[Asist-announce] Call for Awards Nominations; Presidential Message from Bulletin

[Richard Hill]

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS.  ASIS&T Awards deadlines will soon be upon us.
Details of all awards, including SIG and Chapter awards, are at
https://www.asist.org/about/awards/.  Below are the deadlines for non-SIG or
Chapter awards.
Award of Merit July 1
Best Information Science Book Award  July 1
Best Research in Information Science Award  June 15
History Fund: Research Grant  June 20
History Fund: Research Paper Award  June 20
James M. Cretsos Leadership Award  August 1
New Leaders Award  June 1
Pratt Severn Best Student Research Paper Award  June 15
ProQuest Doctoral Dissertation Award  June 15
Thomson Reuters Doctoral Dissertation Proposal Scholarship  July 1
Thomson Reuters Outstanding Information Science Teacher Award  July 1
Watson Davis Award  July 15

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President’s message, from https://www.asist.org/publications/bulletin/

By Nadia Caidi, 2016 ASIS&T President

In my last column, I reflected on the importance of building more bridges
between ASIS&T and sister societies. I am happy to report that ASIS&T has
already embarked on such collaborations with several organizations, among
them the Society for the Social Studies of Science, known as 4S; the Council
of Scientific Society Presidents (CSSP), an umbrella organization
representing a broad array of scientific disciplines; and the Association
for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE).

In conversations with 4S president Lucy Suchman, ASIS&T and 4S embarked in
the co-sponsorship of a session for the May meeting of CSSP
(https://sciencepresidents.org/spring- 2016-meeting/) on the topic of the
challenges of managing data (big and small). There is evidence that many
scientific societies and/or their members are greatly concerned about the
integrity, security and re-use of their data, as well as about effective
data access. The panel will examine the issues surrounding digital curation
methods and practices; approaches to long-term data management; and
policies, costs and mechanisms for ensuring data resilience, accessibility
and reusability in the context of information risk and change.
The CSSP board subsequently decided to introduce this panel as the opening
session for its May meeting in Washington, DC, and made data the central
theme of the meeting. Suchman noted, “The Society for Social Studies of
Science (4S) welcomes the opportunity for interdisciplinary dialogue and
debate, with ASIS&T and related scientific societies. Our concerns include
the question of what we mean by data, not (only) as a theoretical matter but
also in terms of the contingencies of data production, and the practical
politics of naming (particularly qualitative) research materials as
alienable data. We are committed as well to addressing concerns and
initiatives beyond North America, the UK and Europe in our discussion.”
The speakers we selected for the panel are no strangers to ASIS&T. They
include Liz Lyon, University of Bath, UKOLN Director and a recent Visiting
Professor at the iSchool at Pittsburgh; Reagan Moore, chief scientist for
data intensive cyber environments with RENCI and member of the DICE group in
the UNC Chapel Hill School of Information and Library Science; and David
Ribes, Department of Human Centered Design and Engineering at the University
of Washington. Our selection of speakers responds to the need for
interdisciplinary perspectives on the complex issues surrounding data
archiving, sharing and interpretation. We look forward to continuous
engagement in these critical conversations with our colleagues at 4S, CSSP
and elsewhere.

The ASIS&T relationship with CSSP has been further strengthened as a result
of my election to the CSSP executive board. I am delighted to have the
opportunity to represent the information field and bring our perspectives
and sensibilities to the table. In addition, I will be co-chairing the CSSP
scholarly publications and data committee. Taken together, these
developments cement our engagement and outreach efforts outside the field of
information.

ASIS&T has also strengthened its ties with ALISE. On February 12, 2016, the
ASIS&T Board issued a position statement on accreditation that outlines its
views on current accreditation reforms and the importance of taking stock of
the diverse and interdisciplinary nature of the information field. As an
organization that represents thousands of information researchers and
professionals across a broad spectrum, ASIS&T supports a pluralist agenda on
accreditation. To contribute to the ongoing debate, ALISE president Louise
Spiteri and I have joined forces and will be hosting a joint ALISE/ASIS&T
Presidential Session on Accreditation during our Annual Meeting in
Copenhagen, in October 2016. The purpose of this session will be to engage
in a candid and open dialog about accreditation models with various
stakeholders, so mark your calendars!
Other noteworthy sessions at the Annual Meeting will include the “Diversity
and Inclusion Luncheon” and the “Meet the Editors” session, in which
attendees will be able to engage with editors from several key journals in
our field (including recently appointed JASIST editor, Javed Mostafa) and to
hear about the findings from the publications committee survey of members’
perceptions of ASIS&T publications.

Two excellent keynote speakers promise to be a draw. Greg Welch is the
Florida Hospital Endowed Chair in Healthcare Simulation at the University of
Central Florida, with appointments in the College of Nursing, Computer
Science Department and the Institute for Simulation & Training. He is also
the co-director of both the Synthetic Reality Laboratory and the Interactive
Systems & User Experience Research Cluster at University of Central Florida
and an adjunct professor in the Department of Computer Science at UNC Chapel
Hill. He will be sharing his experiences with us on various healthcare
related applications (including virtual and augmented reality, human motion
tracking and computer graphics and vision).
Markus Bundschus is head of scientific and business information services at
Roche Diagnostics Bavarian Site (Penzberg), one of the largest biotechnology
centers in Europe. With a background in bioinformatics (Technical University
of Munich) and a Ph.D. in informatics from Ludwig-Maximilians Universität
München, he is uniquely placed to unpack for us the art and science of
diagnostics.

Both speakers epitomize the conference theme of building bridges between
industry and research. Both have been applying information and technology in
their respective sectors as a way of generating new knowledge and innovative
ways of framing problems and solutions.

I look forward to seeing many of you at the Annual Meeting and hope you can
take advantage of the cultural and historical richness that Copenhagen has
to offer.
Finally, I also invite everyone to engage in local conversations that are
taking place throughout the ASIS&T universe. Examples include the ASIS&T
Regional (East Coast) Meeting on April 15th at Rutgers University
(https://www.asist.org/events/asist-regional-meeting-2016-
rutgers-university/), with a day-long opportunity to learn and network
(check our website for more details). And across the globe, the ASIS&T
Taipei Chapter will hold a stimulating workshop on data science, information
visualization and infographics on April 29th at National Taiwan Normal
University Library.

Remember that ASIS&T is your organization and your window into cutting-edge
research and achievements in our field, so go ahead, get engaged and tell us
about what is happening in your lab, classroom or workplace, and about the
grants, initiatives, awards and programs you are involved in. We want to
hear from you. Send us an email with the details at: asist-news at asist.org


Richard B. Hill
Executive Director
ASIS&T
8555 16th Street, Suite 850
Silver Spring, MD  20910
v. (301) 495-0900
f. (301) 495-0810