@brocku.ca for more information.

   

  Workshop Name	Date	Time
  Introduction to the Command Line	January 21	1 – 2:30 pm
  Introduction to Python	January 29	10 am – 12 pm
  Introduction to ArcGIS Pro	February 1	10 – 11:30 am
  Esri Story Maps – Harness the Power of Maps to Tell Your Story	February 6	11 am – 12:30 pm
  Python – Level 2	February 8	10 – 11:30 am
  Introduction to Geographic Information Systems (GIS)	February 13	1:30 – 2:30 pm
  ArcGIS Pro – Level Two, Mapping the Canadian Census	February 14	10 am – 12 pm
  Software Carpentry	February 21-22	9 am – 5 pm
  Introduction to OpenRefine	February 28	11:30 – 1 pm
  Introduction to PowerBI	March 4	2:30 – 4pm
  Introduction to R	March 13	1 – 3 pm
  Citation Management with Zotero	March 19	9:30 – 11 am
  Introduction to PowerBI	March 28	2 – 3:30 pm

  Tags: BrockUDSL, Digital Scholarship Lab, Workshops
  Categories: Digital Scholarship Lab, Main

• Extra! Extra! New Digital Scholarship Lab Blog Series Starts NOW!

  Friday, January 11, 2019 | By afloyd

  

  Welcome to my first entry! My name is Erin, and I’m a Masters of Library and Information Sciences (MLIS for short) student. I’ve been working towards my degree at Western University for the last eight months, and I’m lucky enough to be experiencing a different university for my co-op placement this semester. I’ll be using this bi-weekly series to chronicle my time here at Brock University and to bring as much awareness as I can to the soon-to-be-opened Digital Scholarship Lab. But first, some rambling about why I’m here.

  As a Library and Information Sciences student, I often receive a variety of responses when I tell people about my academic interests and career goals. Among the most commonly heard responses are, “wow, you really need a Masters for that?”, and my personal favourite, “aren’t libraries kind of obsolete now that technology is so advanced? Who even reads books anymore?”.

  When people say these kinds of things to me, my general response is to simply shake my head or offer a polite response such as, “I love books, but libraries are much more than that!”. I’ve learned a lot about library technology and the future of the profession in school, but putting all of those theories into practice and seeing library technology at work is a completely different matter. When I found out I would get to work in Brock University’s Digital Scholarship Lab for my co-op placement, I thought about all of the technologies I would get to learn how to use and was excited to gain valuable experience with these technologies and perhaps even develop some more snappy comebacks for the library naysayers.

  However, when I arrived at Brock for my first day, I learned that not only was the DSL space not open yet, but that it likely wouldn’t open until I’m long gone from my co-op placement. My job here is essentially to plan for a space that I will likely never see. The good news is that there are so many Digital Scholarship initiatives going on here at Brock, even without an official space to host them. This means that I’ll get an even better “behind the scenes look” at how an academic library functions and the roles they play in all of the different faculties and departments at Brock.

  My goal for this series is to respond to the commonly held (but misinformed) belief that technology is making libraries obsolete. If anything, technology and libraries go hand in hand, and the various digital scholarship initiatives at Brock University are a perfect example of how much room there still is to grow and learn.

  My blog series will be posted bi-weekly so be sure to check back on January 25th for more on my internship journey!

  Tags: BrockUDSL, Digital Scholarship Lab
  Categories: Digital Scholarship Lab, Main

• Software Carpentry Workshop

  Wednesday, January 09, 2019 | By afloyd

  

  Join the Brock Digital Scholarship Lab for this two day Software Carpentry workshop. The goal of this workshop is to help researchers get their work done in less time and with less pain by teaching them basic research computing skills. This hands-on workshop will cover basic concepts and tools, including program design, version control, data management, and task automation. Participants will be encouraged to help one another and to apply what they have learned to their own research problems. This will be an excellent forum for conversation and networking! Hope to see you there. Only 30 spots available so sign up now!

  Who:  This course is aimed at graduate students and other researchers. You do not need to have any previous knowledge of the tools that will be presented at the workshop.

  When: February 21-22, 2019 | 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.

  Where: Plaza 600F, Brock University

  Cost: $20.00 + $1.51 Fee

  For more information visit ExperienceBU.

  Register for this event.

   

  Tags: Digital Scholarship Lab, Software Carpentry, Training & Development, Workshops
  Categories: Digital Scholarship Lab

• Citation Management with Zotero

  Monday, December 17, 2018 | By afloyd

  

  If you find using different citation styles difficult or if you just want to find a more efficient and organized way to manage citations for your research papers, this free workshop will be ideal for you. Zotero is a citation tracking platform that can be used with multiple citation formats. It allows you to create your own library, manage collections of sources, as well as quickly and easily create in-text citations and bibliographies. This Digital Scholarship Lab workshop will guide you through the installation of this tool and the most effective ways to use it.

  When: January 16th, 2019 from 10 – 11:30 a.m.

  Where: Classroom A (ST228) James A. Gibson Library, Brock University

  Sign up at ExperienceBU

  Email dsl@brocku.ca for more information.

  Tags: BrockUDSL, Citation Management, Digital Scholarship Lab, Zotero
  Categories: Digital Scholarship Lab, Main

• Workshop: Introduction to the Command Line

  Wednesday, December 12, 2018 | By afloyd

  

  Do you ever have to repeat the same process over and over again when using your computer? Of course you do. Come to this workshop for an introduction to the command line to help automate those tasks. We’ll be exploring the BASH shell and learning about a series of tiny programs that do things very well. 

