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Digital Scholarship Consultation

gsul-ds-consultationgraphicThe Library recently hired Spencer Roberts to provide consultation and support for digital projects, research, and publication. Conveniently located in CURVE on the 2nd floor of Library South, Spencer’s office is open to faculty, students, and staff who have questions about what’s possible with digital scholarship, have ideas about digital projects, or would like support for an existing project. Anyone seeking a partnership with the Library on a digital project can schedule an appointment or drop in to discuss opportunities.

Digital project consultation can include topics such as funding, planning, assessment, publishing, research methods, resource management, user testing, web hosting, and training.

Below is a partial list of digital methods and tools for which Spencer can provide support and training. If you have specific interest in a new tool or method not shown here, contact Spencer to discuss how we might expand our list and learn together.

  • Audio editing (Audacity)
  • Web mapping (Carto, Neatline, StoryMapJS)
  • Text analysis (Voyant, R, Python)
  • Data analysis (Excel, R, Python, Plotly)
  • Oral history (Oral History Metadata Syncronizer)
  • Web publishing and exhibits (WordPress, PressForward, Scalar, Omeka, TimelineJS, Juxtapose, Hypothes.is, MediaWiki)

Email: sroberts63@gsu.edu

Phone: 404-413-2866

Office: Library South 2nd floor, CURVE, Room 206

Smithsonian, Human Origins Researchers Use CURVE’s Visualization Technology

Georgia State University recently hosted a conference for researchers from the Hominin Sites and Paleolakes Drilling Project (HSPDP), in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution’s Human Origins Program. The HSPDP consists of five research teams from 12 countries, plus the Smithsonian Research team that is collaborating with HSPDP.  GSU’s own Dr. Dan Deocampo directs the lab which analyzes the mineral samples from 5 of 6 core sites using X-ray diffraction techniques.

Drilling rig at Lake Magadi, Kenya, in summer, 2014 and NSF's National Lacustrine Core Facility at the University of Minnesota – Dr. Deocampo, Dr. Tim Lowenstein, and Dr. Jiuyi Wang
Drilling rig at Lake Magadi, Kenya, in summer, 2014 and NSF’s National Lacustrine Core Facility at the University of Minnesota – Dr. Deocampo, Dr. Tim Lowenstein, and Dr. Jiuyi Wang

To help visualize scanned core images, project team members worked with the CoreWall team, a group of scientific software developers who support researchers viewing images stitched together as seamless image files. With the cores ranging from 300 to 600 meters in length, visualizing these core images on a large digital canvas enhances the teams’ analytical capabilities. The 24 foot (7.3 meters wide) interactWall at Georgia State University Library’s CURVE provided the perfect digital canvas for the six research teams. Deocampo noted of the interactWall, “This technology allows us to closely examine the sediment in detail while keeping the larger context – we’re literally looking through a window at the earth’s history millions of years ago. This is helping us understand how changing climate affects the environment, ecosystems, and organisms in Africa and around the globe.” The Hominin Sites and Paleolakes Drilling Project team took full advantage of the visualization capacities of the interactWall.

Dr. Andy Cohen, Distinguished Professor of Geosciences at the University of Arizona, examines a core from Lake Turkana, Kenya.
Dr. Andy Cohen, Distinguished Professor of Geosciences at the University of Arizona, examines a core from Lake Turkana, Kenya.

 

Dr. Jenni Scott from Mt. Royal University (Canada) shows Dr. René Dommain from Smithsonian Institution and Chad Yost, Ph.D. Candidate from University of Arizona the core from Olorgesailie, Kenya.
Dr. Jenni Scott from Mt. Royal University (Canada) shows Dr. René Dommain from Smithsonian Institution and Chad Yost, Ph.D. Candidate from University of Arizona the core from Olorgesailie, Kenya.

 

Dr. Anders Noren from the National Lacustrine Core Facility at the University of Minnesota examines the core from Lake Baringo (Tugen Hills), Kenya.
Dr. Anders Noren from the National Lacustrine Core Facility at the University of Minnesota examines the core from Lake Baringo (Tugen Hills), Kenya.

 

Dr. Tim Lowenstein, from the Binghamton University, discusses the Lake Turkana core with Dr. Cat Beck from Hamilton College, and Dr. Emily Beverly, a Post-Doctoral Research Scientist in the Department of Geosciences at Georgia State University.
Dr. Tim Lowenstein, from the Binghamton University, discusses the Lake Turkana core with Dr. Cat Beck from Hamilton College, and Dr. Emily Beverly, a Post-Doctoral Research Scientist in the Department of Geosciences at Georgia State University.

 

Emma McNulty, PhD candidate at Binghamton University, zooms in on an element of the core from Lake Magadi, Kenya.
Emma McNulty, PhD candidate at Binghamton University, zooms in on an element of the core from Lake Magadi, Kenya.

 

Dr. Jenni Scott, Mt. Royal University (Canada) discusses with Dr. Rick Potts, Director of the Human Origins Program at the Smithsonian Institution, the core from Olorgesailie, Kenya, collected by the Smithsonian and Kenyan science team.
Dr. Jenni Scott, Mt. Royal University (Canada) discusses with Dr. Rick Potts, Director of the Human Origins Program at the Smithsonian Institution, the core from Olorgesailie, Kenya, collected by the Smithsonian and Kenyan science team.

 

The Hominin Sites and Paleolakes Drilling Project team. GSU team members include Dr. Dan Deocampo, Chair of the Department of Geosciences, graduate students Nate Rabideaux, Alexandra Simpson, Karim Minkara, and undergraduate students David Davis and Sanam Chaudhary.
The Hominin Sites and Paleolakes Drilling Project team. GSU team members include Dr. Dan Deocampo, Chair of the Department of Geosciences, graduate students Nate Rabideaux, Alexandra Simpson, Karim Minkara, and undergraduate students David Davis and Sanam Chaudhary.

Welcome PantherHackers

“Where Innovation Meets Coding & Ideas Come To Life”

hackers2

PantherHackers is a new Georgia State club whose mission is to spread the word about coding and innovation, and to show how powerful the two can be when put together.  PantherHackers want to empower fellow students with basic coding skills so they can learn to take on bigger and better things, get their name out there,  and even impress future employers.

More about PantherHackers and Scheduled Events >

PantherHackers
PantherHackers in CURVE

Summer Upgrades

During the month of June, you will see a few enhancements happening in CURVE.  Based on feedback over the last academic year, we are changing the furnishings and setup at the interactWall control console, 4K workstation, and Bloomberg/business research workstations to better facilitate group work and interaction. Most of CURVE is still open Monday-Thursday (9 a.m. – 5 p.m.) and Friday (9 a.m. – 4 p.m.). The only exception is the interactWall, which we plan to have back online sometime during the week of June 22-26.

It didn’t take long for students to discover our new and improved furniture…

Students in CURVE
Pictured here: biology majors from Dr. Carmen Eilertson’s Histology course (BIOL 4685) getting up-close with some “mucin-producing” cells at the 4K workstation. Left to right: Lisa Phommaseng, Kimberly Shim, Rabiya Chand, Muhammad Anwar, and Ricky Ju