More men wanted – to complete the Workforce Mapping Project survey

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The Workforce Mapping Project survey is found at http://bit.ly/workforcemap

The Workforce Mapping Project survey closes at the end of the month on Thursday 30th April. The Edinburgh Napier project team is keen to encourage those who work within the UK in roles associated with libraries, archives, records, information, and knowledge management, and who have not already done so, to make their contributions to the study.

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Appointment as Chair of the Research Councils UK Digital Economy Theme Programme Advisory Board

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I have recently been appointed Chair of the Research Councils UK Digital Economy (DE) Theme Programme Advisory Board (PAB). I take over the role from Brian Collins, Professor of Engineering Policy and Director of the International Centre for Infrastructure Futures at University College London.

My appointment builds on previous work that I have conducted for the DE Theme. This includes: serving on the 12-person panel that conducted the 2012 impact review of the DE Theme investment; involvement in an additional stream of DE research undertaken under the banner of “digital personhood” (I helped identify the scope of the investment and served as a mentor at the sandpit meeting where project ideas were germinated); and reviewing grant proposals and other panel work. I was first appointed a member of the PAB in 2014.

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Edinburgh Napier University granted Athena SWAN bronze award

Athena SWAN logoAlongside my research and teaching activities at Edinburgh Napier University, I am the University’s Academic Champion for Athena SWAN. This week I was pleased to hear that much of the work that I have led in this role since 2013/14 has been recognised externally.

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Doctoral degree programme evaluation at the University of Borås

Union flags fly to mark the visit of British professors to the University of Borås

Union flags fly to mark the visit of British Professors Hazel Hall and David Allen to the University of Borås

Last June I blogged about a trip to University of Borås in Sweden to serve as the opponent at a doctoral defence. This week I made a return visit to the University. On this occasion I was an external member of a panel charged with auditing the University’s doctoral education programme in Library and Information Science.

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Librarian: second most desirable job in Britain?

Given that I am currently leading a research project to map the UK workforce in library, archives, records, information and knowledge management sectors, I was interested to come across some results of a recent YouGov survey yesterday. These claim that the job of librarian is the ‘second most desirable’ in Britain. Is this really the case, and (if so) why?

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Applications invited for 25 PhD studentships at Edinburgh Napier University, start date 1 October 2015

Edinburgh Napier logoEdinburgh Napier University is currently inviting applications for 25 fully-funded PhD studentships across a range of research areas. Included in these areas are six topics of relevance to the research interests of the Centre for Social Informatics. These are:

  • e-Government
  • Information policy
  • Information seeking behaviour and use
  • Knowledge management
  • Online communities
  • Open data and open government

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Prizes, papers, and a new publication on success factors in information systems development projects

John Mowbray's winning poster

John Mowbray’s winning poster

We currently have eight research students undertaking doctoral studies in the Centre for Social Informatics (CSI) working on a variety of projects. While the goal of our students is to complete their theses within the degree registration period, it’s also important that they share news of their work as it progresses. A number of our current students have recently been busy taking advantage of opportunities to disseminate their research. New work on success factors in information systems projects co-authored by a PhD graduate has also been accepted for publication.

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Applications invited for PhD studentship: Enhancing the capacity for workplace learning and innovation in Scotland

We are currently advertising a fully-funded PhD studentship within the Centre for Social Informatics at Edinburgh Napier University. The studentship is advertised on the Edinburgh Napier University vacancies web site, and on jobs.ac.uk. The title of the study is Enhancing the capacity for workplace learning and innovation in Scotland.

  • Applications are due by Monday 20th April 2015.
  • Interviews are planned for Thursday 14th May 2015.
  • The studentship will start on Thursday 1st October 2015.

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Save Blipfoto: how to automatically generate PDF files of your journal entries

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This blog entry was originally posted on Tuesday 17th March 2015. It has since been edited to take into account the posting of the program that it describes to GitHub, and to provide links to short tutorial information on YouTube for non-programmers on how to run the program.

Yesterday many members of the Blipfoto community – myself included – were deeply unsettled by news that the company has gone into liquidation. Blipfoto has been integral to my everyday life for over three years. The thought that my daily routine is at risk is very upsetting. Finding a photographic subject, capturing a shot, uploading it, writing a little about my day, waiting for greetings from my fellow blippers, and catching up with the journals of others has become part of what I am.

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Put yourself on the map: complete the Workforce Mapping Project survey

Workforce mapping project bannerThe Workforce Mapping Project survey is live at http://bit.ly/workforcemap

This is a call to workers in the library, archives, records, information, and knowledge management sector to contribute to a research project by completing a short survey. If you work in this sector, please read on to learn more about the project and how you can contribute to it.

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