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iConference 2018 issues Call For Participation

 

iConference 2018 organizers University of Sheffield and Northumbria University have issued their Call For Participation.

Taking place March 25-28, 2018, in Sheffield, UK, the theme of iConference 2018 is “Transforming Digital Worlds.” It will include peer-reviewed papers and posters, as well as workshops and sessions for interaction and engagement, interspersed with multiple opportunities for networking. The special programs introduced last year on iSchool Best Practices and iSchools and Industry Partnership tracks will also continue. Early career and next generation researchers can engage in the Doctoral Student Colloquium and the Early Career Colloquium.

The conference organizers encourage authors to begin work on submissions now. The conference will start accepting submissions in early July. The submission deadline is September 18, 2017.

For the first time, iConference 2018 papers will be published in Springer’s Lecture Notes in Computer Science series and will therefore be indexed by major services such as Web of Science and Scopus. The papers will be published as Green Open Access allowing them to be deposited in institutional repositories as well as in the open access Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship (IDEALS).

About the iConference
An annual presentation of the iSchools organization since 2005, the iConference brings together scholars and researchers from around the world to examine critical information issues in contemporary society. iConference 2018 will take place March 25-28, 2018, in Sheffield, UK. This year’s theme is “Transforming Digital Worlds.” iConference 2018 is jointly organized by the University of Sheffield’s Information School and the iSchool at Northumbria. For more about the iConference series, including links to past proceedings, visit our About the iConference webpage.

 

Popular University of Washington Course Calls “Bull” on Big Data

 

The University of Washington is not-so-subtly questioning Big Data. Its 10-week seminar “Calling BS in the Age of Big Data” explores how data is frequently misinterpreted to come up with bogus findings.

In a Seattle Times article titled, “We crashed UW’s class on calling BS. Here’s what we learned about sleuthing ‘big data,’ “ reporter Katherine Long showcases the popular UW lecture series by Information School professor Jevin West and Biology professor Carl Bergstrom, noting that similar courses are cropping up at institutions worldwide.

The article cites several examples the professors gave of misapplied Big Data. In one, a study purporting to discern criminality from photographed facial features actually turned out to be more of a mood detector, reflecting the fact that criminals don’t smile in mug shots.

The course title is intentionally provocative, to get attention—BS is American slang, roughly translating to bull scat. “We’re making it fun—making it entertaining, theatrical, to make it less intimidating,” West is quoted as saying.

Profanity aside, the overall takeaway is familiar to information professionals: It is one thing to collect Big Data, but quite another to analyze and use it correctly. The later is the expertise of the iSchools: connecting information, people and technology.

For those interested in more, the course syllabus is available online, as are YouTube videos of the seminars.

 

Educopia and UNC SILS receive IMLS funding for study of open source software implementation to improve archival workflows for born-digital materials

 

The Educopia Institute and the UNC School of Information and Library Science (SILS) have been awarded a grant worth over $681,000 from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) for OSSArcFlow, a project to investigate and support the adoption of open source tools for libraries, archives, and museums (LAMs). The research team will engage with 12 partner institutions to research, devise, and test various strategies for implementing three leading open source software (OSS) technologies, the BitCurator environment, ArchivesSpace, and Archivematica.

By working with institutions of multiple sizes and types, investigators will be able to glean important workflow insights that can benefit a variety of libraries and archives. Ultimately, all project information – including narratives, workflows, summary findings, training modules, and guides – will be widely disseminated to help other institutions successfully adapt OSS digital curation and preservation tools.

“We aim to make the daunting task of implementing digital curation tools more achievable for memory institutions nationally,” said SILS Professor Christopher (Cal) Lee, co-principal investigator for the project. “These activities will catalyze efforts across the library and archives fields by supporting more efficient and effective digital curation programs that ensure ongoing access to our increasingly born-digital legacy for all people.”

Read more at https://sils.unc.edu/news/2017/OSSArcFlow

 

Singapore Management University‘s Professor Robert Deng conferred the prestigious AXA Chair Professorship of Cybersecurity, delivers keynote

 

Singapore Management University’s Professor Robert Deng, a leading global authority and award winning researcher in cybersecurity, has today been conferred the prestigious AXA Chair Professorship of Cybersecurity. Professor Deng is the first named Chair professor at SMU’s School of Information Systems, one of only six AXA Chairs selected for this honour worldwide and the only one from Singapore, as well as the only AXA Chair in Asia to undertake research in the Data & Technology risks cluster under the AXA Research Fund. Learn more.

