- e-inclusion in the iSociety: addressing under represented groups among iDesigners as well as iConsumers (e.g., women, children and youth, the aging, people with disabilities, racial and ethnic minorities, immigrant communities, non-Western cultures)
- Becoming a ‘green’ iSchool
- What is ‘engagement’ in a research institution?
- The influence of globalization on the nature and scope of iSchools’ research, education and engagement
- Information infrastructure development in the home, in organizations, in communities, in society, globally
- Cultural information systems; e.g., multilingual information systems, information systems for memory institutions or for indigenous and ethnic communities
- Preserving digital information and ensuring information quality, security and privacy
- Information management; e.g., personal information management, life cycle management of information, digital asset management
- Information organization; e.g., ontological modeling, the Semantic Web, social bookmarking
- Information policy, ethics and law; e.g., remembering and forgetting in the digital age
Submission Types
Papers
Contributed papers presenting original research, design products, theoretical developments, educational applications and engagement implications related to one or more of the conference themes will be considered. Papers should be 5-8 pages in length and suitable for publication in scholarly or professional journals. Papers will be refereed in a double blind process. Contributed papers may be submitted individually, or up to three may be grouped by theme for a single session (provided the paper authors represent different institutional affiliations); the latter is encouraged. Please remove all identifying author information. The electronic system will ask for a separate submission that identifies the authors, the title of the paper, and theme(s) the paper addresses. Accepted papers will be placed in an online repository.
Posters
Contributed posters presenting new and promising work or preliminary results of research, design or educational projects related to one of more of the conference themes will also be considered in a separate category. Especially welcome are posters contributed by students. Abstracts of 800-1500 words will be refereed in a double blind process. Please remove all identifying author information. The electronic system will ask for a separate submission that identifies the authors, the title of the poster, and theme(s) the poster addresses. The title of the poster should be on the abstract. Accepted poster abstracts will be placed in an online repository.
Roundtable Discussions
Roundtable discussions will permit small group discussion of such topics as theory, research methods, core curricula, programmatic requirements, and mentoring, particularly as they relate to the conference themes. Roundtables will be open to all interested conference participants. Those wishing to host a discussion should use the electronic system at the link above to submit a statement of interest of 800-1000 words stating research and development interests in the area, a set of questions that the roundtable leaders will use to facilitate the discussion, and indicating the names and affiliations of roundtable leaders. Proposals are encouraged to include diverse perspectives on the topic of interest.
Wildcard Sessions
This is the opportunity to step "out of the box" and propose a very different type of session: debate, research critique, fishbowl, etc. The session should be 1-1½ hours in length and relevant to the conference themes. Description of the goals, topic, format, participants, and organizer of the session should be provided in an abstract of 800-1500 words, exclusive of supporting images, tables, and references. Be sure to identify your abstract as a wildcard proposal. All named participants should have already agreed to participate.
Instructions for Authors
Formatting
Please use the official ACM Proceedings Format, available at www.acm.org/chapters/policy/toolkit/template.html, for all submissions.
Deadlines
The deadline for submission of complete papers, abstracts for posters, roundtable discussions, and wildcard sessions is Sunday, November 30, 2008. Authors will be notified of review decisions by Monday, December 22, 2008. Instructions will be provided for final submission upon acceptance.
Submissions
All submissions should be made at www.ischools.org/conftool/
If you had a login in the iConference system last year, please use the same login. If you have forgotten your password, the system can send it to you as long as your email address has not changed since last year. If you have changed e-mail addresses, please contact iconference@ischools.org for assistance.
Review Criteria
Especially welcome are submissions that exhibit any of the following characteristics:
- Addresses the theoretical, methodological, epistemological and / or topical dimensions appropriate to an iSchool
- Addresses educational and / or pedagogical themes appropriate to an iSchool
- Addresses ways in which scholarly work and educational activities can connect to constituencies beyond the iSchool community
- Exemplifies multi- (or inter- or cross-) disciplinarity in: participants; graduate or undergraduate education; literatures used; research methods employed: theorizing; publishing; or engagement
- Develops intellectual geographies in which attendees can learn about intellectual domains not their own but part of the multi-disciplinary iSchool space.
In addition to relevance to the conference focus and themes, submissions will be judged on such criteria as quality of content, significance for theory, education or engagement, originality and level of innovativeness, and quality of presentation.