  Where: Classroom A (ST228) – James A. Gibson Library

  When: December 20th, 10 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. 

  Sign up at: ExperienceBU or email dsl@brocku.ca

  This workshop is being offered by the Brock University Digital Scholarship Lab.

  Tags: Command Line Interface, Digital Scholarship Lab
  Categories: Digital Scholarship Lab, Main

• Digital Scholarship Lab Offers Omeka

  Thursday, November 29, 2018 | By afloyd

  

  The Brock University Digital Scholarship Lab is now offering Omeka, Omeka support and project collaborations! What is Omeka you ask?  It is a digital exhibit platform that allows users to create independently curated exhibits.  It is an amazing tool that is built with preservation and good data principles in mind.  With Omeka you can display documents, images and other material in a guided exhibit.  Omeka allows for groups to work together to build one exhibit by sharing a collaboratively built pool of items and metadata and is an excellent tool for sharing your research with the world!

  If you are interested in viewing an example of how Omeka can be used, the DSL in collaboration with the Brock Archives and Special Collections, have created the Omeka gallery: When the Prince of Wales Came to Niagara. The project provides a detailed account of a goodwill tour Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, took of North America in 1860, focusing on the Niagara leg of the trip.  As you will see, the gallery includes specific subjects (events), text and high quality images to support the information. Using this as a tool to disseminate your research is ideal for many reasons, including the fact that it allows you to direct users through your project in the order you planned for your research to be delivered.

  So tell us, what do you think of Omeka? Do you have comments about the Prince of Wales gallery? Are you interested in learning more about Omeka or collaborating with the DSL on a project? We want to hear from you! Contact us at dsl@brocku.ca or via one of our social media channels.

  Continue to visit our Projects page to see more of what the DSL is up to!

  Tags: Collaboration, Digital Scholarship Lab, Omeka
  Categories: Digital Scholarship Lab

• Introduction to ArcGIS – DSL Style

  Monday, November 19, 2018 | By afloyd

  

  On Wednesday, December 5 from 9:30 – 11:00 a.m. in Classroom A on the main floor of the James A. Gibson Library, the Digital Scholarship Lab, in partnership with the Map, Data and GIS Library, is hosting an Introduction to ArcGIS workshop.

  Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are used to create maps and analyze geospatial data. GIS tools can be used to create data visualizations for a variety projects and its functionality is not constrained to geographical research projects alone. Some examples of diverse GIS applications include research on: disease control, agriculture, tourism, astronomy, archaeology, human behavior, shipping routes and traffic, wildlife tracking, climate change, crime patterns, banking, gaming, history, humanitarianism, and sports. The options really are endless.

  In this workshop you will learn basic functionality of Esri’s front-running software, ArcGIS Pro. Using a fictional scenario, we will use GIS to determine where Starbucks Corporation should build a new coffee shop based on certain criteria. Although previous experience with GIS is helpful, beginners are welcome! This workshop is a great first step in determining if GIS can be applied to your research projects and presentations.

  Sign up at: ExperienceBU or email us at dsl@brocku.ca

  Tags: BrockUDSL, MDGL, Training & Development, Workshops
  Categories: Digital Scholarship Lab, Main, MDGL

• DSL Invites YOU to Introductory GitHub Workshop

  Monday, November 19, 2018 | By afloyd

  

  The Digital Scholarship Lab is hosting a GitHub and version control workshop on Wednesday, December 5th from 2-4:30 p.m. in Classroom A of the James A. Gibson Library.  This is an introductory workshop and is open to everyone. There is no cost to attend this event.

  GitHub is a very useful version control system that allows for efficient and effective project collaboration. GitHub allows multiple people to share and edit projects, as well as track revisions. If you are working on a group research project, want to connect with other GitHub users, or simply would like more information on this innovative tool then this workshop is for you.

  Sign up at: ExperienceBU or email us at dsl@brocku.ca.

  Tags: BrockUDSL, Events, Training & Development, Workshops
  Categories: Digital Scholarship Lab

• Introducing the Brock Digital Scholarship Lab

  Thursday, November 15, 2018 | By afloyd

  

  Everything is coming together! The building is almost built and the digital scholarship team has formed.  Your DSL team includes: Tim Ribaric – Acting Head, Map Data GIS Library / Digital Scholarship Lab, Daniel Brett – Digital Scholarship Lab Technical Support, and Alicia Floyd – Digital Scholarship Service Coordinator. Together we are working hard to plan services, workshops and investigate innovative digital tools for the Brock community to benefit from.

  The lab itself will feature work stations, high performance computers, and visualization panels.  Some of the digital tools that will be available for use include: Omeka, Tableau, GitHub, OpenRefine, and Jupyter Notebooks, just to name a few.  The DSL team will also host workshops on these tools from introductory level to more advanced, and will offer Compute Canada workshops and webinars, R drop-in sessions, and Python Jams. Experts will be available to assist with Research Data Management and to help users choose the most useful tool for their research initiative.

  Stay connected with the DSL through our various social media channels or email us at dsl@brocku.ca.

  Photograph Attribution: Scott Roper

  Categories: Digital Scholarship Lab