Digital Literacy
DH Fair 2022
The DH Fair is an annual event that offers the UC Berkeley community the opportunity to share projects at various stages of development, receive invaluable feedback from peers, and reflect on the field more broadly. Join us online Tuesday, May 3 for a keynote speech by Lauren Tilton and a virtual poster session.
Visit the DH Fair website for more information.
Workshop: By Design: Graphics & Images Basics
By Design: Graphics & Images Basics
Tuesday, April 12th, 3:40pm-5:00pm
Online: Register to receive the Zoom link
Lynn Cunningham
In this hands-on workshop, we will learn how to create web graphics for your digital publishing projects and websites. We will cover topics such as: image editing tools in Photoshop; image resolution for the web; sources for free public domain and Creative Commons images; and image upload to publishing tools such as WordPress. If possible, please install Photoshop in advance of the workshop. (All UCB faculty and students can receive a free Adobe Creative Suite license: https://software.berkeley.edu/adobe). Register here.
Upcoming Workshops in this Series – Spring 2022:
- Check back for Fall 2022!
Please see bit.ly/dp-berk for details.
Workshop: HTML/CSS Toolkit for Digital Projects
HTML/CSS Toolkit for Digital Projects
Monday, April 11th, 3:10pm-4:30pm
Online: Register to receive the Zoom link
Stacy Reardon and Kiyoko Shiosaki
If you’ve tinkered in WordPress, Google Sites, or other web publishing tools, chances are you’ve wanted more control over the placement and appearance of your content. With a little HTML and CSS under your belt, you’ll know how to edit “under the hood” so you can place an image exactly where you want it, customize the formatting of text, or troubleshoot copy & paste issues. By the end of this workshop, interested learners will be well prepared for a deeper dive into the world of web design. Register here.
Upcoming Workshops in this Series – Spring 2022:
- By Design: Graphics & Images Basics
Please see bit.ly/dp-berk for details.
Workshop: Can I Mine That? Should I Mine That?: A Clinic for Copyright, Ethics & More in TDM Research
Can I Mine That? Should I Mine That?: A Clinic for Copyright, Ethics & More in TDM Research
Wednesday, March 9th, 11:10am-12:30pm
Online: Register to receive the Zoom link
Stacy Reardon and the Library Office of Scholarly Communications
If you are working on a computational text analysis project and have wondered how to legally acquire, use, and publish text and data, this workshop is for you! We will teach you 5 legal literacies (copyright, contracts, privacy, ethics, and special use cases) that will empower you to make well-informed decisions about compiling, using, and sharing your corpus. By the end of this workshop, and with a useful checklist in hand, you will be able to confidently design lawful text analysis projects or be well positioned to help others design such projects. Consider taking alongside Copyright and Fair Use for Digital Projects. Register here.
Upcoming Workshops in this Series – Spring 2022:
- HTML/CSS Toolkit for Digital Projects
- By Design: Graphics & Images Basics
Please see bit.ly/dp-berk for details.
Workshop: Publish Digital Books & Open Educational Resources with Pressbooks
Publish Digital Books & Open Educational Resources with Pressbooks
Tuesday, February 8th, 11:10am-12:30pm
Online: Register to receive the Zoom link
Tim Vollmer and Stacy Reardon
If you’re looking to self-publish work of any length and want an easy-to-use tool that offers a high degree of customization, allows flexibility with publishing formats (EPUB, PDF), and provides web-hosting options, Pressbooks may be great for you. Pressbooks is often the tool of choice for academics creating digital books, open textbooks, and open educational resources, since you can license your materials for reuse however you desire. Learn why and how to use Pressbooks for publishing your original books or course materials. You’ll leave the workshop with a project already under way! Register here.
Upcoming Workshops in this Series – Spring 2022:
- Can I Mine That? Should I Mine That?: A Clinic for Copyright, Ethics & More in TDM Research
- HTML/CSS Toolkit for Digital Projects
- By Design: Graphics & Images Basics
Please see bit.ly/dp-berk for details.
Maura Adela Cruz – Fall Semester Reflections
by Maura Adela Cruz
Coming from a low-income Indigenous Oaxacan community, the library was among the few educational resources available in my hometown. Growing up, it was not only a space for reading and studying, but for research, creativity, and design. From academic tutoring, to crochet circles, and English language classes, our public library held many services for the community. However, despite the multitude of resources available, they were inaccessible to the people of my town. A lack of awareness, lack of time, and language barriers are only some of the reasons that the library resources were inaccessible in the context of my community. Due to the lack of accessibility, my Indigenous Oaxacan community came together to form our own spaces, programs, and organizations. We sought to make resources available and accessible in a way that centered our interests and needs. Because of my aforementioned experiences, I became quickly familiarized with the design thinking process and noticed many similar patterns occurring in Berkeley.
Attending Berkeley as a low-income and first-generation Indigenous student, I noticed the situation mirrors that of my hometown. Although the university offers a plethora of resources for students to enjoy, these resources are often not accessible to students of marginalized backgrounds. Prior to the Undergraduate Library Fellowship, I personally had very little awareness of the extent of resources and services available in library spaces.
