Every other year the Information: interactions and impact (i3) conference brings an international community of academic and practitioner researchers together in Aberdeen to explore the quality and effectiveness of the interactions between people and information, and how such interactions can bring about change. In the years in which it takes place, i3 is one of the highlights of the conference season. (For a flavour of the event please see my review from two years ago, and the others to which I link in my 2015 post.)

This year i3 takes place at Robert Gordon University the week after next, from Tuesday June 27th until Friday June 30th 2017. Staff and research students from the Centre for Social Informatics, including our Visiting Professor Brian Detlor, are looking forward to joining the conference. Here we will be delivering a total of ten papers, as listed in the final version of the conference programme. Our contributions are:

1. Demonstrating the impact of the public library on citizenship development in the UK: focus group findings to be presented by Leo Appleton (co-authors Alistair Duff, Hazel Hall and Robert Raeside)
2. Tacit knowledge sharing in online environments: locating “Ba” within a platform for public sector professionals to be presented by Iris Buunk (co-authors Hazel Hall and Colin Smith)
3. Practices of community councillors in exploiting information channels for citizen engagement in democratic processes to be presented by Peter Cruickshank (co-authors Hazel Hall and Bruce Ryan)
4. The application of Social Cognitive Theory in Information Science research on workplace learning and innovative work behaviours to be presented by Lyndsey Jenkins (co-authors Hazel Hall and Robert Raeside)
5. Undermining our data: implications for trust in the population census to be presented by Lynn Killick (co-authors Alistair Duff, Mark Deakin and Hazel Hall)
6. Job search information behaviours: an ego-net study of networking and social media use amongst young jobseekers to be presented by John Mowbray (co-authors Hazel Hall , Robert Raeside and Peter Robertson)
7. Youth digital participation: measuring social impact to be presented by Alicja Pawluczuk (co-authors Hazel Hall , Colin Smith and Gemma Webster)
8. Getting unstuck: information problem solving in high school STEM students and evidence of metacognitive knowledge to be presented by Todd Richter (co-authors Laura Muir, Tom Flint, Hazel Hall and Colin Smith)
9. Blurred reputations: managing professional and private online to be presented by Frances Ryan (co-authors Peter Cruickshank, Hazel Hall and Alistair Lawson)
10. Digital storytelling and the use of iBeacon technologies by libraries: how to promote citizen interest in a city and its cultural heritage by Brian Detlor (co-authors Fariba Nosrati and Claudia Crippa, McMaster University, Canada)

As a member of the international programme committee for i3 2017, my colleague Laura Muir has played a key role in the selection of papers for the conference. In addition, Laura will be chairing a session at i3. Brian Detlor and I have also accepted invitations to chair a conference session each.

There is still time to register for the conference: the full rate for all four days is £445 (or £325 for students); the day rate is £125 (short day) or £150 (long day). For further details on how to book your place, please click on the Registration tab on the main conference web page. Please note, however, that registrations close this Friday 16th June.

If you unable to attend, but would like to keep in touch with the conference as it unfolds, follow the hashtag #i3rgu, and keep an eye on the conference Twitter feed at @i3_conference.

As well as participating at i3 the research students from the Centre for Social Informatics will be in Aberdeen the day before on Monday 26th June to take part in iDocQ 2017. Now in its seventh year, iDocQ is the annual doctoral colloquium for students studying for PhDs in Information Science and other related disciplines. Each year iDocQ is organised by a committee of students from four Scottish universities: (1) Edinburgh Napier; (2) Glasgow; (3) Robert Gordon; and (4) Strathclyde. The Edinburgh Napier student rep this year is Todd Richter.

This year’s iDocQ programme includes:

• a keynote presentation by Dr Luke Sloan, Deputy Director of the Social Data Science Lab at Cardiff University
• break-outs on a range of issues related to the process of completing a PhD and life beyond writing up the thesis
• a research clinic presented in Question Time format
• opportunities for delegates to present their own research in a rapid-fire One Minute Madness session

For further information of what to expect at iDocQ 2017, please read the reviews of iDocQ 2015, iDocQ 2014, and iDocQ 2013. You can also follow iDocQ on Twitter at @iDocQ.

iDocQ 2017 is now sold out. However, there organisers are holding a waiting list for student delegates who would like to participate, should additional places become available. To join the waiting list, please register on the iDocQ EventBrite page.