The ICPSR Blog

ICPSR is pleased to announce that registration for the 2009 ICPSR Meeting is open!  The 2009 ICPSR Biennial Official Representatives Meeting invites participation from researchers, librarians, teaching faculty, students, and policymakers from around the world who are interested in the use of social sciences data!

The theme of the 2009 meeting is "Real Data in a Virtual World" -- appropriate for the content to be presented and its delivery! Starting on Monday, October 5 and running through Friday, October 9, ICPSR will deliver 20 sessions related to social science data and related content, tools, quantitative training/literacy, and still other resources associated with ICPSR and its partners. ICPSR staff will also host several live chats.

We encourage you to visit our meeting site - http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/ICPSR/or/ormeet/index.jsp - and begin registering for the webinar Sessions & Presentations.  In addition, the first 200 attendees to register for the ICPSR virtual meeting (see the Registration page) will receive a Labtec headset and a packet of ICPSR promotional materials for your institution (limit one headset per person)!

This conference is FREE and open to everyone.  We encourage you to share this information with your colleagues and friends in the data community!

We look forward to your participation!

The ICPSR OR Webinar for our biennial meeting is coming soon.  The first session on October 5th at 11:00 EDT will be an orientation for new ICPSR members.  Actually, all OR's and DR's are welcome to attend.  The session will be given by Rachael Barlow and Libbie Stephenson. Since it is a two hour session and we have lots to cover, we wanted to provide an overview of what we will be covering.  Here is our outline.

OR Basics - Part I (Role of the OR, and OR tools)

Budgeting for ICPSR dues and promoting ICPSR on your campus (tools, tips and suggestions from other OR's)

OR Basics - Part 2 (Getting help, using MyData, communications, publications, and OR sabbaticals)

Getting data (Search strategies for data, variables, and publications)

BREAK - we will take a ten minute pause after the first hour and will have time for some online chat with all of you

Learning and Instruction (Summer program, instructional tools and resources)

Depositng Data and Findings (Data preparation guide, data deposit form, digital curation, DDI)

ICPSR Governance (OR role, Council, Nominating and voting)

Group discussion of next steps and final questions

Hope that everyone will be able to participate!

Libbie & Rachael

Reserve your Webinar seat now at: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/510367155

Considering depositing data with ICPSR?  Curious about the process?  Wondering what ICPSR does with the questions it asks about the data?  This webinar will unlock the mysteries of the ICPSR data deposit form and more!

In addition to an overview of the data deposit process, we will talk about the benefits of depositing data, demonstrate how to submit data using our online Data Deposit Form, and discuss how ICPSR uses the information submitted through the online deposit form.

Please share this invitation with all interested colleagues.  We look forward to joining you during the Webinar!

Not receiving these webinar invitations directly?  Sign up here to receive future invitations - https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/ICPSR/org/lists/index.html

Title:

Depositing Data with ICPSR - Featuring The Data Deposit Form

Date:

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Time:

1:00 PM - 2:00 PM EDT

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

At the IASSIST meeting in May, Ryan Womack gave a presention on Web 2.0 initiatives he's employing at Rutgers. Among these are short Data Snapshots with a Survey Monkey link for feedback. They're not intended to be overly polished, the goal is to be functional.  ICPSR has also plugged into the YouTube circuit. Are there related bodies of instructional videos out there that people can recommend?  I'm thinking about short (maximum 3 minutes) that address a particular interface or how to use a specific group of data products?

Join us for a Webinar on June 24

Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/190071587

Are you new to ICPSR and looking for a primer?  Are you considering joining ICPSR but need more information to evaluate becoming part of the membership?  Have you been a member of ICPSR for years but want a refresher on what’s available?

This webinar will provide a broad introduction to the resources available at ICPSR – from social science data, to online analysis, to instructional resources and student opportunities that promote quantitative literacy, to training in quantitative methods and more.

This webinar is open to the public and we hope that you will forward this invitation to all who might be interested in learning more about ICPSR.

Not receiving these webinar invitations?  Visit the following link to sign up for icpsr-announce: https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/ICPSR/org/lists/index.html

Title:		An Introduction to ICPSR!
Date:		Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Time:		1:00 PM - 2:00 PM EDT

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

Join us for a Webinar on May 19

Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/462579450

This webinar will discuss the similarities and differences between multi-record and hierarchical set-up files for ICPSR studies. Codebooks for ICPSR studies will be reviewed to illustrate the similarities and differences of the set-up files being discussed. We will create a multi-record set-up file and consider the obstacles in creating a hierarchical one.

This webinar is open to the public - please invite all who might be interested.

Not receiving webinar invitations directly?  See http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/ICPSR/org/lists/index.html  and sign up for icpsr-announce.

Title: Multi-record and Hierarchical Set-up Files for ICPSR studies in SPSS
Date: Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Time: 1:00 AM - 2:00 PM EDT

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

On behalf of George Alter:

ICPSR is preparing to launch a new service TeachingWithData.org that will help faculty to integrate quantitative literacy activities using social science data into their courses.  We are working with the Social Science Data Analysis Network (SSDAN) under a grant from NSF’s National Science Digital Library to create a Web site pointing to user-friendly teaching modules (including our own Online Learning Center), literature about pedagogy, online tools (like mapping software), data, and other materials.  The aim of this project is to infuse quantitative reasoning throughout the social science curriculum, not just in courses about statistics or research methods.

We are looking for ten members of the OR/DR community to assist us in this project.  We want people who will actively and enthusiastically promote TeachingWithData.org on their campuses, help us to design promotional materials, and assess the value of the Web site for faculty.  The project will last for at least two years, and it will involve surveys of the social science faculty on each campus.