I joined the Making team to help encourage students to use the Makerspace and figure out ways to increase accessibility to this wonderful resource. Throughout the semester, we worked as a team to brainstorm, listen to UC Berkeley students, identify our target audience and a problem statement. Understanding multiple student perspectives, and coming together as a group was important to the process of creating and initiating potential solutions to the issues at hand.
One part of the process that stood out to me were the student interviews we conducted to gain user insights on Moffitt Library and the Makerspace. It was helpful to validate my experiences and also go beyond my experiences. Through the interviews and observations I was able to consider other barriers marginalized students face with being able to use the library resources, specifically in the Makerspace. This activity helped me apply the lesson to observe, empathize, and question, as was discussed in our Makerspace team meetings. The user interviews were crucial to understanding the situations and sentiments of several UC Berkeley students, and identifying a problem statement to work on solving. It allowed us to learn more about the target audience and who would benefit from our efforts to make the Makerspace more accessible.
After identifying the target audience and problem statement, we met as a team to come up with solutions and actions that can be taken on our behalf to reach our goal for increased accessibility. Throughout these past few months, the process has been centered on coming together and taking into account the users needs. How can our resources and space best benefit every user, especially students who have been historically excluded and marginalized? We asked ourselves many questions, came together as a team to share our experiences, sought varying perspectives from other UC Berkeley students, and received feedback from our mentors and the Research team. To put it simply, my experience in the fellowship has solidified that solutions and next steps towards accessibility take a collective effort.
New for Gale Digital Scholar Lab
A new interface for Gale Digital Scholar Lab is coming on December 17, 2021!
What’s different?
- New design
- Add documents to whichever Content Set you want without having to set an Active Content Set.
- Options for cleaning data more visible and user-friendly
- More flexibility for Analysis tools
- Other enhancements based on user feedback
What’s the same?
- The Build, Clean, and Analyze workflow remains the same
- Options for the six types of analyses that researchers can now run will be available
How do I try it out?
To take a tour of the enhanced Gale Digital Scholar Lab, after logging in, select the “Try Our New Experience” link in the header.
What do I need to do before the change?
- Download any existing visualizations and tabular data. There are multiple options for download, including raw analysis data (CSV and JSON) and several visualization image formats. Existing visualizations and tabular data will not be migrated automatically.
- All content sets and clean configurations will migrate to the new platform, with no action required by current researchers.
Workshop: Copyright and Fair Use for Digital Projects
Copyright and Fair Use for Digital Projects
Wednesday, November 10, 11:10am–12:30pm
Online: Register to receive the Zoom link
Rachael Samberg and Tim Vollmer
This training will help you navigate the copyright, fair use, and usage rights of including third-party content in your digital project. Whether you seek to embed video from other sources for analysis, post material you scanned from a visit to the archives, add images, upload documents, or more, understanding the basics of copyright and discovering a workflow for answering copyright-related digital scholarship questions will make you more confident in your publication. We will also provide an overview of your intellectual property rights as a creator and ways to license your own work. Register here.
Upcoming Workshops in this Series:
Coming in Spring 2022:
- By Design: Graphics & Images Basics
- HTML/CSS Toolkit for Digital Projects
- Can I Mine That? Should I Mine That?: A Clinic for Copyright, Ethics & More in TDM Research
- Publish Digital Books & Open Educational Resources with Pressbooks
Please see bit.ly/dp-berk for details.
Workshop: The Long Haul: Best Practices for Making Your Digital Project Last
The Long Haul: Best Practices for Making Your Digital Project Last
Wednesday, October 13, 11:10am-12:00pm
Online: Register to receive the Zoom link
Scott Peterson and Erin Foster
You’ve invested a lot of work in creating a digital project, but how do you ensure it has staying power? We’ll look at choices you can make at the beginning of project development to influence sustainability, best practices for documentation and asset management, and how to sunset your project in a way that ensures long-term access for future researchers. Register here.
Upcoming Workshops in this Series – Fall 2021:
- Copyright and Fair Use for Digital Projects
Please see bit.ly/dp-berk for details.
Workshop: Web Platforms for Digital Projects
Web Platforms for Digital Projects
Tuesday, October 12th, 3:10pm-4:30pm
Online: Register to receive the Zoom link
Stacy Reardon and Kiyoko Shiosaki
How do you go about publishing a digital book, a multimedia project, a digital exhibit, or another kind of digital project? In this workshop, we’ll take a look at use cases for common open-source web platforms WordPress, Drupal, Omeka, and Scalar, and we’ll talk about hosting, storage, and asset management. There will be time for hands-on work in the platform most suited to your needs. No coding experience is necessary. Register here.
Upcoming Workshops in this Series – Fall 2021:
- The Long Haul: Best Practices for Making Your Digital Project Last
- Copyright and Fair Use for Digital Projects
Please see bit.ly/dp-berk for details.