Spring Semester 2026 Events & Workshops
The Digital Scholarship Lab is delighted to offer hands-on opportunities to develop skills in data visualization, data management, R, Python, mapping tools like QGIS and ArcGIS, OpenRefine, 360 cameras, and virtual reality. The lineup includes beginner-friendly workshops, national events like Love Data Week and Douglass Day, drop-in VR sessions, and research showcases that highlight how these tools are used in real projects.
Whether you’re building practical skills, exploring unfamiliar technologies, or looking for new ways to approach your work, the DSL offers multiple entry points into digital scholarship.
Events are all listed on the MSU Libraries calendar. Some events require registration—click on the titles for more details.
Data Management & Data Visualization
- R Learn Together (in-person): Wednesday, January 14; February 11; March 11; April 8, 2026, 10:00am-11:30am
- Research Data Management: Best Practices for organizing and managing your data (online): Tuesday, January 20, 2026, 10:00am-11:00am
- Data Visualization as a Career Skill (online): Monday, January 26, 2026, 6:00pm-7:00pm
- Data Management Plans: Yes, you need one and here is how to create them (online): Tuesday, February 17, 2026, 10:00am-11:00am
- OpenRefine Regular Expressions and Data Validation (in-person): Monday, March 16, 1:00pm-2:30pm
Mapping & GIS
- Learn QGIS: Making a color shaded map with data in QGIS (online): Wednesday, January 21, 2026, 4:00pm-5:00pm
- Introduction to ArcGIS Pro: Make a color shaded map (in-person): Wednesday, February 25, 2026, 4:30pm-6:00pm
- Introduction to ArcGIS Online (online): Wednesday, March 11, 2026, 4:00pm-5:00pm
Love Data Week & Douglass Day
- A Date with Data: How to Save Your Loved Ones (and Zeroes) (in-person): Monday, February 09, 2026, 12:00pm-2:00pm
- Business Data Visualization Introduction (in-person): Monday, February 09, 2026, 2:30pm-4:00pm
- An Overview of the Data Rescue Project: What is it doing, how can it help you, and how can you get involved? (in-person): Tuesday, February 10, 2026, 1:00pm-2:00pm
- Geospatial Data and Maps Discoverability: 10 years of the Big Ten Geospatial Information Network Project (in-person): Wednesday, February 11, 2026, 12:30pm-1:30pm
- Douglass Day Transcribe-a-thon: A Day of Collective Action for Black History (in-person): Friday, February 13, 2026, 12:00pm-3:00pm
Drop-in Virtual Reality
- Enter the Canvas: Drop-in VR (in-person): Wednesday, January 28, 2026, 4:00pm-7:00pm
- Immersive Film with 360 Cameras: Drop-in VR (in-person): Wednesday, February 11, 2026, 4:00pm-7:00pm
- Rhythm in (Virtual) Reality: Drop-in VR (in-person): Wednesday, February 25, 2026, 4:00pm-7:00pm
- Escape the Virtual Reality Room: Drop-in VR (in-person): Wednesday, March 25, 2026, 4:00pm-7:00pm
- Drop-in VR and De-stress: Wednesday, April 22, 2026, 4:00pm-7:00pm
Software Carpentry
- Software Carpentry: Programming with Python and More (in-person): Monday, March 2-3, 2026, 9:00am-5:00pm
Research Showcase
- New Ways of Seeing the Past: Machine Learning, X-ray Fluorescence, and the Coins of Rome and Ancient Judea (in-person): Monday, March 23, 2026, 5:30pm-7:00pm
- Global DH Symposium (in-person and online): April 13-17, 2026
- Visualizing the Gregory Archive: Using Digital Humanities Methods to Support Learning and Build Community (online): April 16, 2026, 12:00pm-1:00pm
- Seeing the Forest for the Trees in VR and IRL: Science Fest @ DSL (in-person): Saturday, April 18, 2026, 12:00pm-3:00pm
Image credits: Photo of northern cardinal used in graphic comes from US Fish and Wildlife Service Midwest Region Flickr Photostream. PDM 1.0