Library Hosts Workshops for Endangered Data Week, February 26–March 1

The UVA Library is hosting a number of events as part of Endangered Data Week 2018 (February 26–March 2), a collaborative effort, coordinated across campuses, nonprofits, libraries, citizen science initiatives, and cultural heritage institutions, (1) to shed light on public datasets that are in danger of being deleted, repressed, mishandled, or lost; (2) to promote public and open data, working toward greater accessibility; and (3) to build a culture of data consciousness, increasing appreciation for and the ability to use data within the larger community.

Research Data Services is available year-round with a variety of data-related services, including discovery and acquisition of datasets, statistical support and data analytics consulting, research software support, and consulting on data-related issues, including research data management. We also offer a rich variety of workshops throughout the academic year. We are happy to answer any questions you might have; just send us an email at researchdataservices@virginia.edu.

Below is the current list of events we are hosting at UVA for Endangered Data Week. No reservations are required, so please join us if you can!

  • Introduction to R (Clay Ford)—Monday, February 26, 10:00 a.m.–noon, in Alderman Library, Room 421. For the absolute beginner, this workshop provides a gentle introduction to R—an open-source software environment and programming language designed specifically for statistical analysis—and RStudio, a free integrated development environment (IDE) that makes using and learning R much easier. Learn how to import data, do basic data manipulation, create graphics, and perform basic statistical analyses.
  • Data Sharing and Public Health Emergencies (Daniel Mietchen)—Monday, February 26, 3:00 p.m.–4:00 p.m., in Alderman Library, Room 421. Data sharing is a relatively new facet of public health emergency responses, but increasingly helps improve emergency response by providing complete and up-to-date information. Find out more about the potential impact of preserving and sharing data.
  • ArcGIS Online: Story Maps (Drew Macqueen)—Tuesday, February 27, 10:00 a.m.–11:00 a.m., in Alderman Library, Room 421. Whether telling a story, giving a tour, or comparing historic maps, ESRI Story Maps are easy-to-use applications that create polished presentations. ArcGIS Online sessions assume participants have no previous experience using GIS. Sessions will be hands-on with step-by-step tutorials and expert assistance.
  • Basics of Version Control with Git (Ammon Shepherd)—Tuesday, February 27, 1:00 p.m.–2:00 p.m., in Alderman Library, Room 421. An overview of how to use Git and GitHub to version your documents (word processing and coding document or any type of files). This is a workshop for absolute beginners. No experience is required.
  • Introduction to Libra Data (Dataverse at UVA) (Sherry Lake)—Wednesday, February 28, 1:00 p.m.–2:00 p.m., in Brown Library, Room 133. Overview and demonstration session on Libra Data, available for UVA researchers to publish and share data. Libra Data is for final, publishable research. Benefits of using Libra Data include: Increased visibility and impact of your research data, Safe management of your data, Fulfillment of journal and grant mandates, and Valuable research time saved. Read more about the benefits and the full Library announcement.
  • Introduction to the City of Charlottesville’s Open Data Portal (Steve Hawkes, Mark Simpson and Nathan Day)—Wednesday, February 28, 2:30 p.m.–3:30 p.m., in Alderman Library, Room 421. The objective of Open Data is to eliminate burdens to access data created or managed by government agencies, while respecting privacy and sensitivity concerns. It enables entrepreneurs, academics, community groups, other learning communities, developers, and interested citizens to use data in creative applications. The City of Charlottesville’s Open Data Portal houses machine-readable data, that can be downloaded and manipulated. The data includes crime statistics, traffic, demographics, real estate and environmental data. Members of the Open Data Advisory Group, a citizen stakeholder group, will introduce the Open Data hub and portal, and then Nathan Day will lead us in a dive into some of the data available from the portal. Please bring a laptop so you can dive into the data as well.
  • Introduction to DocNow (Jeremy Boggs)—Thursday, March 1, 2:00 p.m.–3:00 p.m., in Alderman Library, Room 421. Join us for an introduction to DocNow, a tool and community developed around supporting the ethical collection, use, and preservation of social media content. Scholars’ Lab staff will be on hand to provide a brief introduction to the tool, a discussion of data collection, and a consideration of the complex, often fraught, stories that can be told through social media data. All skill levels are welcome and encouraged to attend.

Within the UVA Library, these events are being hosted by Research Data Services and the Scholars’ Lab with support from the Data Science Institute at UVA. You can also view the events we hosted in 2017, for the first Endangered Data Week.

For more information about other Endangered Data Week events around the country and around the world, please visit the Endangered Data Week website.

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