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News from the School of Information Management

Category: Faculty

“Assessing government training needs for the future of digital service delivery” – Report by Drs. Roy, Sharaput, & Toze now available

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“As the Government of Canada (GC) works to improve how it designs and delivers services, we can look to use new tools, methods and practices to help us build our capacity to get there. People — public servants — remain at the centre of these efforts. So, when we teamed up with the Faculty of Management at Dalhousie University late last year to better understand and assess the current training needs for digital disciplines across the GC, we started by talking to public servants. By directly engaging with them, we’re able to build a better understanding of their needs and how we can meet them. The full Report can be found on Dalhousie’s website.”

 

Click here for the rest of the article.

 

 

A Time of Change – SIM Welcomes new Faculty and Staff and Celebrates Retirees

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This past few months have seen the face of SIM changing.  We are excited to welcome Colin Conrad to our SIM Faculty in a probationary tenure track position, and Dr. Cheryl Stenstrom who joins us in a limited term position. We are also excited to welcome Janet Music, as our MI Program Coordinator. At the same time we are sad to announce the retirements of Dr’s Bertrum MacDonald and Fiona Black, as well as JoAnn Watson.

New Faces at SIM

Faculty Profile_Colin Conrad

Colin conducts interdisciplinary research into how our brains interact with information technology. He is currently investigating how attention or other cognitive mechanisms impact the effectiveness of learning technologies, with the goal of improving and advancing open education. His research blends techniques from neuroscience (such as EEG and eye tracking) and information science (such as behavioural techniques and data mining) to answer these questions. Colin Conrad successfully defended his PhD dissertation “A Neurophysiological Study of the Impact of Mind Wandering during Online Lectures” in May. Congratulations to the soon-to-be Dr. Conrad on this significant achievement. Colin can be reached at Colin.Conrad@dal.ca

 


Faculty Profile_Cheryl StenstromCheryl brings a mix of professional and academic experiences to SIM. Cheryl may be well known to many in our community through her past role as CEO/Chief Librarian for the South Shore Regional Library.  Cheryl’s PhD thesis examined Factors Influencing Funding Decisions by Elected Politicians at the State/Provincial Level:  A Case Study of Public Libraries in Canada. She has been teaching since 2012 at the School of Information, San Jose State University.

 

 


Staff Profile_Janet Music

Janet has been with the Faculty of Management in key roles for the past 5 years, and has a Bachelor of Management, and a Master of Public Administration from Dalhousie. She just completed her Master of Arts (MA) in International Development Studies at Saint Mary’s University. Janet can be reached at janet.music@dal.ca.

 

Join us in welcoming Colin, Cheryl and Janet to SIM.  We look forward to adding to our capacity to deliver innovative programs in data, analytics, policy and librarianship .

Celebration of our Retirees

As we welcome the new, SIM recognizes the significant contributions of our long time colleagues. Both Bertrum and Fiona are former Directors’ of SIM, as well has having held significant administrative positions within the Faculty. Bertrum served as Associate Dean Research, as well as Interim Dean for the Faculty, while Fiona held the positions of Associate Dean (Research), and Associate Dean (External Programs) for the Faculty. Fiona most recently was the Associate Vice-President Academic, for Dalhousie from 2013 to 2018.  In addition to their academic leadership, both Bertrum and Fiona had significant research accomplishments, were strong teachers, and gave significantly to the School and our communities.  We are happy to announce the transition to full retirement will be gradual.  We are excited that Bertrum has agreed to stay with us for the next year in a 50% Post-Retirement position. Fiona can be found for the next year, in the Faculty of Graduate Studies, as Associate Dean (Acting), Faculty of Graduate Studies.

JoAnn joined SIM in 2005 and has overseen significant changes with our MI (MLIS) program.

In her role as Program Coordinator JoAnn has strategically managing all academic matters, for our recruitment and retention processes, and for ensuring we are collecting and evaluating the information and data we need to support accreditation and change. In her role as academic lead for our Practicum program, JoAnn ensured all students are matched with a work environment that fits with their career goals and needs, and has expanded our practicum settings and initiated new internships.

