Research Collections: Training & Workshops
We provide a range of information sessions on our collections along with practical workshops on useful tools or approaches for those working with these kinds of materials in physical or digital form.
Typically these are offered as group sessions and, during covid restrictions, via zoom. If you are interested in finding out more or arranging a workshop please get in touch at special.collections@dcu.ie.
Additional technical workshops can be found on our digital humanities page.
Recent and Upcoming Workshops
OpenRefine
Data cleaning is a common preparatory step in working with data, where researchers dealing with messy or incomplete datasets aim to give it more uniformity and structure. Messy data includes issues such as duplicate records, empty values and inconsistent spelling or formatting. If left unaddressed these can lead to problems in subsequent data analysis, visualisation or any research output.
OpenRefine helps you quickly diagnose the quality of your data and take iterative steps to ensure it is clean and well structured.
Next scheduled workshop: April 4, 2022
Kenny Family Collection
An overview of digitised research collections in DCU Library. Explore how the Special Collections & Archives team use a range of tools and platforms to manage, curate, and provide access to research collections. This session will show how these collections can be accessed, explored and used for research.
Europeana
An introduction to Europeana, the EU platform for digitised cultural heritage collections. Discover millions of digital objects from 3500+ galleries, libraries, archives and museums across Europe.
The session will also show how you can get involved with Europeana, with discussion on participatory collection campaigns, exhibitions, blogs, galleries, research grants, and how to join the Europeana network.
Omeka
This workshop will guide attendees through the process of creating a digital exhibition or scholarly project in Omeka. It will also introduce aspects of digital storytelling, content management and webhosting.
Next scheduled workshop: Feb 9, 2022
Version Control with Git
This is a hands-on introduction to Git, a version control system. Version control software tracks changes made to a file or a set of files over time. It helps preserve your work history securely and avoids the need for you to create multiple versions of the same file.
GitHub is a website for hosting Git projects. Used together, Git and Github are useful for teams to work collaboratively or for individuals to manage and back up and sync projects across multiple devices.
Next scheduled workshop: 10 Nov, 2021