The School of Communication and Information’s iSchool faculty and doctoral students will participate in the 86th Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T) Annual Meeting, scheduled from October 27-31 in London, England.

This year’s conference will focus on the theme, “Making a Difference: Translating Information Research into Practice, Policy, and Action.”  Referencing the multiple challenges facing the global citizenship, the conference website states, “As the premier international conference in the field, the ASIS&T Annual Meeting is a forum to assist in addressing these issues as we continue to push forward the positive contributions of information and technology.”

ASIS&T has named Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Library and Information Science Nicholas Belkin the inaugural recipient of the ASIS&T Fellow Award. “This award,” wrote ASIS&T, “recognizes individuals who have made substantial and sustained contributions to ASIS&T and the broader field of Information Science. ASIS&T Fellows have made a significant contribution to one or more of the following areas of information science: research, products, teaching, and service to the profession, the association, and other entities such as government, industry, etc. Fellows must uphold ethical and professional standards to be appointed and to maintain the honor.”

Throughout the conference, SC&I faculty and doctoral students are participating in numerous panel presentations, long and short paper sessions, and poster sessions.

On Friday, October 27:

At the 19th Annual Social Informatics Research Symposium: Turning Social Informatics Research into Action in a Changing Moment, sponsored by SIG-SI, Assistant Professor Britt Paris and Associate Professor and Dept Chair (LIS) Rebecca Reynolds (PC Member and Vice Chair of Papers) are participating in the panel presentation: “Multiactor Edtech Data Ethics Advocacy (MEDEA): Ethical Edtech Governance in Higher Education.”

The schedule on Sunday, October 29, includes:

• Panel presentation with Associate Professor Rebecca Reynolds: “Search Systems and Artificial Intelligence: Enhancing Searching as Learning Approaches to Counter Misinformation”
• Long Papers session with Assistant Professor Britt Paris and Associate Professor Khadijah Costley White: “Meeting People Where They Are: Hyper-Local Engagements Around COVID-19 Misinformation in New Jersey”
• Panel presentation with Professor Marie Radford, doctoral students Kaitlin Montague and Laura Costello, and alumna Vanessa Kitzie Ph.D.’17, MLIS’12: “Research Experiences and Lessons Learned While Investigating in Virtual and Physical Spaces”
• Poster session with doctoral student Emma May: “Solidarity and Care: Information Activism in the Death Panel Podcast Community,” and
• Poster session with Assistant Professor Jessica Yi-Yun Cheng: “A Text Mining Approach to Uncover the Structure of Subject Metadata in the Biodiversity Heritage Library.”

On Monday, October 30, includes the awards luncheon and the following:

• Meeting panel with doctoral student Kaitlin Montague: “Reflecting on Two Decades of Information Horizons Theory and Method: Applications and Innovations”
• Meeting panel with Associate Professor Kaitlin Costello and doctoral student Xiaotong Du, hosted by SIG-HLTH: “Building a Bigger Table: Food Research, Methods, Policy, and Action in Library and Information Science,” and
• Meeting panel with Associate Professor Charles Senteio: “Strategies for Conducting Critical Research in Information Science by Designing Social Justice Research Informed by Intersectionality.”

The schedule on Tuesday, October 31, includes:

• Short Paper session (Technology and Society) with doctoral student Catherine McGowan: “Geofence Warrants, Geospatial Innovation, and Implications for Data Privacy” and
• Short Paper session (Information Practices Around Technology) with doctoral student Kaitlin Montague: “When Push Comes to Pull: Place, Mobility, and Information Access for Vehicle Residents.”

Additionally, Kaitlin Montague was accepted for the ASIS&T Doctoral Colloquium, “Investigating Place, Mobility, and Information Access Through an Ethnographic Study of Vehicle Residents’ Information Practices in Northern California.” The goals of the colloquium are “to provide doctoral students with a supportive and critical learning opportunity to discuss their work, highlight theoretical and methodological problems/issues for further discussion and inquiry with senior mentors and Colloquium participants.”

View the full ASIS&T conference agenda here.