Recognition of the significant achievements of our retirees will be included in the SIM 50 celebrations on October 26th. Stay tuned for details.

 

 

3rd Annual NS Open Data Contest – Robyn Nicholson

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2019 Open Data_Participants working

2019 NS Open Data Participants

Open Data Contest
Robyn Nicholson

In conjunction with International Open Data Day, the first weekend in March this year saw the return of the Third Annual Open Data Competition to Dalhousie. Organized by the Province of Nova Scotia, the School of Information Management (SIM) and the Rowe School of Business, the event saw twenty-eight teams compete using Nova Scotia open data to create apps, models, visualizations, dashboards and more to address issues affecting Nova Scotia residents. The event was sponsored by the Government of Nova Scotia, Dalhousie Faculty of Management, ESRI, IBM and Socrata.

The weekend got off to a strong start bright and early Saturday morning as teams met with mentors and got started on their projects. SIM MLIS student and competition participant Dan Phillips noted, “it was difficult to decide which was the most effective use of our time: crunching numbers and writing code, or chatting with mentors as we wrestled with our problem.” By early afternoon on Sunday the Rowe building was buzzing with energy as teams prepared to present their work.

Judges Sandra Cascadden (Associate Deputy Minister and CIO, Internal Services), Stephen Greene (Development Practice Leader, Halifax CIC, IBM), Thozamile Javu (PNS Innovation Garage Manager, IBM Services) and Brit Perry (Account Manager, Tyler Technologies Inc.) had their work cut out for them, as team numbers jumped from twenty-four on Saturday up to twenty-eight total by Sunday. Pressure was on, with a tight schedule and a strict two-minute cap on presentations, but teams rose to the challenge and presented a rich variety of creative and innovative solutions using the tools and data at hand.

After an exciting slew of presentations, it was time for lengthy deliberations. Om Agarwal took home first prize under his team name Prognomatrix after wowing judges with an AI tool that used deep/machine learning algorithms and frameworks to diagnose breast and skin cancer with impressive accuracy. Second prize went to Yingda Guo and Matt Richard, a.k.a. Data Boys, whose work focused on a web app aimed at predicting seasonal disease prevalence. Team 3, made up of Fasuyi Morounkeji, Sadman Hoque Sadi, Sarbottam Thapa, took third prize for their work on an app geared toward reducing food wastage and food insecurity in the province by notifying foodbanks of food surpluses nearby. The People’s Choice, as voted by contest participants, went to Tina Roberts-Jeffers (a.k.a Take 2) and her app called On Second Thought which was designed to enhance tourism in Nova Scotia by giving both visitors and residents new ideas about ways to explore the province.

Closing remarks made by Minister of Internal Services Patricia Arab lauded the creativity and problem-solving skills of participants as well as the power of open data. The Nova Scotia open data portal has been active since 2016, and these teams demonstrated what kind of original and exciting solutions can be created from simple datasets when motivated and thoughtful minds are brought together. Dan Phillips (current MLIS student) echoed these sentiments, saying, “there’s a lot of interesting stuff in the NS Open Data repository – and it’s not just there on the competition weekend. I’m already digging around for interesting datasets to use next year.” Issues ranging from public health and pollution to immigration and tourism were all addressed.

SIM students at the 2019 NS Open Data Contest (Li Liu, Dan Phillips, Yifan Liu, Dr. Sandra Toze, Director of SIM, Dr. Vivian Howard, Interim Dean FoM)

The power of information is a central value for SIM, and the results of the Open Data Competition further illustrate the vital nature of inspiring young professionals to recognize the possibilities for public good when skills, tools, data and passion are combined. SIM Director Sandra Toze would also like to add a final thanks to all the mentors from the Faculty of Management, Dalhousie Libraries and across the University who helped make this an excellent event.

