Workshop Descriptions

Descriptions of current workshops

ArcGIS Online - An Introduction (http://utoronto.maps.arcgis.com/)

Participants will learn the basics of this online mapping and GIS platform.  Topics covered will include: Geocoding, Symbology, Scale Dependencies, Map Labeling, Popup Management, etc.

ArcGIS Pro - An Introduction (https://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app/)

Participants in this workshop will learn the basics manipulating, visualizing and analyzing geospatial datasets in Esri's newest desktop software.  Topics covered will include:  A tour of ArcGIS Pro; Loading and Manipulating; shapefiles and geodatabases; Symbology; Cartography; Spatial and Attribute Joins; Querying; Summarized Statistics; Subsetting; Clipping; Erasing and Buffering; Geocoding. Participants will also work through solving a problem using GIS analysis tools.

Constellate: A new platform to learn text analysis

Are you interested in analyzing large bodies of texts, or teaching text analysis in your class? Join us to learn about Constellate, a new tool for text analysis. Constellate provides tools for building a large dataset, using items from JSTOR and other collections, cleaning it, analyzing it using a range of tools, and visualizing the results. For advanced users, or those wishing to learn Python, the platform also offers customizable Python scripts along with hands-on tutorials. This session will introduce users to Constellate, show how to create a dataset and visualizations, and then will touch on some of the advanced options.

For more information about Constellate, including instructions on how to access it with full access, see our guide to Constellate.

Data Cleaning Made Easier with OpenRefine

In an ideal world, any data you collect or obtain would be clean and formatted perfectly for analysis and visualization. But the reality is that data can be really messy! Cleaning and reformatting your data can be a time-consuming and tedious task, but there are ways to speed things up and automate repetitive tasks. OpenRefine can help!

This 2-hour workshop will provide an introduction to OpenRefine, a powerful open-source tool for exploring, cleaning, and manipulating “messy” data, to prepare it for analysis and visualization. Through a combination of lecture, demonstrations, and activities, participants will learn how to:

  • Understand what kinds of tasks are involved in data cleaning
  • Understand why data cleaning is important
  • Get started using OpenRefine for data cleaning to manipulate both textual and numeric data, transform and reshape datasets, and search and filter data in a variety of ways

This workshop is designed for those new to data cleaning and OpenRefine. There are no prerequisites or assumptions of knowledge of math, statistics, or programming.

Alternatively, if you would like to learn more about data cleaning and OpenRefine on your own, you are encouraged to explore our OpenRefine online tutorials or self-enroll in our online, self-paced workshop (same content as this live one): Working with Messy Data in OpenRefine

Introduction to Data Visualization Using Tableau Desktop

Data visualization gives us a better understanding of our data and helps us communicate that to others. It has the potential to generate insights, communicate findings, and illustrate evidence. Conversely, a poor visualization can undermine an argument or even mislead the reader.

Through a combination of lecture and demonstrations, this 1.5-hour workshop will introduce you to data visualization using a common data visualization tool, Tableau Desktop. Participants will create visualizations such as a bar graphs, line graphs, and scatter plots. 

This workshop is designed for those new to data visualization and Tableau Desktop. There are no prerequisites or assumptions of knowledge of math, statistics, or programming.

This is a short, introductory workshop. If you would like to learn more about data visualization, you are encouraged to self-enroll in our longer, online, self-paced workshops:

For more information on Data Visualization and services offered by the libraries, see our Data Visualization Guide.

Depositing Research Data in the University of Toronto Dataverse (Borealis)

Are you interested in sharing your data with other researchers? Has a journal or funder asked you to share your data? Would you like to house your research team’s data in one place? In this session participants will learn how to organize and publish research data in the University of Toronto Dataverse, U of T’s institutional data repository hosted by Borealis. Through a live demo, participants will learn how to organize research data for deposit, upload and publish a dataset, and add appropriate metadata in the data repository. 

Digital Humanities Tools: Digital Scholar Lab

This workshop introduces the Gale Digital Scholar Lab, a platform that allows users to discover and create collections of digitized texts from the Gale Historical Collections, run a variety of statistical analyses on them, and visualize the resulting data. Participants will learn how to use the Digital Scholar Lab and get an overview of text mining through a combination of a lecture and a hands-on demonstration. Note: No prior experience required, though attendees must have a Gmail address.

