Did you know that SIM is turning 50 in 2019? This is a time of reflection and celebration. We invite you to accompany us on the journey by following this blog, our website, and the #SIM50 hashtag on Facebook and Twitter.

Re-posted from CEGE Connection (the Centre for Executive & Graduate Education blog):

CEGE Connection reached out to Dr. Bertrum MacDonald, Professor, School of Information Management, to share his thoughts on reaching the 50th year mark, given the ever-increasing influence of information management within our society.

Dr. Bertrum MacDonald:

Thank you for opportunity to share my thoughts on the evolution of information management.  Indeed, we are experiencing exponential leaps in how information is applied within our daily interactions. I agree that INFORM provides invaluable information on current research that is being conducted by Dalhousie.

I have been a faculty member in the School of Information Management for many years – more than half of the 50 that the School will celebrate in 2019! During this period, I have served as Director of the School, then Associate Dean (Research) in the wider Faculty of Management, and recently for a short term as Interim Dean of the Faculty. I have taught courses in the Master of Information Management since it was launched in 2008, beginning with the first course offered in the program: Information, People, and Society.

I head the interdisciplinary Environmental Information: Use and Influence research program (EIUI), based in the School of Information Management. My primary research area focuses on questions about information use and influence in marine management and policy development. The goal is to advance understanding of the many pathways of information (scientific, social science, and local) at the science-policy interface in marine environment contexts.

I look forward to joining the CEGE Conversation and highlighting the strength of the School of Information Management programs. The need to increase literacy in information management has reached a critical juncture.

We have come a far distance in 50 years. We have a solid foundation upon which to build for the future.

Dr. Bertrum MacDonald
Professor
July 2018