Winter Workshop 2015: “Technology to Engage in Public Scholarship”

A group of almost 30 faculty and staff met December 1^st and 2^nd to think about technologies used in public scholarship. Throughout the two days, participants:

·   Gained an overview of public scholarship and learned about sites to publish their work

·   Gained an overview, including the strengths and challenges, of 5 technologies: Omeka, WordPress, Reason, Wikipedia, and GIS

·   Explored two of the above technologies in a hands-on workshop

·   Learned about image use, copyright, data management, text formatting, and exit strategies for online work

·   Learned about available resources/support in Academic Technology, the Library, and CCCE

·   Were invited to join a technology circle to support those working with a specific tool

One of our goals for this year was to usefully collect and curate a large inventory of resources for each of the technologies explored in the workshop. We created a page to make it easy for participants to access the information they needed during the workshop and beyond, to make the information accessible to those who were unable to attend, and to allow us to share resources beyond simple printouts. Check out the page by clicking here and check out the large variety of useful resources available. If you’d like to learn more about using a particular technology in your classes or professional role, just contact us at Academic Technology.

Over the two days of the Workshop, we spent the morning sessions discussing data management practices, using images effectively, copyright,  writing for the web, and overviews of the five featured technologies for the workshops. Each afternoon was a long hands-on session with one of the five featured technologies. Participants were able to get a strong introduction to the technology, work on a project of their choice, and have close personal instruction from the resident experts on their technology. (For the sessions they weren’t able to attend, the resources are available here!) In between sessions, breakfast and lunch were open for mingling and networking; we enjoyed seeing the discussions from the sessions spill into the discussions around the lunch tables.

Overall, we really enjoyed helping to host and lead the Winter Workshop. We hope the Winter Workshop Resources Website continues to grow and adapt as a useful resource for using technology to help engage in Public Scholarship. We’re also analyzing our feedback forms to help produce better workshops every time we produce them. Enjoy pictures from the event below!