Professor Deng delivered the keynote address at the inaugural SMU Cybersecurity Forum on 17 April 2017, at which he was also conferred the AXA Chair Professorship of Cybersecurity. “With the integration of cyberspace and physical space, anything that goes wrong in cyberspace will not only have an impact on data and information systems, but also on the physical world – including human safety and critical infrastructure,” he cautioned. Learn more.

The AXA Chair scheme is intended to support the development of a research area and to make meaningful contributions to the development of that research area in line with the host institution’s long term strategy. It aims at creating a full-time academic position in the host institution and fostering the career development of the professor appointed by AXA.

 

iConference Papers to be Published by Springer

 

The iSchools organization has made arrangements with Springer International Publishing to have future iConference papers published in Springer’s Lecture Notes in Computer Science series, where they will be indexed by major services such as Web of Science and Scopus. The papers will be published as green open access, allowing authors to also deposit them into institutional repositories, as well as the IDEALS open repository, which has housed the iConference proceedings for many years.

“The iSchools organization remains committed to open access, and the new arrangement allows us to continue using IDEALS, while also giving us the ability to publish in LNCS,” said iSchools Executive Director Michael Seadle. “Publication is an advantage for members at many schools where this kind of indexing is important for tenure and promotion. Also, in some countries, this can be a critical part of the process that leads to university funding.”

The new publishing arrangement will commence with iConference 2018, which takes place March 25-28, 2018, in Sheffield, UK. Springer will publish the conference’s completed research papers (long) as well as preliminary results papers (short).

More details will be provided on the iConference website when the 2018 Call for Participation is released later this month. iConference 2018 is jointly organized by the University of Sheffield’s Information School and the iSchool at Northumbria.

 

UW-Milwaukee’s Center for Information Policy Research (CIPR) Receives IMLS National Leadership Grants for Libraries

 

The Center for Information Policy Research at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, directed by Associate Professor Michael Zimmer (SOIS), has been awarded a National Leadership Grants for Libraries award from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) for the project “Library Values & Privacy in our National Digital Strategies: Field guides, Convenings, and Conversations.”

CIPR will be partnering with Data & Society, along with the American Library Association’s Office of Intellectual Freedom and the New York Public Library, to host a national forum exploring what the library value of privacy means in the digital world. The forum will bring together library practitioners and administrators, along with technology, policy, and privacy experts, to establish a national roadmap for a digital privacy strategy for libraries. The award was one of 25 projects funded out of 90 applications.

Along with the roadmap, the project will produce a series of field guides for librarians that clearly lay out important privacy and security issues. Field guides will include topics such as: privacy by design, internal library information systems, third-party library software systems, cloud-based library systems, public internet and wifi services, licensing of digital content, data security, government information requests, and social media strategies

Award detail: https://www.imls.gov/grants/awarded/lg-73-17-0062-17
Program detail: https://www.imls.gov/news-events/news-releases/imls-awards-97-million-librarian-training-and-excellence-field

The School of Information Studies (SOIS) at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) offers several degree programs including a Bachelor’s in Information Science and Technology, an ALA-accredited Master of Library and Information Science, a Master of Science in Information Science & Technology and a PhD in Information Studies. With a growing student body of more than 1000 students SOIS strives to be a premier international iSchool that shapes knowledge and information technology through innovative research and teaching. SOIS is a leader in advancing knowledge and preparing students from diverse backgrounds to be successful information professionals within their communities.

 

iConference 2017 Wrap Up: First-Ever Asia Event an Enormous Success

 

The recently concluded iConference 2017 was an enormous success, with many participants declaring it to the best iConference ever. Held in Wuhan, China, March 22-25, 2017, it was truly an international gathering, attracting 501 registered participants from more than 25 countries. This worldwide participation was appropriate to the conference theme: Effect • Expand • Evolve: Global Collaboration Across the Information Community.

iConference 2017 was hosted by the Wuhan University School of Information Management in conjunction with Sungkyunkwan University Library & Information Science and Data Science Department. It was the 12th annual event in the iConference series, and the first to be held in Asia.

