Impact Factor
A presentation I made for a quick and dirty introduction to what impact factor is, how it is calculated, where to find it, and some discussion of its problems. The class might have had 10 students in it (max), but it was very difficult to engage them in a discussion about what kinds of flaws the measure might have, or how else you might measure it. I went into the audience and sat next to the students until they started participating! Might as well make them feel awkward, too.
Becoming Expert Searchers
An advanced search strategies presentation for iSci. Including boolean!
presentations: High Rising Terminals HRT Question Intonation uptalking
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An uptalking presentation about uptalking.
I was asked to contribute to a presentation/skit/demo for iSci, with the idea of showing some poor and good presentation techniques. Since one of my biggest presentation pet-peeves is uptalking, I volunteered to demonstrate that phenomena. During some basic prep, I started reading some articles about it, and decided to make the presentation ABOUT uptalking, while also delivering it in the uptalking tone. (Other demos included over-enthusiasm, bored, lack of eye-contact, bad slide design, etc.)
But here’s the problem with trying to tell students they uptalk – they have no idea when they’re doing it. In fact, later in the class, during a discussion, I heard a student answer a question while uptalking! Oh well.
My professional acting debut. Go easy.
I’m almost embarrassed to post this video here, but as an (honest) record of my professional life, even the silly stuff should be laid bare. Arr!
Thode Library, September 18, 2009 at 2:30 PM
(with apologies to the Western Soundscape Archive)
Title: Thode Library, September 18, 2009 at 2:30 PM
thode-ambient.mp3
Subject: Places; Ambient Recordings; Environments; Indoor Sounds
Place Names: H.G. Thode Science and Engineering Library (McMaster University); Hamilton, Ontario
Creator of Audio Recording: Andrew Colgoni
Publisher: Andrew Colgoni
Date.Original: 2009-09-18
Date.Digital: 2009-09-18
Format: audio/mp3
Resource Type: sound
Digitization Specifications: Recorded natively to .mp3 format
Recording Equipment: Zoom Handy Recorder H4
Recording Description: Ambient Recording of the interior of Thode Library, midday
Library 101 for iSci 2009
Technically, my first information literacy class. The first hour and a bit was taken up with this ‘lecture’, which included some opportunity to discuss evaluation criteria for websites, and a source jeopardy game.
Part II, the second hour and a half, required the students to find, collect, checkout, photocopy, print, and cite. They did this as a group, and some had to leave our location to visit another library. In effect, this was an opportunity to ‘troubleshoot’ common problems with me in the room.
Science 2.0: What Every Scientist Needs to Know About How the Web is Changing the Way They Work
Toronto, MaRS Centre – July 29th, 2009 – Free Admission
Slides and Speaker List available
The title of the conference was slightly misleading, as it suggested a broad view of science 2.0 landscape. Instead, I found that at least half the talks were aimed at a specific type of researcher: those that do computational science research. There were, however, some interesting ideas that were of a broader nature, which I will discuss further.
Michael Nielsen – Doing Science Online
Nielsen opened his talk with a discussion of blogging in the sciences. In particular, he described the blog of Terrence Tao, a mathematician and Fields medalist. What makes Tao’s blog special is that it is a place for very high-level thinking and discussion. Tao writes blog posts outlining a mathematical problem he’s working on, along with his ideas for how they might be solved, or introducing a new way to think about them. The comments section is full of other mathmaticians offering advice, rebuttal, criticism, and discussion. It has, in essence, become a forum for mathematical thought that cannot be replicated in traditional journal-style publishing. The output of Tao’s blog is professional enough that it has been formally published in two volumes: “Structure and Randomness: pages from year one of a mathematical blog” and “Poincaré’s legacies: pages from year two of a mathematical blog“.
Blogs allow for a rapid exchange of information, almost in real-time. It also makes the scientific conversation readily searchable, and open. While traditional scientific publishing methods are still critical, it is interesting to note that other media can be an important part of the process. Another example is the so-called open notebook approach to using the web. In a similar way, ideas and notes are published and made available for viewing.
Tao and Nielsen, amongst others, have started up another blog (and associated wiki) called Polymath Projects, designed to be “massively collaborative mathematical research projects”. Essentially, these spaces allow many mathematicians to combine their talents to solve larger, more difficult math problems, which will later be published (attributed to a polymath pseudonym). While not a new idea (see Bourbaki for collectives publishing under pseudonyms, and later, Crowdsourcing), it is still incredibly powerful.
What can the library do, then, to support this kind of work? The simplest action is to support the tools that researchers and scientists need, like blogs and wikis. These tools will not use themselves, however, so the librarian must play advocate. Another, more complex act is to find ways to support open data curation for scientists, that allows for data to be re-used and re-analyzed.
Cameron Neylon – A Web Native Research Record: Applying the Best of the Web to the Lab Notebook
Neylon opened his talk by suggesting that the traditional mode of distributing scientific information is waning, while other modes are rising. The problem, he suggests, is that current publishing methods are too static, too non-interactive. Beyond this, traditional publishing is slow, doesn’t allow for re-use, mashing-up, and does not necessarily accommodate the ’size’ of a publishable idea. Neylon sees modern science as requiring strong connections to other science, suggesting that it be less like words in a book and more like a highly branched and interconnected network.
