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2023 Annual Meeting Workshops

Workshops are offered as an add-on to the full meeting or as stand-alone events. Meeting registration is encouraged, but not required. In-person full-day fee includes lunch and two breaks, and in-person half-day includes one break. 

SATURDAY, 7 OCTOBER (Presented virtually only)

9:00 AM-12:00 PM (Eastern Daylight Time) (Find your time here.) 

The Evolving Nature of the Human Side of Information Research sponsored by SIG-USE
Namali Suraweera, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand; David Stokes, University of California, Los Angeles, USA; Nosheen Fatima Warraich, University of the Punjab, Pakistan; Owen Stewart-Robertson, McGill University, Canada

The 23rd Annual SIG-USE Research Symposium is focused on the evolving nature of the human side of information research. As technology and society continue to evolve, it is becoming increasingly important to consider the human aspects of information research - human information practice, innovative approaches, and interaction and ethical challenges. The primary goals of this symposium include information researchers sharing their experiences and supporting others in the field and facilitating information exchange among esteemed and emerging scholars and professionals, to engage critically with the field, and provide feedback on preliminary work. Participants will be involved in a discussion with a panel of experts who will share their research and insights relating to this year’s theme. Participants will further engage in dynamic break-out discussion sessions with extended abstract presentations, as well as with lightning talks that focus on different aspects of the evolving nature of the human side of information research. Additional registration fee applies. 

FRIDAY, 27 OCTOBER (Presented in-person only)

8:00 AM-12:00 PM (British Summer Time) 

LIS Perspectives on AI and Designing Human-Centred AI for LIS – sponsored by SIG-AI
Andrew Cox, University of Sheffield, UK; Noora Hirvonen, University of Oulu, Finland; Dan Wu and Shaobo Liang, Wuhan University, People's Republic of China; Daqing He, University of Pittsburgh, USA; Preben Hansen, Stockholm University, Sweden

This half-day workshop strengthens the AI community within ASIS&T by bringing together researchers, educators, students, and practitioners interested in the responsible use of AI and in conducting research on AI from LIS perspectives. The workshop has two streams. The first seeks to bring together all researchers studying the uses of AI in everyday life and work, and of designing, implementing, and evaluating AI applications in the context of library and information environments. The second stream seeks to identify and highlight the unique value and contribution that information science can bring to Human-centred AI (HAI), and utilize ASIS&T, which is the best scholarly communication platform for information science, as the venue to conduct, share, and record the knowledge exchange between information science and HAI. Through the World Café method of rotating breakout sessions and plenary discussion, participants will come together to identify common research questions and opportunities for collaboration. Additional registration fee applies.

8:00 AM-12:00 PM (British Summer Time) 

Turning Social Informatics Research into Action in a Changing Moment – sponsored by SIG-SI
Alicia Takaoka, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway; Shengan Yang, Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering, USA; Xiaohua Awa Zhu, University of Tennessee-Knoxville, USA 

The 19th Annual Social Informatics Research Symposium is focused on the use of networked technologies to highlight the state of academia and work in recent years has led to intense polarization and fragmentation across cultural, political, and geographic boundaries. During this past year, the vast utilization of ChatGPT underscores its capacity to impact our society, bringing about a range of benefits and drawbacks. These sociotechnical crises have joined other persistent environmental, geo-political, and global economic concerns. As a result, we cannot ignore the ways in which the deployment of ICT has been handled so far and the gaps between research and action and policy. This year, the ASIS&T Special Interest Group (SIG) Social Informatics (SIG-SI) will present a workshop about turning research into action in alignment with the ASIS&T Annual Meeting theme, “Making a Difference: Translating Information Research into Practice, Policy, and Action.” Papers accepted to this workshop will focus on the interaction of people, technology, and society, in order to turn research into change. Additional registration fee applies. Additional registration fee applies.

9:00 AM-5:00 PM (British Summer Time) 

METSTI 2023: Workshop on Informetric, Scientometric, and Scientific and Technical Information Research – sponsored by SIG-MET and SIG-STI
Isabelle Dorsch, Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, Germany; Meijun Liu, Fudan University, People's Republic of China; Kai Li, University of Tennessee-Knoxville, USA; Chenwei Zhang, University of Hong Kong, People's Republic of China; Pei-Ying Chen, Indiana University Bloomington, USA; Yi Bu, Peking University, People's Republic of China 

METSTI 2023 is a full-day workshop that provides a platform for research presentations and discussions related to the measurement of information production and use and the analysis of scientific and technical information by students, early-career and established researchers, information professionals, and librarians. The workshop will address relevant fields representing, or of interest to the SIGs’ communities, such as bibliometrics, scientometrics, informetrics, altmetrics, research evaluation and research integrity, scientific and technical information, and science and technology policies. Our goal is to strengthen the exchange of these. Additional registration fee applies. 

