Information: interactions and impact (i3) conferences - more reflections

Edin Napier CSI PhD Students at i3 Conference 2015This year I attended i3 with my fellow Edinburgh Napier University Centre for Social Informatics PhD Students. The papers we delivered included topics on: the role of the census in public policy makers; information literacy; grass roots campaigns on public library closures in the UK; could social networking help NEET young people gain employment; knowledge management; how personal reputations are determined and managed online. We did a great job presenting and networking. Thanks go to Professor Hazel Hall for supporting us all.

One of the key themes to come out of the conference for me was different information landscapes and the information needs of those with the landscapes. I didn't manage to hear Chikezie Emele present but I have had discussions with him regarding his PhD research 'Improving chances of prostrate cancer survival in black African men: a study of the information needs of this high-risk group in the UK and s.E. Nigeria'. it's a fascinating study and highlights the cultural differences. Cultural differences were also highlighted in Alison Hicks PhD study 'it takes a community to build a framework: information literacy within intercultural settings'. Alison is just at the early stages of her research so I'm sure we will hear more about this study. 

I was interested in Drew Whitworth's presentation 'Mapping the information landscape: studying information management by communities of practice'. The project included concept mapping sessions using the tool Ketso, it looked interesting and worth considering. Returning to the theme of information landscape I was particularly struck with the following description taken from the paper's abstract. 

'Information landscapes are comprised of texts, systems, online resources, tacit knowledge (thus, colleagues) and more; like real landscapes, though comprised of similar ingredients, each landscape is unique, and evolves over time, depending on the activities of the communities working in that landscape.' 

It was interesting to see that he like me had included images of maps in his presentation. Like me he is a keen hill walker and knows the valuable source of information maps contain.