In his lab, he is using the web in a different way – rather than do a bit of research, then transcribing it to a paper notebook, and then possibly transcribing it again online, he skips the middle bit. He has wired his machines to take the results of an analysis and upload it automatically to his website. The online lab notebook, then, is partially automated, networked and linked, and very interactive. But, most of all, it is open. Failed experiments, unused or raw data, and so on – it is all present and accounted for, and available to be manipulated and mined by other researchers. There are hurdles associated with such openness, though: most researchers are less willing to share results and findings so quickly, lest they be scooped by a competitor. According to the Wikipedia entry, there are also issues with curation and organization of such an incredible amount of data.
Jon Udell: Collaborative Curation of Public Events
Udell pointed out that when it comes to public events, the most common system of notification is simple tacked up poster (on poles, windows, etc.). At the community level, this is a more comprehensive event aggregator than anything that exists online. As such, most of these posters don’t have an associated webpage, nor is there a comprehensive index. While these posters have a low barrier to entry, they offer poor searchability.
A solution that Udell envisons is an event aggregator – an online tool that collects calendar information from a number of disparate sources, and can than output them back to the end user. More than that, however, Udell wants to maintain some core values for this platform: collaboration, open data, standards, transparency, and re-use. This project also asks that users do not only need to be subscribers of data and information, but can be producers of it. Udell sees members of the project as ‘curators’ – people that go out and collect event information, but also create it, and encourage that the community produces it, too.
There is a challenge in this, however. Many event producers (cities, tourism boards, universities, etc.) do not publish their event data in an open format – the ideal is .ICS or iCal – and so that information cannot be aggregated.
I have taken a personal stake in this project. (you can, too! – In fact, Udell sees librarians as having role in this kind of work.) After the talk, I volunteered myself to be an event curator for Guelph, ON. I have found it challenging, in the sense that many of the organizations that list events in the city lock up their information in RSS or email notifications that cannot be easily captured. Nonetheless, I have ‘nagged’ the major event producers to open their information up, and continue to scour the ‘net for iCal feeds.
And so…
In the land of Science 2.0, I see a role for librarians – whether it be providing access to technologies or curating data or other kinds of information. It is important to be listening to pioneering researchers, discovering their needs, and finding ways to meet them.
Podcasts that you may like.
I’ve hijacked this post to re-render it as a running list of Andrew-approved™ list of quality podcasts.
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Spark (Digital Culture, Internet, Technology)
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Search Engine (Internet, Open Access, Copyright)
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This American Life (Society, Humour)
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Planet Money (Economics)
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RadioLab (Science, Society)
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Quirks and Quarks (Science)
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A Life Well Wasted (Video Game Culture)
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All Songs Considered (Music)
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On the Media (Media)
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Sound Opinions (Music Talk, Reviews)
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Fresh Air (Society, News, Interviews)
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Wiretap (Humour)
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Original Post
With my hour-long-each-way commute to work these days, I listen to a lot of podcasts (and I’m always looking for suggestions for something new). Recently, I started listening to Search Engine. This brief, weekly, podcast is for anyone that cares about freedom of information, transparency, copyright, open access, net neutrality, communication mediums, privacy, and all of the issues that are important in a digital age. It also happens to overlap issues that librarians care very deeply about.
Therefore, when Search Engine was forced to find a new home (having been axed at the CBC) at TVO, it also needed to move all its listeners over. But more than that, it’s also a good time to get the word out. Now that Search Engine is at TVO, it is covered under a Creative Commons license, which is amazing and as it should be. If you know what a CC license is, or if you want to, you should be listening.
And while you’re at, subscribe to CBC’s Spark for the 1-2 punch.
Ignite-style Presentation Session for Shad Valley 2009
McMaster annually hosts Shad Valley students for one month during the summer. The integrated science program (starting this summer), iSci, was asked if they wanted to contribute. So, in that capacity, I volunteered to lead one 3-hour session to conclude the topic of communication and the media. I chose to make the students the communicators: they would create and deliver a 5 minute presentation during the session. The catch? The slide presentation would contain 20 slides, and each would display for 15 seconds. This is the ‘ignite‘ format of presentation, and it’s not easy!
The students were game, however, and whipped up presentations (on whatever they wanted to talk about). Obviously, the biggest issue was timing – making sure they were able to speak ‘around’ the 15 second slides. Some spoke too fast to cram information in, and others didn’t have enough to say. Another sticking point was the 20 slide requirement – this was interpreted by many as meaning that their presentation required 20 different ‘ideas’: “I can’t think of 20 things to say!”. This is a common problem with – to borrow from Tufte – the cognitive style of powerpoint presentations. I tried to reinforce the notion that you can share an idea that will take more than 15 seconds; that is, change the slide, but maintain the idea. It was a tough sell!
The presentation below was what I delivered (in the ignite style) to show them how to create theirs.