Sessions for Interaction and Engagement (SIEs) are expected to once again be an immensely popular element of this year’s iConference, which takes place March 25 – 28 in Sheffield, UK. SIEs will be an ideal complement to iConference 2018’s peer-reviewed research papers offered Monday through Wednesday. Similar to our Sunday Workshops, but typically spanning a shorter period of time, iConference Sessions for Interaction and Engagement involve participants as more than a passive audience, generating meaningful experiences and thoughtful reflection.
To assist participants in planning, the 2018 SIEs are listed below. These sessions are open to all registered conference participants, with no special advance sign-up required. More detail can be found in our online program schedule.
SIE #1: Mini Maker Fest @ iConference 2018
Presenters: Xiaofeng Li, Sarah Barriage, Ross J. Todd, Leanne Bowler
Times: Monday, March 26, 11:00 am – 12:30 pm and Wednesday, March 28, 9:00 – 10:30 am
This two-part SIE provides an opportunity for conference attendees to engage in playful and creative makerspace activities and stimulating critical discussions about the current status and future directions of research in information science related to the maker movement. Participants will also be encouraged to use a mobile photography app to submit their creations to the mini Maker Fest Competition. Learn more
SIE #2: Supporting Group Work in LIS Education
Presenter: Pamela Ann McKinney
Time: Monday, March 26, 11:00 am – 12:30 pm
The purpose of this session is to provide participants with an opportunity to discuss the challenges and benefits experienced by students when they work collaboratively in groups in LIS education. There is increasing interest in visual methods in LIS research, and participants will actively engage with creation of visual data in the form of drawings and will develop their knowledge of the “draw and write” methodology. Learn more
SIE #3: Dériving Data: Wandering as a Research Method for Information Behaviour
Presenters: Melanie Benson, Andrew Martin Cox, Christopher Foster, Jorge Tiago Martins, Elisa Serafinelli, Xin Zhao
Time: Monday, March 26, 1:30pm – 3:00pm
The dérive or drift is a technique of urban encounter developed in Pscyhogeography. It is a playful wander through the city that seeks to uncover the interesting and strange in the everyday environment around us. It is also an opportunity for delegates to encounter Sheffield as a city in an interesting way. Learn more
SIE #4: ALPR DataDive: The Visualization and Analysis of Automated License Plate Recognition (ALPR) Databases – from Data Science to Data Ethics
Times: Monday, March 26, 1:30 – 3:30 pm and Wednesday, March 28, 11:00 am -12:30 pm
Presenters: Bryce Clayton Newell, Mike Katell, Jeff Hemsley
The growing ability of law enforcement to easily and affordably draw information-rich insights from the surveillance data they collect implicates important social, political, and ethical concerns. The purpose of this 2-part SIE is to provide scholars access to ALPR data and to provide an interactive and collaborative opportunity. Participants can go to http://bcnewell.com/alpr-data-dive/ to request access to the ALPR data prior to iConference 2018. Lean more
SIE #5: Data StorySLAM
Presenters: Michael B. Twidale, Kate McDowell
Time: Monday, March 26, 3:30pm – 5:00pm
In this SIE we will explore the potential of data storytelling by inviting the sharing of stories about data. We will also explore approaches to and challenges of teaching data storytelling, including teaching students who may not be at all familiar with this approach. Lean more
SIE #6: Collective Development of Open Educational Resources in Scholarly Communication
Presenters: Maria Bonn, Josh Bolick, Will Cross
Time: Monday, March 26, 3:30pm – 5:00pm
Understanding the issues at stake in scholarly communication is a core competency that new librarians need to acquire and that new scholars and researchers need to understand in relationship to their work. In this hands-on session, we ask individuals or small teams to design an open learning object like a video, lesson plan, game, or hack, that supports and maximizes the potential of our systems of scholarly communication. Lean more
SIE #7: Computational Thinking at the iSchools: Why Bother?
