Geographic Information Out of Research

Lightning talk for Symposium on Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETD) at Purdue University on May 23, 2019

Beyond the One-Shot: Intensive Workshops as a Platform for Engaging the Library in Digital Humanities.

This article explores how librarian participation as instructors in week-long intensive classes—a common workshop format in Digital Humanities (DH)—can advance a variety of library objectives, while also uniquely supporting the DH community. Intensive workshops fall between the one-shot session and credit course formats more commonly found in library instruction. Drawing on case studies from Geographic Information Systems (GIS) instruction at DH institutes at the University of California Berkeley and Purdue University, the authors explore the origins of librarian involvement, course topics, pedagogy, and library services. Based on their instruction experiences in the DH summer institutes and student surveys, the authors argue that intensive instruction workshops provide a good potential platform for library involvement in Digital Humanities

Launch of Geodata Portal @ Purdue Libraries

With more than two years’ efforts, Purdue University Libraries are launching the Geodata Portal @ Purdue on this year’s GIS Day celebration. This geodata portal allows geospatial information users to search for information by two simple criteria: where and what, which greatly reduced the geospatial information access barrier for researchers and learners. Users can preview map, preview metadata, and download maps from the portal. Currently, our portal include data from: (1) open data at all the collaborating universities, including Tufts, Harvard, MIT, and Berkley; (2) data from IndianaMap; (3) Purdue open access map collection: historic aerial photos, topo maps, and campus maps. This data portal is developed based on the open source development project, OpenGeoportal, originated at Tufts University, and collaborated with a big group of other university libraries. Our Purdue’s modification to this project allows the system to work smoothly with Purdue server settings, and two metadata standards (FGDC and ISO) identified and used at Purdue

Spatiotemporal Distribution Change of Online Reference During the Time of COVID-19

The goal of this project was to identify the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the spatiotemporal distribution of the library’s online patrons, so that we could assess if the scheduled library reference hours are meeting the needs of the academic community. We collected each online reference patron’s location information via their IP address, as well as the timestamp of each online reference instance. The spatiotemporal distribution patterns were analyzed and compared before and after in-person instruction was suspended due to COVID-19 distance protocols and a closing of the campus in the 2020 spring semester. The results show that the geographic origins of reference questions redistributed after COVID-19 protocols were initially implemented and the university community underwent a temporary geographical redistribution. Reference question origins tended to move away from campus to other areas of the state, other states, and internationally. This population redistribution suggested that the library could adjust the online reference schedule to provide better access and service to patrons

ESRI Virtual Campus - Free GIS Training for Purdue Students

Free Training – GIS Science and Technology Web-based seminars and online courses

Usability Metrics of Web-based Mapping Applications

In academic libraries, the rise of web-based mapping applications or web geographic information systems (web GIS) brings great opportunities for information seeking. Users can search spatial information, create customized maps, as well as perform simple spatial analysis with these tools. In this presentation, we report results from an empirical usability evaluation of major web-based mapping applications, including ESRI Business Analyst Online, PolicyMap, SimplyMap, and Social Explorer. Eighteen university students participated in the evaluation in which they completed tasks of creating a customized map about business-related information (e.g., unemployment rate of an area), changing map display options (map unit, data range, and center location), and exporting maps. These tasks represent the typical workflow of using a web-based mapping application for users without GIS background and experience. We measured task successfulness, time to task completion, number of times help was needed, number of errors, and participants’ ratings of the System Usability Scale (SUS). Participants’ comments were also analyzed for the evaluation. Results of the evaluation indicated a number of usability issues for each application. Furthermore, we examined the effectiveness of task measures in terms of their predictive power of users’ task performance and usability issues. Our results show that task successfulness and task time are good indicators of potential performance and workflow issues, while number of errors made by participants could provide additional evidence of potential interface design issues. The number of help needed from participants and the SUS rating is less indicative of the differences of applications’ usability. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate web-based mapping applications from a usability and task performance perspective. Results of the study will be a valuable tool for librarians as well as general users who don’t have a background of GIS and usability to evaluate web GIS resources

Off-the-record target zones:theory with an application to Hong Kong’s Currency Board

This paper provides a modelling framework for evaluating the exchange rate dynamics of a target zone regime with undisclosed bands. We generalize the literature to allow for asymmetric one-sided regimes. Market participants' beliefs concerning an undisclosed band change as they learn more about central bank intervention policy. We apply the model to Hong Kong's one-sided currency board mechanism. In autumn 2003, the Hong Kong dollar appreciated from close to 7.80 per US dollar to 7.70, as investors feared that the currency board would be abandoned. In the wake of this appreciation, the monetary authorities finally revamped the regime as a symmetric two-sided system with a narrow exchange rate band

Working to define data curated geospatial services on a Research Campus, a Purdue University Libraries Example

As Data Curation is becoming a necessity of data science and library science, Purdue University Libraries has been a leader in data curation profiles research. Such research can be defined as a data stewardship protocol similar to a multiple use case analysis. In this this example, The Purdue University Libraries Geographical Information Systems (GIS) department has engaged in a data curation profiles assessment of the campus to baseline and qualify sustainable geospatial data services

GIS and Data Curation Librarianship: Mobile Dissemination of GIS Resources

The Purdue University Libraries’ GIS department is working to advance geospatial services campus wide. In addition to conducting data curation profiles research in an IRB approved manner, we aim to validate new ways and means to make GIS services viable for large and diverse student and faculty community of over 40,000 students, all departments and along interdisciplinary boundaries. Here is a prototype of our mobile dissemination GIS of services and development in collaboration with Aalto University Library. Here, we discuss in a 3-fold manner how the GIS Dept. has prototyped a means of mobile GIS knowledge dissemination towards the development of library-led campus wide geospatial data services for future considerations. Such may offer timely and low cost data navigation of GIS resources using one’s smartphone or tablet device