Many members of the SC&I community will be heading “down under” this month to attend the 82nd ASIS&T (Association for Information Science and Technology) annual meeting, which will be held for the first time in Melbourne, Australia. Spanning October 19-23, 2019, the conference theme this year is “Information . . . Anyone, Anywhere, Any Time, Any Way.”

Chair of SC&I’s Library and Information Science Department and Professor Marie Radford, said, “ASIS&T is one of the most important annual gatherings of LIS scholars, faculty, and students. Rutgers University LIS Department has been continuously involved in ASIS&T leadership, sponsorship, and participation (through presentations of numerous papers, panels, and posters). This year is no exception.” 

According to the ASIS&T website, this year’s meeting will explore the ways “information has been the root cause of significant changes in economic, social, scientific, political, and personal behaviors. However, such changes are only realized when information is delivered to the right group, at the right place, in the right time, and in the right way. Information is so tightly woven into our professional and personal activities that we can sometimes forget that human choices, which are sometimes embedded in technology, drive how data is produced, stored, shared, preserved, managed, and consumed.”

New to the ASIS&T conference this year will be the first “International Incubator Sessions,” where, according to its website, ASIS&T will “celebrate the diversity of cultural perspectives that we each bring to the 82nd annual meeting. . . . these invited sessions will be facilitated by global thought leaders who will galvanize the ASIS&T community around critical information problems such as sustainability, youth engagement, social media bubbles, global data sharing, ethical AI, and mobilizing ASIS&T chapters. Each session will identify future activities to showcase how Information Science and Technology can be leveraged to address critical 21st century challenges.”

The conference’s first keynote lecture will be delivered by Mikaela Jade. In her lecture, “Mixing Reality for Cultural Proliferation,” she will discuss her journey as an indigenous woman building a technology company, called Indigital, from a remote Aboriginal community.

The closing keynote, “Changing the Paradigm: Driving Disruption Through Collaboration to Create a Learning Health System, will be delivered by Helena Teede, the Executive Director of Monash Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre and Director of the Monash Centre for Health Research and Implementation, School of Public Health, Monash University.

Many SC&I faculty and students are involved in the conference. Assistant Professor Vivek Singh, Ph.D, who is currently the chair-elect for ASIS&T SIG-Social Media, will take over as the new chair starting at the ASIS&T Annual Meeting. SIG-Social Media has won ASIS&T SIG of the Year award for 2018-2019, and SIG-Social Media has also won the ASIS&T SIG Publication of the Year award for 2018-2019 for its newsletter. Both awards will be presented at the annual meeting. 

SC&I presentations at the conference will be, in date order, (for more information, see the conference agenda here, or download the conference brochure here):

Saturday, October 19

9 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Assistant Professor Kaitlin Costello, Ph.D. 
"Characterizing Equity in Automated Mental Health Assessments," with Diana Floegel (SC&I doctoral student) at SIG-Social Informatics.

"Sympathy Sockpuppets: Results from the 2018 Elfreda Chatman Award Winners," with Devon Greyson (UMass Amherst), at SIG-USE.

Assistant Professor Charles Senteio, Ph.D. (Co-facilitator):

“The Legacy of WEIRD Theory: Challenges for Health Impact Research with Underrepresented Populations.” Senteio, C.R. & Hauser, E. (2019). Paper presentation at the Association for Information Science & Technology (ASIS&T) Special Interest Group – Social Informatics (SIG SI) 15th Research Symposium

 “The Role of Information in Reducing HIV Risk in Senegal: A Case Study Describing Lessons-Learned from a Community-Based Behavioral Intervention and a Medication-Based Intervention.” Senteio, C.R., Gueye, D., Sarr, M., Mboup, A. & Mboup, S. (2019). Poster presentation at the Association for Information Science & Technology (ASIS&T) Special Interest Group – Social Informatics (SIG SI) 15th Research Symposium

Sunday, October 20

4:15 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Diana Floegel, Rutgers doctoral student
"'A Good Intention Gone Awry’: Queering Makerspaces to Support Queer Creators" (Short Paper Presentation)

4:45 p.m. – 5 p.m.

Assistant Professor Kaitlin Costello, Ph.D.

“Quality of Medical Advice for Chronic Pain on Social Platforms” (Short Paper Presentation)

Monday, October 21

6 p.m. – 7 p.m. (The poster will be available for viewing by 10 a.m.)

Assistant Dean for Instructional Support and Assessment Sharon Stoerger, Ph.D. and Director of the Master of Information Program and Associate Teaching Professor Lilia Pavlovsky, Ph.D. (Co-presenters):

"Moving From Assumptions to Evidence: Assessing Quality in Online Courses in a Master of Information Program"

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Jiqun Liu, SC&I doctoral student, and Chirag Shah, formerly a faculty member at SC&I, now at the University of Washington

11:30am-12:00pm (Long paper presentation)

"Proactive Identification of Query Failure"

For more information about the Library and Information Department at the Rutgers School of Communication and Information, click here.

To learn more about the Ph.D. Program at SC&I, click here.