Graduation Interview with our Graduate Assistants

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Zhaneille Headshot
Zhaneille Green
Ryan's Headshot
Ryan Yoakum
Nora's Headshot
Nora Davies

It is the end of the Spring Semester, and for everyone in their final semester, it means Graduation! That is certainly what it means for three of our graduate assistants at the Scholarly Commons. While it is a bittersweet moment for us at the Scholarly Commons to see our colleagues go, we are happy and excited about the great things they will achieve in their chosen profession.  This week, we interviewed three of our graduating graduate assistants Zhaneille Green, Ryan Yoakum and Nora Davies who have been a major asset to the Scholarly Commons. Over the past two years they have added immeasurable value to our department and in our interview with them, they all had amazing things to say about their experience at the Scholarly Commons. Here are some highlights from our interview with them.

How would you describe your GA experience to others?

Zhaneille: My experience has been eclectic. I joined the Scholarly Commons during a time of change, and it continues to evolve. I’ve learned so much about instruction, media, collection development, and service and service-point communication.

Ryan: My role comprises of three major parts. First, I am responsible for supervising both the Help Desk in room 220 as well as the Loanable Technology desk and ensuring that the student employees have everything they need to support the library patrons. Outside those desk hours, I am also responsible for designing workshops, supporting events hosted in the space, and hosting consultations related to optical character recognition and ABBYY FineReader. The third aspect of my work are internal projects related to the unit. Without going into specifics, these basically require me to have a basic understanding of data analysis and library policy creation.

Nora: I’d describe it as a great opportunity to get experience working in an academic library. I had a great team to work with and I truly wish that I could stay longer. I learned a lot about library services beyond my experience with public libraries and I had fun collaborating on projects with my fellow GA’s.

What accomplishments are you most proud of working with Scholarly Commons?

Zhaneille: I am most proud of the GIS (Geographic Information Science) Savvy Researcher workshops I taught with my GIS supervisor. It led to members of the University of Illinois community reaching out to learn more and allowed me and a fellow GA to take on big projects. I’m even getting experience with grant writing because of my GIS expertise.

Ryan: I am really proud of the Image of Research competitions during my two years with the Scholarly Commons. The students who have taken their time and effort to participate do a really great job each year, and it is incredibly rewarding to help out with this event each year. I am also really proud of the ways I have gotten to help others in the unit internally, whether it was designing the training session for the undergraduate student workers or assisting a full-time staff member on one of their projects. 

Nora: I’m proud of running a Savvy Researcher Workshop on Accessible E-Learning with Zhaneille. I was able to broaden my instruction experience and practice lesson planning and it was great to be able to share our knowledge with others.

What do you believe is the next step in your career path?

Zhaneille: After two years as a GA in an academic library, I don’t want to leave academic librarianship, for now. I will continue to pursue a career in technical services, specifically e-resources.

Ryan: I am currently looking into positions related to instruction and digital technology. These two aspects of librarianship have played a key role in my development, so those positions are the most appealing to me in the job market. In the long term, I would love to focus on something more administrative and policy base, as it is an aspect of librarianship that has just started to grow on me.

Nora: I’ll still be here during the summer, so I don’t have that next step quite figured out yet. I’m beginning to apply in earnest to jobs that begin in the Fall and, because of my experience, I have a lot of different places I could go. I’ll be looking for positions in Archives & Special Collections or Reference Services, with a focus on my technology skills. I don’t have any particular preference between Academic and Public Libraries and I have the experience to apply for both.

Do you have any advice for any GA starting out?

Zhaneille: Take a moment to learn about what the department and the wider university needs and have to offer. A graduate assistantship is rewarding because even though your projects and duties are a part of the job, you learn so much in the process. I’m graduating and still wish I had taken more LinkedIn courses or met more people.

Ryan: Do not be intimidated by all of the technology if that is brand new to you. There are so many opportunities to grow in the Scholarly Commons to learn these tools naturally. I would also encourage exploring aspects of librarianship you are interested in during your GA’ship. Since collaboration is a crucial aspect of our identity, there are so many opportunities to work with colleagues in other units related to areas of librarianship you are curious about, and the Scholarly Commons GA’ship gives you that flexibility to do that.

Nora: Don’t be afraid to check in with your supervisors. They’re there to help you succeed! If you feel lost on a project, need more work, or want to get experience working with something specific your supervisor should have some ideas.

There you have it guys!  While goodbyes are hard, it is a necessity to welcome new beginnings. We are glad to see how the Scholarly Commons have impacted the growth of our graduate assistants. We know they are all going to continue to make outstanding contributions and change in their future endeavors. We celebrate you Zhaneille, Ryan and Nora and Congratulations on your graduation!

