Research is a prominent activity of the School of Information Management and both masters and doctoral students are active participants in individual and team projects supervised by faculty members. These students often participate in conferences locally, nationally, and internationally, as the following list of over twenty presentations confirms. Congratulations to each student on these achievements.

Masters Students

Dwayne Jones, MIM student, presented the paper “Managing Knowledge in the Dalhousie Faculty of Medicine,” based on a project supervised by Prof. Sandra Toze, at the Canadian Conference on Medical Education, Ottawa, 28 April 2014.

Lee Wilson, MLIS student, presented the paper “Not All MOOCs are Created Equal: A Comparative Evaluation of Popular MOOC Platforms” (co-authored with Dr. Anatoliy Gruzd) at “Fostering Deep Learning with Technology,” the 2014 Dalhousie Conference on University Teaching and Learning” in Halifax, 29-30 April 2014.

Nicole Bloudoff, MLIS student, presented the paper “The Current Digital Curation Environment and Recommendations for LIS Education: A Study of Canadian Archives and Special Collections” (co-authored with Dr. Fiona Black) at “Current Directions in Book History: Borders without Boundaries,” the 2014 annual meeting of the Bibliographical Society of Canada, at the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, Brock University, 26-27 May 2014.

Alison Froese-Stoddard, MLIS student, presented the paper, “Reaching Out to Community: Re-thinking Community Engagement as a Sustainability Strategy,” based on a thesis project supervised by Dr. Fiona Black, at “At Your Service: Balancing Access and Outreach in Archives,” the annual conference of the Council of Nova Scotia Archives, Halifax, 29-30 May 2014.

Maria Bartlett, Andrea Kampen, Carlisle Kent, and Hilary Lynd, MLIS students, presented the poster “Art in the Age of Digital Reproduction,” based on a project supervised by Dr. Mike Smit, to “Step into the Light / Prenez l’avant-scène,” the annual conference of the Atlantic Provinces Library Association, Moncton, 3-6 June 2014.

Mingyue Chen, MLIS student, presented the poster “A Pilot Study of International students’ Online Health Information Seeking Behaviours,” based on a project supervised by Prof. Sandra Toze, to “Step into the Light / Prenez l’avant-scène,” the annual conference of the Atlantic Provinces Library Association, Moncton, 3-6 June 2014.

Valerie Collins, MLIS student, presented the poster “Social Media and Scientific Communication: Case Studies of Twitter Use by Contemporary Scientists,” based on a project conducted with Lou Duggan, Dr. Anatoliy Grudz, and Dr. Bertrum MacDonald, to “Step into the Light / Prenez l’avant-scène,” the annual conference of the Atlantic Provinces Library Association, Moncton, 3-6 June 2014.

Roger Gillis, MLIS student, was a speaker in a session on “Engagement and Outreach in Scholarly Communications Initiatives” at “Step into the Light / Prenez l’avant-scène,” the annual conference of the Atlantic Provinces Library Association, Moncton, 3-6 June 2014.

Gayle Graham, MLIS student, presented the poster “The Halifax Explosion and the Spread of Rumour, 1917 to the Present,” based on project supervised by Dr. Bertrum MacDonald, to “Step into the Light / Prenez l’avant-scène,” the annual conference of the Atlantic Provinces Library Association, Moncton, 3-6 June 2014.

Marc Harper, MLIS student, presented the poster “Information Access: A Study of the Potential for an Information Revolution in North Korea” to “Step into the Light / Prenez l’avant-scène,” the annual conference of the Atlantic Provinces Library Association, Moncton, 3-6 June 2014.

Andrea Kampen and Carlisle Kent, MLIS students, presented the paper “Demystifying the Library: Using a Mobile App to Empower Library Users,” based on a project supervised by Dr. Anatoliy Gruzd, to “Step into the Light / Prenez l’avant-scène,” the annual conference of the Atlantic Provinces Library Association, Moncton, 3-6 June 2014.

James Ross, MLIS student, presented the poster “What Do Users Want from a State of the Environment Report? A Study of the State of the Scotian Shelf Report,” based on a thesis project supervised by Dr. Bertrum MacDonald, to “Step into the Light / Prenez l’avant-scène,” the annual conference of the Atlantic Provinces Library Association, Moncton, 3-6 June 2014.