1:00 PM-5:00 PM (British Summer Time)

Visual Research Round-Up – sponsored by SIG-USE
Iulian Vamanu, University of Iowa, USA; Judith Van Alstyne, University of Rochester, USA; Rongqian Ma, Indiana University Bloomington, USA; Jenna Hartel, University of Toronto, Canada; Sophie Rutter and Sheila Webber, University of Sheffield, UK 

Visual research centers upon images, not words or numbers. Over the past century, visual research has proliferated across the social sciences and today there are innumerable variations. This workshop “rounds-up” students, scholars, and practitioners engaged in Visual Research across Information Science. Our goals are: 1) to fortify a shared understanding of fundamental concepts associated with visual methods; 2) to showcase the diversity of image-based projects across Information Science, while offering constructive commentary and seeding friendships; and 3) to brainstorm a compelling Research Agenda that maximizes our effort and unifies our community into the future. We hope this workshop will not only deepen everyone’s understanding of visual methods, but also foster a supportive community that encourages productive collaborations among researchers focused on visual media and methodologies. Additional registration fee applies. 

1:00 PM-5:00 PM (British Summer Time) 

Relevance and Automation in Systematic Reviews: Challenges for Transparent and Reproducible Research
Tamara Heck, Ingeborg Jäger-Dengler-Harles, Annika Wilmers, DIPF/Leibniz Institute for Research and Information in Education, Germany 

Systematic literature reviews have been established as a method in many disciplines, as well as in library and information science. Actually, we see two challenges coming with systematic reviews. First, the application in different disciplines that have diverse research questions, goals, and requirements have led to a quantity of methodological approaches and review types. Relevance assessment, as well as documentation and data sharing approaches follow different rules and we lack standards for documentation and data sharing to guarantee reproducibility according to good open research practices. Second, researchers apply new approaches in automation to conduct reviews more efficiently. Both challenges will influence how we approach systematic reviews and how we best implement quality assurance and transparency for systematic review methodologies. The workshop will introduce current approaches of systematic reviews as a method and discuss challenges in the operationalization and automation of reviews in library and information science. Additional registration fee applies. 

SATURDAY, 28 OCTOBER (Presented in-person only)

8:00 AM-12:00 PM (British Summer Time) 

Writing-Up Research as Thematic Narrative
Jenna Hartel, University of Toronto, Canada; Keith Munro, University of Strathclyde, Scoland; Hugh Samson, University of Western Ontario, Canda; Niloofar Solhjoo, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand

The thematic narrative, composed of precise excerpt-commentary-units, is a disciplined and effective way to capture and convey the rich detail and multivocality of qualitative research (Emerson, Fretz & Shaw, 1995; Hartel, 2020). This workshop will teach the essentials of this writing strategy. While the same material was featured in an online format at the 2020 ASIS&T Annual Meeting, the offering at hand is new and improved. Participants will be taught to write a thematic narrative: a gradually unfolding descriptive account that relates vivid pieces of field data to relevant concepts in the scholarly literature. Then they will learn to create excerpt commentary units: rhetorical structures that contain four distinct and purposeful elements. Along the way, many interactive exercises – writing – will occur. Our session suits doctoral students near finishing, experienced social scientists who wish to fortify their writing, and those who supervise or edit qualitative research. The lead instructor, Dr. Jenna Hartel, has won the Library Journal/ALISE Excellence in Teaching Award (2016) and has taught this method to more than 300 students at the Faculty of Information, University of Toronto. The workshop’s facilitators, Keith Munro, Hugh Samson, and Niloo Sohljoo are doctoral candidates with a passion to mobilize a next generation of expert writers of Information Science. Additional registration fee applies. 

