74th Annual Meeting of the
American Society for Information Science and Technology

Bridging the Gulf: Communication and Information in Society, Technology, and Work
The ASIST Annual Meeting is the main venue for disseminating research centered on advances in the information sciences and related applications of information technology.

ASIST 2011 builds on the success of the 2010 conference structure and will have the integrated program that is an ASIST strength. This will be achieved using the six reviewing tracks pioneered in 2010, each with its own committee of respected reviewers to ensure that the conference meets your high expectations for standards and quality. These reviewers, experts in their fields, will assist with a rigorous peer-review process.

Track 1 – Information Behaviour
Sanda Erdelez, University of Missouri
Information needs, information seeking, information gaps and sense-making.

Track 2 – Knowledge Organization
Diane Rasmussen Neal, University of Western Ontario
Indexing, index construction, indexing languages, thesaurus construction, terminology, classification of information in any form, tagging (expert, user-based, automatic), filtering, metadata, standards for metadata, information architecture.

Track 3 – Interactive Information & Design
Jim Jansen, Pennsylvania State University
How human beings use and communicate with information or computers, design of interactive technologies, algorithms, user interfaces, search & retrieval, personalization & recommenders, navigation, information architecture.

Track 4 – Information and Knowledge Management
Robert Sandusky, University of Illinois, Chicago
Information and knowledge creation, transfer and use at the personal, group, organizational and societal levels; expertise, insights, and judgment in organizations; the management of the processes and systems that create, acquire, organize, store, distribute, and use information; knowledge capital; social networking; knowledge sharing and communities of practice; business intelligence; content management, document management; workflow management; collaboration systems; portals; groupware; information and knowledge preservation and storage.

Track 5 – Information Use
Mia Lustria, Florida State University
Nature of information and how information is used to help solve problems and aid decision making; information literacy, reading

Track 6 – Economic, Social, and Political Issues
Nadia Caidi, University of Toronto
Copyright issues, policies and laws; information policy; privacy; personal rights vs. freedom of information; surveillance; regulation; international information flow& issues; spam

Because each of these tracks represents a generic aspect of information science, each may be focused by additional elements such as types of:
Organizations – schools, universities, government, private corporations
Information – by topic, genre, size, medium, etc.
Technology – PDAs, computers, smart phones, wearable technologies, blogs, wikis, ebooks, hypermedia
Information consumers – from kids to seniors, and from grunts to managers, from individuals to groups
Information workers – librarians, database and system developers, information managers, information architects
Contexts – entertainment, edutainment, learning, social, mission critical, etc.
Research theories and paradigms – from uses and gratification to Zipf’s Law
Methods – qualitative, qualitative, mixed, modelling, etc.

Types of Submission:
The Conference welcomes the following types of submissions:

1) Papers
Papers must report original, unpublished recent results substantiated by experimentation, simulation, theoretical development, analysis, or application. These papers should be reports of completed or well-developed projects on topics suitable for publication in scholarly and professional journals. The maximum length for a paper is 10 pages, single-spaced. All submissions will be refereed, and accepted papers will be published in the digital conference proceedings. Authors will choose their preferred track at submission time; the chairs reserve the right to re-track submissions as necessary.

2) Panels
Proposals for panels are invited on topics that include emerging cutting-edge research and design, analyses of hot or emerging trends, opinions on controversial issues, analyses of tools and techniques, and contrasting viewpoints from experts in complementary professional areas. Panels are not a substitute for a set of contributed papers, but must have a cohesive theme and promote lively interaction between panellists and audience members. Submit two to four pages that provide an overview of the issues to be discussed by the panel. Proposals should also list panellists who have agreed to participate and indicate the qualifications and contribution that each panellist will offer. Proposals for Pecha Kucha style presentations, are encouraged.

3) Interactive Showcase
One evening will be devoted to face-to-face presentations using traditional posters, short videos, or live demonstrations. These formats provide opportunities for interactive discussion and feedback about the work. Submissions are welcomed in areas related to any of tracks. Please submit no more than two pages for each form; a revised version of the accepted submissions will appear in the conference proceedings. As with papers, submitters will choose their preferred track at submission time; the chairs reserve the right to re-track submissions as necessary.

a) Posters offer a unique opportunity to present late-breaking results, work in progress, or research that is best communicated in an interactive or graphical format. Please note, however, that posters describing work that is simply a proposal will not be accepted.

Two types of posters are encouraged: contributed research posters presenting new and promising work or preliminary results of research projects; and contributed “best practices” posters presenting the results of design projects, practical implementations of an organization’s practices or industry innovations. The content of the poster should clearly point out how the application contributes to innovation of thought or design within the field, and how it addresses key challenges, as well as the potential impact on the participant’s organization and/or practices in the field. Joint submissions from researchers and practitioners showing different perspectives on a single issue are particularly encouraged. Posters are expected to invite questions and discussion in a personal and less formal setting. Submissions for refereeing should be in the form of a proposal of approximately two pages.

b) Demos offer a unique opportunity to present novel technology, including new devices, systems, or applications.. Submissions should describe the technology and list required supporting equipment. We assume that most equipment will be supplied by the demonstrator, and reserve the right to turn down unreasonable requests.
c) Videos offer a unique opportunity to present the traditional poster or demo using a different medium. While videos may present research or demo a technology, they may also be used to describe a procedure or showcase a novel implementation. Videos of three to ten minutes must be uploaded to YouTube, and the link supplied in the submission.

4) Workshops and Tutorials
Workshops and Tutorials will be held on the day before the conference. The purpose is to provide a more informal setting for the exchange of ideas on a focused topic and suggest directions for future work. As such, they offer a good opportunity for researchers and professionals to present and discuss their work with an interested community. Workshops may be mini-focused research presentations, a series of working events, brainstorming and idea sharing, or even teaching/learning a new skill. In particular, SIGS are invited to submit proposals for half-day or full-day events on topics that are pertinent to the goals of the SIG. Only one submission per SIG is permitted for a workshop, and additional participation fees will apply.

For more information, please contact:

Conference Co-Chairs
Abby Goodrum (agoodrum@ryerson.ca) and Suzie Alllard (sallard@utk.edu)

Local arrangements and logistics
Richard Hill (rhill@asis.org)