Vanja Avdic, 2014 MREM graduate, presented the poster “The Value of Global Overview Reports: A Case Study of the Use of The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture Published by the Food and Agriculture Organization,” (co-authored by Dr. Bertrum MacDonald and FAO staff members, Tina Famer, Maria Kalensits, and Richard Grainger) at “Our Coasts: Legacies & Futures,” the biennial Coastal Zone Canada conference, Halifax, 15-19 June 2014.

Andrew Roy, MLIS/JD student, presented the poster “A Community in Decline: Citizen Engagement and the Whites Point Quarry and Marine Terminal Project, Digby, Nova Scotia,” based on a project supervised by Dr. Bertrum MacDonald, at “Our Coasts: Legacies & Futures,” the biennial Coastal Zone Canada conference, Halifax, 15-19 June 2014.

James Ross, MLIS student, presented the paper “Awareness and Use of State of the Environment Reports: A Case Study of the State of the Scotian Shelf Report” (co-authored with Heather Breeze, Canada Department of Fisheries and Oceans), based on a thesis project supervised by Dr. Bertrum MacDonald, in a special session organized by the Environmental information: Use and Influence research program at “Our Coasts: Legacies & Futures,” the biennial Coastal Zone Canada conference, Halifax, 15-19 June 2014.

Eman Alyami, MEC student, presented the paper “International University Students’ Online Shopping Behaviour,” based on a thesis project supervised by Dr. Louise Spiteri, at the 27th International Business Research Conference, Toronto, ON, 12-13 June, 2014.

Doctoral Students

Elham Alghamdi, an IDPhD student who completed a course with Prof. Sandra Toze on Information Seeking Behavior, will present the paper “Social Media Based Businesses in Saudi Arabia” at the Social Media & Society Conference in Toronto on 27-28 September 2014.

Lama Khoshaim, an IDPhD student supervised by Dr. Anatoliy Gruzd, presented the poster “The Second Screen Experience: An Experiment on Tweeting and watching Bones TV show” at the annual meeting of GRAND, Graphics Animation and New Media, Ottawa, 13-16 May 2014; she will also present the paper “Understanding Second Screen Experience: the Use of Social Media and Mobile Devices while Watching Live Television” at the Social Media and Society, conference, Toronto, 27-28 September 2014.

Suzuette Soomai, an IDPhD student supervised by Dr. Bertrum MacDonald, presented the paper “Measuring Use of Fisheries Information in Policy-Making for Fisheries Management” in a special session organized by the Environmental information: Use and Influence research program at “Our Coasts: Legacies & Futures,” the biennial Coastal Zone Canada conference, Halifax, 15-19 June 2014. Suzuette is also a co-author along with James Ross (MLIS student) of the paper “Lobbying for Grey Literature in Policy and Decision Making: The Necessity of Understanding the Processes,” (co-authored with Dr. Bertrum MacDonald and Dr. Peter Wells, of the Environmental Information: Use and Influence team) that will be presented at “Grey Literature Lobby: Engines and Requesters for Change,” the sixteenth international conference on grey literature, Washington DC, 8-9 December 2014.

 

Are you working on or did you complete a reading course, thesis, or any research you’d like to share? The APLA 2014 Program Committee invites students to submit electronic poster proposals to be considered for presentation online at the 2014 APLA conference.

An electronic poster is a brief, dynamic presentation highlighting your research. This new session format is titled Web Exclusive: Spotlight on Student Research. The theme for APLA 2014 is Step into the Spotlight and focuses on library marketing, advocacy, and outreach efforts. Electronic posters are invited along these themes, although submissions along other themes also are welcome.

Accepted presentations will be added to the conference blog (www.apla2014.wordpress.com), have a feature Twitter chat, and presenters will have the option of table space on Friday, June 6^th. There is WiFi in the presentation area. Presenters are encouraged to bring their own laptop or tablet, though some equipment will be available to use on site.

To submit an electronic poster for consideration, please send an email by this Friday, April 4, 2014 with the following information:

• Name of the project
• A brief structured abstract (no more than 250 words)
• Name(s) and contact information of the presenter(s) including email, and phone number.

Suggested tools to create electronic posters include: Prezi, Keynote, Haiku Deck, and Projeqt (via http://mashable.com/2013/08/19/presentation-apps/).

All those submitting abstracts for posters will be contacted by April 11, 2014. Dalhousie students can send their electronic poster proposals via email to tara.rumsey@dal.ca.

Please note: though the stress of the end of semester may be setting in, you don’t need to miss out on this opportunity! Your actual poster does not need to be submitted at this time. If you’re thinking of getting involved, write up a brief proposal/abstract and send it along.