Resource handout

General Resources

Getting access to resources for guests

• Sponsoring a guest CWL at UBC: All UBC faculty and staff can sponsor a guest CWL account
  • This account is tied to the department the sponsor is in
  • At minimum an email for the guest (non-UBC is okay), if they have a cwl this can also be used (eg. an alumnus or someone who was a guest previously)
  • Can choose when access expires within some limits
• Additionally getting access to the library:
  • Anyone with a UBCCard can access the library but if they just have a CWL then you can request a temporary library card for visiting scholars

Minimal Computing

• About Minimal Computing

Research Data Management

Data Management Planning

• Connect with our Research Data Management (RDM) Librarian, Eugene Barsky (eugene.barsky@ubc.ca) for support with Research Data Management throughout the research lifecycle
• Research Data Management portal: https://researchdata.library.ubc.ca/
• FAIR principles
• CARE principles developed by Global indigenous Data Alliance
• Grant focused Data Management Planning tools
  • DMPAssistant (see also: a brief guide on Data Management Plans)
  • DMPTool

Working with Indigenous data

• Connect with our Indigenous Programs & Services Librarian, Kayla Lar-Son (kayla.lar-son@ubc.ca) for support with indigenous data best practices and data sovereignty
• https://researchdata.library.ubc.ca/plan/indigenous-data/
• https://www.indigitization.ca/toolkit/
• https://irsi.ubc.ca/
  • Support with research ethics
  • Advice on how to pay people
  • Deep understanding of new Tri-council agreements
• Webinar series on working with Indigenous Data

Organizing your files

• File organisation and naming

File formats and Preservation

• Open File Formats for future-proofing your data
• Library of Congress recommended formats statement

UBC storage options for working DataUBC IT Storage Solutions Comparison Chart

• UBC IT Storage Solutions Comparison Chart
• UBC licensed OneDrive
  • Likely meets your need for most simple data sharing
  • Cloud access in-browser which can be helpful for sharing materials (closest to Google Docs)
  • 1 TB of storage by default
  • It is not ideal for everything (eg. may not be secure enough for some sensitive data)
• OSF (UBC guide: [https://guides.library.ubc.ca/OSF[(https://guides.library.ubc.ca/OSF))
  • Hosted in the US with servers in Canada (individual project components can be
  • Higher learning curve to use
  • UBC has OSF for Institutions which enables institutional login (via CWL) but again it’s not hosted at UBC
  • Storage limit per project, per file
  • Great for mixed-media projects because of ability to connect many different kinds of repositories
• Box (not DropBox!)
  • Paid service
  • Has servers in Canada (DropBox does not)
  • Alternate option if UBC options aren’t sufficient
• UBC Privacy Matters guide to backing up your data: https://privacymatters.ubc.ca/backup-my-data

UBC Guidelines on where to put sensitive data

• Privacy Matters guide on protecting personal information
• Arts ISIT summary on securely storing sensitive information
• Data collection
  • UBC Survey Tool (Qualtrics instance which is hosted in Canada and fully compliant with FIPPA) is a great survey tool for collect data
  • Can be used to collect digital consent from participants as well
  • UBC Zoom, Blackboard Collaborate, or Microsoft Teams can all be used for collaborating over video
• Privacy Matters guide on backing up data

Tool selection

Considerations around tool selection

• About FIPPA/FOIPPA from the Office of University Council at UBC
  • Generally speaking: US Servers are not appropriate for sensitive data, must have informed consent from parties involved to use US-hosted tools in instruction.
• Arts ISIT list of Personally Identifiable Information
• FIPPA/FOIPPA legislation in BC)
  • What is sensitive data?
    • Personally identifiable information
    • Data involving human subjects
    • Anything that has been classified as sensitive via REB process
• ARTS ISIT guide on working with sensitive data off-campus

Tools to help you organise your work

• Common organising principles for many tools
  • Agile software development
  • KanBan - characterized by “todo, doing, done” columns or lists
• Task management tools
  • Trello - a KanBan style board that is great for keeping track of todo lists
  • Asana - defaults to a calendar view for tasks, often used by developers and related roles
  • JIRA - commonly used by developers for managing projects
• Version control
  • Git (and the hosted platforms GitHub or GitLab)

Tools that help you organize your files

• OSF (UBC guide: [https://guides.library.ubc.ca/OSF[(https://guides.library.ubc.ca/OSF))
  • General workflow tool, limited free file storage, anyone can access.
• Content Management Systems (CMS’s)
  • Tools which provide a user interface for the administration of a database and often have a front end (eg. website)
  • Wordpress and Drupal are common examples; Wordpress is the most supported CMS at UBC
  • Digital Exhibit Software can sometimes be good for multimedia projects (eg. Omeka and Mukurtu)
  • Linked Open Data projects which have lots of complex interconnected datapoints might benefit from Wikibase
  • Digital Repository software is generally hosted by institutions not individuals but have additional structures

Hosting at UBC and Beyond

• UBC IT
  • Shared Web Hosting - best for smaller projects (eg. a simple website)
  • Educloud - best for projects that need a bit more computing power (eg. due to a large number of users) or will be generally large
  • Note that none of UBC IT’s hosting services currently include support beyond making sure the infrastructure is secure. They will not maintain what you put in Educloud VMs or on Shared Web Hosting servers
• Arts ISIT
  • Project websites via UBC CMS (restricted Wordpress for simple sites)
    • At the moment, there is no additional technical support beyond maintaining a secure server for what you end up creating
  • Instructional website support
• ReclaimHosting
  • US based service with some servers in Canada through Digital Ocean
  • Not ideal for sensitive data
  • Lots of support for a fee, easy to use and designed for academic use-cases

General UBC Tools and Infrastructure to be aware of

A lot of what you need is available to you through the CEDaR Lab

• UBC Library Research Commons
  • Digital Scholarship Lab with high power computers and remote machine access
• UBC Studios
  • Including the Emerging Media Lab
  • One Button studios
• UBC IT software downloads
  • UBC IT tool guides
• Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software
  • Requesting GIS software licenses
  • Connect with evan.thornberry@ubc.ca for additional support with tool selection and licensing
• There are also a lot of resources to support DIY media at UBC

Digital storytelling

Common types of Digital Storytelling ToolsTools that structure plain text data (eg. Twine)

• Tools that structure plain text data (eg. Twine)
• Tools that structure XR projects (eg. platforms such as Unity)
• Mapping tools (eg. ArcGIS Storymaps)
• Embeddable tools to augment the narrative (eg. KnightLab)
• Scripting tools (eg. programming languages like Javascript and Python)
• Audio and Video tools (eg. Audacity or Adobe Premier Pro)

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