DATA SERVICES
Bits and Bytes
December 2024
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Welcome to the inaugural NYU Data Services newsletter!
As you’re getting a better idea of your data and computational research needs, here’s your reminder that Data Services is here to help! Explore the many ways we support researchers at NYU by visiting our website.
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Save the Date: 2025 JTerm Flash FORC Camp
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Save the Date: 💜 Love Data Week 2025 💜
Every year, the week of Valentine’s Day is celebrated as International Love Data Week, hosted by ICPSR. This year’s theme is "Whose Data Is It, Anyway?" - an invitation to remember to think about where data came from before using it. At NYU, we’ll be hosting a series of data-related events February 10-14, 2025, to learn about data anonymization and foster community. Find out more on our NYU Love Data Week 2025 website.
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Recap: NYU GIS Day 2024 - Mapping Minds, Shaping the World
On November 20th, Data Services joined thousands across the globe to celebrate International GIS Day! We were thrilled to host:
- Inspiring lightning talks: Our speakers shared their innovative work showcasing the incredible ways GIS is shaping the research landscape and real-world problem-solving.
- Informative technical workshops: Led by our Student Specialists, participants explored advanced capabilities of GIS software, learning techniques to enhance their mapping and data visualization skills.
- Impressive mapping competition: Congratulations to our two winners, whose exceptional projects demonstrated the creativity and potential of GIS in addressing global and local challenges!
Thank you to everyone who helped us celebrate the power of GIS and made the day special! If you missed the event—or want to relive the highlights—visit our webpage to learn more about GIS Day and the GIS tools and resources we support here at Data Services. 🌏
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Photo credit: NYU Data Services
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Photo credit: NYU Data Services
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Recap: Library Carpentry Workshop - November 2024
On November 13 and 14, Data Services hosted a Library Carpentry workshop (the 11th Carpentries event we’ve put on since becoming members of the organization in 2018)! Over the course of two days, 23 attendees explored regular expressions, the Unix shell, and Python, building technical skills to use in their work and research. Learn more about the Carpentries at NYU.
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Recap: FORC Camp 2024
Data Services, in conjunction with the Office of Teaching Excellence and Innovation, successfully wrapped its second annual FORC (Foundations of Research Computing) camp in August. Over the course of three days, more than a hundred participants attended courses in data visualization, humanities data project learning, Python, and R. Each year, FORC is open to graduate students in the College of Arts & Sciences interested in fundamental computing skills for their upcoming year. For more information see the FORC website.
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UltraViolet is part of a suite of repositories at NYU that provide a home for research materials. Data Services helps NYU researchers prepare their materials for deposit in UltraViolet to facilitate open access and long-term preservation.
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| What's New in UltraViolet
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We have a few new datasets in UV from NYU researchers. One exciting deposit comes from Tandon engineering researcher H. Utku Unlu, who studies how robots can better perceive in three dimensions. We recently published the supporting data for an algorithm to improve robot 3D perception that he proposes in his paper "Efficient and Distributed Large-Scale 3D Map Registration using Tomographic Features,” which includes evidence of how the algorithm performed against a benchmark dataset, as well as how well it worked when applied to images captured by a robot that crawled around an atrium on the Brooklyn campus!
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Data in the Library
NYU Libraries’ provides access to a range of data for non-commercial, academic research. Our latest data acquisition is Dewey, an academic research data platform for accessing third-party quantitative and geospatial datasets across various categories, including behavioral economics, corporate finance, marketing, real estate, public policy, urban planning, weather, and workforce management. For more information on the data available, how to access it, and the Terms of Use, visit our Dewey Data Research Guide.
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Spotlight: Mapping the Black Digital and Public Humanities
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Data Services Team Spotlight: Osborn Wang!
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Photo credit: NYU Data Services
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What's your name, program, and year?
Hi everyone, this is Osborn from the College of Art & Science. I'm currently a Senior majoring in Mathematics and Computer Science.
What's your service area at Data Services and how long have you worked here?
I joined our wonderful Data Services department in Summer 2023. As a Quantitative Consultant specializing in R/RStudio, I usually help students and faculty with the R programming language and debugging. Sometimes I also lead tutorials open to all the current members of the NYU community.
Describe your favorite data-related project that you've worked on.
Data project I find interesting is a weather forecasting project using models like SVM and kernel tricks and data on precipitation trends. It is closely related to my role in Data Services in that it involves data manipulation and modeling.
What's your favorite place to get a meal or a snack near Bobst Library?
My favorite snack spot near Bobst would be Pommes Frites. They have wonderful fries with options like bacon, cheese, and a luxurious sauce. Definitely the best fries around campus.
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Thanks for reading! We hope to see you soon either on the 5th floor at Bobst or online.
- Your friends at NYU Data Services
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