Excel: Beyond the Basics

Excel is a popular spreadsheet software that allows you to organize, modify and analyse your data. In this 2 hour hands-on workshop, you will gain a deeper understanding of the uses and types of data that can be manipulated in Excel. Through practical exercises using real world data, you will learn important terminology, explore methods for manipulating and cleaning your data, use built-in calculations and functions to analyze your data, and create compelling visualizations.

This workshop assumes you have used Excel before at a basic level, but haven’t explored all it has to offer. The goal is to show you alternate ways to do things you already know how to do, as well as help you pick up some new Excel skills. There are no prerequisites or assumptions of knowledge of math, statistics, or programming.

Note: This workshop works with Excel with Microsoft 365 for Windows – if you are using an older version or Excel for Mac, availability and location of some features may differ – a quick Internet search will usually reveal the steps to access a feature in a particular version.

Introduction to Infographics

Infographics are a specific type of data visualization that uses a mix of data, visuals, and text to inform or persuade. They are common in marketing and social media, but they are becoming more popular as a way to attract and engage with audiences to share your message. They can be used to promote yourself and your activities and discoveries; from marketing a new business product or service, to sharing research results with the public or stakeholders.

Through a combination of lecture and an activity, this 1-hour online workshop will introduce participants to best practices and guidelines for designing effective infographics and evaluating them. For the final part of the workshop, participants will get a chance to critique an infographic and discuss their thoughts with the group.

This workshop is designed for those new to data visualization and infographics. There are no prerequisites or assumptions of knowledge of math, statistics, or programming.

For more information on Data Visualization, including topics covered in the workshop, and services offered by the libraries, see our Data Visualization Guide.

An Introduction to Newspaper Text Analysis with ProQuest TDM Studio Workbench

Text analysis is a range of techniques for working with large numbers of texts for exploration, analysis, and visualization. This workshop will introduce you to ProQuest TDM Studio Workbench, an online tool for performing text analysis on ProQuest databases. These databases include over 140 collections of current and historical newspapers.

In this 2-hour workshop, you will learn how to get started with TDM Studio Workbench. Through a combination of lectures, demonstrations, and activities using a sample dataset of newspaper articles, participants will learn how to:

  • Create a dataset and bring it into Workbench for analysis
  • Navigate the Workbench environment solo or as part of a team
  • Understand what types of text analysis are possible in Workbench (using Python or R)
  • Get started running sample Jupyter notebooks, and learn how to create your own!

This workshop is designed for those new to text analysis and TDM Studio Workbench. There are no prerequisites or assumptions of knowledge - while some basic Python experience will be helpful, this is not required! If you took our Friendly Introduction to Python for Absolute Beginners: Part 1, you know more than you need.

Introduction to NVivo 12 (Windows Version)

Qualitative research involves working with qualitative data sources, such as interview transcripts, reports, photos, and diaries. NVivo is a data management and analysis tool that helps work with these types of materials. This 2.5-hr online workshop will provide an introduction to using NVivo 12 for Windows.

Through a combination of lecture and hands-on activities, participants will be able to

  • Understand how NVivo can be used in qualitative research
  • Use NVivo to load information, code documents, make notes, use cases, conduct queries, and export information
  • Know where to go for more help with NVivo

UofT Libraries provides a free 1-year license for NVivo. To obtain a license key, fill out our request form.

Introduction to NVivo 12 (Mac Version)

Qualitative research involves working with qualitative data sources, such as interview transcripts, reports, photos, and diaries. NVivo is a data management and analysis tool that helps work with these types of materials. This 2.5-hr online workshop will provide an introduction to using NVivo 12 for Mac.

Through a combination of lecture and hands-on activities, participants will be able to

  • Understand how NVivo can be used in qualitative research
  • Use NVivo to load information, code documents, make notes, use cases, conduct queries, and export information
  • Know where to go for more help with NVivo

UofT Libraries provides a free 1-year license for NVivo. To obtain a license key, fill out our request form.

A Friendly Introduction to Python for Absolute Beginners: Part 1

Interested in learning to program but don't know where to start? This hands-on workshop will introduce you to the basic concepts of one of the world's most popular programming languages, Python! This introduction to Python will include concepts such as data types, variables, operators and loops. You will also learn how to use Jupyter Notebooks to read and write code. This workshop will establish a foundation to start exploring Python, and help to get rid of any nervousness you might have about learning to code. There will be plenty of opportunities to ask any questions and practice as we go!

