As part of Open Access Week, University of California Irvine Libraries is hosting a presentation by Dr. David Newman (ICS) on his research on ways to improve how users search, discover, and find items in the HathiTrust digital collections.

Evaluating Topic Models for Use in Digital Libraries

October 25, 2011 - Langson Library Room 570     11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Light Refreshments will be served.  Presentation: 11:45 a.m. – 12:45 p.m. with Q&A to follow.

•  David Newman, PhD (Research Faculty, ICS) conducts research on how topic mapping (topic modeling + mapping) can be used in conjunction with Google Maps interfaces to improve the ways users browse huge text collections.  Using two huge collections of text documents (PubMed abstracts and books from the Open Content Alliance) Newman investigated how to construct intuitive and meaningful layouts of documents to help users better find useful documents, and improve their overall browse experience.

  With grants from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and Google, Newman and his research team investigate how topic modeling -- a state-of-the-art machine learning technique -- can be used to improve the ways users search, discover and find items in increasingly large digital collections. They will apply topic modeling to three important classes of digital library resources: full-text books, images, and tagged objects.

  Newman's research interests include machine learning, data mining and text mining. His research is marked by a commitment to combining theoretical advances with practical applications in ways that widen access and use for individuals and communities, and ultimately improve the way people find and discover information.

Fall Teaching Colloquy, Clarifying Copyright

The Colloquy takes place on Thursday, Oct. 20, 2011 from 4:30-6:30 in the Learning Studio, AIRB 1030.  Light refreshments will be served. 

The rules for using other people's copyrighted material for instructional purposes, as well as those for other people using yours, seem to be changing daily.  The Fall Teaching Colloquy, Clarifying Copyright, will examine how the copyright laws and recent cases involving other universities are impacting instruction and research.

• Facilitating this very interactive discussion will be:

• Prof. Maria Pantelia (Classics), Director of the UCI's Thesaurus Linguae Graece
• Assoc. University Librarian, Carol Hughes
• University Counsel Khym Penfil

Just a few of the issues that participants will analyze are:

• Can I grant anyone permission to use my published work in any way that I want?
• Isn't all material used for instructional purposes covered by the TEACH Act?
• Does the UC own the course materials I create?  What about online materials?
• What do I do if someone violates copyrights that I own?
• If copyrighted media are converted into a different format for  instructional purposes (i.e., to streaming media, JPEG files, or MP3), I don't have to get copyright permission, do I?
  

The Teaching Colloquy is co-sponsored by the Division of Undergraduate Education and the Academic Council on Student Experience; it is hosted by the Teaching, Learning & Technology Center.