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News from the Department of Information Science (formerly SIM)

Category: Faculty

Introducing the Serendipity Society

Photo by Samantha Copeland; logo by Ogmatter Design

Photo by Samantha Copeland; logo by Ogmatter Design

How can we burst the filter bubbles that keep people from diverse and unexpected information?

How can organizations leverage their physical and digital spaces to create a culture that supports serendipity and innovation?

What role does serendipity play in learning, science, digital humanities, and management?

These are just a few of the complex questions being tackled by international serendipity researchers and industry leaders from multiple disciplinary perspectives. To help bring these viewpoints together and encourage growth in the field, the Serendipity Society (SerSoc) was launched in November 2016 by Samantha Copeland of the School of Economics and Business, Norwegian University of Life Sciences and Lori McCay-Peet from the School of Information Management at Dalhousie University.

We invite serendipity researchers to join SerSoc but also want to point out the growing list of resources available on the SerSoc website for those interested in learning more about the phenomenon. Follow us on Twitter!

SIM Alumna/Lecturer Receives a 2016 Management Teaching Excellence Award

faculty-profile_jennifer-grek-martin-214x210From the Faculty of Management Dean’s office:

Please join me in congratulating the winners of the 2016 Management Teaching Excellence Awards!

After a difficult selection process, the committee selected the winners as follows:

Ms. Jennifer Grek-Martin of SIM and Dr. Jenny Zhang of the RSB will be awarded prizes of $5,000 each. Dr. Hossam Ali-Hassan of the RSB will be awarded the grand prize of $10,000.

The MTEAs will be awarded at a presentation on Monday, January 23rd at 11:30 in room 3089. All are welcome to attend and celebrate the worthy recipients and the quality of teaching in the Faculty of Management. Please share this information with your students; they are welcome to join the celebration as well.

Congrats Jennifer!

IM Public Lecture: Louise Spiteri (Dalhousie University)

The Information Management Public Lectures give attention to exciting advances in research and professional practice. The topics are diverse reflecting the importance and global extent of Information Management in today’s society. The lectures are open to all members of the Dalhousie campus and surrounding community. Click here for the full schedule. We encourage you to attend in person, but if that is not possible you can access a recording on our website following the lecture. Live streaming is not currently available. 

public-lecture-06_16_louise-spiteri-photoIn the Readers’ Own Words: How User Content in the Catalogue Can Enhance Readers’ Advisory Services

Louise Spiteri
School of Information Management, Dalhousie University

Lecture Details
Thursday, November 24th, 2016
5:35-6:35pm *embedded in the class INFO 5500: Information in Society
Room 1011, Kenneth C. Rowe Management Building, 6100 University Avenue

Abstract: This session will discuss the findings of two studies conducted to explore user-generated content in public library catalogues, and its potential contribution to readers’ advisory (RA) services. The session will explore how user content, in the form of tags and reviews, provides a rich data set that connects to traditional RA access points. Further, the session will discuss the creation of three taxonomies for memory, emotion, and mood based on user content, and the use of these taxonomies to enhance discovery and the reading experience.

Biography: Dr. Louise Spiteri is Associate Professor in the School of Information Management, where she teaches courses in the areas of the organization of information, metadata, knowledge management, and records and information management. Dr. Spiteri’s research interests include social tagging, folksonomies, web-based discovery systems, and taxonomy design

SIM Professor Bertrum MacDonald Appointed Visiting Researcher by the International Ocean Institute-Canada

Read the full announcement here.

Faculty Profile_Bertrum MacDonald (214x210)“Bertrum MacDonald, research lead for the Environmental Information: Use and Influence (EIUI) research program, has been appointed Visiting Researcher by the International Ocean Institute-Canada (IOI-Canada) for 2016-2017.

Dr. MacDonald, who recently concluded a term as Dean of the Faculty of Management at Dalhousie and is on a year-long research leave, will continue his line of study aimed at advancing understanding of the many pathways of information (scientific, social science, and local) at the science-policy interface in marine environmental contexts. He and EIUI colleagues recently published Science, Information, and Policy Interface for Effective Ocean and Coastal Management (CRC Press, 2016), which is the first book to focus exclusively on the role of scientific information in the development of coastal and ocean policy and management of the oceans. The EIUI research program is pursuing case studies with governmental and intergovernmental organizations in Canada and internationally.