This workshop is designed for absolute beginners with no previous experience with programming.

A Friendly Introduction to Python for Absolute Beginners: Part 2

Interested in learning to program but don't know where to start? This hands-on workshop will build on the concepts introduced in A Friendly Introduction to Python for Absolute Beginners: Part 1 to introduce you to more basic concepts of one of the world's most popular programming languages, Python! This Part 2 introduction to Python includes concepts such as compound data types, flow control, error handling, and reading & writing files. This workshop will establish a foundation to start exploring Python, and help to get rid of any nervousness you might have about learning to code. There will be plenty of opportunities to ask any questions and practice as we go!

This workshop is designed for absolute beginners with no previous experience with programming. However, it is recommended that participants have completed the Part 1 workshop, or reviewed the content of the Part 1 notebook beforehand.

QGIS - An Introduction to Open Source Geographic Information Systems

Participants in this workshop will learn the basics manipulating, visualizing and analyzing geospatial datasets in open source desktop GIS software, QGIS.  Topics covered will include:  A tour of QGIS; Loading and Manipulating; shapefiles and other datasets; Symbology; Cartography; Spatial and Attribute Joins; Querying; Summarized Statistics; Subsetting; Clipping; Erasing and Buffering; Geocoding. 

R - An Introduction

This is a hands-on workshop that introduces the R statistical programming language using RStudio. The topics covered are importing, exploring and modifying a dataset. It is most suitable for new R users or users looking to review their knowledge in R. Offered as an online self-paced course (Self-enroll with your UTORID. If you don't have one, contact us) and also as a live online session - see the "upcoming events" listing above for schedule information.

R - Intermediate

This workshop introduces users to intermediate data processing tools using R in RStudio including the dplyr package, if statements, for loops, functions, and the ggplot2 package.

SPSS - An Introduction

This workshop provides an introduction to using SPSS to perform common data management and basic statistical analysis tasks. Participants will work through hands-on exercises in SPSS, and will learn to import spreadsheets, manage and edit data, create charts and other visualizations, and run descriptive statistical tests. Note: this workshop will not cover advanced statistical concepts, but participants will be provided with suggested resources for additional skills development. Workshop Files

Stata - An Introduction

In this hands-on workshop, students will learn how to read, explore, manipulate and combine data in Stata as well as run some common statistical analyses. It is suitable for new Stata users and Stata users looking to develop their familiarity with common Stata syntax.

Story Maps - An Introduction

This workshop is an introduction to Esri's Story Maps platform.  Participants will learn to build three popular Story Map types, Tour, Cascade and Journal. Participants will load original spatial data along with Social Media data to create interactive Story Maps.  Participants will also learn the basics of using ArcGIS Online.

Text Analysis Tasting Menu: A Sampling of Available Tools

Are you interested in analyzing large bodies of texts, or teaching text analysis in your class? Not sure what tools are available for you to use? Join us to learn about some of the major tools for text analysis at the University of Toronto. This “Tasting Menu” workshop will introduce participants to the Gale Digital Scholar Lab, Constellate, Proquest TDM Studio Visualizations and Workbench, and the Hathi Trust Research Centre’s Algorithms and Data Capsule. 

This session will include a brief introduction to each tool, outlining the type of interface and what collections are included. It will provide an overview on how to access each tool and create an account. Via a live demo, participants will learn how to build a custom dataset for analysis, upload their own texts or code, select and run analyses, export results, and, when possible, collaborate on projects with others. 

This workshop will also include an introduction to text analysis, and tips on how to select the appropriate tool for your use case. A summary table will be distributed to attendees, along with links to further resources for those wishing to explore a particular tool in more detail.

Visualizing Relationships: A Friendly Introduction to Working with Networks using Gephi

A network is a way of specifying relationships among a collection of entities or actors. Networks come up in a variety of situations; for example, they can describe relationships between characters in literary works, how authors cite each other in a particular discipline or how people interact on social media.

Through a combination of lecture and hands-on activities, this 2.5-hour workshop will introduce you to network visualization using a free, open-source tool called Gephi. For our examples, we will be starting with smaller networks, looking at relationships between characters in the play Romeo and Juliet, and movie actors that work together on the same films. 

This workshop is designed for those new to networks and Gephi. There are no prerequisites or assumptions of knowledge of math, statistics, or programming.

