2018-2019
Do More With Digital Scholarship
Join us for our free workshop series aimed at introducing McMaster students, faculty, and staff to the multifaceted domain of digital scholarship.
1. Introduction to Digital Scholarship / [slides]
Wednesday Nov. 14 1-2:30pm: (Sherman Centre)
What is digital scholarship, how can I do more with it, and why does it matter? This workshop introduces participants to the interdisciplinary and multi-modal sphere of digital scholarship. We’ll explore digital scholarship through concrete project examples and we’ll discuss the many facets of digital scholarly research and dissemination.
Instructors: Mica Jorgenson and Cathy Grisé
2. Time Management and Digital Organization
Thursday Nov. 29: 1-3pm (Sherman Centre)
This workshop covers: Get it out of your head! Mind dump tasks using “Getting Things Done” principles. Managing your email communication with Inbox Zero. Principles of tracking your own time and managing your calendar. Tools available for grad students (Office 365, Google Drive, MacDrive Trello, Teams).
Instructor: Chris McAllister
3. Introduction to GIT
Thurs Dec. 6: 1-3pm (Sherman Centre)
This workshop will give you a solid introduction to Git. Git is software originally designed to help manage vast, decentralized software projects with hundreds of authors, but it works just as well with many things that aren’t software, like data and text. Imagine having a complete archive of your work at every stage in its development! This workshop assumes no prior experience with Git, but please do bring a laptop.
Instructor: John Fink
4. Introduction to R [slides]
Fri. Jan 11 1-3pm: (Wong e-classroom)
In this 2-hour session, we will work through the basics of R. R is an open-source programming language sometimes used by digital humanists to structure, mine, and make sense of data and text. For example, here in the Sherman Centre researchers use R to conduct sentiment analysis, geoparse texts, and create tabular data out of unstructured documents like scraped web content, archival sources, or spreadsheets. In this workshop we will talk about the uses of R for humanists before turning to some hands-on experimentation in R Studio, where will experiment with basic expressions in R using swirl.
Instructors: John Fink and Mica Jorgenson
5. Time Management & Digital Organization II: Journalling
Mon Jan 28, 2-4pm (Sherman Centre)
This workshop will explore the how’s and why’s of journaling—in both digital and analog forms—as an organizational tool, intentional practice, and aesthetic expression. We will discuss particular ways of planning, documenting, and scheduling one’s activity and ideas, and demonstrate some of the methods that have worked for us. We will also discuss how various journaling and time management practices can help us think about the conditions in which we pursue academic work, and guide us to approach that work in ways that meet our own needs and objectives.
Students, academics, and professionals can adapt the principles and methods to their own needs. Please bring any tools you currently use, including notebooks and paper planners, phones and tablets, and/or laptops.
Instructors: Gena Zuroski and Lucia Lorenzi
6. Finding and mapping data about your community [worksheet] [slides]
Thurs Feb 7, 1-4pm (Wong e-Classroom)
This 3-hour session will focus on the Population Census of Canada. The first hour will highlight a wide assortment of data available from the Census, explore key sections of Statistics Canada’s Census Program website, as well as demo the process of accessing Census data using Canadian Census Analyzer. The last hour will highlight the mapping of Census data using boundary files from Statistics Canada and the open source GIS software application, QGIS. Additional sources of spatial data will also be explored. No previous knowledge of GIS is required.
Instructors: Christine Homuth and Vivek Jadon
7. Turning paper maps to interactive layers: Georeferencing and digitizing maps with GIS [workshop materials]
Thurs Feb 28, 1-4pm (Wong e-Classroom)
In this 3-hour, hands-on workshop, participants will learn how to turn previously-analog cartographic materials (like maps, plans, and aerial photos) into zoomable and interactive layers that can be viewed and shared broadly on modern web maps. Following a brief introduction to GIS software, participants will work under the guidance of the facilitator to georeference a historical map to turn it into a geospatial layer. Participants will then learn how to extract specific information on georeferenced maps (buildings, streets, post offices, etc.) into separate data layers through vectorization. No prior GIS software experience is required, though users are encouraged to attend the previous “Finding and mapping data about your community” workshop.
Instructor: Jay Brodeur
8. Integrating Digital Pedagogy in the Humanities Classroom [worksheet]
Thurs March 14, 1-3pm (Sherman Centre)
Digital methods offer students useful tools for the academy and beyond. Participants will hear from faculty who have experimented with digital pedagogy into undergraduate classrooms. We will discuss the possibilities and pitfalls of different approaches, student outcomes, and digital tools for humanities instructors.
Instructors: Cathy Grisé, Mica Jorgenson, and Christine Quail
9. Introduction to 3D printing
Thurs March 28 1-3pm (Sherman Centre)
Contrary to some overly optimistic reports, 3D printers are touchy and quirky machines, more prone to failure than fun. In this session we will show the basics of creating a print job, getting it to the printer, and avoiding the most common pitfalls.
Instructor: John Fink
10. Video as a means of digital storytelling: A workshop on video editing basics
Thurs. April 4 1-3pm (Lyons New Media Centre)
This beginner-level workshop will introduce participants to editing video with Adobe Premiere Pro. Participants will become oriented with the application, as well as its layout and interface. They will learn how to start a new project, determine video settings, and import files. By adding media to the timeline, participants will learn basic video editing skills, colour correction and video effects. Please come prepared with a USB memory drive and headphones to the session.
Instructor: Elaine Westenhoefer