This research is currently supported by an Insight Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The EIUI team will also be undertaking studies in research modules of the recently announced Ocean Frontier Institute that is supported by a $93.7 million grant Canada First Research Excellence Fund to Dalhousie University.”

IM Public Lecture (Ryan Whalen)

The Information Management Public Lectures give attention to exciting advances in research and professional practice. The topics are diverse reflecting the importance and global extent of Information Management in today’s society. The lectures are open to all members of the Dalhousie campus and surrounding community. When feasible, recordings of the lectures are posted for wider circulation. For the full schedule, visit the Public Lecture page of our website.

public-lecture-01_16_ryan-whalen-photoComplex Innovation & the Patent System

Ryan Whalen
School of Information Management, Dalhousie University

Lecture Details
Thursday, September 22nd, 2016
5:35-6:35pm *embedded in the class INFO 5500: Information in Society
Room 1011, Kenneth C. Rowe Management Building, 6100 University Avenue

Abstract: As the universe of available information becomes larger and innovation becomes more complex, the task of examining patent applications becomes increasingly difficult. This project demonstrates that the United States Patent Office has insufficiently responded to changes in the information universe and to innovation norms, leaving the Patent Office less able to adequately assess patent applications, and more likely to grant bad patents.

After first demonstrating how innovation has been responsive to contemporary innovation norms for hundreds of years, this project uses information and data science methods to empirically demonstrate how innovation has drastically changed in recent decades. After empirically demonstrating the changed innovation system and the inadequate response to these changes by the Patent Office, this presentation concludes with policy prescriptions aimed to help the Patent Office implement examination procedures adequate to assess 21stcentury innovation. These prescriptions include more granular crediting for the time spent by examiners assessing applications, an increased focus on teamwork at the Patent Office, improvements to the inter partes review process, and alterations to the analogous art doctrine.

Biography: Ryan Whalen is a faculty member of Dalhousie University’s School of Information Management. His research focuses on innovation policy, intellectual property law, and computational social science. He holds a JD from Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, and a PhD in Media, Technology, and Society from Northwestern University.

NOTE: We encourage you to attend in person, but if that is not possible you can access an audio recording + slides on our website following the lecture (a notice will be sent when posted). Web streaming is not currently available. 

SIM Professors Part of New Ocean Frontier Institute

Ocean Frontier InstituteThe Canadian government announced today a $94 million dollar investment in the Dalhousie-led Ocean Frontier Institute. Combined with a large private donation and contributions from other partners, the collaboration among Dalhousie, Memorial, and UPEI has a budget of over $200 million.  Two SIM faculty are contributing to this “game changer for ocean research“.

Dr. Mike Smit will collaborate with colleagues in the Faculty of Computer Science to co-lead two of the initial OFI projects focused on ocean data and technology.  “Data collected by shared research infrastructure for the benefit of the OFI and/or its international partners needs to be available, discoverable, and usable by a set of people with highly varied data skills,”, said Dr. Smit, referencing some of his work on data literacy. “Data produced by the OFI will, when possible, need to be shared publicly for the benefit of national and international researchers and related to the evolving national research data infrastructure. Building and understanding varied information and data management policies and practices will be important to ensuring OFI can collaborate the way it needs to in order to tackle challenging research questions.”

Dr. Bertrum MacDonald is working with colleagues at Memorial University to understand how the science produced by bodies like OFI is translated into policy and decision-making. This work ties in well with his Environmental Information: Use and Influence (EIUI) interdisciplinary research and the launch of EIUI’s new book, Science, Information, and Policy Interface for Effective Coastal and Ocean Management.

These projects illustrate the broad applicability of information management to a variety of fields and contexts. We are excited to watch as the largest research award in the history of Dalhousie University takes shape over the next few years, and we look forward to hearing more about the contributions of our colleagues to this important initiative!

