Creating a Culture of Data Literacy in a Liberal Arts Environment
Courtney Seymour
Head of Research Services
Does Data Need a Center?
SUNYLA 2018
ROADMAP TO DATA SERVICES AT UNION
BUILDING A PROGRAM
Speedbumps and successes on the road to outreach
Partnering, workshopping, imagining
Advocating for data-specific learning outcomes
Tapping into curricular/programmatic initatives
A CULTURE OF DATA SERVICES: THE FUTURE IS SOON
DATA LITERACY AND THE COMMON CURRICULUM
DID SOMEONE SAY "DATA CENTER"?
BUILDING A PROGRAM
SPEEDBUMPS AND SUCCESSES ON THE ROAD TO OUTREACH
DATA-DRIVEN RESEARCH
"Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is software capable of storing, manipulating, and visualizing geospatial data." (Marshall 2012)
GIS
DATA SERVICES
"Data Services offers access to specialty software packages; statistical, geospatial, and qualitative data analysis training and support; and consulting expertise in the use of numeric, qualitative, and spatial data for research." (EGallivan 2015)
DATA-DRIVEN RESEARCH
Asking the appropriate research questions
Choosing appropriate software
Managing output
Discovering if the data are available
Getting started on the path to data literacy, especially in the years before they begin thesis research
UNDERGRADS STRUGGLE WITH...
WE NEED...
To provide professional assistance to navigate the complexities
Broader and deeper curricular integration
Consultation spaces
(Fuller, MS Word 2017)
DATA SERVICES
1.0
Help you identify numeric and spatial data products either in the Libraries' collection or elsewhere
1
WHAT WE DO
Acquire, download or otherwise provide access to data
3
2
Provide assistance and instruction in data wrangling and exploratory data analysis
(Fuller, "Research Services" 2018)
http://libguides.union.edu/statistics/datasets
(Fuller 2017)
DID SOMEONE SAY "DATA CENTER"?
TAPPING INTO CURRICULAR/PROGRAMMATIC INITIATIVES
DID SOMEONE SAY "COFFEE"?
THE DATA CENTER: A PROPOSAL
(Webb 2018)
THE DATA CENTER: A PROPOSAL
INTERDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION
Between students and faculty from a range of disciplines; for lessons or projects that benefit from collaborative thinking and planning alongside coding and analysis; providing high visibility to the integration of arts and sciences; breaking down silos
White boards, large outward-facing displays for visualization, real-time trend data from the stock market, historical texts, ongoing debates, Twitter feeds, and biological data
"The data...needs to be processed and presented, along with sufficient tools, to allow students to pursue their own investigations over data...Such requirements demand close collaboration between those skilled in analytic techniques and those who seek information from data." (Webb 2017)
Between faculty, between faculty and students, and between faculty and corporate entities, particularly local companies that require data analytics
CRITICAL THINKING AND VISUAL/DATA LITERACY
RESEARCH ACTIVITY
DESIGN SPACE
THE DATA CENTER: A PROPOSAL
Astronomy
Biology
Chemistry
Classics
Computer Science
Economics
English
History
Mechanical Engineering
Neuroscience
Political Science
(Webb 2017)
INTERDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION
WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA?
(CBC Radio 2016)
RESEARCH SERVICES
THE DATA CENTER
(Fuller, MS Word 2017)
collaboratively
building teams
exchanging ideas
co-authoring
across disciplines
design space
encourage communication
relationships
a culture to develop
all stages of the research process
reasoning
constructing persuasive arguments
DATA LITERACY AND THE COMMON CURRICULUM
ADVOCATING FOR DATA-SPECIFIC LEARNING OUTCOMES
DATA LITERACY:
"a specific skill set and knowledge base, which empowers individuals to transform data into information and into actionable knowledge by enabling them to access, interpret, critically assess, manage, and ethically use data." (Koltay 2017)
LEARNING OUTCOMES
"Determining when data is needed, deciding on its pertinence to someone’s information needs, critical assessment, and application to problem solving...are basically identical to the best-known skills of information literacy, set forth by the definition of information literacy by the American Library Association" (Koltay 2017)
Curriculum and data literacy infused
Bush 2017
(Cramsie 2017)
OUR OUTCOMES, YOUR
OUTCOMES
"[I]t’s worth noting that our interpretation of the ACRL Information Literacy Framework is broadening our definition of information literacy to include a multitude of literacies that are being integrated into the current curriculum...We are always mindful of the lifelong learning skills our students require “to be engaged, innovative and ethical contributors to an increasingly diverse, global and technologically complex society.” (Union College’s 2013 Strategic Priorities) Our learning outcomes are designed and will continue to be refined to integrate such needs of Union’s common curriculum."(Bush 2018)
THE DATA ANALYTICS MINOR
(Webb, "Minor in Data Analytics" 2018)
"No field is untouched by the ability to understand data in new and interesting ways. Data Analytics, the 'sexiest job of the 21st Century' (Forbes Magazine, 2015), is obviously the hot new thing but it is more than just the latest buzzword. Big data has the potential to revolutionize how we work and how we think."
