Frequently Asked Questions

The Freedman Center for Digital Scholarship consists of a self-service computer lab; technology lending table; a Selfie Studio and A/V Capture Studio; and the Collaboration Commons space. It supports digital research projects for CWRU student, faculty, and staff by providing access to specialty software and hardware. 

The Center is on the first floor of Kelvin Smith Library and is partially supported from an endowment established by Samuel B. and Marian K. Freedman. 

The Freeman Center lab has research stations with robust hardware and software on Dell PCs. An up-to-date hardware list can be accessed here, and our software list is available here. Often-used programs include ArcGIS, SPSS, Adobe, and NVivo. 

The lab is not an ideal space to run large datasets that require a processing time of more than a few hours. We recommend [U]Tech's High Performance Computing Environment for such work. 

CWRU faculty, staff, and students have access to the Center's resources and can contact the Digital Scholarship team for consultations. Visitors can use resources that fall under the library's Visitor Access Privileges. 

The self-service lab and A/V capture stations can be accessed with a key from the service center on the first floor of KSL. Keys have an eight-hour check-out time. We ask that work on the computers is focused on digital scholarship or using the specialty software. If you need general computing, there is a laptop kiosk in KSL. Remember to bring a flash drive or use CWRU's cloud storage options for your projects, as files are wiped from Center computers regularly. 

The Selfie Studio is booked through the Spartan Reservation system. When you arrive at KSL, access the room with a key from the service center on the first floor of KSL. See more about the Studio here.

The Collaboration Commons is booked through the Spartan Reservation system. When you arrive at KSL, the Commons are to the left of the main entrance and do not require special access. See more about the Commons here.

• Here is more info on reservations for faculty and staff
• Here is more info on reservations for students

The Center is on the first floor of Kelvin Smith Library.

The Freedman Center's self-service lab is open when KSL's staff services are available. See up-to-date hours here. 

The Freedman Center has an equipment borrowing program that allows patrons to check out equipment like cameras and projectors. See more about the program here. 

We do not currently have laptops for overnight checkout. You can check out laptops for 3 hours using [U]Tech's kiosk on the first floor of KSL. 

The Digital Scholarship team is always looking for better ways to serve the CWRU community. We cannot promise to accommodate anything, but requests, suggestions, and questions can be made to freedmancenter@case.edu. We also encourage community members to apply for a Freedman Fellowship if they are eligible. 

Our equipment is free to use for CWRU students, staff, and faculty. Visitors can use machines according to KSL's Access Policy. There are fees associated with lost or overdue items for the technology lending program. 

Digital scholarship is the application of digital tools and methods to explore data in new ways and advance the creation and communication of scholarship. The Freedman Center is a space where the Digital Scholarship team brings expertise and technology together to work with others in interdisciplinary, collaborative, and experimental ways.

Digital scholarship varies vastly across disciplines. To get an idea of what digital scholarship can look like, see some past projects we have collaborated on:

• Paul Iversen, "The Inscriptions on the Antikythera Mechanism”
• Andrew R. Mancuso and Naomi Langer, "Multispectral Imaging Across Ohio with MISHA"
• Alp Sehirlioglu's work with 3-D modeling
• Prevention Research Center for Healthy Neighborhoods, "Fresh Finder"

The Digital Scholarship team is a partner in your research and a resource for digital technologies on campus. Some things we might help with: 

• You have an idea for a digital project but don't know where to start
• You want to learn more about what tools like R and Python are and how they can assist in research in all disciplines
• You've heard of AI tools like Copilot but are not sure what they might do in your research project
• You have things you'd like digitized and need the right tool for the job
• You have a dataset or corpus that you need to make more accessible by adding full-text-search capabilities, alt-text, or metadata 
• You have questions about copyright and permissions
• You're interested in publishing open-access scholarship or using an ORCID

The Digital Scholarship team is a part of the KSL library ecosystem that emphasizes providing access to tools and resources rather than completing these processes for community members. As partners in the research process, we build things with people rather than for people. 

If you need more help than a research consultation can provide, we encourage you to apply for a Freedman Fellowship. If the program is not a good fit, we can suggest other resources on campus or avenues for hiring programmers. 

We have a variety of ways to assist scholars with their projects.

When you are in the self-service Freedman Center lab, you can refer to our many research and instructional guides on how to use technology and software on the computers.

The Digital Scholarship team is available for consultations by appointment. Refer to our team page for more about our subject-matter experts, or you can email any query to freedmancenter@case.edu.

We host regular Digital Scholarship workshops and other events in KSL and more broadly on campus. See the KSL group on Campus Groups for our latest events.

The Freedman Fellows Program supports the planning and execution of digital scholarship projects. The fellowship provides financial support for these projects and pairs Fellows with a member of the Digital Scholarship team and/or a Research and Engagement librarian. 

The call for proposals is during the Spring semester with awards made by the end of summer. The program features related events scheduled throughout the following academic year culminating in a final presentation in spring. 

All current CWRU faculty, researchers, and instructors from all campus departments may apply for the Faculty program. All current CWRU students from all campus departments may apply for the student program.

For both programs, former Freedman Fellows can apply, but special consideration is given to first-time applicants.

Yes. We highly encourage faculty applicants to reach out for a consultation with the Digital Scholarship team. Student applicants who are proposing their own projects should also reach out for a consultation. 

Email freedmanfellows@case.edu to schedule a consultation.

The funding model is flexible and the program provides a pool of funds that can be used to support projects of varying size. We encourage tiered budgets to accommodate different project scopes. Awards are often between $3,000 and $5,000. 

There are separate pools of funding for faculty and student projects. The number of funded projects for each depends on the number of applicants, the quality of their proposals, and the amount of the funds requested.

Digital scholarship is a broad and interdisciplinary field. Accepted Freedman Fellowship projects are often highly varied and come from multiple disciplines, but frequently projects have a strong data component at the heart of their research or teaching question.

Some general examples of topics and applications might include: qualitative and quantitative text analysis, geospatial mapping, ethical and copyright issues in technology, new media in the classroom, data cleaning and management, methods of digital scholarly communication, and applications of machine learning in the humanities or social sciences. For examples of projects, please see our examples of previous Fellows.

Awards are made to support the expenses arising from innovative scholarly or creative projects that meet the Freedman Fellows criteria. The required budget should clearly state how you will use funds to carry out the the project and reach its goals. The Digital Scholarship team will work with you to create a project budget; email freedmanfellows@case.edu. 

If student workers are included in the budget, they must be paid the standard wage on campus. Ask the Digital Scholarship team for the latest rate. 

Funds may not be used for a teaching release, equipment, or travel.

Fellows collaborate with the Digital Scholarship team and receive year-long expertise and guidance to advance their projects. The team can also coordinate technological aspects of the project and advise on issues, such as copyright, privacy, and data ethics.

Faculty Fellows are chosen by a rotating committee of KSL librarians and staff. Standard criteria include:

1. Does the project fit the mission of the Fellowship
2. Does the scope of the project match the Fellowship time period
3. Does the budget match the parameters of the Fellowship

Preference is given to applicants who have not received a Fellowship in the past. Additional criteria may be used each year, such as if the call asks for a focus on a specific technology or outcome. 

Freedman Faculty Fellows

Research was completed with support from the Samuel B. and Marian K. Freedman Endowment in the Kelvin Smith Library, Case Western Reserve University. [Team Member(s)] contributed to [action or work they assisted with].

Freedman Student Fellows

Research was completed with support from the Walter Freedman and Karen Harrison Endowment in the Kelvin Smith Library, Case Western Reserve University. [Team Member(s)] contributed to [action or work they assisted with].