DENTON (UNT), Texas — As the amount of information available on the Internet continues to grow at an enormous rate each year, demand will increase for more scholars who take interdisciplinary approaches to the information challenges of the digital age, such as universal access and user-centered organization of digital text and images.
More than 500 information scholars, researchers and practitioners will gather in Fort Worth Feb. 12-15 (Tuesday-Friday) as the University of North Texas College of Information hosts the annual iConference.
Herman L. Totten, College of Information dean, said iConference 2013 will be the eighth in the iConference series.
“We will welcome guests from around the world, making the iConference a truly prestigious event that will increase the international visibility of UNT among researchers,” Totten said. “From nationally known speakers to information experts, and from fabulous scholars to memorable networking events, the 2013 iConference will have something for everyone,” Totten said.
The iConference is an event of the iSchools, a coalition of information schools and colleges at 39 universities in Australia, Canada, Denmark, England, Finland, Germany, Ireland, the People’s Republic of China, Singapore and Scotland, as well as in the U.S. These schools and colleges, and departments focus on areas such as information science, information technology, library science and informatics.
iConference 2013, which will be held at the Worthington Renaissance Hotel in Fort Worth, has the National Science Foundation and Microsoft Research among its sponsors.
The conference’s keynote speakers include Myron Gutmann, assistant director of the National Science Foundation, with responsibility for NSF’s Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences Directorate. Gutmann, who is also a professor of history and information at the University of Michigan and a research professor in the university’s Institute for Social Research, was previously director of the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research, where he was a leader in the archiving and dissemination of electronic research materials related to society, population and health.
Gutmann will speak from 10:30-11 a.m. Feb.14 (Thursday)
The conference’s other keynote speakers are V. Lane Rawlins, UNT president, who will speak at 8:30 a.m. Feb. 13 (Wednesday), and Nancy Cantor, chancellor and president of Syracuse University, who will speak at 8 a.m. Feb. 15 (Friday).
iConference 2013 will offer sessions on digital librarianship, online communities, information access and literacy, and information law and policy, among other topics. Researchers will present 36 full papers, 36 shorter papers and 100 posters that examine critical areas of study in the information field. The conference will also include a special workshop on information privacy and a Social Media Expo, which will have multimedia presentations on using social media as tools for encouraging learning in everyday life.
A complete schedule is available online.
About the UNT College of Information:
Founded in 2008, the College of Information is located in UNT’s Discovery Park research complex. The college comprises the Department of Library and Information Sciences — previously the School of Library and Information Sciences — and the Department of Learning Technologies, previously part of the UNT College of Education.