Call for Papers- Western Balkan Information Literacy Conference June 17th-20th 2015 Bihać, Bosnia & Herzegovina.

Western Balkan Information Literacy Conference
JUNE 17th-20th 2015  Juni na Uni 2015. - Hotel "Opal" Bihać, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Conference website:http://www.wbilc2015.kbbi.ba/en/

The theme is: Information & media literacy for lifelong learning: digital citizenship for a digital age. 

"In this Information Age the rise of digital and social media tools has brought with it some amazing innovations and immense challenges. The challenge to achieve information literacy (IL) in this information rich society is vital for lifelong learning and allows us to capitalise on the diverse and often overwhelming range of information choices which we have been confronted with by the power of the Internet. This great power has forced all of us to develop strategies for confronting issues concerning accessibility, reliability, authenticity and validity as well as information overload. Information Literacy is a vital transferable skill for lifelong learning in both formal and informal learning environments throughout people's lifetimes. Information literacy facilitates active citizenship of individuals. Information literacy prepares people for lifelong learning because it enables them to find the information they need for any task or decision at hand. In helping to provide and expand access to information, helping to facilitate full participation in Society- our role is crucial. We must prepare for a Society full of Information, prepare for Digital Citizenship for a Digital Age."

Main Themes are:

A. Information literacy in the modern world

B. Librarians as support to the lifelong learning process

C. Media and information literacy – theoretical approaches (standards, assessment, collaboration, etc.)

D. New aspects of education/strategic planning, policy, and advocacy for information literacy in a digital age.

Sounds like a busy conference with lots of relevant themes and topics - look forward to hearing more about it. 

Submissions in any of the following forms are accepted:
• Full paper to be published in conference proceedings
• Presentation
• Roundtable discussion
• Poster session
• Train-the-trainers workshop
• PechaKucha

Important Dates
Paper submission deadline May 15, 2015
Notification of acceptance May 30, 2015
Dissemination of final programme June 02, 2015
Deadline for authors to submit slides June 04, 2015

For further information and additional details see the Western Balkan Information Literacy Conference website at:http://www.wbilc2015.kbbi.ba/en/

Interesting Information literacy PHd presentations at iDocQ 2014 colloquium

I attended iDocQ 2014 on Friday at Glasgow University.  iDocQ is the annual doctoral colloquium aimed at students studying for PhDs in information science and other related disciplines at Scottish universities that are members of the Scottish Graduate School of Social Science. I was there as I'm about to start a PHd by Published works at Edinburgh Napier University. My PHd will be in relation to my information literacy and lifelong learning research work.

It was a really interesting day it started with a fascinating keynote presentation on research impact delivered by Professor John Robertson on bias in reporting of the independence debate in the media 'Research Impact on Media and Academic Elites. 

After a coffee break there was student presentation on their work as a 20×20 format (PechaKucha 20x20 is a simple presentation format where you show 20 images, each for 20 seconds. The images advance automatically and you talk along to the images). It was great to see a range of intersting topics. There were a couple of PHd topics of particulary interested to me and this CoP:

Chikezie Emele RGU PHd Student 20x20 Photo by Hazel HallImprove the information literacy of men in Nigeria with prostrate cancer - Chikezie Emele, Robert Gordon University PHd student PHd Thesis Title Accessibility and Usability Of Prostate Cancer Information in SouthEast, Nigeria. 

Chikezie is at the early stages of his research but he spoke about the need to make the information culturally sensitive. For dissemination purposes he is looking at using the services of the local town crier as this is one of the sources of information that the locals use.

The radio is an other source used. other forms of dissemination being looked at are 'one to one sessions' and printed material. Mobile phone usage has spread widely so he will also look at using that. He wants to change the men from passive to proactive information seekers.

To investigate the everyday life information seeking of visually impaired young people - Katy Loudon, University of Strathclyde

Katy spoke about external and internal barriers and that in relation to visually impaired most barriers are seen as technology barriers but their are wider barriers. Katy was previously a primary school teacher and is bringing her teaching experience to her PHd. Her MSc dissertaion was An investigation into the information practices of first-time mothers of infants from birth to 12 months For me these add to the studies which link information literacy to lifelong learning. 

After lunch Hazel Hall presented Using social media for impact looking at the range of social media tools to help us increase research impact .

Photo by Hazel HallWe did an activity in pairs identify who used what socila media services and whether they were useful for: academic impact, personal impact and research into practice impact.

I currently use a few including Blogging, Twitter, Slideshare and LinkedIn, there are however a few that I need to check out includingAcademia.edu and Mendeley. 

The last part of the day was a “research clinic” panel, where questions submitted anonymously by students were answered by the expert panel members on the basis of their own PhD experience, research activities, and experience attained in supervising doctoral candidates. On the panel was Hazel Hall, Edinburgh Napier; Ian Anderson, Glasgow; David McMenemy, Strathclyde; and Elizabeth Tait, Robert Gordon. I had submitted a question regarding the advice they would give a student starting their PHd Published by Works. I got some useful advice and also picked up some tips from the other student questions.  

For more insight into the day see the tweets from the day at #idocq2014

Thanks to the four students who organised the day  Frances Ryan of Edinburgh Napier University;Calum Liddle of Strathclyde University, Chikezie Emele of Robert Gordon University; and Wachi Klungthanaboon of Glasgow University.

Lifelong Learning: how music, language and art make you smarter

Thanks to Lisa Jenkins for contacting me about graphics she helped create about the benefits of lifelong learning through music and language learning.

I like the look of the graphics as they get the message over well and I also liked the visual image of:

Fresh information acts as a protein shake, forging new pathways and recoating those that are weak. Plus, with practice, these pathways get even stronger.

I'm a great believer in lifelong learning and I certainly found learning a language "challenges my brain to make new connections". The challenge continues when you then go to use the language for example on holiday and have to dig deep to find the right words.

So I'm off to "challenge my brain to make new connections".

Helping citizens develop their own information literacy curriculum for lifelong learning

On the same theme of yesterday's post on information literacy and citizens is a presentation by Sheila Webber and Bill Johnston, given at the CILIP Umbrella copnference on 2 July 2013 in Manchester, UK. I wasn't able to attend Umbrella so didn't see their presentation but thanks to Sheila for making it available on Slideshare it is available for people to see at http://www.slideshare.net/sheilawebber/umbrella-2013

Helping citizens develop their own information literacy curriculum for lifelong learning

Presentation abstract: "Sheila and Bill will outline a framework to enable citizens to self-audit their changing information literacy needs through life, so they can identify strategies for meeting those needs. In particular they will highlight lifestage transitions. They will indicate implications for people who support these citizens, including possibilities in using tools such as MOOCs."

Having looked through the slides I can relate to all these apsects as I too use information literacy in all aspects of my life with its varying complexities and emotions of the different aspects of me (daughter, sister, friend, pupil/student, colleague, employee, manager, writer, workshop tutor / facilitator, committee member, power of atourney etc..) in different environments / landscapes with different needs and ability to use available resources.

A thought provoking presentation for us as individiuals and as library and information professionals.