Author: Ashley Williard

We will be at John Jay not Macaulay for the Seminar 4 Common Event on May 2 and 3 next weekend.

The address is: 524 W 59 Street, between 10th and 11th Avenues

Seminar 4 Common Event: May 2 and 3

You will soon receive an email for the signup process.  You will need to be prepared to submit your topic (title and 50-word abstract) so that you can be grouped on panels for the event.

Each group will have 10 minutes to present their research.

You can include an audio-visual component, but think about how to set it up in person to interact with your audience.

As you move forward with your group research, I want to encourage you to find a way to keep track of and share resources and ideas so that you have a record of your collaboration and accumulated knowledge.

Zotero is a great way to keep track of and cite sources.  You create an account with folders for different projects/papers/classes.  You can then quickly create citations for notes or bibliographies in whatever style you need (MLA, APA, Chicago, etc.).   If you download the program, you can simply click on an icon in your browser while you browse articles, books, and other sources in library and other databases online.

You can access your account online from any computer as well as share sources by creating groups.  And it is open source (free)!

• Zotero: research tool
• Screencast Tutorials
• Zotero Groups

You may also want to create a shared work area for notes, lists, plans.  Here are some ideas for collaborative communication in group research.  Share files and folders or collaborate on documents/slideshows/spreadsheets/etc. with cloud storage:

• Google Docs
• Dropbox

Another idea would be to create a working Eportfolio site, where you can brainstorm with posts, share links and files.

Research Resources

Here are some useful sites for gathering NYC data for your final projects:

• Infoshare
• Investigate NYC
• NYC Open Data
• Social Explorer
• Oasis

These resources are based on materials compiled by Senior ITF Maggie Dickinson.  Thanks, Maggie!

As you work on your community history projects and eventually on your final group projects, you will have to think about how to present your research in an engaging, possibly interactive way.  Here are some examples and tools you may find helpful, but you are not limited to the technologies or modes of presentation here.   Feel free to contact me for more information on any of the suggestions below or to work through your ideas.

Images
To find Creative Commons images you can use, search in Flickr.

To represent data, you might also try making charts in Excel (see this tutorial) or make info graphics with tools listed below.

Examples from Eports:
http://eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/nydreams/
http://eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/collectiveproject/our-theme/68-2/

Useful Tools: Images: Flickr; Image editing: Gimp (already on your Macs), Photoshop; Charts: Excel; Infographics: Easelly, Tableau

Presentations
Prezi: here are examples from past students of Professor Rodberg:


You can make Prezi presentations that are publicly available and hosted online for free.  You may want to look into these tutorials to get started.

Here is a presentation with tips on creating a Prezi:

Useful Tools: PowerPoint, Prezi

Interactive Timelines
Example from Eports:
http://eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/vellon/politicalneighborhood-organizations/young-lords/
Timelines could be a good way to represent your research on a particular organization. Here are some good non-Macaulay examples:
http://www.tiki-toki.com/timeline/entry/55/The-Fight-for-Democracy-in-the-Middle-East/#vars!date=2010-12-17_00:00:00!
http://backtoghana.com/timeline

Useful Tools: Dipity, Tiki-Toki

Mapping

You can search for any neighborhood in NYC or the US on these maps of neighborhood income levels.
You can search census data and produce demographic maps using Infoshare and Social Explorer.
Examples from Eport:
http://eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/drabik13/visits/
http://eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/vellon/demographics/race/

Useful Tools: Google MyMaps, UMapper, Infoshare, Social Explorer

Audio
Example from Eports:
http://eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/degraauw13/combined-immigration-stories/

Useful Tools: Garage Band, Audacity, Sound Cloud

Documentary Video:
The first project, “Dig Your Hands in the Dirt” is an outstanding example of documentary work by a group of Queens students: http://eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/rodberg2012/

This is another wonderful example of a neighborhood study, using photographs, voice-over and iMovie.

Useful Tools: Video editing: iMovie; Sound and Image tools above