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Workshops

All workshops are being held on Tuesday, May 15th on the McGill Campus.

Registration for workshop participants only:
On Tuesday, May 15, registration will take place at the EDRS office (Room #23 in McGill University Library on 3459 McTavish St) at 8.30am for the morning workshop participants and at 1pm for the afternoon workshop participants.

Session 1 – 9.30-12.30: A Crystal Clear Introduction to DDI version 3.0

FULL - Please do not register for this workshop

Hands-on?        No

A Crystal Clear Introduction to DDI Version 3.0DDI Version 3 differs from Version 2 in many ways: it covers more of the data life cycle, it is structured in a modular way, and it is \"machine-actionable.\" Many DDI 2 users are uncertain about how to use the new specification because there have been so many changes. This half-day morning session will provide the basics that we all need to get started and to be productive with DDI 3. Workshop participants will learn about the modules in DDI 3, how the notion of an \"instance\" has changed as compared to Version 2, and how to get started creating basic instances. Numerous examples will be provided to demonstrate typical scenarios and what is possible with DDI 3. Each participant will receive a booklet containing the most up-to-date documentation. 

Audience: Those individuals who have some familiarity with the DDI and have used previous versions will get the most from this workshop. Instructors: Sanda Ionescu, Ann Green, Mary Vardigan

Session 2 – 9.30-12.30: American Community Survey: A new methodology and its Implications for Research

Hands-on?        Yes

In 2010, the decennial census will not include a long form.  Instead, the U.S. Bureau of the Census has inaugurated a new survey, the American Community Survey (ACS), for those topics previously covered by the long form.  This workshop will cover the surveys methodology (which is radically different from the decennial census), implications for data interpretation, tips for users and discussion of how budget issues are affecting the surveys implementation.  Hands-on exercises will help participants learn how to access the data online.  Keywords:  U.S. Census, American Community Survey, Methodology

Session 3 – 9.30-12.30: Introduction to Data Librarianship

Hands-on?        Yes

This workshop will serve as an introduction to the processes and challenges of being a Data Librarian. Using real questions from real users, this hands-on workshop will go through the process of: 1. Acquisition - finding and obtaining data. 2. Archiving - preserving and cataloging data for daily and long-term use 3. Access - providing the means for users to get the data. 4. Assistance - helping users make sense of data and metadata in order to get the file or files in a format they can use. Participants are encouraged to bring their own experiences to share and explore with one another. No prior experience will be necessary to attend.

Session 4 – 1.30-5.00pm: Taking Advantage of DDI 3.0

Hands-on?        No

Additional Presenters: Arofan Gregory (Open Data Foundation), Joachim Wackerow (GESIS-ZUMA) This workshop will focus on features that are new to DDI 3.0 and the ways in which organizations, large and small, can take advantage of these features for managing collections and supporting their services. The workshop will include a series of presentation covering: Overview of the modules. Maintainable objects. Grouping and comparison. NCube alignment with SDMX and ISO11179. Questions. Instrumentation and data collection.  URN construction and versioning.  Handouts will include how-to documents on these special features as well as basic documents to support work in DDI.

Audience: A basic understanding of DDI is expected. Individuals will get the most out of this session if they have attended earlier workshops (\"A Crystal Clear View of DDI 3.0\" or 2006 IASSIST Workshops) or are familiar with the basic 3.0 scheme model.

Session 5 – 1.30-5.00pm: Introduction to International Financial Data

Hands-on?        No

Presenters:  Jian Bai  Assistant Economics, Finance, & Data Librarian Princeton University;  Bobray Bordelon  Economics & Finance Librarian/Data Services Librarian,  Princeton University;  Luis Martinez  Data Librarian, London School of Economics. This workshop will provide participants with a crash course on the basics and terminology of finance across borders.  It will also discuss commercial and free sources for international financial data.  The differences in North and South American, European, and Asia-Pacific markets will be detailed in terms of how reporting standards and control mechanisms translate into data availability and quality.  Sources for single market versus global data will be examined.   Finally, statistical analysis tools for financial data will be compared. 

Intended Audience: Individuals providing data services who are not yet experts with financial data.   Duration:  3 hours

Session 6 – 1.30-5.00pm: SPSS, Stata, and SAS:  Flavours of Statistical software

Hands-on?        Yes

So many different flavors to choose from. How will we ever choose? Are they all the same? Do they have the same functionality? Which one should I use? Which is the quickest to learn? Questions many of us have encountered in one form or another. This workshop will take you on a quick tour of Stata, SPSS, and SAS. We will examine a data file using each package. Is one more user-friendly than the others? Are there significant differences in the codebooks created? We will also look at creating a frequency and cross-tabulation table in each. Which output screen is easiest to read and interpret? The goal of this workshop is to give you an overview of these products and provide you with the information you need to determine which package fits the requirements of you and your user. Please bring your experiences and/or horror stories about working with statistical software to this workshop. Together we will try to demystify the flavors of statistical software and help you decide on a favorite flavor.

To sign up for the workshops participants should go to the registration web page. Space is limited. First come first served.