In ENVS 220 we learned various tools to help us perform creative scholarship that strives to make a “different difference.” Below, I will briefly describe the qualitative and quantitative tools we used, as well as provide a link to the group write ups we produced after each lab.
- WordPress website design. One important aspect of ENVS 220 is what you are seeing right here: individual websites that document and communicate the scholarly work we have been doing.
- Zotero. In the Global Data/Lit lab, we chose variables to explore, and did research on those variables which we combined into a single Zotero library. Zotero is a useful tool that stores and organizes literature — basically an online bookcase and personal librarian.
- Microsoft Excel. In our Global Data lab, we used Excel to analyze data produced by World Bank. Excel helped us perform mathematical functions to high volumes of data.
- SPSS. After organizing and cleaning up data in Excel, we performed inferential statistics on data using SPSS, a predictive analysis software.
- Gephi. Our Social Network Analysis lab utilized an interesting new program called Gephi. We analyzed the connections between Environmental Classics using Gephi, a program that helps display networks of data and other complex networks.
- GIS. Our GIS and Global Data lab explored the EPI, or Environmental Performance Index, and we learned how to use GIS to illustrate large spatial patterns across the globe.
- Fulcrum. In the RVNA Mobile Devices lab, we were able to do field research in Riverview Natural Area, armed with iPad minis. Fulcrum is an application that allows multiple users to create and administer surveys on mobile devices.
- Flickr. We used Flickr in conjunction with Fulcrum, and uploaded geotagged photos of our specific research area in RVNA.
- GoogleTours. In our Google Earth Tour lab, we learned how to use Google’s beta program, GoogleTours, and created both a personal tour as well as a tour that displayed the data we collected in RVNA the week before. GoogleTours gives the viewer an (almost) first-hand account of where data was collected, and provides the viewer with a geographical context that is instrumental in a situated approach to research.
- Qualitative analysis. Our Qualitative Analysis lab provided us with the skills needed to perform scholarly qualitative analysis by breaking information down into categories and analyzing the sequence and content of websites, advertisements, and videos.