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De-Stress with Scholarly Commons

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The end of the semester is a stressful time with finals and preparing for the summer. During this time it is especially important to take care of your mental health and take some time for yourself. Here are some ways to relax using equipment from Scholarly Commons:

  1. Check out a Tranquility Kit to help with mental health during the stress of finals. This kit includes a Happy Light, headphones, exercise bands and an exercise guide, stress ball, and fidget toys. One of these kits is also available in the Orange Room on the first floor of the library. 
tranquility kit showing happy light, stress ball, fidget toys and headphones
Photo Credit: Media Commons
  1. Read a book on an Amazon Kindle. The Kindles have 4GB memory storage which is enough storage for thousands of books. 
  2. Now that the weather is getting nice you can check out a camera and take a walk outside. Take pictures or videos of the campus or all the geese outside. 
image of Panasonic Lumix camera
Photo Credit: Media Commons
  1. Check out a projector and projector screen and watch a movie with friends.
  2. Try out our new Digital Drawing Kits with downloaded programs including Procreate, Sketchbook, Adobe Illustrator, Adult Coloring Book and Assembly.  
image of iPad with Apple Pencil
Photo Credit: Media Commons
  1. Check out Bluetooth speakers and headphones so that you can blast some music and have a dance party.
  2. Check out one of the sensory toys from the Orange Room while you study. Sensory toys available include a water wiggler, wacky tracks, and twisty tangles. Loanable technology from the Orange Room is available for two-hour check outs. 

Technology from Scholarly Commons is available for loans of up to 10 days. You can book in advance on the Scholarly Commons website or make a booking at the Tech Desk in room 306. To pick up equipment, make sure to bring a valid i-card. 

Good luck with finals! We’ll see you again next year!

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Biking at UIUC: the Creation of a StoryMap

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The 651 total buildings owned by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign stretch across an area of 9.9 square miles, or 6,370 acres. With a campus as large as ours, it’s no wonder the students, faculty, and staff use so many different means of transportation. Cars, bikes, skateboards, public transit, scooters – you name it!

When the weather is even halfway decent, you can find me biking around campus. It’s quick, convenient, and provides a bit of exercise in the otherwise sedentary life of a grad student. However, biking on campus is not without its frustrations. Bike routes are not always obvious, and sometimes they’re blocked by pedestrians or poorly parked cars. Even though I’ve gained more confidence in using bike lanes, it’s always a little nerve-wracking when I need to merge into traffic to turn left, or when a bus drives by and I’m stuck between it and a row of parked cars, the doors of which could open at any moment.

biker avoiding an open car door
photo by Dominik Stallings

With these concerns in mind, I set out to learn more about the different kinds of bike routes on campus and the safety pros and cons of each. I read various research articles and made observations of potential features or issues while biking around campus. I took photos of campus bike routes, including common bike lane hazards, some of which were staged for the sake of photography, but still very real issues. I learned about resources related to getting around campus, and wanted to further share them.

In order to present my research, which relied heavily on maps, I used ArcGIS StoryMaps. This software was well-suited to the needs of this project. I was able to get data on bike routes and parking areas from campus facilities, which I used to create web maps with ArcMap and ArcGIS Online so that viewers could see each type of bike route in isolation. Continuity of bike routes has been found to be an important factor in whether people choose to bike, and certain people may feel more or less comfortable using different types of routes, so I wanted to demonstrate how these comfort limitations affect route continuity, possibly leading to fewer people choosing to bike.

Screenshot of shared-use paths map

These maps, photos, and narrative elements came together to tell a story about biking on campus. To learn more about the campus bike network, the safety pros and cons of different bike route types, and campus navigation tips, you can explore the StoryMap here.

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Strategies for Accessible E-Learning

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Why Teach Accessible Classes?

No matter if you’re teaching a full semester class or a one-off workshop, you will be teaching disabled learners, whether they disclose their disabilities or not. All of your students deserve an equitable learning experience and accessible practices eliminate barriers for all users.

man using a braille keyboard writer
Image by Sigmund on Unsplash

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)

One of the most important standards when it comes to accessibility on the web is the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. These guidelines are split into four components: Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, and Robust, or POUR.

Perceivable

  • Everyone can identify your content not matter how they perceive information.
    • Use text, audio, and video alternatives for content.
    • Make your lessons adaptable for different student needs.

Operable

  • Learners should be able to navigate your course with ease.
    • Have large and obvious navigation buttons.
    • Give enough time or eliminate timed progression counters.
    • Make your content keyboard navigable.

Understandable

  • Content should be clear and concise.
    • Avoid using jargon and keep text content simple.
    • Use specific language: Instead of “click here” use “click next.”

Robust

  • Content can be accessed by assistive technologies (such as screen readers).
    • Make sure your content is compatible with assistive technology.
    • Update any dead links or finicky buttons.
    • Learners should be able to access course materials with reasonably outdated software.
a teacher with a student, pointing to something on a laptop
Image by Desola Lanre-Ologun on Unsplash

Best Practices

Now that I’ve gone over the basic web accessibility standards, here are some practical tips that use can use to make your class materials more accessible.

