Abstract
Research is increasingly collaborative and distributed (e.g., e-research/science, multi-institution work, international collaborations). In order to support this work, new tools, data collection approaches, and data analysis processes are required to support collaborations among researchers. While data publishing and curation is an important piece of this work, providing support for the shared data collection and collaborative analysis as part of the research process is of growing importance. As libraries expand their support of research and data curation activities, having a good understanding of the issues, technologies, and competencies required is important to developing successful programs.
This presentation will explore the technologies, processes, and literacies required to conduct distributed and collaborative research through the case study of a minimally-funded, mixed-methods research project conducted by the presenters. In order to complete this research project, the presenters had to plan for data management, curation, and publication needs in a collaborative and distributed manner during the planning, data gathering, data analysis, and publication activities. The presenters will discuss the needs, challenges, and solutions that emerged during this process. This case study brought to light important data management elements to plan for and served as a platform for exploring tools and technology literacy elements.
A discussion of data management tools will include 1) Survey platforms such as Qualtrics (http://qualtrics.com); 2) Data analysis tools – including dedoose (http://dedoose.com), reframe (http://getreframer.com) and knowdoo (http://knowdoo.net); 3) Collaboration tools; 4) Quantitative data analysis platforms including Google Refine (http://google.com/refine) and Amazon AWS tools; 5)Data sharing and curation tools including Dropbox (http://dropbox.com) and Box.net (http://box.net) and 6) Data publishing platforms including IPCSR (http://http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/). Finally, there will be a discussion of the implications for research and data management literacy programs in libraries including the presentation of a curriculum developed at UC Berkeley Library to support these activities.
Here’s the latest instructional workbook for the Chemistry 108 library session – a 4-hour session for undergraduate Chemistry students. (Download a copy from here.)
This training class for Library personnel at UC Berkeley was held on August 6, 2012. The goals of the class were to identify the data management questions our patrons may have and then explore ways to help them find answers with a focus on UC tools.
For the ALA Emerging Leaders 2012 program, my team members and I worked on Librarians Build Communities, a program to connect librarians with libraries and community organizations in need of skilled volunteers in order to form meaningful volunteer opportunities and to improve awareness of the expertise librarians possess.
This ALA poster presentation (of June 22, 2012, ALA Annual in Anaheim) summarizes our project.
For the CAL Prep senior students’ College Week at Berkeley, I taught a class on data and visualization.
This class examined the value of raw data (by exploring the data to information to knowledge to wisdom hierarchy) and we had a hands-on activity with data visualizations through the Google Public Data explorer. Here is the exercise worksheet and handout.