v2v · From Vibes to Variables
QuartoAn open textbook (OER) teaching media data science for MC 451 / MC 501. CC BY 4.0.
Open-source outputs
Tools.
Code, data, live apps, and teaching materials the lab maintains. Everything that can be open is.
From Vibes to Variables · OER course stack
One methods course, three open pieces.
The textbook, its companion R package, and the course hub are built to be used together, an open path into media data science for students with no prior stats or coding.
Equipment reservation
GearOut.
GearOut
TypeScriptEquipment-reservation platform, deployed at SIUE as MassComm Checkout: students reserve cameras, audio kits, and gear against a shared inventory. The source is not public.
Live on the lab site
Apps you can open right now.
Career Pathfinder
SvelteKitPick a professional track, answer a short survey, and see matched careers with Illinois wage data, the tools each role expects, and the SIUE courses that prepare you for it. Shows the degree requirements for your track and builds a printable plan to bring to advising.
Banned-Word Checker
WebA quick, in-browser check of a document against a banned-word list. Nothing leaves your machine. For deeper, configurable term discovery, use Concordance.
LitMap
WebNarrow a research topic by reading. Log each source against the same eight questions, watch the saturation curve flatten, and let the gap, the question and a feasibility budget fall out of the columns. Runs in the browser; nothing leaves your machine.
Sampling Check
WebThree answers a sampling plan needs: how many units your own coding rate and hours actually support, how large the fresh reliability sample has to be once a rare category is accounted for, and the smallest effect a sample that size could detect. Runs in the browser; nothing is uploaded.
Inferential Check
WebRecompute a chi-square test of independence or an independent-samples t test from your own numbers: statistic, degrees of freedom, p, effect size, the assumptions your data may be breaking, and the sentence to check your write-up against. Runs in the browser; nothing is uploaded.
Agreement Check
WebPaste two columns of codes and get percent agreement, Cohen's kappa and Krippendorff's alpha, a confusion matrix, and the list of units the coders split on. Works for two coders, for one coder at two times, and for a human column against a model column. Runs in the browser; nothing is uploaded.
Codebook Check
WebPaste a content-analysis codebook and see what the assignment asks for that the draft does not have yet: a stated unit of analysis, both definitions, a level of measurement, a catch-all category, numbered decision rules, and worked examples. Runs in the browser; nothing is uploaded.
MethodoSync
WebQualitative to quantitative coding: turn an open-coding pass into a codebook and a coded dataset, in the browser.
Concordance
WebConfigurable term discovery across a corpus, for when the Banned-Word Checker fixed list is too blunt.
Teaching resources
Classroom-tested tools.
LitMap
WebBrowser-based literature-review companion: log sources against eight questions, see when your searching has run dry, find the gap your reading exposed, and build a research question that survives Chapter 6's five criteria.
MethodoSync
WebBrowser-based qualitative coding tool: code a YouTube video moment by moment, cluster into categories and themes, and build a quantitative codebook.
Captionizer
WebCaption helper for research videos and lecture content.
Countdown
WebLightweight in-class countdown timer.
Reference
Communication theories.
Theory explorer
An interactive map of the communication theories the lab teaches and builds on: browse, filter, and read into each one.