Technology, Libraries and Learning – a 2022 VALA wrap-up
Didn’t get the chance to attend VALA 2022 in person or virtually this year? Don’t fret! We’ve got some byte-sized snacks for you.
Keynote Capture
Gerry McGovern educated us on the incredible waste created by digital – not just our devices and the constant need to upgrade, but also by the sheer volume of data that needs to be stored somewhere. An estimated 90% of data isn’t used after its creation! Storing that content has drastic implications for our environment.
- Key takeaway? Delete your old digital mess, and keep your devices for longer.
Alison Macrina made us feel uncomfortably aware of our lack of privacy in the pandemic world. Happily Alison also shared the Library Freedom Project which is actively developing individual and collective abilities to minimise the impact or reach of surveillance society.
- Key takeaway? Password managers are a game changer! They create a single access approach to securing your content. Don’t forget Deakin partnered with LastPass for staff and students.
Melissa Terras (University of Edinburgh) spoke of how digitisation of cultural materials drives, yet also limits, Digital Humanities research. She is using cool tools such as Transkribus to unlock historical documents with its AI-powered text recognition and transcription service.
- Key takeaway? Libraries and the Digital Humanities need to collaborate in the digitisation process to ensure all aspects of digital cultural heritage are available for research.
For the Research focused folk, Patrick Splawa-Neyman (Monash University) stepped us through his findings into how researchers and HDR students prefer to engage with the library, and how little most of them knew of research data management practices.
- Key takeaway? Make research data management easy for researchers – their time is precious and they need simple, complete, relevant and accurate info in a known location.
Interesting tech programs or resources to explore
- See what University of Adelaide Library are doing with gamified app-based tours
- ‘The Living Book of Digital Skills’ is an online, ever-evolving book of modern, not-quite technical computer skills, which some Deakin librarians contribute to!
- University of Edinburgh and their Digital Skills Development Journeys for Undergraduates
- Explore the State Library of Queensland interactive landscape project – The Topography of Searching
Post authored by Rachael Wilson and Kat Cain.
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