School of Information Sciences

SIS is heading to Wuhan for iConference 2017!

02/23/2017

Numerous representatives from SIS will be attending this year’s iConference in Wuhan, China from March 22 through the 25. This year’s theme is “Effect. Expand. Evolve: Global collaboration across the Information Community.”

Since 2005, the iConference series has provided forums in which information scholars, researchers and professionals share their insights on critical information issues in contemporary society. An openness to new ideas and research fields in information science is a primary characteristics of the event. As a founding member of the iSchools Organization, SIS has been well represented at every iConference, with faculty and students presenting their research.

The following students have been selected to attend the iConference:

Yu Chi

Michael Widdersheim

Sanqiang Zhao

Rui Meng

Danchen Zhang

 

Eighteen i3 scholars will also be attending the iConference:

Ahmed Abdirahman

Nekia Hampton

Rachael Ollivierre

Grace Ahmed

Maryam Hedayati

Ginny Randall

Jarime Chaco

Alexis Ho Liu

Jasmine Rodriguez

Caroline Contreras

Diane Lopez

Carlo Sugatan

Trishia Domingo

Taylor Neal

Jonathan Velez

Aderin Falana

Stephy Oge

Rae Wallace

In addition, Alka Singh, internship coordinator, will also be presenting, “Academic Civic Engagement: Fostering Faculty and Non-Faculty Relationships for Student Success,” with Misti Mckeehen, director of PittServes. Kayla Booth, i3 assistant director and visiting professor, will also attend to discuss her work on, “Recovery and Maintenance: How Women with Eating Disorders Use Instagram.”

The School of Information Sciences is so proud of the faculty, staff, and students who were selected to participate in the 2017 iConference. It’s an amazing opportunity to showcase the School’s research accomplishments to our peer schools across the world as this conference draws attendees from the 80+ schools that belong to the iSchools consortium.

Meet one of the attendees: Michael Widdersheim, PhD in LIS

Michael Widdersheim is a PhD Candidate in the LIS program. He is set to defend his dissertation at the end of March.

Q: Tell us about your research interests.
A: My research interests are interdisciplinary─I like to approach library and information issues using concepts from communications, philosophy, sociology, and history. I use both qualitative and quantitative methods when conducting research.

Q: In what capacity will you be attending this year’s iConference?
A: I was invited to join a Session for Interaction and Engagement that focuses on the nature of the public sphere and libraries in the digital age. I will be working with several colleagues from Norway, Denmark, and Japan. I have met the colleagues from Europe previously at both iConference 2015 and at a conference in Sweden, however, this will our first joint session. Masanori Koizumi, an assistant professor at the Tsukuba iSchool in Japan as well as a prior visiting scholar at Pitt, is someone with whom I have worked closely with and we have co-authored several papers together. At the conference, we will all be looking at ways to collaborate further moving forward. In addition to that session, I was also accepted to the doctoral colloquium, which is a mentoring experience funded by an NSF grant. I am very excited for this opportunity to meet and collaborate with researchers from around the world who work in my area.

Q: What are you most looking forward to about the conference?
A: I am obviously excited to meet colleagues and participants during the sessions, but I am also looking forward to seeing Wuhan as I have heard it's the most beautiful city in China. I have also heard that the conference should coincide with the cherry blossoms, which will be a great sight

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