DATA, ET AL.: THE SENIOR THESIS
(Academic Catalog 2018)
A CULTURE OF DATA SERVICES: THE FUTURE IS SOON
PARTNERING, WORKSHOPPING, IMAGINING
"We propose that the center be housed in the John Kelly Computing and Innovation Lab. The lab is already ideally equipped to house such a center, having sufficient computing infrastructure, and support for visualization." (Webb, PDF 2018)
1.0
THE CENTER FOR DATA ANALYTICS AT UNION COLLEGE
DATA SCIENCE HELP DESK
"Assistance in obtaining, wrangling, modeling, analyzing and visualizing data"; peer-to-peer learning model, office hours
Machine learning, data visualization, data analysis; documentation and a repository of web-based services
Web site featuring news and events, showcasing projects, promoting data analytics to current and prospective students
Courses that teach fundamental analysis techniques, or use data in the curriculum
Web scraping, data manipulation, visualization tools, GIS and introduction to data sources and machine learning
VIRTUAL PRESENCE
SUPPORT FOR DATA ANALYTICS MINOR
WORKSHOPS AND TUTORIALS
SOFTWARE LIBRARIES
1.0
(Webb 2018)
THE CENTER FOR DATA ANALYTICS AT UNION COLLEGE
2.0
(Webb, PPT 2018)
THE CENTER FOR DATA ANALYTICS AT UNION COLLEGE
(
2.0
(Webb, PPT 2018)
THE CENTER FOR DATA ANALYTICS AT UNION COLLEGE
2.0
(Webb, PPT 2018)
THE CENTER FOR DATA ANALYTICS AT UNION COLLEGE
]
2.0
(Webb, PPT 2018)
THE CENTER FOR DATA ANALYTICS... @SCHAFFER?
discipline agnostic
group study-centric
curriculum and data literacy infused
THE DATA CENTER IS...
THE DATA CENTER WOULD BE A GOOD FIT...
for the library.
GROWING THE CULTURE
"At North Carolina State University (NCSU), the proposal to build a whole new library was an ideal opportunity to think through creative space innovations. But even before there were plans for a new building, there was already a long and sustained record of outreach programs and partnership cultivation with the university community over the course of many years.
GROWING THE CULTURE
"Existing relationships provided support for the ambitious facility as it was being planned, and as the space and tools became available, they were integrated into the university’s research program, curriculum and campus activities.
GROWING THE CULTURE
"The successes at NCSU demonstrate that starting gradually can be a very effective strategy for establishing programs that endure. Furthermore, just having a space, or spaces, dedicated to DS is insufficient:
GROWING THE CULTURE
"carefully considered integration of programs that respond to campus needs and institutional goals is a necessary component of a successful operation, along with the cultivation of community, establishing meaningful collaborations, and the availability of adequate and sustainable funding."
(Goldenberg-Hart 2016)
GROWING THE CULTURE
SPACES & TOOLS
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
DATA LITERACY & PROGRAMMING
CURRICULAR SUPPORT
SUSTAINED COLLABORATION
ADMINISTRATIVE BUY-IN & FUNDING
BIG IDEAS
PEER-TO-PEER LEARNING
DOES DATA NEED A CENTER?
WORKS CITED
Bush, Lindsay. "Comments on the GenEd Revision." 2017. Google Docs file.
_____________. "Scaffolded Outcomes." 2017. Google Docs file.
CBC Radio. "'Thought Leader' Gives Talk That Will Inspire Your Thoughts." YouTube, commentary by Pat Kelly, 8 Jun. 2016.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZBKX-6Gz6A. Accessed 10 Jun. 2018.
Cramsie, John. "Imagining the Future of General Education: Community Forums in 2018." 2017. PDF file.
EGallivan. "Data Services Librarian, NYU Libraries." CLIR+DLF, 24 Feb. 2015, https://www.diglib.org/data-services-librarian-nyu-libraries/.
Accessed 10 Jun. 2018.
Fuller, David. "Datasets and Statistics." Schaffer Library, Union College, 28 Sept. 2017, https://libguides.union.edu/statistics. Accessed 10 Jun.
2018.
WORKS CITED
(Cont.)
[__________.] "Research Services: What We Do: Data Services." Schaffer Library, Union College, 9 Apr. 2018,
https://libguides.union.edu/researchservices. Accessed 10 Jun. 2018.
___________. "The Webb Proposal for a Data Analytics Center." 2017. Microsoft Word file.
Goldenberg-Hart, Diane. "Report of a CNI-ARL Workshop: Planning a Digital Scholarship Center 2016." CNI Report: DSCW16 , 2016,
https://www.cni.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/report-DSCW16.pdf. Accessed 10 Jun. 2018.
Koltay, Tibor. "Data Literacy for Researchers and Data Librarians." Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, vol. 49, no. 1, 2017, pp.
3-14. Library Literature & Information Science Full Text, doi: 10.1177/0961000615616450.
Marshall, Brianna. "Emerging Careers in Librarianship: GIS Librarianship." hls...How Would You Hack Library School?, 5 Jul. 2012,https://hacklibraryschool.com/2012/07/05/gis-librarianship/. Accessed 10 Jun. 2018.
WORKS CITED
(Cont.)
Union College. "CSC 497 -- Computer Science Capstone Seminar." Academic Catalog 2017-2018, 2017,
https://catalog.union.edu/index.php?catoid=15. Accessed 10 Jun. 2018.
Webb, Nick. "Center for Data Analytics." 2018. PowerPoint presentation.
__________. "Center for Data Analytics," 2017. PDF file.
__________. "Minor in Data Analytics," 12 Jun. 2018. PDF file.
__________. Photograph 1 of John Kelly Computing and Innovation Lab. 1 Jun. 2018.
__________. Photograph 2 of John Kelly Computing and Innovation Lab. 1 Jun. 2018.
__________. Photograph 3 of John Kelly Computing and Innovation Lab. 1 Jun. 2018.
__________. "A Proposal for Center for Data Analytics at Union College." 2018. PDF file.
QUESTIONS?
Courtney Seymour
Head of Research Services /
Collaboration, Outreach & Initiatives Librarian
seymourc@union.edu
David Fuller
Data Services Librarian
fullerd@union.edu
