UC’s Digital Scholarship Center presents “Digital Integrator and Transdisciplinary Research Partner”

This Association of College and Research Libraries’ (ACRL) Spring 2021 Digital Scholarship Section featured “Digital Integrator & Transdisciplinary Research Partner,” a virtual panel highlighting the University of Cincinnati’s Digital Scholarship Center’s (DSC) unique model and work with research teams focused on misinformation and missing information.

The DSC partnered with UC Libraries’ Research and Data Services Team and the Department of Journalism to research Twitter’s impact on misinformation, false information and conspiracy theories about coronavirus. Using machine learning and linguistic analysis, the team also partnered with Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center to understand the role of missing information in electronic health records as it relates to social determinants of health. During the presentation, the panel discussed the unique organization of the DSC and its partnerships on campus and how health information professionals and the DSC work together on research projects involving social media, social justice and social determinants of health. The recording and slides are available online.

cover slide for presentation

  • Presenters: 

Jeff Blevins, PhD: Dr. Blevins is a professor and head of the Journalism Department and editor of the scholarly journal Democratic Communiqué. A frequent opinion-editorial columnist, Dr. Blevins’ commentary on media policy and ethics have appeared in USA Today, Cincinnati Enquirer, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, PandoDaily, Gateway Journalism Review and other venues. In 2009 he served as a federal grant reviewer for the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program administered by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the U.S. Department of Commerce. 

Kristen Burgess, MLIS: Kristen Burgess, MLIS is the operational manager for the Digital Scholarship Center. She focuses on strategic planning and operational strategy, technology and space implementation and student workers.Prior to working with the DSC, Kristen was the assistant director for research and informatics at UC’s Donald C. Harrison Health Sciences Library and a National Library of Medicine Associate Fellow. 

Don Jason, MLIS,MS: Don Jason, MLIS, MS serves as the clinical informationist for the University of Cincinnati (UC) Donald C. Harrison Health Sciences Library. In this position, Mr. Jason utilizes his strong background in informatics to deliver services and resources to the UC Academic Health Center. Mr. Jason’s unique role, allows him to develop resources and services that focus on informatics, patient care and clinical research.  

Lindsay Nickels, PhD: Lindsay Nickels, PhD, is the program coordinator for the Digital Scholarship Center, working on multiple research projects funded by the Mellon Foundation grant. Collaborating with the many transdisciplinary research teams from across the university and partnering institutions, most of her work focuses on developing and executing innovative methodologies for text analysis and reporting findings of said analyses through various means. Dr. Nickels is formally trained in applied linguistics, theories from which inform her approach to text analysis, and grounds her personal research in critical discourse studies and corpus linguistics.