Let Your Digital Scholarship Skills Bloom

The BC Libraries’ Digital Scholarship Group will be hosting a series of workshops during the Spring 2019 semester that focus on digital resources for research and pedagogy. Our series this semester covers topics like historical GIS, data visualization and analysis, podcasting, and more. These workshops are aimed at a general audience and cover digital tools and methods that can be used in research and pedagogy. Our events are free and open to the public—click on an event title to register. We hope to see you there!

Working with Historical Maps
February 12, 2019, 11–12:30 pm.
O’Neill Library, Digital Studio, Room 205

Have you ever wanted to work with historical maps but didn’t know where to start? This workshop will highlight sources for finding historical maps and will include a hands-on georectifying exercise. No previous knowledge is required.

Annual Transcribe-a-thon on Douglass Day
February 14, 2019, 11–2:00 pm.
O’Neill Library, Digital Studio, Room 205

Join us on Frederick Douglass Day to transcribe historical documents from the Colored Conventions Project, Boston Public Library’s Anti-Slavery Manuscript collection, or other abolitionist-related sources.

Endangered Data Week
February 25, 2019, 11–12:30 pm.
O’Neill Library, Digital Studio, Room 205

Mark your calendars for a special workshop during the 2019 Endangered Data Week!

Fair Use
February 26, 2019, 11–12:30 pm.
O’Neill Library, Digital Studio, Room 205

Fair Use is the right to use copyrighted works for limited purposes, regardless of whether you have permission to do so. There are no bright line rules for fair use; every use is context specific. This causes a lot of anxiety for scholars and we often don’t take advantage of fair use when we could. This session will discuss the origins of Fair Use, how it works today, and how to determine if your intended use is “Fair.” We will go over examples and participants will be expected to make cases for and against fair use in sample contexts.

Caselaw Access Project
March 12, 2019, 11–12:30 pm.
O’Neill Library, Digital Studio, Room 205

This session will share and demo the Caselaw Access Project API and bulk data service. The Caselaw Access Project makes 360 years of U.S. case law freely available online. Here, we’ll introduce the Caselaw Access Project API and create a space for attendees to search and query the data set. The Caselaw Access Project API was launched by the Harvard Library Innovation Lab in Fall 2018.

Introduction to Spatial Visualization & Analysis
March 14, 2019, 11–1:00 pm.
O’Neill Library, Digital Studio, Room 205

Are you interested in making an interactive map, but don’t know where to start? In this workshop you will be introduced to the basics of GIS and spatial thinking. We will look at and discuss different map types, use cases, and visualization tools. Through hands-on exercises you will deconstruct a map project to see how it was made and think about how visualization can help you answer research questions or be used pedagogically.

Podcasting with Audacity
March 21, 2019, 11–12:30 pm.
O’Neill Library, Digital Studio, Room 205

This workshop will provide an overview for getting started with making podcasts. We will go over recording how-to’s using the free, open-source audio recording and editing tool Audacity, best practices when creating a podcast of your own, and how to share your recordings with your audience.

Introduction to Tableau
March 28, 2019, 11–12:30 pm.
O’Neill Library, Digital Studio, Room 205

In this workshop, participants will get an introductory, hands-on learning experience of the data visualization package Tableau. The workshop will be focused on Tableau key functions, including:

• How to connect to data sources
• How to create visuals and assemble them into a dashboard
• How to publish the dashboard to the Tableau Public server

Building a Site with WordPress
April 2, 2019, 1–2:30 pm.
O’Neill Library, Digital Studio, Room 205

Approximately 30% of all websites are built with WordPress, and the popularity of the platform within academia for maintaining personal scholarly identity profiles and class webpages is widespread. Whether you want to use WordPress for purposes like these or would like to have a better sense of the origins and functionalities of many of the websites you use, knowing WordPress basics can facilitate an array of digital activities. In this workshop participants will learn the fundamentals of creating WordPress sites, explore organizational schema for digital content and design options, and examine templates for websites with distinct purposes.

Creating Digital Exhibits with Omeka
April 11, 2019, 11–12:30 pm.
O’Neill Library, Digital Studio, Room 205

In this workshop, participants will learn how to use the free, open-source digital curation tool Omeka.net to create digital exhibits. Together we will look at examples of successful digital exhibits. Then facilitators will demonstrate the basics of describing, organizing, and displaying your content. Bring your own image files, or use the sample images provided in the workshop.

Digital Scholarship Open House
May 1, 2019, 2:30–4:30 pm.
O’Neill Library, Digital Studio, Room 205

Come see what the Digital Scholarship Group has been up to!