Welcome to Ken Field – SIM Researcher-in-Residence

Faculty Profile_Ken Field (200w)SIM is excited to welcome Ken Field to our School as Researcher-in-Residence for the 2016-2017 academic year!

Ken is available to consult and collaborate with students and faculty on various research-related matters. Contact him at kfield@trentu.ca to set up an appointment or visit him in Office #4027.

BIOGRAPHY
Ken has worked at Trent University for the past 28 years occupying roles as a serials cataloguer, serials librarian, access services librarian, and is currently the head of Trent’s first branch library on its Durham Campus in Oshawa, Ontario, and the University’s Copyright Officer.  He obtained a BMusEd from Dalhousie in 1980, a Master of Library and Information Science from UBC in 1984, and a Graduate Professional Certificate in Library Sector Leadership from the University of Victoria in 2011.

In addition to his work in the Library, he was Principal of Lady Eaton College, one of Trent’s five residential colleges, from 1996 to 2000, and was Acting Head of the Durham Campus in 2012/13.

During his sabbatical year, he will be undertaking a citation analysis of publications of Trent Humanities and Social Sciences faculty for a 2 or 3 year period in order to gain a better understanding of the types and sources of the resources that faculty have been using in their research. The goal is to provide the Library with a better sense of whether the resources it collects and makes accessible are meeting the research needs of the faculty. He will also continue to actively monitor developments in copyright, both nationally and internationally, and provide advice and guidance to the Trent University community on how any changes may effect the application of copyright law to community practices.

Catching Up With CAIS

By Dr. Vivian Howard (Associate Professor & President of CAIS/ACSI)

The annual conference of the Canadian Association for Information Science (CAIS/ACSI) was held from June 1-3 2016 at the University of Calgary, as part of the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences.  This year’s conference theme was “Information Science in our Communities: Reflections on our Work and the People, Places, and Institutions Around Us.”  The opening keynote speaker, Dr. Jennifer Preece of the University of Maryland, gave a very engaging and provocative discussion of “Citizen Science: New Challenges for Information Studies.”  The closing plenary session was an excellent presentation by the deputy-CEO of Calgary Public Library, Ellen Humphrey, who discussed the the development of plans for an exciting new central branch due to open in the East Village neighbourhood of the city in 2018, with an architectural design which may have almost as much WOW value as Halifax’s own fabulous new Central Library.

Throughout the conference, SIM was very well represented with presentations by Dr. Keith Lawson, Professor Ryan Whalen, Dr. Marina Pluzhenskaya, and myself.  SIM alumna and University of Alberta doctoral candidate Deborah Hicks (MLIS 2007) won the Student to CAIS Award for best student paper, and Deb is also co-chair of the 2017 CAIS/ACSI conference, which will be taking place next June at Ryerson University, in Toronto. I’m also very pleased to report that I was elected President of CAIS/ACSI at the Annual General Meeting.

The annual Conference is always an excellent opportunity to share research and forge connections with a supportive and interested audience of graduate students, LIS faculty, and practitioners from Canada and beyond.  This year’s conference included participants from across Canada, the United States, and New Zealand. Conference abstracts are published in the proceedings, available at http://www.cais-acsi.ca/ojs/index.php/cais/issue/view/32 and participants have the option of submitting their full papers for publication in the Canadian Journal of Information and Library Science. 

If you’d like to know more about CAIS/ACSI, visit our website at http://cais-acsi.ca/ or talk to me anytime.

Dalhousie Celebrates Pride Week

Dal will celebrate Pride Week on all campuses, July 15 – 23. Events will include Flag Raising Ceremonies on both the Studley and Agricultural Campus, Film Screenings, and Art events. Members of the Dalhousie community will be marching in the Truro Parade on July 16 and the Halifax Parade on July 23rd.

All alumni, students, faculty and friends in Halifax and Truro are welcome to join in the festivities!

The full calendar of Dalhousie events can be found here and the full Halifax Pride guide can be viewed here.

Dal Pride

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