WinterFall2007
Location: All sessions held in Rm. 531, Scott Library (5th Floor).
Winter 2008
Making Information Come to You: The Power of RSS Feeds
Rajiv Nariani
Fri. Jan. 18th, 2008, 2:00-3:30pm
RSS feeds are an invaluable tool for researchers who are trying to keep up with developments in a particular field. Subscribing to RSS feeds saves time since it pulls relevant information into one location. In this session we will learn to set up RSS feeds from individual scholarly journals as well as from searches conducted in a database. PowerPoint Slides
Social Networking: An Academic Role?
Stacy Allison-Cassin
Postponed: Rescheduled date TBA
Online social networking tools have emerged as one of the chief hallmarks of Web 2.0. These tools may seem to have little application in the academic environment, but there’s more to them than a way to share your latest vacation photos. They can be a powerful way to connect with other researchers, students, organize your research and plug in to the online research network. This session will explore several social networking utilities (del.icio.us, Connotea, Facebook) with a focus on how to use them, as well as looking towards future possibilities and applications. Website
Evolutions in Scholarly Publishing
Andrea Kosavic & Stacy Allison-Cassin
Fri. March 7th, 10:30-12:00pm
Alternative publishing methods are vastly increasing possibilities and opportunities for the dissemination of scholarship. Adoption of these methods is being driven by the open source, open access and author rights movements and is reshaping the landscape of scholarly communications. This session will introduce evolutions in scholarly publishing and provide an opportunity to discuss related implications.
Behind the Scenes of the Search Engine
William Denton
Thurs. March 20th, 2008, 1:00-2:30pm
How do search engines find stuff (and is it really everything?) and how do they decide what to list in the results? What can you do to boost your writing in the rankings? This session aims to give you a non-technical understanding of what happens after you hit the Search button (but is not intended to teach search strategy). PowerPoint slides for this talk.
Archives and the Web
Michael Moir
Date: Thurs. April 3rd, 2:30-4:00pm
The Internet has cast a bright light on the holdings of many archival repositories as institutions seek to meet the demand for substantive virtual content, but use of this technology has raised concerns as well as opportunities. This session will explore the use of the web by archival programs on a local, national, and international basis, issues associated with searching and use of our collective memory, and the future of documents as artifacts in a digital age.
Fall 2007
Google Unleashed
Adam Taves
Wed. Oct. 3rd, 2007, 12:30-2:00pm
Did you know that there are many specialized tools and advanced features built into Google that can make your searching more effective? This session will explore the advanced features of Google Search as well as some specialized tools such as Book Search. We will also discuss the merits and limitations of Google Scholar, in addition to looking at easy ways to link into York Libraries’ online holdings from items found in Google Scholar. Workshop website
Web of Science: The Use & Abuse of Citation Data
Adam Taves & Mark Robertson
Tues. Oct. 30th, 2007, 2:00-3:30pm
Citation data can be used in a myriad ways. This session will briefly introduce some of the sources of this data (ISI, Journal Citation Reports, Google Scholar) before looking critically at the way in which this data can be used by academics, administrators, historians and others. We will also discuss some of the abuses and limitations of using this data. Workshop website
Digital Copyright
Sharon Wang, Andrea Kosavic & Sarah Coysh
Tues. Nov. 13th, 2007, 10:00-11:30
The explosion of the Internet as well as other digital media have made copyright a hot topic today. This session will introduce the author rights movement, creative commons licensing, and address some common copyright related questions on campus: What on the Internet is in the public domain? Who can authorize the reproduction of digital information? Workshop slides
Picturing the Web: Searching and Using Images from the Internet
Mark Robertson & Mary Kandiuk
Tues. Dec. 4th, 2007, 1-2:30pm
It has often been argued that the Internet is a visual medium, but the visual potential of the Web is only starting to emerge with popular and powerful tools like Google Image Search and Flickr. We will be looking at the various uses of visual information and illustrative material in different disciplines (science, social sciences, history, fine art), and discussing the pros and cons of free, commercial and archival image banks. Workshop website
