dSHARP and Data CoLab Virtual Consulting Sessions

dSHARP and the dataCoLAb will offer Virtual Consultations for the remainder of the Spring 2020 semester.

We encourage you to contact us individually or email our group using dsharp @ andrew.cmu.edu to schedule a virtual consultation. If your interest is in working with datasets and data visualization, members of the DataCoLAB should be emailed using: dataCoLAB @ andrew.cmu.edu.

During consultations we can:

  • show you how to work with experimental digital methods;
  • begin connecting you to resources for self-teaching or the local networks of DH and DS practitioners at CMU, the University of Pittsburgh;
  • help you brainstorm, scope, and begin planning a project;
  • evaluate and offer advice on the display of visual content, such as presentations, poster designs, and web design;
  • find, create, and work with data, including data management, data mining & data modeling;
  • learn about the availability of tools and platforms on campus, such as ArcGIS (GIS data), Tableau (data visualization), and others;
  • provide feedback on your dataset, data management plan, project design, and code.
  • consult on digital humanities platforms (Omeka, Scalar, Mukutru, for example) and digital publishing (Janeway Open Journal platform and WordPress).

We will also do our best to refer you to support and expertise around CMU including other Library consultants and the Eberly Center.

See more about the dSHARP group here: http://dsharp.library.cmu.edu/about/

CMU: Data Carpentries (R for Social Sciences)

CMU Libraries is thrilled to be hosting a two-day Data Carpentries (R for Social Sciences) workshop on March 12th-13th!

This event is an example-driven two-day workshop on spreadsheet organization, OpenRefine, SQL, and R. Short tutorials alternate with hands-on practical exercises, and participants are encouraged both to help one another and to try applying what they have learned to their own research problems during and between sessions.

The workshop is completely free to attend, and we will provide breakfast and lunch on both days.

For more information and to register, please visit our Eventbrite page here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cmu-libraries-data-carpentry-r-for-social-sciences-workshop-tickets-92407598615. Space is extremely limited, so register now!

If you have any questions, please email us at UL-DataServices@andrew.cmu.edu.

Drawing the Lines: How redistricting reform will improve Pennsylvania and restore citizen’s trust in government.

This event is not part of the CMU Libraries Gerrymandering Series but has a related focus on redistricting!

At the University of Pittsburgh: 

Drawing the Lines:
How redistricting reform will improve Pennsylvania and restore citizen’s trust in government.

January 30, 2020
12:00 p.m.- 1:00 p.m.
The University Club
Ballroom B (123 University Place, Pgh. PA 15260)

Part of the Discussions on Governance Lecture Series

David Thornburgh,
President and CEO of the Committee of Seventy.

REGISTER NOW USING THIS LINK

Over the last 4 years, the once-arcane topic of redistricting reform-drawing election maps in a transparent, accessible and accountable process—has improbably captured the hearts and minds of tens of thousands of Pennsylvanians.  As we anticipate the 2021 Census, and the election maps that will be drawn from those numbers, time is short for legislative leaders to take action.  But citizen energy around this issue is at an all-time high and dozens of legislators from both parties have called for reform, and several proposals are now circulating in our state capitol.  Why does redistricting reform matter, and what we can do about it, and what’s likely to happen?

David is the second son of Dick and Ginny Thornburgh and is the President and CEO of the Committee of Seventy, the longstanding nonpartisan advocate for better government based in Philadelphia.  With the support of Pennsylvania foundations, in 2018 the Committee of Seventy created Draw the Lines PA, a statewide public mapping competition that has engaged over 5,000 Pennsylvanians, as young as 14,  in drawing their own congressional maps.  Draw the Lines PA has demonstrated that Pennsylvanians are ready, willing, and able to share in the work of drawing election maps.  Thornburgh was also appointed by Governor Wolf to chair the PA Redistricting Reform Commission, whose 2019 report advanced a “Pennsylvania Plan” for redistricting reform that brings more transparency and independence to the process.