Presenters: Mega Subramaniam, Hai Hong, Marijke Visser, Melissa Johnston, Colette Drouillard, Stephanie Long-Murphy
Time: Tuesday, March 27, 11:00am – 12:30pm
This Session for Interaction and Engagement will stimulate discussion on research opportunities in CT that leverage the unique strengths and interests of iSchools and roles that iSchools must play in preparing information professionals who have CT skills; resulting in concrete takeaways related to CT in iSchools such as ideas for future research, redesigned courses and curricula, and other larger initiatives. Learn more
SIE #8: Contemplating Information in the Pleasurable and the Profound
Presenters: Kiersten F. Latham, Jenna Hartel, Tim Gorichanaz, Anh Thu Nguyen
Time: Tuesday, March 27, 11:00am – 12:30pm
Mindfulness, meditation, atmospherics, well-being, flourishing, happiness, positivity, spirituality-all part of contemplative studies, an academic understanding of how contemplative practices are used to interpret the world. What can information science learn from, and contribute to, contemplative studies? Learn more
SIE #9: When iSchool meets D-School
Presenter: ginger “all-lower-case” coons
Time: Tuesday, March 27, 3:30pm – 5:00pm
A comparatively new trend is the iSchool as graduate-level design school, offering courses and concentrations in fields like User Experience Design. In this session, the floor will be open for participants to discuss the experiences, ramifications, and tactics of negotiating design education in an iSchool setting. Learn more
SIE #10: Curators of the Infosphere?: What’s the Good of PI for LIS (and Vice Versa)?
Presenters: David Bawden, Lyn Robinson
Time: Tuesday, March 27, 3:30pm – 5:00pm
This is an interactive panel session, in which the panel members, and Luciano Floridi as discussant, engage with the audience to debate the value and potential of Floridi’s Philosophy of Information as a foundation for library/information science. Learn more
SIE #11: How Ethical will you be with my Deepest Story?
Presenters: Theresa Dirndorfer Anderson, Ina Fourie, Anika Meyer, Liezl Ball
Time: Wednesday, March 28, 9:00am – 10:30am
Transformation of digital worlds that secure social inclusion for all requires a deep understanding of information needs and lived experiences. The session will develop awareness of ethical concerns, offer an opportunity for shared sense-making and co-design of guidelines to help researchers build the confidence to engage in and report on this deeply personal form of research inquiry. Learn more
SIE #12: Standardizing Knowledge
Presenters: Heather Marie MacNeil, Jennifer Douglas, Fiorella Foscarini, Bonnie Mak, Gillian Oliver
Time: Wednesday, March 28, 11:30 am – 12:30 pm
Standards and standardized languages are frequently invoked as a reliable way to ensure consistency and interoperability in the management of information objects, from archives, libraries, and museums to the digital environment and beyond. This panel seeks to explore how the infrastructure of standards can transmit values and biases, and how those perspectives are embodied in the description, management, interpretation, and use of resources. Learn more
SIE #13: iSchools as an Inspirative Movement: Information Science Harmonization Issues
Presenters: Tatjana Aparac-Jelusic, Alen Doracic, Jan Pisanski, Juan Jose Bote Vericad, Maria Simi
Time: Wednesday, March 28, 11:00am – 12:30pm
This panel will provide an interactive platform for faculty members interested in designing Information Science (IS) educational programs and motivating students with different background other than in IS to become information professionals. It will introduce the goals and aims of the EINFOSE project (European Information Science Education: Encouraging Mobility and Learning Outcomes Harmonization) and debate the issues of harmonization of entry requirements and learning outcomes at graduate level programs in IS. Learn more
iConference 2018 takes place Sunday, March 25 through Wednesday, March 28, 2018. It is jointly organized by two iSchools in the UK: The University of Sheffield’s Information School and the iSchool at Northumbria. Registration is now open. Visit the iConference website for complete details.