Job Posting: Lecturer, Assistant Professor or Associate Professor (SIM)

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School of Information Management
Dalhousie University
Lecturer, Assistant Professor or Associate Professor

The School of Information Management (SIM) invites applications for a probationary tenure-track, tenure-track or tenured position at the rank of Lecturer, Assistant Professor or Associate Professor commencing July 1st 2019 (negotiable).

The Faculty of Management is developing a new Masters program in Digital Innovation jointly with the Faculty of Computer Science. Positions relating to this new program are being advertised in the Faculty of Computer Science, Rowe School of Business, and School of Information Management. It is an occasion to join a strong and diversified team, in an environment where new programs are being introduced. Please see also the Rowe School of Business posting (https://blogs.dal.ca/academiccareers/2018/09/21/rowe-school-of-business-career-stream/) and Computer Science posting (https://blogs.dal.ca/academiccareers/2018/09/21/faculty-of-computer-science-career-stream/) for details on those positions and how to apply. Qualified candidates are encouraged to submit applications to more than one competition.

This position combines teaching, research, and administrative responsibilities. The School seeks candidates with a strong interest in, and capacity for, interdisciplinary research. Candidates will be expected to teach in at least two programs at the graduate or undergraduate levels. Professional information management experience will be an asset.

The successful candidate will have a PhD (or ABD status) in information management or a related discipline, with research expertise and/or teaching experience in one or more of the following areas:

  • Data management, including analytics, visualization, curation, and preservation
  • Information systems
  • Information risk management
  • New and emerging media and/or technology, including digital transformation
  • Other relevant areas including organizational learning, collaboration, user experience, or knowledge management

The SIM (http://sim.management.dal.ca) offers two graduate programs: the American Library Association-accredited Master of Library and Information Studies (MLIS) program, and the mid-career blended learning Master of Information Management (MIM) program. At the undergraduate level, the School provides core and elective courses in the Bachelor of Management program, delivered collaboratively with the three other schools in the Faculty of Management. The School also participates in Dalhousie’s Interdisciplinary PhD program.

The SIM is part of the interdisciplinary Faculty of Management (http://www.dal.ca/faculty/management.html), which also includes the School of Public Administration, the School for Resource and Environmental Studies, and the Rowe School of Business. The Faculty of Management’s mission is to collaboratively advance management knowledge and practice, and its vision is inspiring managerial solutions to transform lives. We seek an additional colleague who will contribute to, and thrive in, this environment.

Dalhousie University (http://www.dal.ca/) is one of Canada’s leading teaching and research universities, with four professional faculties; a Faculty of Graduate Studies; and a diverse complement of graduate programs. Inter-faculty collaborative and interactive research is encouraged, as is cooperation in teaching. Dalhousie University inspires students, faculty, staff and alumni to make significant contributions regionally, nationally, and to the world.

Dalhousie University is located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Halifax is a vibrant capital city and is the business, academic, and medical centre for Canada’s east coast.

All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority. Dalhousie University is committed to fostering a collegial culture grounded in diversity and inclusiveness. The university encourages applications from Aboriginal people, persons with a disability, racially visible persons, women, persons of minority sexual orientations and gender identities, and all candidates who would contribute to the diversity of our community.

Review of applications will begin on October 22, 2018. To receive full consideration, please submit your application by this deadline. Applications received after October 22 may also be considered.

Applicants should submit a cover letter, curriculum vitae, copies of past teaching evaluations, and statements of teaching philosophy and of research interests. (Each statement should be approximately one page.) Applications must also include a completed Self-Identification Questionnaire, which is available at www.dal.ca/becounted/selfid.

Applications should be directed to:

Ms. Kim Humes
School of Information Management
Kenneth C. Rowe Management Building
6100 University Avenue, Suite 4010
PO BOX 15000
Halifax, NS B3H 4R2
sim@dal.ca
Fax:  902-494-2451
Voice:  902-494-3656

Electronic applications are preferred.

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