IS doctoral students and faculty share their research at international conferences

Doctoral pursuits follow several paths, including long hours of coursework and research. However, much of the learning also takes place outside of the classroom and through collaboration with other students and professionals in the field. That learning opportunity presented itself for several of our Information Science (IS) doctoral students, who presented their research at both the International Conference on Knowledge Management (ICKM) and the Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T) conferences held in Vancouver, Canada from November 9-14, 2018.

Group of students and faculty at ASIST

The department was pleased to have such strong representation, with several faculty and students traveling to Vancouver to share their research with others in the field. Faculty collaborated with students on papers and posters, and participated in panel discussions.

“It was a great networking opportunity and a way for me to share my research interests with people in the field,” said Hammad Khan, a doctoral student in the Information Science Ph.D. program.

Research areas varied, and faculty and students presented on topics relating to knowledge management, information-seeking behaviors in school librarians, data ethics in LIS, metadata, and data governance, to name a few.  

The ASIS&T conference brings together leading scholars and practitioners from around the world to share ideas, innovations, research, and insights into the state and future of information and communication. There were over 600 attendees at this year’s conference. ICKM provides Information Professionals a forum for discussion and exchange of ideas concerning theoretical and practical aspects of Information and Knowledge Management.  Both conferences provided great exposure and a rich learning experience for students, who had the opportunity to meet and network with renowned researchers in the LIS field.

“As a student it was surreal to see people that I have been reading and citing in my papers come and talk to me about my poster,” said Hammad.

The presence and support of Information Science faculty helped students feel more at ease as they navigated the world of explaining and sharing their research with others at major conferences.

“Faculty played a role in introducing students to others, which was helpful to us, as we don’t always have the courage to do so yet,” said Ana Roeschley, doctoral student, and current president of the UNT ASIS&T Student Chapter.

Hammad shared the same sentiment: “It was a wonderful experience for me to have worked on this poster with my major professor and we received a lot of interest for our research from other Universities. I was lucky to have my major professor attend along with me in the poster session, as he introduced me to a lot of prospective employers and even future collaborators.”

Awards & Recognition

The ASIS&T conference was particularly meaningful for the officers and members of the UNT ASIS&T student chapter , who received the 2018 ASIS&T Student Chapter of the Year Award. The Chapter’s President, Ana Roeschely, and Vice President, Malak Khader, were there to receive the award on behalf of all the officers who worked so hard to achieve the chapter's goals.

The UNT ASIS&T student chapter provides opportunities for students to build knowledge in the field of Information Science, while connecting with faculty and industry professionals.  The ASIS&T award committee was impressed by the variety and quality of the chapter’s activities, particularly the Multidisciplinary Information Research Symposium (MIRS), a one-day research conference held in April at UNT Discovery Park. Ana Roeschley, credits the recognition to the support of the chapter’s faculty advisors - IS Associate Professor, Dr. Jeonghyun Kim, and Dr. Daniel Alemneh, supervisor in the Digital Curation Unit at UNT Libraries. Both advisors assisted in preparing a detailed report about the chapter to be considered for the award.

This is the second award the chapter has received from ASIS&T since its revival in 2015. In 2016, the chapter also won first place for Membership Growth under the leadership of former president, Abdulrahman Habib and vice president, Hillary Stark, both doctoral candidates in the Information Science Ph.D. program who were instrumental in restarting the chapter.

In addition to the Chapter of the Year award, Ana Roeschley also received the 2018-2019 ASIS&T New Leader. This award is given to members who show leadership potential within the field. Roeschley will serve for two years, working with a mentor in a chosen special interest group within the organization.

For photos from the conferences, view our Flickr page.

The faculty and students that presented at ASIS&T and ICKM, and their research topics are listed below:

ASIS&T

Hsia-Ching Chang, Assistant Professor; Cary Jim, PhD student - The Current State of Data Governance in Higher Education (Full Paper)

Oksana Zavalina, Associate Professor - Evaluation of Metadata Change in Authority Data over Time: An effect of a Standard Evolution (Full Paper)

Daniella Smith, Associate Professor; Barbara Schultz-Jones, Associate Professor; Michelle Farabough, PhD student; Harshita Parcha, MS student - The Technology Information-Seeking Behaviors of School Librarians (Poster)

Hammad Rauf Khan, PhD student; Uriel Uzochukwu Onye; PhD student; Yunfei Du, Professor - Data Activism as Civic Engagement: Forming a Narrative to Foster Social Change on Gun Control in the United States (Poster)

Miyoung Chong, PhD student; Brandon Moore, PhD student -  Topical and semantic aspects of #MarchforOurLives (Poster)

ICKM

Tereza Raquel Merlo, Adjunct Professor; Suliman Hawamdeh, Professor (Moderator) -  Harnessing Knowledge Management Systems in the Era of Cloud Computing: A New Horizon for Organizations & the Approach of Leading Service Providers

Tara Zimmerman, PhD student - Information Overload and its Effect on High School Students

Amy Rosellini, PhD student - Effective Knowledge Transfer & Behavioral Change in a Training Environment

Sahar Behpour, PhD student; Suliman Hawamdeh, Professor; Brian O'Connor, Professor - Fostering Scholarly Creativity: Modeling Functional Browsing Through the Lens of Complexity (Poster)

Ana Roeschley, PhD student; Malak Khader, PhD student - Towards An Understanding of Data Ethics in LIS (Poster)

Anna Roeschley, PhD student (moderator) - The Faculty IT Liaison Program: Using Participatory Design to Build Possibilities with Technology (Panel)

Daniel G. Alemneh, Adjunct Professor & Suliman Hawamdeh, Professor - Open Science & Open Data for Sustainable Development: A Global View (Panel)

Suliman Hawamdeh, Professor - The Nexus of Knowledge Management & Information Science: What Past & Present Trends Tell Us About the Future (Panel)


Published November 28, 2018.