An evening at Lambeth Palace for the 2022 Janette Harley Award ceremony and the 2023 Maurice Bond Memorial Lecture

Last Wednesday I was delighted to travel to Lambeth Palace to attend the 2022 Janette Harley Award ceremony, and to hear the 2023 Maurice Bond Memorial Lecture. Continue reading

National award recognises the Platform to Platform project: British Records Association Janette Harley Prize 2022 runner-up

LogoThe Edinburgh Napier University team that worked on the Platform to Platform (P2P) project to transform Lorna Lloyd’s Diary of the war into a podcast series is delighted to have learnt that this work has been highly commended as a runner-up for the British Records Association’s (BRA) 2022 Janette Harley Prize. This prize, awarded in memory of archivist Janette Harley (1951-2015), is intended to generate interest in archives, and raise awareness of research and achievements in the world of archives. Continue reading

Out with the old, in with the new

Hazel Hall and Peter Cruickshank

Dr Hazel Hall and Dr Peter Cruickshank, 30/09/22

In autumn 2022, the more eagle-eyed readers of this blog may have noticed some changes across the pages of my web site, as well as in my profile information on other platforms. I spent 16th November 2022 editing my designation as ‘Professor’ so that it now reads ‘Emeritus Professor’. At the same time, my colleagues updated the Centre for Social Informatics flyer as version 19.3 to reflect the new status granted to me by my employer. Earlier in the year, on August 3rd, we advertised a job vacancy for a new Professor in Social Informatics at Edinburgh Napier University. All this activity ties to my retirement at the end of September 2022. Continue reading

What are public libraries for? Rachel Salzano presents doctoral research at #asist2022

The 85th Annual Meeting of the Association for Information Science and Technology takes place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania this week. Those of us who cannot be there in person have been following the conference proceedings on Twitter at #asist2022 over the past couple of days.

Amongst the conference speakers is Centre for Social Informatics PhD student Rachel Salzano. Today at 15:00 UK time (09:00 in Pittsburgh) Rachel is presenting a paper co-authored with her PhD supervisors entitled ‘What are public libraries for? Culture as a determinant of conceptualizations of public library services for forced migrants’. The slides are available on SlideShare, and the full text paper can be read online in the conference proceedings. Continue reading

Rachel Salzano wins bursary place at 2022 CILIP conference #CILIPconf22

Rachel Salzano

Rachel Salzano

Congratulations to Centre for Social Informatics PhD student Rachel Salzano, who has won a bursary to attend the 2022 Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) conference in Liverpool on 7th and 8th July.

The award is sponsored by CILIP’s Library and Information Research Group (LIRG). The purpose of LIRG is to promote the value of information research, and strengthen links between research with practice. As a qualified librarian who is currently undertaking a doctoral study that aims to influence practice as well as contribute to the development of theory, it is fitting that Rachel has been selected for the bursary.

Find out more about Rachel’s PhD in the PhD musings on her web site Librarian Sans Library.
CILIP conference 2022 logo

Four new projects for the Centre for Social Informatics

Social informatics research group blog headerCongratulations to Centre for Social Informatics colleagues Dr Peter Cruickshank, Dr David Haynes, Dr Bruce Ryan, and Dr Frances Ryan on securing internal Edinburgh Napier University funding for four new research projects. Continue reading

Goodbye 2021, hello 2022

fireworksEdinburgh Napier University opened its doors again this morning after the Christmas break. This, however, is metaphorical reopening for me. As record numbers of Covid19 cases are reported in Scotland (and the UK as a whole), I will be continuing my research and PhD supervision activities off-campus from home. Continue reading

Dr Peter Cruickshank leads new collaboration with Trubshaw Cumberlege

Trubshaw logoMy Centre for Social Informatics colleague Dr Peter Cruickshank has recently won Interface funding to initiate a new research collaboration. The project partner is Trubshaw Cumberlege, a consulting firm that ‘helps forward thinking companies maximise profits by addressing social challenges at their doorsteps’.

The purpose of the project is to prototype a software-as-a service (SaaS) platform for the automation of risk assessment and management, and associated security alerts. The practical work involves the implementation of a prototype machine learning platform, and the development of underlying infrastructure. Our colleague Dr Dimitra Gkatzia, and PhD student Aleksander Bielinski will be working alongside Peter to deliver the project.

Evaluation of engagement with hyperlocal e-participation systems by citizens and representatives: thesis PDF now available

Peter Cruickshank PhD title pageIn July 2021 my Centre for Social Informatics colleague Peter Cruickshank was awarded a doctoral degree for his thesis Evaluation of engagement with hyperlocal e-participation systems by citizens and representatives.

The pdf of the thesis is now freely available for download from the Edinburgh Napier University repository. It will be of interest to all who conduct research on information behaviour and use, and particularly those investigating themes such as everyday life information seeking and information literacy in the context of e-participation. Continue reading

An award for Marianne Wilson

Natural language interfaces to support career decision-making of young people Marianne Wilson TMT three minute thesisCongratulations to Centre for Social Informatics research student Marianne Wilson, winner of the Masters award in the Skills Development (SDS) Scotland Virtual 3MT competition 2021. Continue reading