Parking is suggested at Soldiers and Sailors auditorium garage.
This lecture is free and open to the public.
Registration is requested.
Refreshments will be served.

dSHARP Gerrymandering Series: Understanding Census Data with the WPRDC

The Libraries Gerrymandering series continues this week.

Please join us for Understanding Census Data with the Western Pennsylvania Regional Data Center, January 21st (12pm to 1pm).

 To register for other upcoming events in the Gerrymandering Series, please use the links below

If you have any questions about these events, or other things happening at CMU Libraries, please contact e.slayton@andrew.cmu.edu

dSHARP Gerrymandering Series: Teaching the Cultural Ramifications of Gerrymandering through John Oliver, Video Games, and Political Cartoons

What choices go into making a gerrymandered map?
Do you think you could make better choices and a better map?
Do you want to learn how?

If you are interested in discussing gerrymandering and its effects, as well as learning new technical skills (ex. finding data or network analysis), join us for the Libraries dSHARP Gerrymandering Series!

The process of gerrymandering, manipulating voting district boundaries to establish a political advantage for a particular party or group, often leads to rippling cultural effects on the communities in which the redistricting efforts are meant to exploit. Using a Last Week Tonight with John Oliver segment focusing on gerrymandering, a redistricting video game, and political cartoons, I will describe a pedagogy for engaging an audience on the cultural impacts of gerrymandering, teaching how these redistricting processes may be aimed at disadvantaging only a certain population, but ultimately affect all of us.

Lecture attendees may wish to bring a laptop to play along with the redistricting video game, but bringing a laptop is not required.

Date: Tuesday, November 12, 2019
Time: 12:00pm – 1:00pm
Location: Sorrells Library, Den
Campus: Sorrells Library

Please use this link [https://cmu.libcal.com/event/5975410]and go to the bottom to register for the workshop.

Please consider joining us to discuss gerrymandering and its effects, as well as learning new technical skills (ex. finding data or network analysis), at all the events in the Libraries dSHARP Gerrymandering Series!

 Whether you’re a map geek or are just interested in picking up technical skills, these workshops and events will be a great opportunities for you to grow your skills, learn, and make a difference.

Gerrymandering Series Event with Draw the Lines PA

October 22, 2019
3:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Sorrells Library, The Den

What choices go into making a gerrymandered map?
Do you think you could make better choices and a better map?
Do you want to learn how?

dSHARP is excited to bring Rachel Colker fromDraw the Lines PA, to discuss gerrymandering, its effects, as well as show us how to build our own district maps!

Whether you’re a map geek or have never worked with mapping software before, this will be a great opportunity for you to grow your skills, learn, and make a difference.

Rachel Colker is the Western PA Coordinator at Draw the Lines PA, a statewide civic education and engagement initiative for Pennsylvanians to draw election maps. Its goal is to help Pennsylvanians of all ages learn about and connect with the issue of political redistricting and gerrymandering.

You are encouraged, but not required to register for the event.

CMU’s Department of English Spring Book Salon 2019

Join Us Tuesday, April 30: 12pm – 1:30pm
Rachel Mellon Walton Room, Posner Hall (Ground Floor)

The Invention of Whiteness: Exploring David Brown’s ENGLISH AND EMPIRE and the Intersection of Race, Visual Data and Stigmatized Language

Featuring: Richard Purcell (CMU English); Alex Reinhart (CMU Statistics & Data Science); Amanda Godley (Pitt School of Education); and David Brown (CMU English)

Lunch provided.
RSVP preferred but not required. Join our Spring Book Salon 2019 for a multi-faceted set of presentations around David Brown’s ENGLISH AND EMPIRE (nominated for the MLA Prize for a First Book).

Each speaker will address a different aspect of the work, including race, data analysis, and how stigmatized dialects are taught in American classrooms. We hope to see you there.