8:00 AM-12:00 PM (British Summer Time) 

Social Media Research, Challenges, and Opportunities –  sponsored by SIG-SM
Souvick Ghosh, San José State University, USA; Catherine Dumas, Simmons University, USA; Amir Karami, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA; Lingzi Hong, University of North Texas, USA 

The 3rd Annual Workshop on Social Media Research, Challenges, and Opportunities aims to promote discussion and disciplinary convergence on the topic of social media research focusing on issues related to mis/disinformation, social bots, online communities, and emerging social media platforms. Social media has become a mainstream channel of communication where users create, consume, and exchange information. The ASIS&T community is uniquely positioned as a diverse community of researchers and educators with different backgrounds and expertise. This workshop aims to: 1) highlight current social media research opportunities and challenges, 2) discuss the threats and opportunities of newer social media platforms like TikTok, 3) identify and connect social media researchers, 4) disseminate research findings from the latest papers on social media, and 5) serve as a learning platform for new researchers who are interested in social media. The workshop will be beneficial for advancing our knowledge and understanding of the changing socio-technical landscapes around social media. By bringing together scholars and practitioners from different disciplines, the workshop will facilitate interdisciplinary collaborations and foster new research agendas. Additional registration fee applies. 

8:00 AM-12:00 PM (British Summer Time) 

Exploring Collaborative Interpretive Practice – sponsored by SIG-AH and SIG-USE
Annie Chen, University of Washington, USA; Camille Lyans Cole, Illinois State University, USA; Alexandra Chassanoff, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, USA; Rongqian Ma, Indiana University Bloomington, USA; Isto Huvila, Uppsala University, Sweden; Zack Lischer-Katz, University of Arizona, USA; Maja Krtalić; Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand 

Collaborative interpretation is an inherent aspect of research in many disciplines but can also pose challenges. In this workshop, we invite participants to collectively explore what makes collaborative interpretation both rewarding and challenging, share our experiences in collaborative work, and brainstorm ways to develop infrastructures to support collaborative interpretation, with the high-level goal that participants can incorporate insights from the workshop into their own research and work practice. Introduction and challenges: Starting with a short introduction with short challenge papers, participants will present a 5-minute lightning talk introducing an important challenge problem they see in collaboration and their perspective on how to address it. Then all workshop participants engage in interactive breakout discussions. Collaborative activity: Participants engage in a collaborative interpretation of text from a corpus of personal diaries from 19th century Ottoman Iraq. The diaries are publicly available at https://www.svobodadiariesproject.org/, but we will provide additional guidance, materials, and a platform to engage in collective interpretation, with flexibility to shape the interpretive process based on workshop participants’ own research approaches. Additional registration fee applies. 

1:00 PM-5:00 PM (British Summer Time) 

Publishing at ASIS&T: Ask the Editors of JASIST, ARIST, and Information Matters
Steven Sawyer, Syracuse University, USA; Lisa Given, RMIT University, Australia , Chirag Shah, University of Washington, USA

This half-day workshop is for discussion and give and take between participants and the Editors-in-Chief of ASIS&T publications: Steve Sawyer for the Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology (JASIST), Lisa Given for the Annual Review of Information Science and Technology (ARIST), and Chirag Shah for Information Matters. The workshop will consist of three separate 60-minute sessions of discussion and Q&A for each journal, plus some time for discussion and Q&A with all three Editors-in-Chief and editorial board members. Pre-workshop, participants will submit “Ask the Editor” questions on how to write a successful article at any of the publications. During the Information Matters session, Chirag Shah will answer questions, address current IM topics and discuss how to write the specialized IM article. For JASIST, Steve Sawyer will organize small groups to review synthetic abstracts to seed a discussion of the criteria JASIST uses to assess submissions, and will answer questions about how to submit a successful JASIST paper. For ARIST, Lisa Given invites participants to submit “Expression of Interest” paper ideas for workshopping during the session, will explain the “Expression of Interest” pitch process for new submissions, and give tips for writing comprehensive reviews for ARIST. Additional registration fee applies. 

1:00 PM-5:00 PM (British Summer Time) 

Research in Practice: Examining the Complexities of Conspiracy Theory Research/ers
Stacy Wood, UCLA Center for Critical Internet Inquiry, USA; Yvonne Eadon, UNC Center for Information, Technology and Public Life, USA 

This workshop brings together researchers working on disinformation, conspiracy theories, and counter-establishment research to share methods, methodologies, and theoretical frameworks within the context of information literacy research and practice. Despite the apparent newness of these issues, particularly in the wake of the 2016 election and the resurgence of mass white nationalism, many of the foundational concerns and questions involved in this research have deep intellectual lineages in the library and information science (LIS) field. In particular, we are interested in engaging this year’s theme by thinking through the complex relationships between and across research and practice domains with respect to information literacy. Additional registration fee applies.