Ada Lovelace Day 2016 in Edinburgh #ALD16

adalovelaceday_indieevent_whiteToday is Ada Lovelace Day, a worldwide celebration of women in science, technology, engineering and maths. Across Edinburgh there are a number of events to mark the day.

Edinburgh Napier University is hosting a public lecture this evening at its Craiglockhart Campus. The speaker is Professor Caroline Wilkinson, Director of the Face Lab at Liverpool John Moores University. Caroline will discuss her varied career and how it has combined science with a number of disciplines including art, forensics, computing and anatomy.  She will also make the case for women in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine (STEMM). This event is chaired by Dr Sandra Cairncross, Assistant Principal at Edinburgh Napier University and Chair of Equate Scotland. I will be giving the vote of thanks and chairing the Q&A session following Caroline’s talk. Continue reading

Call for submissions to #eblip9, Philadelphia, USA, June 2017

EBLIP9 logoThe call for paper and poster proposals for the 9th International Evidence Based Library and Information Practice (EBLIP9) conference is now live.The conference takes between June 18th and 21st 2017 in Philadelphia, USA.

Submissions are invited on the broad conference theme of ’embedding and embracing evidence’. 300 word abstracts are invited for two types of contribution: (1) full papers (to be delivered in a 30 minute slot at the conference); and (2) posters. Those whose work is accepted for a paper presentation will also be encouraged to submit a full paper to the journal Evidence Based Library and Information Practice following the conference. Continue reading

Information Seeking in Context 2016 #isic2016: reviews

Presents from Croatia

A postcard and some presents, featuring (l to r) Lyndsey Jenkins, Iris Buunk, Frances Ryan, and John Mowbray

The research students from the Centre for Social Informatics who participated at Information Seeking in Context (ISIC) 2016 from 20th to 23rd September returned to the office this week.

As well as enthusiastic tales of the Croatia and the conference itself, Iris Buunk, Lyndsey Jenkins, John Mowbray, and Frances Ryan also brought back to Edinburgh some rather delicious goodies and a fun selfie postcard of the four of them enjoying the sunshine on the Adriatic.

All four students have now reviewed the conference and associated doctoral workshop on their blogs. To find out more, please see:

Professor Steve Fuller to present ASIST Annual Lecture at Edinburgh Napier University, 30th November 2016 #ASIST_AL16

Steve Fuller Warwick

Professor Steve Fuller

This year’s ASIST Annual Lecture takes place on Wednesday 30th November 2016 at Edinburgh Napier University. This is the first time that any lecture in this series has been presented in the UK.

The speaker at this event is Professor Steve Fuller, Auguste Comte Chair in Social Epistemology at the University of Warwick. In a presentation entitled What, if anything, makes knowledge an improvement over information? Steve will discuss the tension between our thirst for easy access to vast quantities of information and our fears of information overload, and he will explore how concepts of information vary across contexts. Continue reading

Calling girls in S1-S3: free workshops on forensics and physical computing, Edinburgh 11 October 2016 #ALD16

adalovelaceday_indieevent_whiteAs part of the celebrations of Ada Lovelace Day on Tuesday 11th October 2016 the School of Computing at Edinburgh Napier University is offering the opportunity for school girls in S1-S3 to come to the Craiglockhart campus after school to take part in computing workshops. They are also invited to stay on afterwards for the University’s annual Ada Lovelace day lecture. Participation at both events is free of charge. Continue reading

ISIC 2016: contributions from the Centre for Social Informatics #ISIC2016

Image result for isic 2016 zadar

Four PhD students from the Centre for Social Informatics –  Iris Buunk, Lyndsey Jenkins, John Mowbray, and Frances Ryan – are in Zadar, Croatia this week for Information Seeking in Context (ISIC) 2016. Today they are taking part in the pre-conference doctoral workshop. Tomorrow they will join the conference itself, which continues until Friday. You can follow both the doctoral workshop and conference on Twitter hashtag #isic2016. Continue reading

Congratulations Lyndsey Jenkins: co-author of best paper at #I3E2016

Lyndsey Jenkins

Lyndsey Jenkins

Many congratulations to Centre for Social Informatics PhD student Lyndsey Jenkins on winning a ‘best paper’ award with co-authors Ruoyun Lin and Debora Jeske at the 15th IFIP Conference on e-Business, e-Services and e-Society last week.

The winning paper is entitled ‘Influences and benefits of role models on social media’. On the basis of their empirical work, the authors argue that having a role model is associated with greater perceived support for one’s career aspirations, and access to information. In addition, those who have role models online report that their online profiles give more realistic self-presentations of their values and priorities. These individuals also have higher expectations of reciprocity in online environments. Continue reading

Ada Lovelace Day 2016: Professor Caroline Wilkinson to present at Edinburgh Napier University #ALD16

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/a-lecture-with-caroline-wilkinson-tickets-27674666673

On the evening of Ada Lovelace Day this year – Tuesday 11th October 2016 – Edinburgh Napier University, with Equate Scotland, is hosting a public lecture by Professor Caroline Wilkinson, Director of the Face Lab at Liverpool John Moores University. Caroline will be speaking about her varied career and how it has combined science with a number of disciplines including art, forensics, computing and anatomy.  She will also make the case for women in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine (STEMM). Continue reading

Keynote catch-up with Katriina Byström #ASIST2016

ASIST SIG USE logoI recently accepted an invitation from Katriina Byström of the University of Borås and Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences to present the keynote paper at this year’s SIG USE symposium. Members of SIG USE share research interests and expertise on information needs seeking and use, and associated behaviours. The symposium takes place on 15th October in Copenhagen as part of the Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIST) Annual meeting 2016. Its main focus this year will be information in the workplace. Continue reading

Appointment to International Programme Committee of EBLIP9 #EBLIP9

EBLIP9 logoI have recently accepted an invitation to serve on the international programme committee of the 9th Evidence Based Library and Information Practice Conference. Hosted by Drexel University (located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA), the conference takes place next year from 18th to 21st June 2017.

The call for papers will be announced in the autumn. In the meantime, follow @EBLIP9 on Twitter.