[Siguse-l] 2014 ASIS&T SIG-USE Symposium: Call for Participation

[K.-Sun Kim]

CALL FOR PARTICIPATION 

All the interested researchers, graduate students, and information professionals are invited to submit a proposal for a short presentation (i.e., approximately 5-8 minutes in the form of lightning talks) at the 2014 SIG-USE Symposium. Proposals for lightning talks should be one to two pages long (500-1000 words) and outline the topic and themes that will be addressed during the talk. Proposed topics must be relevant to the Symposium theme - "Context in information behavior research" (See below). 

ABOUT THE 2014 SIG-USE SYMPOSIUM:
Theme: "Context in Information Behavior Research"
Date: November 1, 2014 (Saturday) 
Time: 1:30 to 6:30 pm 
Location: Sheraton Seattle Hotel, Seattle, WA, USA 

The importance of context in human information behavior research has been well established. Nonetheless, it has been observed that although contextual aspects are included in most research, they tend to serve as the backdrop of a study, and not as its focus. Stronger emphasis on context will enhance our understanding of information behavior. The purpose of this symposium is to explore the role and impact of context, aiming to advance scholarship and knowledge concerning this key component of information behavior research. 

This symposium will focus on themes including, but not limited to: 
• Conceptual and theoretical aspects: Focusing on the conceptual and theoretical understanding of context in information behavior research, papers may explore questions such as the following: What does “context” really mean? What is the nature of context in the research frameworks of information behavior studies (e.g., as the background/setting, the explanatory factor, the manipulation condition, or the outcome variable of a research study)? How are relationships between individuals, groups, and contexts surrounding the information behavior conceptualized? To what extent and in what way do variables representing features at broader levels of aggregation (e.g., group level, organizational level, societal level) affect the information behavior of an individual? What philosophical and theoretical perspectives and frameworks can be used to study contexts? 
• Methodological aspects: From the research method perspective, papers may examine issues such as: What factors need to be considered when selecting methods and/or instruments for studies of various contexts? What are the methodological challenges and opportunities of studying information behavior in a particular context? 
• Context-related research: With strong focus on contexts, papers may probe questions such as: What is the typical information behavior in a particular context? How different is the information behavior in one context from the other? How does the context factor interact with other factors (e.g., user characteristics)? 
• Meta-analysis of context-related research: Context-related research may be analyzed to explore questions such as: What kinds of research have been done in relation to contexts? How do different aspects of context impact different LIS areas (e.g., information literacy, design of information systems/services, etc.) and in what way? 

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES FOR LIGHTNING TALK PROPOSALS: 
- Author’s name, title, and institutional affiliation should be included at the top of the proposal. 
- Proposal text must be 500-1000 words. 
- Submission should be in pdf or doc format. The file should be named as ‘2014_SIGUSEsympo_FirstAuthor'sLastName". 
- Submission should be done by sending your draft to sigusesym2014 at gmail.com (Subject: SIGUSE_FirstAuthor’sLastname). A proposal should be submitted by midnight Hawaii Time on September 1, 2014. 
- Accepted submissions will be made available through the public SIG-USE website both before and after the Symposium. 
- Accepted submissions may be invited for publication in the next volume of the SIG USE/ASIS&T Monograph Series. 
- If there are still open spaces available, the symposium will be open to ASIS&T attendees who do not have a Lightning talk. Registration is still required. 

IMPORTANT DATES: 
September 1, 2014: Submission due date for extended abstracts or position papers 
September 20, 2014: Notification of acceptance 
October 25, 2014: Submission due date for Lightning talk slides 

REGISTRATION FEES: 
* SIG-USE Members: $90 
* ASIS&T (but not SIG-USE) Members: $100 
* Non-Members: $120 
The registration fee will cover workshop costs, wireless Internet access, and coffee breaks. 

Workshop Planning Committee Members: 
Lu Xiao (Co-Chair), University of Western Ontario 
K.-Sun Kim (Co-Chair), University of Wisconsin-Madison
Nicole Cooke, University of Illinois 
Nicole Gaston, Open Polytechnic of New Zealand 
Amelia Gibson, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 
Sei-Ching Joanna Sin, Nanyang Technological University 
Sue Yeon Syn, Catholic University of America 
Pertti Vakkari, University of Tampere 
For more information about SIG-USE: http://siguse.wordpress.com/ 

Please forward any questions that you have to Lu Xiao (lxiao24 at uwo.ca) or K.-Sun Kim (kskim at slis.wisc.edu). 

Lu Xiao & K.-Sun Kim
2014 ASIS&T SIG-USE Symposium Co-chairs

--
K.-Sun Kim
Professor
School of Library and Information Studies
University of Wisconsin-Madison
4217 H.C. White Hall
600 N. Park St.
Madison WI 53706
Phone: (608)263-2941
Fax: (608)263-4849
E-mail: kskim at slis.wisc.edu