 

Members of this group will come to Ann Arbor (all expenses paid) for an in-person workshop on TeachingWithData.org and meetings with ICPSR staff during the (virtual) OR Meeting in early October 2009.   At the end of the assessment period, there will be funding for participants to make presentations at professional meetings about their experiences.   ICPSR will also provide a letter of recognition to your Dean or Department Chair.

 

If you are interested in participating, please write to Sue Hodge, shodge@umich.edu by May 1.

ICPSR is now on Twitter!  Looks like this application will be a great one as we begin active preparations for the upcoming ICPSR virtual meeting in October.  We've attempted to connect our Facebook and Twitter accounts, so we'll see what happens!

If you are looking to follow ICPSR on Twitter, please note that Twitter support tells us the "Find on Twitter" search is experiencing technical difficulties.  You'll need to search "ICPSR" using the Search on the bottom navigation.  You'll find our first Tweets there and can then maneuver your way into following us. 

In addition to Facebook and Twitter, ICPSR is present on YouTube and del.iciou.us.  And you can also sign up for email announcements by heading to this page on our website: http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/ICPSR/org/lists/index.html   These lists are open to the public.

As you can see, ICPSR is attempting to provide opportunities for you to connect with us and for you to connect with the rest of the data community using the applications you like best!  It's been quite a journey for us so far, and there's much more to come when we release our update to our website later this summer and certainly as we head into launch mode for the virtual meeting!

Stay tuned and stay connected!

Join us for a Webinar on April 28

Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/765557907

You found your study… you download your data… you run the setup file ICPSR provides… and the screen fills with errors.   This webinar will address common problems in the setup files provided by ICPSR for data files.

Because most of ICPSR’s data processing is automated and the volume of data files is large and very heterogeneous in quality, size, and characteristics, the setup files and “ready-to-go” files do not always work perfectly.  This webinar will help you to anticipate and fix many of these common problems.

Title:  ICPSR Webinar: When Setup Files Go Bad…. Debugging your SAS, SPSS, and STATA code so it works!
Date: Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Time: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM EDT

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

This webinar is open to the public - please share with any who might be interested!

As I'm sure you know, ICPSR re-designs its site every two years. Normally the re-design would launch in March, but we moved it back to August so that it could better coincide with the Summer Program, the academic school year, and the OR Meeting. Here's a summary of some of the big changes occurring on the new ICPSR site.

New Search Engine

I know...we've been making this promise for many years. This year we'll finally be able to deliver. We tried Ultraseek, OracleText, and Google, and just weren't satisfied with the results. We instead built it ourselves using Lucene/SOLR, and the result is impressive. It's very fast, and it allows for robust faceted searching. We'll be able to apply the same search logic to all of our products (data holdings, bibliography, variable search, etc.), and we'll even be able to allow for a true Boolean search for those of us who bothered to learn Boolean in grad school. :)

Download Page

We sat down and ran the numbers on how people are actually using the download page, and we were rather surprised at the results. Our users do 'cherry pick' in terms of data formats and datasets, but they don't use the data cart to download multiple studies at once. That's a rather big deal for us, because it heavily impacted how we built the MyData accounts and how we manage terms of use. With that in mind, we're phasing out the data cart and moving to a system that allows for quick downloading of single studies.

We've created two different download pages and we'll be doing user testing (and polling during open beta) to determine which one best serves our users' needs. If you'd like a sneak peek, here are the two current prototypes:

Prototype A
http://staging.icpsr.umich.edu/cocoon/ICPSR/DOWNLOAD/06849.html (multiple datasets, bundle mismatch)
http://staging.icpsr.umich.edu/cocoon/ICPSR/DOWNLOAD/03355.html (one dataset)
http://staging.icpsr.umich.edu/cocoon/ICPSR/DOWNLOAD/04639.html (restricted data)
http://staging.icpsr.umich.edu/cocoon/ICPSR/DOWNLOAD/07318.html (member only)

Prototype B
http://staging.icpsr.umich.edu/cocoon/ICPSR/DOWNLOAD3/06849.html (multiple datasets, bundle mismatch)
http://staging.icpsr.umich.edu/cocoon/ICPSR/DOWNLOAD3/03355.html (one dataset)
http://staging.icpsr.umich.edu/cocoon/ICPSR/DOWNLOAD3/04639.html (restricted data)
http://staging.icpsr.umich.edu/cocoon/ICPSR/DOWNLOAD3/07318.html (member only)

Note that the links/buttons don't actually download anything yet. We're just dealing with interface issues right now. The notes section at the bottom is meant to convey important info, like "You can't download this; it's restricted." :)

Blogger Integration

We'll be phasing out the LiveJournal blog in favor of one using Blogger. (Yes, we'll port over every post/comment on the LJ Blog.) Blogger allows for tighter integration with the new site. We'll be allowing anonymous (moderated) commenting on the blog so that users can participate in the dialogue without having to create an account, and we'll retain the ability to give trusted users the ability to create new posts. Blogger has some rather impressive capabilities. For example, we could cause the headlines of OR Blog posts to automatically appear on the OR site alongside the other announcements, which would give the blog a lot more visibility and encourage more participation.

Web 2.0 Notions

We're setting up the new site to allow users to comment on some pages, specifically study pages, announcements, and possibly faqs. The goal is to enable users to ask and answer questions, and to better enable dialogue. All comments will be moderated, of course, so that the dialogue remains professional.

Schedule & Testing

We'll launch in mid-August. July will be an open beta where anyone can check out a pretty stable/complete site and provide us with feedback. During May and June we'll be finishing development and doing internal testing and usability tests.

Questions/Comments

If you have any questions or comments, please post here and I'll be glad to respond.