The Catholic University of America Libraries and Department of Information Sciences provide Digital Scholarship Workshops designed to equip students, faculty, and staff with the essential skills for modern research. This semester, workshop topics cover mapping with Tableau, responsible AI use in research, evaluating AI-generated claims, text analysis, legal and ethical issues with AI and TDM, and an introduction to using QGIS.
Register through the Events page at the Nest (CU members only) or by contacting Kevin Gunn (gunn@cua.edu). All workshops will take place on Zoom, recorded, and made available on the Catholic University Libraries’ YouTube Channel. Can’t make it? Register for the workshop and we will send you the link after.
Instructors: Charles Gallagher, Research and Instruction Librarian; Kevin Gunn, Coordinator of Digital Scholarship.
Text Analysis using AntConc (Friday, January 30, 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm)
Computational analysis of textual data can aid in reading and interpreting large corpora. Furthermore, exploring many texts can uncover linguistic patterns for future exploratory analysis. We will analyze textual data using AntConc (http://www.laurenceanthony.net/software/antconc/). AntConc has several features including searching Word and PDF documents, exporting table rows, managing a corpus, and using ChatAI tool. No coding experience necessary. Instructor: Kevin Gunn, Coordinator of Digital Scholarship
Critical Appraisal: Evaluating AI-Generated Claims (Friday, February 20, 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm)
An important component of research is the ability to assess and evaluate sources of information. AI tools especially require effective methods for evaluating generated results. This workshop will cover practical ways users can assess information provided by AI tools. Participants will develop skills to assess results from AI tools. Instructor: Charles Gallagher, Research and Instruction Librarian
Before You Analyze: Using AI to Clean Research Data (Friday, February 27, 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm)
Messy spreadsheets undermine research before analysis even begins. This webinar introduces AI-assisted approaches to cleaning and preparing tabular data in the humanities and social sciences. Participants will see how tools such as ChatGPT and OpenRefine can identify inconsistencies, support informed cleaning decisions, and improve transparency, reproducibility, and research confidence. Instructor: Kevin Gunn, Coordinator of Digital Scholarship
Legal and Ethical Issues in AI and TDM (Thursday, March 5, 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm)
There are a number of issues, problems, encumbrances, and obstacles in working on AI and text data mining (TDM) projects. Before embarking on a project, know what your options and limitations will be. We will explore best practices in copyright, fair use, licensing agreements and terms of use, privacy and ethical issues, digital rights management, and other issues involving non-consumptive use of text for research. Instructor: Kevin Gunn, Coordinator of Digital Scholarship
Ethical, Transparent, and Responsible AI Use in Academic Research (Friday, March 20, 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm)
AI research tools or generative AI in general occupy an interesting place in the library research environment. They are powerful tools that enable an improved searching experience. Conversely, there are serious ethical and moral issues related to their development and continued use. This workshop will explore complex issues such as biases and filters in the AI tools, environmental concerns, and privacy issues. Instructor: Charles Gallagher, Research and Instruction Librarian
Mapping with Tableau (Monday, March 30, 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm)
This workshop will introduce the most basic functions of mapping using Tableau Public. We will cover how to connect to and join geographic data; format that data in Tableau; create location hierarchies; build and present a basic map view; and apply key mapping features. Download it here (https://www.tableau.com/products/public). Instructor: Kevin Gunn, Coordinator of Digital Scholarship
Introduction to QGIS (Friday, April 17, 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm)
Are you curious to learn GIS but don’t know where to start? This event will provide hands on experience with the open-source GIS program QGIS and allow you to learn the basics of map creation/geospatial data visualization. Instructors: Kevin Gunn, Coordinator of Digital Scholarship; Charles Gallagher, Research and Instruction Librarian