RSVP preferred but not required.

For more information contact: ajanuzzi@andrew.cmu.edu

Digital Tools Workshop: R for Textual Analysis & Data Visualization

Introduction to R for Textual Analysis & Data Visualization

Workshop 1 – Thurs., 3/21, 4pm – Hunt Library Studio B
Workshop 2 – Thurs., 4/4, 4pm – Hunt Library Studio B
Workshop 3 – April TBD

Held by David Brown (CMU English) and Matthew Lincoln (CMU Libraries), this is a series of three workshops for those interested in learning some basics of R (the popular programming language and coding environment), specifically for analyzing textual data and producing data visualizations.

The workshops are geared toward those with little or no R coding experience,
but all are welcome!

Register for any and/or all three coding workshops here: https://form.jotform.com/90716430178154

Contact is David Brown: dwb2@andrew.cmu.edu

Visiting Speaker: Rachel McBride Lindsey

#ArchCityReligion
Local Religion and Digital Humanities in Classrooms and Beyond

November 12, 2018
4:30 PM – 6:00 PM
501 Cathedral of Learning
Rachel McBride Lindsey
Saint Louis University

What does the Study of religion look like, sound like, feel like, even small, and taste like…

when we shift public attention from shared beliefs (be they theological, moral, or civic) to shared spaces? How do the tools and insights of digital humanities inform the ways we encounter, study, and analyze local religion? What are the points of intersection between
“digital religion” and social justice?

ArchCityReligion and Lived Religion in the Digital Age are two projects, one teaching centered and the other research focused, that anchor these questions and begin to offer responses in the local contexts of St. Louis.

Rachel McBride Lindsey is assistant professor of American Religion at Saint Louis University and co-director of Lived Religion in the Digital Age, a Public Understanding of Religion project supported by the Henry Luce Foundation.

Her book, A Communion of Shadows: Religion and Photography in Nineteenth-Century America (2017), is published by the University of North Carolina Press.

Spatial Storytelling Series Kick-off

Spatial Storytelling Series Kick-off November 1 at 5:00 pm
This event will bring together spatial thinkers from CMU and beyond, who will speak to their work around creating and communicating spatial narratives. Our speakers were asked to engage critically with how they use spatial data or communicate stories through their use of or representations of space. 
 
Speakers include:
 
Spatial Storytelling Series Kick Off
  • November 1, 2018
  • 5 – 8 p.m.
  • Cohon University Center, Connan Room
 
The event will be held from 5 – 7 p.m. and will be followed by a reception with light refreshments.
 
More information about the Spatial Storytelling Series:
 
The Spatial Storytelling Series is a series of events and workshops on spatial storytelling. These events support broader interaction between members of the CMU community who engage in any aspect of spatial storytelling. We hope to promote critical engagement with spatial data and concepts and learn how we can best support research and student learning by supporting the creation of spatial narratives. 
 
Spatial inquiry and analysis is of growing interest in multiple disciplines. At CMU, courses in geographic information systems (GIS) are taught in the Heinz and Dietrich Colleges and a course on Spatial History has been offered through the History Department. In addition to instruction, researchers in every College of CMU, from the College of Engineering to the Tepper School of Business, are leveraging spatial tools and techniques in their research. Although the application of many of these tools and techniques differ between disciplines, spatial storytelling crosses over disciplinary boundaries. Students and scholars in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences can all utilize spatial narratives to tell stories and provide context to their research. To foster the use of spatial narratives across campus, the proposed series of events – open to everyone – will promote the use of digital storytelling methods and methodologies across disciplines.
 
The planned series of events will end in a competition and expo that will showcase student work in these cross disciplinary applications of digital storytelling. Our events focus on storytelling and aim to support students through the entire process from identifying a research problem, data collection, learning specific tools, and finally crafting a narrative.
 
To learn more about the series, visit:http://library.cmu.edu/gis/events