Follow #lis_rival for updates on Research Impact Value & LIS at Edinburgh Napier today

Posted on July 11, 2018 by Hazel Hall

Today we are hosting a one-day event on the theme of library and information science (LIS) research impact and value at Edinburgh Napier University’s Craiglockhart campus. My Centre for Social Informatics colleague Dr Bruce Ryan is the main organiser of this event.

We’re pleased that Research Impact Value and LIS (#lis_rival) has sold-out, and that we will have representation from across the LIS communities at Edinburgh Napier University today. Amongst the delegates to be welcomed are academic, health, national, prison, public, school, and special librarians, as well as LIS academics, professional body officers, and independent consultants. Continue reading →

Conceptualisations of LIS research impact and value: learning from the LIS Research Coalition and DREaM (#lis_rival)

Posted on July 10, 2018 by Hazel Hall

Over the past few days my colleague Dr Bruce Ryan and I have been busy finalising plans for Research Impact Value and LIS (#lis_rival), which takes place at Edinburgh Napier University Cariglockhart campus tomorrow. This work has included making up the delegate badges, filling the delegate packs (with the help of Lyndsey Middleton – thank you!), and confirming the catering arrangements.

I have also made the finishing touches to my own presentation ‘Conceptualisations of LIS research impact and value: learning from the LIS Research Coalition and DREaM (#lis_rival)‘. The slides for my presentation are available on SlideShare and below.

Successful submissions to #isic2018 for the Centre for Social Informatics

Posted on May 22, 2018 by Hazel Hall

Congratulations to Alicja Pawluczuk and Lyndsey Middleton (née Jenkins) on the recent news that the conference submissions that they made in March this year to Information Seeking in Context (ISIC) 2018 have been accepted. The conference takes place in Kraków, Poland, 9-11 October 2018. Continue reading →

Measuring the social impact of digital youth participation: new paper available on OnlineFirst

Posted on May 20, 2018 by Hazel Hall

The seventh (and final) article that I recently co-authored for publication in the Journal of Librarianship and Information Science (JoLIS) has now been published as an OnlineFirst paper. Entitled ‘Youth digital participation: measuring social impact‘, the content of the article concerns scholarly debate around digital participatory youth projects, and approaches to their evaluation. My co-authors Alicja Pawluczuk, Colin F Smith, Gemma Webster and I reveal (1) an over-reliance on traditional evaluation techniques for such initiatives, and (2) a scarcity of models for the assessment of the social impact of digital participatory youth projects. Continue reading →

Tacit knowledge sharing in online environments: paper available on OnlineFirst

Posted on May 18, 2018 by Hazel Hall

Iris Buunk

The sixth of the seven articles that I recently co-authored for the Journal of Librarianship and Information Science (JoLIS) has now been published as an OnlineFirst paper. This is ‘Tacit knowledge sharing in online environments: locating ‘Ba’ within a platform for public sector professionals‘ by Iris Buunk, Colin F. Smith, and Hazel Hall. It reports findings from Iris‘ doctoral study, which I supervise with Colin.

With reference to the concept of Ba (Nonaka and Konno, 1998), and based on empirical research conducted in the UK public sector, we draw two main conclusions in our article. First, online social platforms play a strong role in the facilitation of tacit knowledge sharing, and this leads to outcomes of learning, expertise sharing, problem solving, and innovating. Second, such platforms are important to the initiation of discussions among experts, the fostering of collective intelligence, and making tacit and personal knowledge visible and accessible quickly, with minimal effort. Continue reading →

Blurred reputations: new research on managing professional and private information online available on OnlineFirst

Posted on May 17, 2018 by Hazel Hall

The fifth of the seven articles that I recently co-authored for the Journal of Librarianship and Information Science (JoLIS) has now been published as an OnlineFirst paper. In this article the paper co-authors – Frances Ryan, Peter Cruickshank, myself and Alistair Lawson – report on some of the main findings of Frances’ doctoral study on personal reputation building and management in online environments with specific reference to Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Continue reading →

Applications and applicability of Social Cognitive Theory in information science research: paper available on OnlineFirst

Posted on May 17, 2018 by Hazel Hall

Lyndsey Middleton (née Jenkins)

The fourth of the seven articles that I recently co-authored for the Journal of Librarianship and Information Science (JoLIS) has now been published as an OnlineFirst paper. The article is entitled ‘Applications and applicability of Social Cognitive Theory in information science research’. Its content is concerned with the origins and key concepts of Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) and its value to Information Science research. Particular reference is made to SCT and its applicability to, and applications in, studies of information-seeking behaviour and use, and knowledge sharing.

This work is related to the ESRC/Skills Development Scotland doctoral study of Lyndsey Middleton (née Jenkins). It extends content that Lyndsey presented as a conference paper at Information: interactions and impact (i3) 2017 in June last year (slides available on SlideShare). The full manuscript of the article is also available to download from the Edinburgh Napier repository. Continue reading →