Webinar: The Public Voice on Generative AI: Perceptions of Its Impact on GLAM Institutions
Sponsored by: SIG-AI & SIG-AVC
Generative AI (GenAI) has rapidly gained popularity in recent years, making its way into various service areas, including galleries, libraries, archives, and museums (GLAM). Alongside its adoption, public conversations on social media reflect both excitement about its possibilities and concern about its risks. This webinar will present our study, which explores how the public perceives the impact of GenAI on GLAM institutions through an analysis of discussions on X (formerly Twitter) and Reddit from November 2022 to August 2025. Using topic modeling and sentiment analysis, we identify major themes, track how discussions have evolved over time, and uncover relationships among topics, sentiments, and social connections. Our findings highlight both the opportunities and challenges of GenAI in GLAM contexts, and underscore the importance of preparing future professionals through education and training in Schools of Library and Information Science (SLIS). We aim to inspire further research, critical dialogue, and intentional strategies for integrating GenAI in cultural and information institutions.
Presenter
Dr. Yuan Li is an Assistant Professor in the School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Alabama. She earned her Ph.D. in Information Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and holds a Master’s degree in Library and Information Science from the University of South Carolina.
Dr. Li’s research lies at the intersection of human–computer interaction, human–AI interaction, user experience design, and interactive information retrieval. Her work examines how cognitive, behavioral, and contextual factors impact users’ information-seeking processes and outcomes when interacting with information systems, such as search engines and AI tools like ChatGPT. The overarching goal of her research is to better understand users’ information and learning behaviors and to inform the design of more effective tools that support learning and decision-making in complex environments.
In addition to her academic research, Dr. Li has extensive professional experience working across departments in both public and academic libraries. She is an active member of professional associations, including ASIS&T, ALISE, and ACM, and her work has been published in leading journals and conferences in the fields of information science and human–computer interaction. Her recent projects extend this inquiry to the cultural heritage domain, examining public discourse on the impact of generative AI in galleries, libraries, archives, and museums (GLAM) through large-scale social media analysis.
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