Participants enjoyed keynote addresses by Mike Eisenberg and Jason E. Rollins, more than 60 peer-reviewed research papers, an additional 45 Chinese research papers, more than 65 research posters, and numerous workshops, interactive sessions and special panels. The official proceedings will be posted to the IDEALS open repository in the near future, and an at-a-glance summary will be posted to this website.

Each year, the iConference presents awards recognizing outstanding achievement in all of its research tracks. The Lee Dirks Award for Best Paper was won by Toine Bogers and Vivien Petras. The Most Interesting Preliminary Results Paper was authored by Bei Yu, Yatish Hegde and Yingya Li. The honors for Best Chinese Paper went to Xiao Hu, Eric M. Y. Ho, and Chen Qiao. The Best Poster Award went to Danchen Zhang, Daqing He, Sanqiang Zhao, and Lei Li, Nanjing. Click here for complete details on the 2017 award winners and finalists.

Sponsors of iConference 2017 included: Microsoft; the National Science Foundation; Baidu; Emerald Publishing; the Journal of Data and Information Science; MDPI; DE Gruyter; Springer Nature; CNKI; and Chaoxing.com.

The next iConference will take place March 25-28, 2018, in Sheffield, UK. iConference 2018 will be jointly hosted by the University of Sheffield Information School and the iSchool at Northumbria; the theme will be Transforming Digital Worlds. Click here for a preview.

About the iConference
An annual presentation of the iSchools organization since 2005, the iConference brings together scholars and researchers from around the world to examine critical information issues in contemporary society. Each annual iConference is hosted by a different iSchools member-institution. An openness to new ideas and research fields in information science is a primary characteristics of the event. Attendance has grown over the years as participants appreciate the inspiring sense of community, high quality research presentations, and myriad opportunities for engagement.

Click here for more about the iConference, including links to past proceedings and conference summaries.

 

iConference 2017 Commences in Wuhan, China

 

iConference 2017 commenced today with an appeal by opening keynote speaker Mike Eisenberg for information schools and professionals to enthusiastically embrace the “Science of Information” in its many forms. The first-ever iConference to be held in Asia, iConference 2017 will run through Saturday, March 25.

Eisenberg began his talk by tracing the history of information from its earliest roots, and concluded with an appeal to broaden perceptions of the scope of the field, embrace as many schools as possible, and create even more opportunities for students.

The iConference 2017 Opening Ceremony was launched with a welcome from the president of Wuhan University, this year’s local host school, and also addresses from conference co-chairs Dr. Qing Fang of the Wuhan University School of Information Management and Dr. Sam Oh of Sungkyunkwan University Library and Information Science and Data Science Department. The two schools are jointly hosting the conference.

The opening ceremony also included the naming of the winner of this year’s Lee Dirks Award for Best Paper. The winning paper was “An In-Depth Analysis of Tags and Controlled Metadata for Book Search.” Congratulations go out to co-authors Toine Bogersof Aalborg University Copenhagen and Vivien Petras of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. The two authors share a $5,000US prize, courtesy of Microsoft, one of this year’s many sponsors. Our congratulations to them, and all of this year’s nominees.

About iConference 2017

An annual presentation of the iSchools organization since 2005, the iConference brings together scholars and researchers from around the world to examine critical information issues in contemporary society. The 2017 theme is Effect • Expand • Evolve: Global Collaboration Across the Information Community. iConference 2017 is jointly hosted by the Wuhan University School of Information Management and the Sungkyunkwan University Library and Information Science and Data Science Department.

iConference 2017 begins on Wednesday, March 22, with an Opening Ceremony followed by five specially selected workshops available free-of-charge to all paid participants. Over the ensuing days, participants have the opportunity take in more than 60 peer-reviewed papers focused on completed research, as well as shorter papers focused on preliminary results. New this year is a special series of papers focused on specific research in China. Numerous interactive sessions and special panels are also planned. As always, the conference will also feature two extended poster sessions showcasing the work of current and future thought-leaders. This year’s keynote speakers are Mike Eisenberg and Jason E. Rollins.