Descriptions of past workshops

Bits and Bytes presentation series

Presented by the Map & Data Library. For more information, see the Bits and Bytes page. 

Getting started with Collaborative Archive & Data Research Environment (CADRE)

More information on CADRE: https://mdl.library.utoronto.ca/cadre

ArcGIS Desktop 10.5

In this workshop, attendees will learn the basics of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Hands-on activities will cover loading, manipulating, and visualizing geospatial datasets using Esri's ArcGIS software, working towards creating digital maps.

Excel: Beyond the Basics (for Windows)

Learn to create simple charts and graphs, simple calculations, and pivot tables using Microsoft Excel. This works hop also includes an introduction to macros. 
Prerequisite: You must be comfortable using a computer and navigating desktop programs on your own. This workshop is best suited to students who are familiar with other Microsoft Office software such as Microsoft Word. Note: This workshop will be for Windows only.

Exploratory Data Analysis Using Python (Part 1)

This hands-on workshop in Python covers reading, describing, and filtering data, as well as conducting basic summary analyses, using the pandas package and Jupyter Notebooks. Workshop attendees do not need any experience with programming or Python/pandas, but must be familiar with tabular data and have a basic understanding of different types of data (quantitative/qualitative variables). We will be using software installed on computers in the MDL Lab and a sample data set that includes categorical, binary, text, and numerical data.

Exploratory Data Analysis Using Python (Part 2)

This is the second of two workshops on exploratory data analysis using Python, and you must have completed Exploratory Data Analysis Using Python (Part 1), or be familiar with reading, describing, filtering, and summarizing data using the pandas package.

This hands-on workshop in Python uses the pandas package and Jupyter Notebooks to group data, work with text formats, recode data, and create new variables. We will be using software installed on computers in the MDL Lab and a sample data set that includes categorical, binary, text, date, and numerical data.

Finding Canadian & International Microdata

This workshop will introduces you to individual-level social science survey data from Canadian and international sources. We will cover search strategies and techniques and there will be hands-on time for exploring and discovering data of interest to your own research. Workshop Files

Finding Canadian Statistics

This workshop will introduce you to sources of Canadian statistics, with a focus on tools for discovering Statistics Canada data, including Data Tables (formerly known as CANSIM), the CHASS Census Analyser, and the Map & Data Library catalogue. It will cover search strategies and techniques and allow hands-on time for exploring and discovering data of interest to your own research. Workshop Files

Geoprocessing Lidar Data with ArcGIS Desktop

This workshop will cover using ArcGIS to process Lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) data. Attendees will learn to reclassify classified data, extract building heights, generate shorelines, create a tree canopy, and create digital terrain models and digital surface models. Note: A good understanding of GIS principles and a working knowledge of ArcGIS 10.x is expected.

Getting Started with Python in ArcGIS Desktop

This workshop introduces the student to Python programming using the arcpy site package for ArcGIS Desktop. Learn how to use ArcToolBox geoprocessing tools to clip and project data. Use a for loop and if statement for geoprocessing. Run standalone python programs. NOTE: Attendees must have a working knowledge of ArcMAP 10.x and ArcToolBox.

SimplyAnalytics

SimplyAnalytics is a web-based mapping, analytics, and data visualization application for creating maps, charts and report using demographic, business, health and marketing data. This session will show you how to create custom maps for projects and presentations, as well as generate reports and download data to support your research.

Spatial Analytics: An Introduction to Insights for ArcGIS

In this workshop, attendees will be given an overview of the new tools available from Esri that will enable them to answer questions they didn't know to ask from their data, quickly delivering powerful results via Insights for ArcGIS. Insights for ArcGIS is Esri’s new web-based, data analytics workbench for exploring and visualizing spatial and non-spatial data. Through a combination of lecture and activities, attendees will also gain hands-on experience via a worked example containing freely available data from open sources.

Urban Modelling with CityEngine

Are you interested in learning more about geodesign, 3D modelling, rule-based planning and interactive 3D urban analysis?

This hands-on workshop will guide you through the basics of setting up a CityEngine project, modelling out streets and buildings, and publishing your content online.

The session will cover:

  • Introduction to CityEngine interface and application
  • Importing spatial and non-spatial data
  • Visualizing urban forms through off-the-shelf rules
  • Performing real-time shadow and view analyses