Course Structure

  • You want your course structure to be easily digestible, so break up lessons into manageable chunks.
  • Asynchronous courses are courses that allow learners to complete work and attend lectures at their own pace. You may want to consider some form of this to allow your students flexibility.

Text and Links

  • Headings and titles should be formatted properly. Instead of just bolding your text, use headings in numerical order. In Word, you can accomplish this by selecting Home > Styles and selecting the heading you want.
heading one and heading two in the Word styles interface

Images

  • Always include alt-text with your images. There will be different ways of doing this in different programs. Alt-text describes the image for users who cannot see it. For instance, in the alt-text I describe the image below as “a beagle with its tongue out.”
  • If the image is purely decorative, you can set it as such.
a beagle with its tongue out
Image by Milli on Unsplash

Videos

  • Videos should have error-free captioning. It can be useful to include a written transcription.
  • Video interfaces should be navigable using a keyboard (spacebar to start and stop).

Tables

  • Avoid using tables if you can, they can be challenging for screen readers to decipher.
  • Tables can be made accessible with proper web design. For a instructions on how to create accessible tables visit WebAIM’s Accessible Tables Guide.

Color Contrast

examples of good and bad color contrast
Image made with dopelycolors
  • Make sure that your content is readable, whatever colors you use. Avoid going wild: dark text on light backgrounds and light text on dark backgrounds are standard.
  • If you want to check your color contrast, try the WCAG Color Contrast Checker.
  • Avoid providing information that solely relies on the student being able to distinguish color i.e. red meaning “stop” and green meaning “go.”

Resources to Learn More

When it comes to accessible practices, there’s a lot of information to cover. If you want to learn more, here are some resources to get you started.

By working to make your classes accessible, you can create a better learning experience for all your students.

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Unreadable: Challenges and Critical Pedagogy to Optical Character Recognition Software 

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In the 21st century, Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software has fundamentally changed how we search for information. OCR is the process of taking images with text and making them searchable. The implications of OCR vary from allowing searchability on massive databases to promoting accessibility by making screen readers a possibility. While this is all incredibly helpful, it is not without fault, as there are still many challenges to the OCR process that create barriers for certain projects. There are also some natural limitations to using this software that especially have consequences for time-sensitive projects, but other factors within human control have negatively influenced the development of OCR technology in general. This blog post will explore two issues: the amount of human labor required on an OCR project and the Western biases of this kind of software. 

Some text in ABBYY FineReader. Not all of the appropriate text is contained within a box, indicating the human labor that needs to go in to correct this.
Public Domain Image

Human Labor Requirements 

While OCR can save an incredible amount of time, it is not a completely automated system. For printed documents from the 20th-21st century, most programs can guarantee a 95-99% accuracy rate. The same is not true, however, for older documents. OCR software works by recognizing pre-built characters the software was initially programmed to recognize. When a document does not follow that same pattern, the software cannot recognize it. Handwritten documents are a good example of this, in which the same letter may appear differently to the software, depending on how it was written. Some programs, such as ABBYY FineReader, have attempted to resolve this problem by incorporating a training program, which allows users to train the system to read specific types of handwriting. Even still, that training process requires human input, and there is still much work for individuals to put into ensuring that the processed document is accurate. As a result, OCR can be a time-consuming process that still requires plenty of human labor for a project.  

Western Biases  

Another key issue with the OCR process is the Western biases that went into the creation of the software. Many common OCR programs were designed to handle projects with Latinized scripts. While helpful for some projects, this left barriers to documents with non-Latinized scripts, particularly from languages commonly used outside the West. While advances have been made on this front, the advancements are still far behind that of Latinized scripts. For example, ABBYY FineReader is one of the few software programs that will scan in non-western languages, but it cannot incorporate its training program when those scripts aren’t Latinized. Adobe Acrobat can also scan documents with languages that use non-Latinized scripts, but its precision is less consistent than with those languages that do.  

An old version of ABBYY FineReader. The text scanned on the left is a language with a non-Latinized script. The right side shows a variety of errors due to the system's lack of knowledge of that language.
Photo Credit: Paul Tafford 

Addressing the Issues with OCR 

Although OCR has performed many amazing tasks, there is still much development needed when it comes to projects related to this aspect of scholarly research. One crucial component when considering taking on an OCR project is to recognize the limitations of the software and to account for that when determining the scope of your project. At this stage, OCR technology is certainly a time-saver and fundamentally changing the possibilities of scholarship, but without human input, these projects fail to make an impact. Likewise, recognizing the inequality of processing for non-western languages in some of the more prevalent OCR software (which several developers have looked to offset by creating OCR programs specifically catered to specific non-Latinized languages). Acknowledging these issues can help us consider the scope of various projects and also allow us to address these issues to make OCR a more accessible field.

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