In my teaching I have designed assignment sequences that combine the use of wikis and archival research. In doing so, I intend to introduce my students to the critical dimensions of collaborative digital forms of knowledge production as well as the experience of classic hands-on archival research. In this session I hope to discuss strategies of using wiki-style technologies as a collaborative tool for students to engage in writing as well as interacting as a community of writers and editors with an eye to the public dimension of knowledge production. I also want to explore ways of  exciting our students about the possibilities of original research and the importance and experience of pre-digital archival work.

In thinking about the Creative Uses of Zotero discussion I proposed, I realized it might be worthwhile to have an informal intro session for people who are new users first. So, I’m proposing a quick and dirty Zotero workshop. Attendees should bring a laptop computer and questions. Hopefully we can schedule this in advance of the other session in order that attendees can brainstorm and develop their newly-learned Zotero skills.

I’m an avid user of Zotero, and an alumnus of a regional Zotero train-the-trainer session we held at SU last year, so I know I’m only scratching the surface. I’d love to have others willing to join me on the teaching side of things in this session.

As a relatively recent convert to Scrivener, I feel that I am only starting to scratch the surface of some of the features that it offers. Despite its lack of a seamless interface with Zotero (another tool with which I could not do without), I have found myself using Scrivener increasingly over more familiar word processing tools for projects both small and large. But after seeing a post (or a comment on a post? or somewhere else entirely?) on ProfHacker, I have now started to use Scrivener for other purposes including course management. And now I can no longer imagine organizing a course and teaching it without the program. I am interested in traveling further down this slippery slope and talking with other members of the Scrivener cult to discuss how you are using it. Ideally, this session would provide a venue for hardened Scrivener vets and newbies alike, allowing us to share best practices for the use of the tool for writing and for whatever else people have found themselves using it.

4/12/14 Update
Links mentioned in session:
1. Overview of Scrivener Features
2. Tutorial Videos
3. A fantastic post by Ryan Cordell on ProfHacker discussing academic use of Scrivener
4. Case Studies
5. Using Zotero and Scrivener

I am interested in how the Digital Public Library can be used (in your teaching, for an assignment, or in your own research) and am in search of folks who want to experiment together. Let’s explore the DPLA through multiple kinds of searching. I am interested in exploring New York State history, but am open to all kinds of topic suggestions—ballet, vaudeville, shipwrecks!   Perhaps we could work as a team to search 1 or 2 topics as deeply as we can think to do so across all the ways of searching. How would you use the content of the DPLA and its search interface for gathering historical and cultural materials and images? We all have a touch of the curator in us.  Let’s work on one another’s research areas and have a mass search of the DPLA to uncover content.  I continually find big surprises in it.

If the group wants to we can also take a look also at OpenPics Application (free via iTunes): dp.la/apps/6  to gather a personal “collection.”

Anyone who is interested in DPLA can come!

Resources:

A librarian’s guide to DPLA: resources.library.lemoyne.edu/barnello/DPLA
Howard, J. (December 3, 2013). “DPLA: Young but Well-Connected,” Chronicle of Higher Education. chronicle.com/article/Digital-Library-of-America/143489/

–Inga H. Barnello, librarian, Le Moyne College & DPLA Community Rep.