Webinars and Support Services

We provide support services to over 550 academic member institutions from around the world. We care about our members and pride ourselves in providing personalized support for faculty, students, researchers, and librarians who uses the eHRAF databases. Our mission is to promote understanding of cultural diversity and commonality in the past and present. As the largest anthropological data bank in the world, eHRAF features global samples of cultures and traditions, with ethnographic and archaeological data subject-indexed at the paragraph level. In our live webinars, you can learn more about the eHRAF databases, including how cultures and traditions are organized by regions, sub-regions, samples, and subsistence types. First developed in the 1930s by George Peter Murdock, a cultural anthropologist at Yale University, HRAF’s unique culture/tradition classification and subject indexing systems continue to provide the framework for our online databases, eHRAF World Cultures and eHRAF Archaeology.

eHRAF Webinars

eHRAF webinars take place via Zoom and last approximately one hour, with training followed by time for questions and answers.

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Faculty support: Looking for new teaching ideas? We’ll give you suggestions on how to incorporate eHRAF in a course curriculum and/or syllabus. Free webinars for student classes and customized video tutorials are available. Online student exercises can be found here. Research support: Searching documents for cultures and subjects at the paragraph level is a concept that is unique to eHRAF. We’d be happy to help faculty, researchers, students, and other users with search tips and strategies to optimize this powerful online resource. Library support: Informative and interactive webinars are available for librarians to discuss how eHRAF is organized, its unique search methodology, and its interdisciplinary uses.

What’s needed?

    • Computers with internet access
    • Skype, Zoom, GoToMeeting or similar platform, or ability to join a call on one of these
    • An up-to-date web browser and microphone
    • Work stations with laptops or projector and screen for group sessions

Typical Webinar Agenda (can be customized to suit your needs)

A typical 60-minute eHRAF webinar usually consists of the following parts: Part I (20 minutes) – overview of eHRAF World Cultures and eHRAF Archaeology

    • Mutual introductions
    • General description of HRAF – our organization, homepage, member-based and open access services, monthly newsletter, and help feature (hraf-support@yale.edu)

Part II (20 minutes) – sample basic and advanced searches

    • Browse subjects and cultures or traditions
    • Basic search and advanced search
    • Saving your search results including meta data

Part III (20 minutes) – coverage customized to the specific needs of librarians, faculty, or researchers

Resources

Our webinars will provide more information about how to make the best use of the following resources:

We look forward to meeting with you! Matthew Longcore Director of Membership and Outreach Human Relations Area Files at Yale University