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The Best Information Behavior Poster Award was established in 2005 and is administered by the SIG USE Awards Committee. It is sponsored by SIG USE.

1. Nature of the Award

1.1 The award shall consist of a Certificate for the winning author (and each co-author) and a check for $200. In exceptional circumstances, the Jury may also award up to two “Certificates of Merit” to additional outstanding posters. 

2. Purpose of the Award

2.1 The purpose of the award is to recognize the best poster presented at the Annual ASIST Conference that falls within the scope of information behavior. Information behavior is broadly defined to include how people construct, need, seek, manage, give, and use information in different contexts.

3. Eligibility

3.1 At least one author of the winning poster must be a current member of SIG USE at the time of application for the award.

3.2 The poster must fall within the scope of information behavior (how people construct, need, seek, manage, give and use information in different contexts). The behavior of real people engaged in information activities (in contrast to imagined or presumed users) must be a central part of a poster for it to be considered for the award. Posters that report the results of empirical research, theoretical posters, and methodological posters are all eligible for consideration.

3.3 The award is not a once in a lifetime award.

3.4 At least one author of the winning poster must attend the SIG USE awards ceremony in order to be eligible to receive the award.

4. Administration

The Best Information Behavior Poster Award is sponsored by SIG USE and is administered by the SIG USE Awards Committee.

5. Nominations

5.1 SIG USE members whose poster abstracts are accepted by the ASIST conference are eligible to apply for the award. Authors must include the “human information behavior” indexing category when they submit their posters using the automated system.

5.2 Applications to be considered for best poster should be submitted via email to the Awards Co-Chairs by the deadline of Sunday, July 23, 2023.

5.2.1 Applications must include an application form (download) and a copy of the poster abstract to be considered.

5.2.2 Posters nominated by ASIS&T Conference Track Chairs will also be considered.

6. SIG USE Awards Jury Committee

6.1 The SIG USE Awards Jury is composed of 5-7 members for each award category, and are appointed by the SIG USE Awards Committee. It is highly desirable to have among the members of the Jury individuals who are broadly and historically knowledgeable about the information behavior field, e.g., former chairs of SIG USE and long standing members of the research and professional community.

6.2 Authors of papers submitted for this award are not eligible to serve on the Jury.

6.3 In the absence of qualified posters, the Jury may refrain from granting the award in that year.

7. Selection of the Awardee

7.1 The Jury will have access to the final, accepted versions of all conference poster abstracts. There will be a double-blinded review process.

7.2 Using the poster abstracts, each poster shall be appraised in terms of the following criteria, as appropriate: theoretical framework and/or conceptual relevance to information behavior; problem statement and appropriateness of the methodology; significance and implications of the findings; originality; clarity of expression; and references.

7.3 The maximum number of points that can be given to a poster is 100. The highest score for each of the evaluation criteria is:

– theoretical framework and/or conceptual relevance to information behavior – 20

– problem statement and appropriateness of the methodology – 20

– significance and implications of the findings – 20

– originality – 20

– clarity of expression – 10

– references – 10

Reviewers will also provide a qualitative assessment of 50 to 250 words on the merits of the poster

7.4 Each eligible poster will be assessed initially by at least three Jury members. The SIG USE Awards Committee assigns posters to individual Jury members for assessment, taking the expertise of individual Jury members into account. 

7.5 Each Jury member assigns points to each eligible poster assigned to them for review, based on the criteria used to evaluate it, and transmits the scores and qualitative assessments for each poster to the SIG USE Awards Committee.

7.6 The SIG USE Awards Committee totals and averages the scores from all the Jury members, and the winner is the poster with the highest average score. To win, a poster must have an average score of at least 80 points. In the case of a tie, the tying posters should be re-evaluated by all Jury members to determine a single winner.

7.7 The SIG USE Awards Committee shall communicate the Jury’s decision to the Chair of SIG USE, the ASIST President, and the ASIST Executive Director.

7.8 The SIG USE Awards Committee shall provide a 50 to 250 words abstract, stating why the award was given. The abstract will be used to publicize the award. Material for this abstract can be taken from the voting rationales provided by members of the Jury.

8. Presentation of the Award

8.1 At least one author of the poster must attend the SIG-USE awards ceremony at the SIG USE Symposium.

8.2 The award shall be announced and presented to the winning author(s) by the SIG USE Awards Committee during the SIG USE Research Symposium at the annual meeting of the Society.

9. Publicity

The award shall be publicized in the SIG USE listserv and web site and SIG USE social media sites, and any chapter with which the winner is affiliated.

10. Deadlines

10.1 The Jury Committee shall be assembled in June 2023.

10.2 Selection shall be made and the ASIST President, the ASIST Director and the Chair of SIG USE shall be notified at least two weeks before the start of the ASIST annual meeting.