[Siguse-l] 8TH SIG-USE symposium call for participation

[CHENG, YUNGRANG]

(Apologies for cross posting)

SIG USE 8th Annual Research Symposium at ASIST 2008: Future Directions:
Information Behavior in design & the making of relevant research

Saturday, October 25, 2008, from 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm at the Hyatt
Regency, Columbus, OH.
CALL FOR PARTICIPATION

Deadline: August 15, 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-centered 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 behavior research to
designers of products, systems and services.

The symposium consists of two keynote speeches and seminar discussions:

* 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. 

* Professor Mike Thelwall, Leader of the Statistical Cybermetrics
Research Group, University of Wolverhampton, UK. Mike has developed
tools for gathering and analyzing 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.

Please submit your paper to Ruth Vondracek
(Ruth.Vondracek at oregonstate.edu) or Laura Cheng (yrcheng at kent.edu) .

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  


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~