[Asis-l] Deadline extended to Tuesday, September 2, 2008: Submission of position papers for SIG USE 8th Annual Research Symposium

[CHENG, YUNGRANG]

(Apologies for cross postings)

Dear Colleagues,

You still have time to submit your position papers to the 2008 8th SIG USE symposium. The deadline of submissions has been extended to Tuesday, September 2, 2008. We are looking forward to seeing you at the SIG USE symposium in Columbus, OH!

Laura Cheng
Organizer, SIG USE symposium committee

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yungrang Laura Cheng, Ph.D., Assistant Professor
School of Library & Information Science
Kent State University
274 East 1st Avenue, Suite 100
Columbus, OH 43201
phone: 614.291.1001, 614.291.1012
fax: 614.291.1015
email: yrcheng at kent.edu
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

8th Annual Research Symposium of Special Interest Group:  Information
Needs, Seeking & Use (SIG USE)

Future Directions: Information Behavior in the Design & Making of Relevant
Research

Saturday, October 25, 2008, 1pm-6pm, Hyatt Regency, Columbus, Ohio

***CALL FOR PARTICIPATION
***Deadline: September 2, 2008

ASIS&T 2008's conference theme, People Transforming Information -
Information Transforming People, provides an important opportunity for the
SIG USE symposium to offer guided reflection on the big questions around
which information behavior researchers and practitioners can (or should)
be making a difference. Our people-centred approach has enabled us to
deepen our understanding of the ways in which people interact with
information, information systems, and other people. Communicating these
insights to researchers and practitioners in related areas of study and
design, however, continues to pose a challenge for our community. Thus,
the reflective moment to be offered by this year's Symposium will be used
to consider one particular challenge: communicating the significance of
information behaviour research to designers of products, systems and
services.

The symposium consists of two keynote speeches and seminar discussions:
1.      Keith Instone, Information Architecture Leader, IBM.com. Keith
will share some of the IA challenges he faces every day working on a large
and distributed corporate web site.
2.      Professor Mike Thelwall, Leader of the Statistical Cybermetrics
Research Group, University of Wolverhampton, UK.  Mike has developed tools
for gathering and analysing web sites, blogs and social networking sites.

Position Paper Submission for Attendees: Formal papers from attendees will
not be expected; the Symposium will follow a seminar format focusing on
participant discussion. Researchers and professionals interested in
participating should submit a 1-page position paper (about 300 words)
reflecting upon critical questions for information behavior research to
the Symposium Organizers not later than August 15, 2008. Applicants are
invited to reflect on the four questions that will frame the symposium and
present ways that their research addresses them:
*       How does our research address the transformative relationship
between people and information?
*       What are the fundamental questions that we should be looking at in
our research?
*       How are we to move towards making a greater impact on
organizations and designers?
*       How can or should information behavior research be presented to
translate effectively into the language of other information research
communities?

Experienced researchers may share information about their current research
and insights from lessons learned through past projects, while those new
to the field may describe their research or professional interests related
to the Symposium themes. Position papers will be posted on the SIG USE
website (www.siguse.org) prior to the Symposium. Small discussion groups
will be organized around symposium questions and themes emerging from
position papers. Participants must register with ASIS&T at www.asis.org
for the Symposium. Symposium participants are invited to attend a SIG
SI/USE networking lunch during the time between the SIG SI and USE
symposia. Cost: Pay-on-your-own. Further details to be announced later.

Fees: Before September 12, 2008, members $90, non-members $105.  After
September 12, 2008 members $105, non-members $120. SIG USE members
attending both SIG SI (Morning of Saturday, Oct. 25,.) and SIG USE
symposiums will receive a $10 discount on fees.

Symposium Organizers:
Yungrang Laura Cheng, School of Library and Information Science, Kent
State University, Columbus, Ohio.  Email: yrcheng at kent.edu

Ruth Vondracek, Research & Innovative Services, Oregon State University,
Corvallis, Oregon. Email: Ruth.Vondracek at oregonstate.edu

Theresa Anderson, Information and Knowledge Management Program, Faculty of
Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Technology, Sydney. Email:
Theresa.Anderson at uts.edu.au