A return visit to McMaster University in August 2017

Posted on May 24, 2017 by Hazel Hall

Dr Brian Detlor

Later in summer 2017 I will be visiting McMaster University Ontario, Canada to work with my Canadian collaborator, and Visiting Professor to the Centre for Social Informatics at Edinburgh Napier University, Dr Brian Detlor. Amongst the various activities that we have planned, I will be delivering two seminar papers when I am at McMaster.

The first paper entitled ‘Research into social media information practices, and social media information practices for research’ will be presented as part of the DeGroote Business School seminar series on Monday 14th August. The following day, on Tuesday 15th August, I will relate the main findings of the CILIP/ARA Workforce Mapping Project to an audience of librarians at the McMaster Library Symposium in a paper entitled ‘Defining the UK information worker: the CILIP-ARA Workforce Mapping Project’. (The abstracts for these two papers are given below.) Continue reading →

A copy-writing role with Information Research for Lyndsey Jenkins

Posted on May 23, 2017 by Hazel Hall

Congratulations to Centre for Social Informatics PhD student Lyndsey Jenkins, newly appointed to the team of copy-editors (or ‘editorial associates’) for Information Research. Continue reading →

Royal Society of Edinburgh New Fellows’ Induction Day, 15 May 2017

Posted on May 16, 2017 by Hazel Hall

RSE roll book signatures 1856-57 (credit D. Miell)

Annually the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) holds an Induction Day to admit its new Fellows, and to introduce them to the work of the Society. I enjoyed yesterday’s event as one of the new cohort of Fellows in 2017.

The order of the day included a number of presentations. The first was a welcome speech from RSE President Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell. Later on there were short talks on the history of the RSE, the work of the RSE Young Academy, and what it means to be a Fellow.

There was also an opportunity to take a tour of the RSE‘s headquarters at 22-26 George Street. As we were guided through the building we learnt more about the people who have played key roles in the work of the RSE (while some of them looked down at us from their portraits). We were also invited to examine some of the RSE‘s treasures, including scientific notes in the handwriting of James Clerk Maxwell, and the Crown Charter of Incorporation that constituted the formation of the society in 1783. Continue reading →

Diversity and equality in libraries: as services, as workplaces

Posted on May 9, 2017 by Hazel Hall

In general, libraries are considered as inclusive institutions, where all users expect to receive the same level of service regardless of personal characteristics such as age, gender, marital status, race, religion, sexual orientation or social class.

Continue reading →

Registrations open for free symposium on Everyday Life Information Seeking, and information behaviours in online environments, Edinburgh, Thursday 22 June 2017 #ELIS #CPCINapier

Posted on April 30, 2017 by Hazel Hall

Information science researchers with interests in Everyday Life Information Seeking, and information behaviours in online environments, are invited to register for a research symposium to be held in Edinburgh on Thursday 22 June 2017. Registration is free to all (whether established academics, early career researchers or PhD students), with a number of travel bursaries available to support the participation of PhD students (please see below). Continue reading →

Lecturer job vacancy: Creative and Social Informatics group, School of Computing, Edinburgh Napier University

Posted on April 8, 2017 by Hazel Hall

The School of Computing at Edinburgh Napier University is currently recruiting. Please pass the message on!

We are seeking to fill a vacancy for a lecturer post (grade 6, £38,183-£46,924, 2-year fixed term). The job is advertised on the University web site (along with the role description for lecturer posts) and jobs.ac.uk as ‘Lecturer in Business Information Systems’, with a deadline for applications of Tuesday 2nd May 2017. Continue reading →

Commemorating the 400th anniversary of the death of John Napier (1550-1617)

Posted on April 4, 2017 by Hazel Hall

Merchiston Tower

Whenever I deliver an invited presentation to an international audience I like to give a little bit of background about myself, the city of Edinburgh, the city’s four universities, and my home institution: see for example slides 7-23 in the presentation that I recently gave in Brazil. For the latter I refer to the work of John Napier (1550-1617), after whom Edinburgh Napier University is named, and whose former home – Merchiston Tower – is situated on the campus where I work. Continue reading →

Reflections on a first visit to the University of São Paulo

Posted on March 21, 2017 by Hazel Hall

Last week I was honoured to visit Brazil as a guest of the Departamento de Engenharia de Produção da Politéchnica at the University of São Paulo.

My visit was timed to coincide with a two-day research symposium that showcased the work of the University’s Laboratório de Gestão Estratégica da Tecnologia da Informação, do Conhecimento e da Inteligência Competitiva (LETICIC) on 15th and 16th March 2017. The symposium was organised by Professor Renato de Oliveira Moraes of the Departamento de Engenharia de Produção. Renato was also the main host for my visit to São Paulo. Continue reading →

Information Literacy for Democratic Engagement (IL-DEM) project: findings

Posted on March 19, 2017 by Hazel Hall

Peter Cruickshank, Dr Bruce Ryan and I recently completed the I nformation Literacy for Democratic Engagement (IL-DEM) project. This work set out to investigate levels of digital and information literacy within Scotland’s Community Council system. It was supported by a grant from the CILIP Information Literacy Group.

We explored how community councillors develop the skills required to inform and engage with the citizens that they represent, and how libraries support this work. In doing so have extended further two established research streams within the Centre for Social Informatics: (1) Cruickshank and Ryan’s work on digital engagement in local democracy (such as our DigiCC workshops), and (2) mine with Christine Irving on information literacy and life-long learning. This work also builds upon our group’s track record in library and information science research. Continue reading →

Knowledge sharing and networking behaviours in job search: two new papers in the latest issue of Information Research

Posted on March 15, 2017 by Hazel Hall

The latest issue of Information Research published this week includes two papers that draw on research from the Centre for Social Informatics. I was a co-author on both:

Buunk, I., Hall, H., & Smith, C.F. (2017). Tacit knowledge sharing: the determination of a methodological approach to explore the intangible. Information Research, 22(1).

Mowbray, J., Hall, H., Raeside, R., Robertson, P. (2017). The role of networking and social media tools during job search: an information behaviour perspective. Information Research, 22(1). Continue reading →