The complete iConference 2017 program schedule is available online.

iConference 2017 sponsors include: Microsoft; the National Science Foundation; Baidu; Emerald Publishing; the Journal of Data and Information Science; MDPI; DE Gruyter; Springer Nature; CNKI; and Chaoxing.com.

 

iConference 2017 Provides Complimentary Shuttles from Airport and Train Station

 

iConference 2017, the annual gathering of information scholars and researchers, takes place next week, Wednesday, March 22 through Saturday March 25, at the Westin Wuhan Wuchang Hotel in Wuhan, China. For the convenience of incoming participants, Local host Wuhan University School of Information Management has arranged for complimentary shuttle buses from the Wuhan Airport and Train Station to the conference hotel.

The shuttles are provided on the days leading up to the conferece, Monday, March 20 and Tuesday, March 21. They will depart from Wuhan Tianhe Airport at 9:00, 12:00, 17:00, and 21:00 on each day. They will leave Wuahn Railway Station (the high-speed train station) at 9:40, 12:40, 17:40, and 21:40.

Participants arriving in Wuhan should look for student volunteers holding signs that say “iConference 2017.” You will be directed to the shuttles.

The local hosts have summarized shuttle details and other local transportation options, such as taxi and metro, in a convenient document. The document also includes area maps, a guide to local dining, and more. Click here to view.

About iConference 2017

An annual presentation of the iSchools organization since 2005, the iConference brings together scholars and researchers from around the world to examine critical information issues in contemporary society. The 2017 theme is Effect • Expand • Evolve: Global Collaboration Across the Information Community. iConference 2017 is jointly hosted by the Wuhan University School of Information Management and the Sungkyunkwan University Library and Information Science and Data Science Department.

iConference 2017 will begin on Wednesday, March 22, with an Opening Ceremony followed by five specially selected workshops available free-of-charge to all paid participants. Over the ensuing days, participants have the opportunity take in more than 60 peer-reviewed papers focused on completed research, as well as shorter papers focused on preliminary results. New this year is a special series of papers focused on specific research in China. Numerous interactive sessions and special panels are also planned. As always, the conference will also feature two extended poster sessions showcasing the work of current and future thought-leaders. This year’s keynote speakers are Mike Eisenberg and Jason E. Rollins.

The complete iConference 2017 program schedule is now available for review. Conference organizers have also posted information to assist all participants with lodging, visas and other travel needs.

iConference 2017 sponsors include: Microsoft; the National Science Foundation; Baidu; Emerald Publishing; the Journal of Data and Information Science; MDPI; DE Gruyter; Springer Nature; CNKI; and Chaoxing.com.

 

Paper and Poster Award Finalists Announced for iConference 2017

 

The iConference 2017 organizers have named the finalists for the conference’s best papers and poster competitions. The winners will be announced at iConference 2017, which takes place March 22-25, 2017, in Wuhan, China. The finalists were selected by the papers and posters track chairs, in consultation with the program chairs.

Best Completed Research Paper

The winner in the Completed Research Paper category will receive the Lee Dirks Award for Best Paper and a cash prize of $5,000 provided by Microsoft. The award honors the memory of Lee Dirks, long-time friend and supporter of the iConference. The finalists are listed here in order of presentation at the conference, and titles are linked to their respective abstract in our program schedule:

Title: An In-Depth Analysis of Tags and Controlled Metadata for Book
Authors: Toine Bogers, Aalborg University Copenhagen; Vivien Petras, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Presentation: March 23, 10:30 am

Title: Re-intermediation in the Fashion Industry: A Qualitative Study on Brokers in the Dongdae-mun Fashion District
Authors: Min-Joon Kim, Nuri Na, Joong-Seek Lee, Seoul National University
Presentation: March 23, 10:30 am

Title: Let’s Workout! Exploring Social Exercise in an Online Fitness Community
Authors: Li Zeng, University of Washington; Zack W. Almquist, University of Minnesota; Emma S. Spiro, University of Washington
Presentation: March 23, 3:30 pm

Title: Writing to Persuade: Analysis and Detection of Persuasive Discourse
Authors: Taraneh Khazaei, University of Western Ontario; Lu Xiao, Syracuse University; Robert Mercer, University of Western Ontario
Presentation: March 23, 3:30 pm

