Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Switch

In case you were having trouble converting audio files, I have been informed (Thanks, Mike!) that there is a free and fast converter available for download for both Windows and Mac. It's called Switch and is made by the same company that makes Express Scribe, which we will be using to transcribe our audio next week. Enjoy the rare day of canceled classes!

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Posting Documents to Blogger

In response to Amy's questions of how to post a document as a .jpg and how to link to a google doc, I did a little research and I think I found a way to do both.

First, if you want to post a word document as an image in blogger, you can use Zamzar, but rather than converting the word doc to .jpg (because Zamzar does not give this option), just convert it to .png. Then, the .png file can be uploaded as an image just the same as a .jpg (see below). If you really want a .jpeg, this website says that you can open the .png in paint and then save it as a .jpeg. Also note that the document was three pages and so saved as three separate .png files (I only posted the first page). If you click on this image, it becomes larger and readable. In google docs, there is an option under "Share" that allows you to publish you doc as a webpage. This makes it available for anyone to view (without logging in!). Then, in order to link your image to a google doc, you can click on the actual image and make it a hyperlink (I did not do this above, but tried it below) or you can just make a link to the document in the usual way. Here is my link. Good question! I hope this helps. Let me know if anyone has found a better way or has any suggestions.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Some Quantitative Data...

I took a look at the survey and it looks like we have 1 mac user, 11 PC users and 5 that are ambidextrous. I have a mac, so I always try to give mac options, but this does give me some insight into how to slant the class. Poor mac.

I also wanted to address some questions that came up on the surveys.

1) Will we be using NVivo or NUDIST (yes, that's what it's really called) software?
This course used to be solely about using Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software (CAQDAS). Programs in this category are things like NUDIST, NVivo, Qualrus, HyperRESEARCH, ATLAS.ti, etc. When I began to work on revamping the course, Dr. Voithofer and Dr. Nespor both wanted a more comprehensive approach to the digital tools now available (and that mostly free) to assist in qualitative research. As a result, we will not be focused on CAQDAS, though session 5 is dedicated to its use. We use a free program called WeftQDA (see session 5 for more info) that is very basic, but a good starting point for using the other commercial software listed above.

2) Will we cover software such as UCINET, NetDraw, VisuaLyzer or EgoNet?
Unfortunately, this is the first that I have heard of these tools. They are programs developed to visualize social networking. They seem a little more quantitative to me, but I would need to investigate them further before deciding to put them into the class. For those interested in social networks, many of these have a free download. If you you would like to investigate them and show the class the basics of their use (say for ten minutes one day), I would not be opposed to you skipping one of the other assignments that you may feel is not relevant for you. Please email me if you would like to do this.

3) Is there are write and cite function for mac?
There are many tools or bibliographic managers that work for both macs and PCs and we will be looking at these next week. I am most familiar with Zotero (see session 2 for more information) and know that it does have this function, which is very useful.

*And last but not least, if you are planning to bring your laptop to class, it might be helpful for you too look at the coming week and download the software that we will use before coming to class. The wireless in that room can be testy and slow, so just a heads up. Have a nice week!