ILS Digital Scholarship Courses Offer Purdue Students Instruction in Data Science, Digital Humanities & More

October 28th, 2019

Purdue University Libraries and School of Information Studies (PULSIS) will offer four new digital scholarship-related information and library science (ILS) courses in Spring 2020. According to Matt Hannah, assistant professor of Digital Humanities, PULSIS, the courses are designed to provide students with important skills related to Digital Humanities, data science, archival science, and data management.

Graduate Courses

• ILS 695, “Introduction to Computational Text Analysis” (3 credit hours); noon-1:15 p.m. Tuesdays/Thursdays; Instructors: Matthew Hannah and Trevor Burrows, postdoctoral researcher
  This course will offer an introduction to text analysis using the scripting language R. Aimed at an audience of newcomers, especially from the humanities and social sciences, with no experience in programming. Students will learn a set of tools and methods, but will also think theoretically about the nature of text and textuality, signification, authorship and authority, the history of the book, and more.
• ILS 695, “Digital and Analog Archives” (3 credit hours); 1:30-4:20 p.m. Wednesday; Instructor: Sammie Morris, professor and head, Purdue Archives and Special Collections
  In this course, students will engage both the theory and practice of archival work. Taught by University Archivist Sammie Morris, with support from a range of expert archivists, students will gain valuable experience regarding the practice of archiving and will contribute to an original digital archive of materials related to Purdue’s history.
• ILS 595, “Data Management and Curation for Qualitative Research” (3 credit hours), 4:30-7:20 p.m. Tuesdays; Instructor: Kendall Roark, assistant professor, PULSIS
  This course offers an interdisciplinary introduction to data management and curation for qualitative research, with a focus on the use, value, and organization of data, materials, infrastructure, tools and scholarly communication.

Undergraduate Course

• ILS 230, “Data Science and Society: Ethical, Legal, Social Issues” (3 credit hours), 1:30-2:45 Tuesdays/Thursdays; Instructor: Kendall Roark, assistant professor, PULSIS
  This course provides an introduction to ethical, legal, social issues (ELSI) in data science. Students will be introduced to interdisciplinary theoretical and practical frameworks that can aid in exploring the impact and role of data science in society.

For a complete list of Spring 2020 ILS courses offered through the Purdue Libraries and School of Information Studies, visit www.lib.purdue.edu/initiatives/spring-2020-courses.

Thinking Creatively About Theses

May 29th, 2019

On Thursday, May 23, a Symposium on Electronic Theses and Dissertations was held at Purdue University. Ashlee Messersmith, manager, thesis/dissertation, The Graduate School at Purdue University, and Michael Witt, associate professor, Purdue Libraries and School of Information Studies, organized the event, with support from the United States Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Association (USETDA).

By Michael Witt, Head, Distributed Data Curation Center (D2C2), and Associate Professor of Library Science

The presenters at the Symposium on Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETD) highlighted a wide variety of creative works produced by graduate students in earning their degrees, such as:

• a newly discovered chemical structure with directions for building your own model of it using a 3D printer;
• training materials for board game designers to help them write better instructions for teaching people how to play their games; and
• an online map of the state of Indiana with embedded ecological data to improve natural resource management.

Graduate students will typically prepare and defend a written thesis, even if their research can be communicated in a more meaningful or impactful format than a document. There are other examples, such as software source code and research data, videos and photos from exhibits and performances, mixed media, dynamic websites, and much more produced by students; but this type of content is often left out of a traditional thesis.

In some cases, these non-traditional works could be considered as the primary product of the students’ scholarship — without the need for a written thesis.

Recent changes to the policies of Purdue’s Graduate School reflect a progressive approach and support for non-traditional theses, embracing both the opportunities and challenges they present for the Purdue’s faculty, thesis office, and libraries.

“As emerging technologies continue to influence higher education, we needed to set a precedent through which students are permitted to express their creativity,” Messersmith explained. “Exploring these influences and their implications was the focus of the symposium, which was held in the Wilmeth Active Learning Center. We invited experts to share ideas and brainstorm with participants who supervise theses and manage the processes and platforms for producing and archiving them.”

The opening keynote presentation by Professor and Dean of Libraries at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro Martin Halbert addressed the landscape and life cycle of electronic theses and dissertations, as well as the ETDPlus resource.

The closing keynote, delivered by Jean-Pierre Hérubel, professor, Purdue Libraries and School of Information Studies, dove into the history and culture of the doctoral dissertation, as well as variations and transformations of its purpose and form.

Other presentations from Purdue faculty and staff explored issues related to student perspectives, digital humanities, graduate college policies, research data management, digital preservation, and scholarly publishing. Throughout the symposium, participants discussed important questions related to sharing current practices; interfacing with faculty to observe and respect local cultures related to credentialing students; identifying concerns and opportunities for graduate colleges, libraries, and technology providers; and increasing collaboration within the University and among universities. A lively round of lightning talks in the afternoon featured specific examples of theses that challenge conventions from other universities.

Presentation slides and collaborative notes from the symposium are available on Purdue Libraries and School of Information Studies’ e-Pubs repository at https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/etdgiantleaps/.

NNLM $20K Award to Fund Project for Purdue Libraries and School of Information Studies Faculty Studying Biomedical Data Challenges

May 23rd, 2019

Recently, two members of Purdue University Libraries and School of Information Studies faculty were selected to receive a Research Data Award from the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NNLM). The $20,000 grant award for the project, “Understanding Rates of Attrition in Biomedical Data Challenges: A Study of Failure,” will enable Purdue Libraries and School of Information Studies Assistant Professor Bethany McGowan and Associate Professor Ilana Stonebraker to provide research data management training to students.

The award will facilitate a variety of training workshops including: FAIR Data Principles; Research Data Management Basics: Finding and Organizing Data; Cleaning and Formatting Data with OpenRefine; General Tips for Visualizing Biomedical Data; Biomedical Data Visualization with Tableau; and Useful R Packages for Analyzing and Visualizing Biomedical Data. The grant period began May 1 and will conclude April 30, 2020.

The workshops are part of a larger research project through which McGowan and Stonebraker will conduct a study to understand rates of attrition in biomedical data challenges.

“Our study will examine student motivation for participation in extracurricular innovation challenges, such as hackathons and case competitions, which involve the use of biomedical data, in an attempt to understand failure and reduce rates of attrition in these events,” said McGowan, who is the project lead.

In addition to presenting results of their research at conferences throughout the year, McGowan and Stonebraker will develop a digital open-education resource toolkit to help guide librarians in recruiting for and retaining diverse student populations in data-hacking challenges.

According to the NNLM’s Greater Midwest Region (GMR) website, the project supports Goal 3 of the National Library of Medicine’s Strategic Plan, which is to build a workforce for data-driven research and health.

“It supports the aligning objectives to expand and enhance research training for biomedical informatics and data science, to assure data science and open science proficiency, to increase workforce diversity, and to engage the next generation and promote data literacy,” states the NNLM GMR website.

Purdue University Research Repository (PURR) Launches New Informational Video on YouTube

May 13th, 2013

Have you heard of PURR but want to find out more information on the key functions of this Purdue University Libraries repository?

Check out PURR’s latest video, which has also been launched on YouTube and learn the four main ways the Purdue University Research Repository (PURR) can help you manage your data and research:

https://purr.purdue.edu/

Filed under: D2C2, DIGIT, general, MGMT, scholcomm, services
Article tags: D2C2, data management, Purdue University Libraries, PURR, research