Hello Data Wonks,
We are pleased to bring you our finalized schedule of meetups for the 2021-2022 academic year. All of our meetups will be hosted in a Teams channel calendar event, and the link can be found at the bottom of this message. Feel free to share the link with other new and aspiring Data Wonks on campus. Even better, invite them to join us here in Teams. Data Wonks meetups will all fall on the third Tuesday of each month at 3pm. Meetups will usually last one to one and a half hours.
October 19th, 3pm
Topic: Queries in SAS + Meet & Greet
Format: Presentation + Coffee/Tea/Beverage-of-Choice Chat
Description: Join us for a demonstration of SAS with Jon Vander Hill. SAS is the latest campus-recommended tool for creating queries in SQL, with a query wizard and cross-database joins. SAS can be downloaded from the Campus Software Library. Come to learn, stay to chat.
Presenters: Jon Vander Hill, Policy and Planning Analyst, Office of Human Resources (OHR)
November 16th, 3pm
Topic: Design Sprints
Format: Community of Practice Cross-Over
Description: Our DataWonks CoP is having a joint meeting with the Agile CoP around the Design Sprint, a process developed within Google. Some Agile CoP members participated in a Design Sprint at the start of the Interoperability Initiative, and believe that it would be good to review & opportunity to discuss the process, how they put it together, how they ran it – and lessons learned.
Presenters: Community Discussion (facilitated by Patrick Hare, Senior IT Project Manager, Division of Information Technology (DoIT)
December 21th, 3pm
Topic: Badger Analytics InfoAccess Migration
Format: Presentation + Q&A
Description: We’ll have an update on the InfoAccess migration to Badger Analytics from the ODMAS team. As part of the transition from InfoAccess, ODMAS would like to collaborate with the DataWonks CoP to share tips & tricks about converting queries to Badger Analytics, and to help spread the word about enhancements to both Data Cookbook (adding view and column detail to make it searchable the way RADAR is) and to the legacy InfoAccess views.
Presenters: Cathy Lloyd, Chief Data Officer, Office of Data Management and Analytic Services (ODMAS)
January 18th, 3pm
Topic: Working with New Data Sets in Badger Analytics + SQL Resource Sharing
Format: Presentation + Community Sharing
Description: Learn how to work with new datasets in Badger Analytics. Bring your best tips and resources for working in SQL.
Presenters: Eric MacKay, Assistant Registrar for Degree Audit and Academic Programs, Office of the Registrar (RO), and Amanda Thornton, Lead Business Applications Developer, Space Science & Engineering Center
February 15th, 3pm
Topic: Data Visualization Tools – Where to Start, and Best Practices
Format: Presentation + Community Sharing
Description: Where do you visualize your data? How do you begin? What have you learned? We will learn and share in this session all about data visualizations.
Presenters: Salima Currimbhoy, Data & Metrics Specialist, Division of Information Technology (DoIT)
March 15th, 3pm
Topic: Combining Data Sets + Data Security
Format: Presentation + Community Discussion
Description: Learning some techniques, tricks, and best practices when combining data sets – and how to be mindful of data security when sharing the results of those coveted skills.
Presenters: Tom Jordan Solutions Architect, Division of Information Technology (DoIT), and John Nagler, Cybersecurity Analyst, Division of Information Technology (DoIT)
April 19th, 3pm
Topic: Automating Data Pipelines with Low or No Code
Format: Presentation
Description: Interoperability, and integrations – looking at low/no code solutions to leverage data.
Presenters: Charlie Calderon, Assistant Director of Enterprise Integration, Division of Information Technology (DoIT)
May 17th, 3pm
Topic: Data & Algorithm Bias
Format: Community Discussion
Description: Let’s discuss data and algorithmic bias! We’ll send some short video and reading suggestions closer to the meeting.
Presenters: Sara Hagen, Academic Planner and Data Analyst, College of Engineering (CoE), and Sarah Sobek Ozburn, Data Analyst and Project Manager, Division of Continuing Studies (DCS), and Amanda Thornton, Lead Business Applications Developer, Space Science & Engineering Center
A very warm thank you to all of our guest presenters; to Sara Hagen, Amanda Thornton, and Sarah Sobek Ozburn for helping to coordinate; and all of the Data Wonks at UW-Madison for staying involved in this community. We are personally grateful, and happy to share the gratitude from stakeholders across campus and beyond. If you have any questions, join us on Teams or email us. Thank you!
Here’s to 2021-2022!