Archive for the ‘team-outreach’ Category

Re-engineering Libraries for the Data Decade

Wednesday, February 15th, 2012

Liz Lyon recently gave a keynote presentation to VALA 2012 in Melbourne. The Conference’s theme this year was eM-powering eFutures, seeking to promote the understanding and use of communication technology in libraries and the related museums, archives and galleries services. In her presentation entitled “The Informatics Transform: Re-engineering Libraries for the Data Decade”, Liz explored how research data are positioned within the wider “Big Data” space and examined the role of libraries and librarians in research data management, highlighting some urgent actions needed to develop essential data informatics skills within the sector.

Slides from Liz’ presentation together with a link to the video footage of her keynote are now available on the UKOLN Web site.

Partnerships in Curating European Digital Resources

Friday, February 3rd, 2012

Partnerships in curating European digital resources is the theme of the 2nd LIBER International Workshop on Digital Preservation, which will take place over 7-8 May 2012 in Florence, Italy. Liz Lyon, Director of UKOLN, will be giving a presentation entitled Partnering for Research Data on the first morning of the Workshop programme.

The Workshop is being organised by the LIBER Steering Committee for Heritage Collections and Preservation in collaboration with the Fondazione Rinascimento Digitale in Florence and the National Library of the Netherlands.

The upcoming Workshop theme is something of a response to the unmistakable advice ‘Do not go at this game alone’, which was given to LIBER libraries at the end of the first LIBER workshop on digital preservation in The Hague in 2010. Since then, the Euro crisis and budget cuts have only exacerbated the need to seek partnerships in securing long-term access to digital collections. But with whom can you partner? How does it work? What are the advantages and disadvantages of various forms of partnering?

This workshop will provide an overview of the best-known collaborative initiatives: the stakeholders involved, the basic set-ups, the legal foundations, the business models – and help delegates analyse which options are best suited to their organisation, type of collection and national culture. It will deal with organisational issues, as well as legal, financial and technical issues that will influence their choices. Critical questions will be asked by experts in the field, and there will be plenty of time for delegates to ask their own questions. Lastly, the workshop will showcase a variety of best practices.

The intention is that delegates will go home with a keen understanding of the types of collaborative practices available which will enable them to start discussing long-term preservation policies with their management team.

Details of the programme, registration information and information on hotels can be obtained from the Workshop Web page.

Information about the programme, speakers and content of the workshop may be obtained from Marcel Ras.

For information about the Workshop organisation, you are invited to contact Chiara Cirinnà.

LIDA: Libraries in the Digital Age

Monday, January 30th, 2012

Liz Lyon, Director of UKOLN, has been invited to give a keynote presentation to the Libraries in the Digital Age (LIDA 2012) together with Eileen G. Abels, Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Alyssa Goodman and Herbert Van de Sompel. In her presentation entitled Incremental Change or Revolution? Libraries and the Informatics Transform, Liz considers the current position of libraries and their degree of engagement with research data management, scholarly communications and citizen science together with how they might extend their stewardship of data-intensive research.

Libraries in the Digital Age (LIDA) is a biennial international conference that focuses on the challenging and rapidly evolving nature of libraries and information systems and services. In recognition of today’s dynamic online and mediated technological environment, this year’s conference has chosen ‘CHANGES’ as the title of its theme. LIDA 2012 brings together at the University of Zadar, Croatia, researchers, educators, practitioners, and developers from all over the world in a forum for personal exchanges, discussions, and learning. The Conference will take place over 18–22 June 2012.

The conference will divide into two parts:

Part I: CHANGES in the world of library services: Evolution and innovation (Programme Chair: Marie L. Radford,
(School of Communication and Information, Rutgers University))

Part II:CHANGES in the world of electronic resources: Information and digitization
(Programme chair: Christine L. Borgman, (Department of Information Studies, UCLA))

Further information can be obtained via the Conference Web site or by email.

Dev8D 2012

Thursday, January 26th, 2012

Applications for Dev8D 2012 are coming close to capacity , but there are still a few places left. So, if you want to come, you will need to make your booking now.

This year, more than ever, the goal of Dev8D is to tool up delegates with skills in essential and emerging technologies for the coming year, and in a way that is practical and fun. There will be sessions for:

HTML 5
Programming in Python
Creating Moodle Plugins
Working with research data
Git version control and source code management
Understanding and using Linked Data
Using Redis
JavaScript and JQuery
Writing effective Moodle plug-ins
Making your web applications accessibility friendly
Coffee Script
Perl
Google Apps Scripting
and too many more to name…

Participants will also have the opportunity to interact with cool technologies like 3D printers and multi-touch tables and form their own sessions in our larger than ever ‘Pushing Ideas Further’ sessions. Bring your technical problems along and work through them with experts in the sector.

You can see more details and register for the event on the Dev8D Web site. The Dev8D Team hopes to see you there.

Call for Submissions to IWMW 2012

Tuesday, January 10th, 2012

UKOLN’s Institutional Web Management Workshop 2012 event will be held at the University of Edinburgh over 18-20 June 2012. IWMW, designed for practitioners involved in the provision of institutional Web services, has been running for 15 years and is the main event for those with responsibilities for managing, maintaining and developing a range of online services based on Web technologies.

The call for submissions, including proposals for plenary talks and workshop sessions, together with other ideas (panel sessions, debates, etc.) is now available.

A blog post which provides more background information on the Call is available from the UK Web Focus blog.

Final Report from UKOLN’s Evidence, Impact, Metrics Work Published

Thursday, January 5th, 2012

The final report covering UKOLN’s work on Evidence, Impact, Metrics has been published. The aim of this work was to identify best practice in gathering quantitive evidence and associated metrics on the use of networked services to support institutional and project activities. The report has been produced as a series of self-contained documents which are suitable for printing (on a double-side printer) as well as being published in HTML format.

UKOLN Blog Services Restored

Thursday, January 5th, 2012

Recent scheduled network maintenance has now been signed off and UKOLN blog services have been restored. We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Possible Interruptions in UKOLN Blog Services

Wednesday, January 4th, 2012

Due to scheduled network maintenance on 4 January 2012, there may be temporary disruption of UKOLN blog services during Wednesday. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

UKOLN Services Return to Normal

Monday, December 19th, 2011

Scheduled network maintenance on 19 December 2011 has now been completed and all UKOLN services have been restored to normal operation. We apologise for any inconvenience this morning’s maintenance may have caused.