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Call for Abstracts: Information Science Trends 2024

Information Science Trends (IST) 2024:
Living online and offline, in darkness and light

July 8-10, 2024

15.00pm-18.00pm CEST (July 8-9) & 11.00am-14.00pm CEST (July 10)

Online (Zoom)

The European Chapter (EC) and European Student Chapter (ESC) of the Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T) seek your contributions to an online conference on Living online and offline, in darkness and light.

 

The basics!

We invite researchers, practitioners and students to submit abstracts for talks (15 minutes presentation + discussion time). Students can also submit proposals for posters (10 minute presentation of their poster) and join the ThesisIn3 Competition (an asynchronous student competition of the IST conference, see below). We welcome proposals both from ASIS&T members, and from non-members. The revised abstracts will be published on Zenodo, an online repository for research outputs. Each day we will have one keynote, short online talks, and student poster/competition sessions.

This event, themed Living online and offline, in darkness and light, accepts submissions within information science/studies (broadly construed) covering research (completed or in progress), practical projects or examples, and conceptual work. The theme “Living online and offline, in darkness and light” encourages an exploration of patterns in information seeking, consumption, and interpretation. It aims to shed light on how individuals negotiate their digital and physical environments to meet their information needs in various ways of living in the information society. It is a theme open to your interpretation, but this gives some ideas about what we have in mind:

  • Information Access, Use and Understanding in Online/Offline Contexts
    • Evaluating the value and validity of information: challenging assumptions, tradition and stereotypes
    • Research on information behaviour/practices that illuminate and reveal patterns of ‘darkness’ and ‘light’
    • Ethical concerns in the use of data, information and information technologies (e.g., education informatics, health informatics) for benevolent or malevolent purposes
    • Literacies as 'lights in the darkness' to address information/data issues and abuses
    • …
  • Digital Living, Digital Culture and Everyday Experience
    • Research on digital inequalities, such as digital poverty and the digital divide, revealing exclusions or limitations faced by certain groups
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in information studies: advocating for wider representation of participants to promote equality and diversity in the digital society
    • Video Gaming: Exploring its role as a source of stress or relaxation, isolation or friendship
    • Media and technology as agents of light and darkness
      • AI
      • Machine Learning
      • AR, VR, XR
      • Digital media
      • Online platforms
    • Continuity and frictions in everyday online-offline transitions: exploring the dynamics of transitioning between online and offline realms in different aspects of life such as education, work, healthcare, and leisure
  • New Perspectives on ‘Light’ and ‘Darkness’ in Relation to Online and Offline Living
    • Considering unconventional interpretations where ‘light’ signifies enjoyment and fun, and ‘darkness’ can have positive connotations (e.g. In praise of shadows)
    • Interpretations of ‘Light’ and ‘Darkness’ from various cultural backgrounds
    • …

We interpret Information Science broadly to include all kinds of information experience and information behaviour, information retrieval, data science, information literacy, information organisation, and ways of knowing. If you are not sure whether your idea fits in with our theme do please email the conference co-chairs (see emails below).

 

The Information Science Trends (IST) conference series

The event is part of the series on Information Science Trends (IST). The events focus on current research topics, including invited speakers from research and industry. Our first event in Hamburg (April, 2019) focused on the topic Search Engines and Information Retrieval. Our second, online, event focused on Health Information Behaviour (June, 2020) and our third on Information Science Research During COVID-19 and Post-Pandemic Opportunities (June, 2021), and our fourth on Untold Stories (June, 2022). Our fifth event was hybrid and focused on Information Science Perspectives on Documenting Processes and Practices (June, 2023). The latter 4 conferences were each awarded the ASIS&T Chapter Event of the Year. Our events provide an opportunity to network and share ideas and interests from the different fields of information science and related disciplines. This event will be held online again this year.

Submission requirements

For both presentations and posters, we request an informative, structured abstract:

  • 400 -750 words written in English
  • Use the headings: Aim of the contribution; Value of the contribution; Research outline; References (in APA format)

You will find our template at https://tinyurl.com/IST24cfp. You must submit via Easychair. All abstracts will be peer-reviewed by at least two reviewers. All presenters must be registered for the conference (see below: the conference is free to ASIS&T members; US $10 to non-member students and US $25 to other non-members.) Submissions are due on: Tuesday, 4th June.

If your submission is accepted, we require you to upload your abstract with a CC-BY 4.0 International License at Zenodo (community: Information Science Trends - ASIS&T European Chapter Series)

Opportunities for all researchers and practitioners

You may submit proposals for presentations (presentation of 15 minutes + 5 minutes for questions). Please submit your abstract and choose the submission type “presentation” in the submission form. The conference will be online, using Zoom. Multimodal presentations, as well as traditional presentations, are welcome as long as they fit in the time limit.

Additional opportunities for students

Poster submissions

Students may either submit presentation proposals (see above) and/or posters. All posters will be entered in a Best Poster competition. Posters will be judged by the conference committee based on clarity of communication and innovative presentation.

Poster sessions will be 10 min in length, and will be held through the conference, spanning the topics of each track. Students are defined as BA/BSc, MA/MSc, or PhD students within Information Science (including related areas such as Data Science and Information Management). Please submit an informative, structured abstract (using this template https://tinyurl.com/IST24cfp) and choose the submission type “poster” in the submission form. The conference will be online, using Zoom. Presenters of the posters at the conference may use a pdf, a video (playable from a publicly-accessible platform such as Youtube) or a very short slide show. You need to verify your status and name your supervisors/ course leader.

 

ThesisIn3 Student Competition

As part of the IST conference, the ASIS&T European Student Chapter (ESC) in collaboration with iSchools are inviting student contributions to an asynchronous ThesisIn3 event. In this event, students are encouraged to present their research topics for theses and dissertations within a concise three-minute timeframe. Submissions, accepted in video format, will be eligible for multiple prizes, including Best Visuals and Best Explanation of Topic, etc. Winners will be notified prior to the conference and invited to attend the full IST conference. Their winning video presentations will be showcased during the event, with the ESC announcing the winners. Further details on how to apply for the ThesisIn3 event will soon be provided by the ESC in the call for proposals.

 

Cannot Give a Talk But Want to Attend?

Participation is not restricted to those presenting. If you do not want to present your work, you may want to join and listen to the talks. The fees are:

  • ASIS&T members: no charge (but registration still required);
  • Student non-members: US $10;
  • Other non-members: US $25.

Register here: https://www2.asist.org/ap/Events/Register/d1HyaMwHqH0Cv (if you are an ASIS&T member, log into the ASIS&T website to enable your discount).

 

For more information:
We are happy to answer any questions you might have regarding this event. Please send an email to the IST conference co-chairs

 

Dr Yuhua Wang, y.wang@mmu.ac.uk, (EU Chapter chair)

Dr Muhammet Damar, muhammet.damar@deu.edu.tr, (EU Chapter chair-elect)

Dr Sophie Rutter, s.rutter@sheffield.ac.uk, (EU Chapter past-chair)

Sheila Webber, s.webber@sheffield.ac.uk, (EU Chapter Committee member)

Nana Musa, nmusa1@sheffield.ac.uk, (EU Student chapter chair)

Richmond Sarpong, rsarpong@dei.uc.pt, (EU Student chapter chair-elect)