FSU School of Information faculty and doctoral students to attend 2014 iConference in Berlin

Posted by Natalie Kates on

iSchool LogoSeveral doctoral students and faculty members from Florida State University (FSU)’s School of Information are heading to the 2014 iConference in Berlin, Germany that will take place March 4 through 7.

This year’s FSU participants include: Dr. Warren Allen, Dr. Gary Burnett, Dr. Kathleen Burnett, Wonchan Choi, Laura-Edythe Coleman, Dr. Nancy Everhart, Dr. Shuyuan Mary Ho, Ji Hei Kang, Jisue Lee, Dr. Marcia Mardis, Dr. Lorri Mon, Nathaniel (Nate) Ramos, Julia Skinner, Laura Spears, Dr. Besiki Stvilia and Lynnsey Weissenberger.  All but Coleman, Lee, Spears and Stvilia will be traveling to Berlin to attend.  You can find more details about their iConference participation at the end of this article.

Two doctoral students, Wonchan Choi and Nathaniel (Nate) Ramos, were selected to participate on a colloquium where they will present their research to a group of faculty and mentors in an interactive manner.  The forum is intended to be “workshop-like,” where feedback is provided to students on their dissertation, as well as career-related advice and insightful information on other areas of research.

Ramos’ research is about, “Babies, Puppies and Google Glass,” where he conducted a pilot study of Google Glass, and how it’s being used today by examining interactions with the product shown on Youtube videos.  While in Germany and at the iConference, Ramos hopes to “learn from professionals about trends in research, how to best make an impact in the field, and looks forward to experiencing a new culture.”  He is currently finishing his second year as a FSU doctoral student.  Ramos earned his Bachelor’s in Journalism from Colorado State University and received a Master’s in Library & Information Studies at the University of Denver.

Choi’s dissertation topic, “How people access online credibility,” specifically focuses on health-related websites.  Choi completed his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Library & Information Studies from Pusan National University in South Korea before starting his doctoral degree at FSU’s iSchool.

The iConference provides the opportunity for students to request mentors in the field who they would like to see are invited beforehand and the actual events provide time to speak with these experienced leaders.  Choi expressed excitement to discuss his research with colloquium co-chair, Karen E. Fisher, an author of Theories of Information Behavior, as well as other prominent attendees.  He said, “This event will be a great opportunity to hear feedback from the audience and ask for perspectives from key professionals about my dissertation topic.”  Choi believes the iConference will positively contribute towards his long-term plans and interest in developing existing and establishing original theories that deal with models to assess online credibility.

FSU iSchool doctoral student, Lynnsey Weissenberger, will present insights based on her accepted paper, “When “Everything” Is Information: Irish Traditional Music and Information Retrieval.”  Being an Irish musician herself, she uses personal experience as well as research to discuss larger issues with world music and information retrieval systems.  She mentioned, “the iConference provides a platform for discussions surrounding information of many kinds and in numerous contexts.  It is particularly important for my research, because I am working with music as information and oral information as it relates to music information retrieval.”

The iConference was started in 2005 by the iSchools organization and each year it is hosted by a different iSchools member-institution.  It serves as a gathering of scholars and researchers from around the world who share a common concern about critical information issues in society.  The upcoming 2014 event will take place at the Berlin School of Library and Information Science at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and the program is administered by the Royal School of Library and Information Science, University of Copenhagen.

 

Here is more information about the FSU School of Information’s participation to check out at the 2014 iConference:

  • “Culture and Context in the Mandated Implementation of Digital Textbooks in Florida and South Korea” (Note). Ji Hei Kang and Dr. Nancy Everhart.
  • “Cultivating Cultural Competence: Context, Culture, and Technology of a Global Reading Challenge” (Note). Dr. Eliza T. Dresang (previously FSU College of Information Eliza Gleason Atkins Professor).
  • “When “Everything” Is Information: Irish Traditional Music and Information Retrieval” (Paper). Lynnsey Weissenberger.
  • “Teach Me and Trust Me: Creating an Empowered Online Community of Tweens and Parents” (Paper). Dr. Mega Subramaniam (FSU iSchool Ph.D. alumni).
  • “Breaking Down and Building Up: Accelerating Sociotech Scholarship in the iSchool Community” (Organizer of Conference Workshop #1). Dr. Warren Allen.
  • “Interdisciplinary Practices in iSchools” (Organizers of Conference Workshop #5). Dr. Kathleen Burnett and Dr. Shuyuan Mary Ho.
  • “Digital Youth: Towards a New Multidisciplinary Research Network” (Organizer of Conference Workshop #10). Dr. Eliza T. Dresang (previously FSU College of Information Eliza Gleason Atkins Professor).
  • “From Eye Rolls to “I can!”: Understanding the Health Literacy of Disadvantaged Tweens” (Poster). Dr. Mega Subramaniam (FSU iSchool Ph.D. alum).
  • “Breaking Down Barriers: Transforming Libraries into Learning Labs” (Poster). Dr. Eliza T. Dresang (previously FSU College of Information Eliza Gleason Atkins Professor).
  • “Designing Studies to Evaluate an Orientation Program Using Mobile Augmented Reality for Net Generation Students” (Poster). Ji Hei Kang.
  • “Assessing Information Technology Educational Pathways That Support Deployment And Use of Rural Broadband” (Poster). Laura Spears, Dr. Marcia A. Mardis and Laura-Edythe Coleman, Jisue Lee.
  • “Networked Technologies and Exploded Context: The Case of Facebook Activism” (Poster). Dr. Gary Burnett and Julia Skinner.
  • “College Students’ Value Structure of Choosing and Using Mobile Health/Wellness Applications: Preliminary Findings” (Poster). Wonchan Choi and Dr. Besiki Stvilia.
  • “Communities of Practice and Connected Learning: Breaking Down Walls Through the Use of Information and Communication Technologies” (Poster). Dr. Eliza T. Dresang (previously FSU College of Information Eliza Gleason Atkins Professor) and Dr. Kathleen Burnett.
  • “Twitter and the Virtual Branch: the Public Library in Social Space” (Poster). Dr. Lorri Mon and Jisue Lee.
  • “Mapping an Agenda for Educational Informatics in the K-12 Domain” (Poster). Dr. Marcia A. Mardis.