Whether you’re looking to design or refine an app, link hardware to software or create a program prototype, Steacie Library’s first Dungeon Hackfest will be the perfect place for computer programmers, coders and computer aficionados to collaborate.

Steacie Science and Engineering Library will be hosting the Dungeon Hackfest on Feb. 21, from 9 to 5:30pm in the library’s basement computer lab. The event is open to all York community members.

Hackfests have become increasingly popular in computer science and engineering circles and Steacie Library’s Dungeon Hackfest will follow a typical model of collaborative coding and computer programming in the spirit of open source innovations. Participants will be encouraged to discuss their “hack” ideas, consult with each other and draw upon differing areas of expertise.

Lunch and refreshments will be provided to all registered participants. For more information, contact Science Librarian Sarah Shujah, at sshujah@yorku.ca.

A panel of four experts from various post-secondary educational institutions are set to argue the topic “The Great Debate: Should the blog replace the book?” They will discuss the value of emerging forms of scholarly communications in a public forum.

The two panellists arguing for the blog will be Ian Milligan (pictured left) and Melonie Fullick.  Milligan is professor of history at the University of Waterloo and co-editor of the blog ActiveHistory.ca. Fullick is completing her PhD in Education with a focus on post-secondary governance, policy, and organizational change and holds a BA in Communication Studies from McMaster University and an MA in Linguistics from York University.

The two panellists arguing for the book will be John Fink and Scott McLaren (pictured right). Fink is the digital scholarship librarian at McMaster University. His specific research interests include copyright, open source software, physical community and digital humanities. McLaren completed his PhD in book history and print culture and is the humanities librarian and a faculty member in the Graduate Program in Humanities at York University.

Audience members will take an active role in the debate by tweeting questions and rebuttals using the hashtag #blogvsbook to the live Twitter feed that will be projected on screen at the event.

“Open Access Question of the Day”
Oct. 22 to 26 

Each morning, a question pertaining to scholarly communications will appear on the York University Libraries’ homepage. The question will be tweeted via the York University Libraries Twitter account. Participants can send an answer the day’s question on Twitter using the hashtag #yulqod for a chance to win a $20 YU card credit. Each day, a different question will be posed and award winner announced.

The winning tweet for the Oct. 22 question of the day will be announced during “The Great Debate: Should the book replace the blog?”

“Open is Sweeter
“Oct. 24, 2012 at 12pm (noon)

During “Open is Sweeter”, York students, faculty, and staff are invited to join the University librarians in the Scott Library Atrium for cupcakes. The librarians will be available to answer questions about open access or scholarly communications.

For more information about scholarly communications, open access, or Open Access Week events at York University visit the Scholarly Communications website.