Title: Location Matters: Geospatial Policy Analytics over Time For Household Hazardous Waste Collection in California
Authors: Kustini Lim-Wavde, Robert J. Kauffman, Tin Seong Kam, Singapore Management University; Gregory S. Dawson, Arizona State University
Presentation: March 24, 3:30 pm

Most Interesting Preliminary Results Paper

This award goes to the author(s) of the most intriguing paper in the preliminary results category. The finalists, in order of presentation at the conference:

Title: Activity Patterns of Collaborative Sensemaking in Small Discussion Groups
Authors: Zhe Wang, Jiaxin An, Pengyi Zhang, Peking University
Presentation: March 23, 1:30 pm

Title: CORA: A Platform to Support Citation Context Analysis
Authors: Bei Yu, Yatish Hegde, Yingya Li, Syracuse University
Presentation: March 24, 1:30 pm

Title: Impact of Location-based Augmented Reality Games on People’s Information Behavior: A Case Study of Pokémon GO
Authors: Jin Ha Lee, Travis Windleharth, Jason Yip, Marc Schmalz, University of Washington
Presentation: March 24, 1:30 pm

Title: Apples vs oranges or two fruits? Level of detail in literature reviews
Authors: Elke Greifeneder, Kirsten Schlebbe, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Presentation: March 24, 3:30 pm

Title: Community involvement in the Management of Palm Leaf Manuscripts as Lanna Cultural Material in Thailand
Authors: Piyapat Jarusawat, Andrew Cox, Jo Bates, University of Sheffield
Presentation: March 24, 3:30 pm

Best Poster Award

The poster category award is judged based on the submitted abstract and the resulting presentation at the iConference. The poster sessions take place Thusday March 23, 5:00-6:30 pm and Friday, March 24, 5:00-6:30 pm. The finalists are presented here in alphabetical order, by title, and the winner will be announced at the Friday session:

Title: Automatic Course Website Discovery from Search Engine Results
Authors: Rui Meng, Zexin Zhao, Yu Chi, Daqing He, University of Pittsburgh

Title: Leveraging Social Media to Facilitate Intergenerational Learning: Bridging Digital Immigrants with Digital Natives
Authors: Yuxiang Zhao, Nanjing University of Science and Technology; Yutian Shi, Qinghua Zhu, Nanjing University

Title: Research on duplication of Personal Names in Chinese Authority File
Authors: Yanqing Shi, Jianjun Sun, Nanjing University; Junzhi Jia, Shanxi University

Title: Understanding transdisciplinary scholarly communication in the field of joint attention
Authors: Jian Xu, Sun Yat-sen University; Ying Ding, Indiana University

Title: Wikipedia Based Automatic Diagnosis Prediction in Clinical Decision Support System
Authors: Danchen Zhang, Daqing He, Sanqiang Zhao, University of Pittsburgh; Lei Li, Nanjing University of Science and Technology

About the iConference

An annual presentation of the iSchools organization since 2005, the iConference brings together scholars and researchers from around the world to examine critical information issues in contemporary society. The 2017 theme is Effect • Expand • Evolve: Global Collaboration Across the Information Community. iConference 2017 is jointly hosted by the Wuhan University School of Information Management and the Sungkyunkwan University Library and Information Science and Data Science Department.

iConference 2017 will begin on Wednesday, March 22, with an Opening Ceremony followed by five specially selected workshops available free-of-charge to all paid participants. Over the ensuing days, participants have the opportunity take in more than 60 peer-reviewed papers focused on completed research, as well as shorter papers focused on preliminary results. New this year is a special series of papers focused on specific research in China. Numerous interactive sessions and special panels are also planned. As always, the conference will also feature two extended poster sessions showcasing the work of current and future thought-leaders. This year’s keynote speakers are Mike Eisenberg and Jason E. Rollins.

The complete iConference 2017 program schedule is now available for review. Conference organizers have also posted information to assist all participants with lodging, visas and other travel needs.

iConference 2017 sponsors include: Microsoft; the National Science Foundation; Baidu; Emerald Publishing; the Journal of Data and Information Science; and MDPI.

 

 

 

 

 

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