Dsg 2015-01-015

Introductions: Linda Moss and Anna Spatz

Julia welcomed formally the two newest members of the DSG staff and extended family (in attendance):

• Linda Moss, a Drupal developer who will be working on TAPAS (among other duties)
• Anna Spatz, the DSG's first Visiting Scholar, hailing from TU Darmstadt in Germany

Announcements and Brief Updates

• David Castillo, the DSG's intern (from Simmons College), starts next Friday. His estimated hours are Monday mornings and Friday (all day). David will primarily be helping with the Catskills Brown project as it moves into DRS.
• Updates on the CFP for the DRS Project Toolkit: content is being revised in the lead-up to its publication and circulation at the end of January. Meetings with potential subject liaisons at the library are in the process of being scheduled.
• DSG Writing Sessions have begun for the semester: Sarah Sweeney has scheduled future times for the spring semester. These are opportunities for DSG staff members to complete writing-centric tasks (web site content, CFPs, wiki content, internal documentation, etc.)
• DSG Coordinator Updates: Jim has scheduled a meeting to discuss the library calendar / events planning for the semester (with Jen Anderle), a meeting with Hillary to discuss alt-metrics on DSG projects. He has also been attending initial semester meetings held by DSG projects (TAPAS, WWP, and DHQ). Following up on our discussion of phone contacts: Jim's extension (x5274) will be the primary contact number on the door, and the sequencing discussed last week is in the process of being set up.
• Amanda and Julia discussed the perceived need to review annual grant writing cycles and the advantages of documenting fundraising deadlines in some formal capacity.
• Amanda and Julia also highlighted the need to hold a discussion of DSG staff assessment (and to determine what "assessment" might mean in this context).

Discussion: Topics for future DSG meetings this semester

Julia invited staff to consider potential topics for future DSG staff meetings and to consider when it made sense to invite external visitors and speakers to these meetings. Topics discussed included:

• information-sharing / sharing expertise (particular topics of interest included: open journal systems; functional requirements for bibliographic records; a day in the life of a DSG staff member; TAPAS updates)
• discussion of the proposed annual DSG project check-in / update review (Amanda and Eli have done a draft plan); this is potentially a topic to discuss next week
• discussion of data management planning activity (Amanda, Sarah, and Ashley working on a draft)
• going over Podio data / analytics (Jim) and next steps in developing workflow around it; we might invite Ernesto to such a meeting, as he's interested in the DSG's status as a Podio "power user" here in the library
• review of project tool kit proposals (coming in in March)
• what kinds of support DSG can offer to graduate students (like DissCo, the Dissertation Colloquium); relatedly, Sarah Connell discussed a proposed DSG Student Advisory Board and will take charge of moving DissCo forward (with assistance / consultation from Jim)
• Suggested people to invite to future DSG meetings included Michelle Romero (Archives & Special Collections), who (among other duties) manages the university's Archive-It Subscription and Jen LaBarbera (visiting National Digital Stewardship Fellow) as potential guests (in addition to Giordana Mecagni) at a discussion of data management.
• Jim discussed creating a conceptual map of DSG activity: something that potentially visualized the work / staff involved in a typical DSG project and the ways projects circulate beyond the DSG (the library at-large, various departments, Boston, etc.). Jim will work out the details here and present this visualization (in the form of a network diagram) at a later meeting this semester.

Discussion: Calendar Use By DSG Staff

Jim presented his overview of Podio's potential use as a place where the DSG could keep track of regular calendar events / potential scheduling conflicts. He highlighted a potential use of Podio's calendar app as a place to document regular meeting times in a central location, but suggested that Podio might not necessarily be a place that generated dynamic scheduling appointments / required staff to answer meeting requests (in part because staff already takes care of such matters via Outlook and Google Calendar).

Podio seemed particularly useful with respect to documenting a record of standing regular meetings and to provide staff with a static calendar (updated when need be by Jim) containing a big-picture overview of recurring events. Specifically:

• regular meetings
• upcoming workshops
• submission deadlines for grants

Jim will populate the calendar app in Podio with this information. The DSG will re-visit its use of calendars in Podio in a discussion next month.

Discussion: Use of DSG Wiki

The DSG Wiki came up in a discussion of documentation, so Julia had us take a brief tour of the wiki and discuss its current / imagined uses. Jim will update the information in the "Digital Scholarship Group" section.