Author: ISSA

Lecture Details
Wednesday, September 28th, 2016
3:30-5:00pm
University Hall, MacDonald Building, 6300 Coburg Road

The Information Management Public Lectures give attention to exciting advances in research and professional practice. The topics are diverse reflecting the importance and global extent of Information Management in today’s society. The lectures are open to all members of the Dalhousie campus and surrounding community. Click here for the full schedule. We encourage you to attend in person, but if that is not possible you can access a recording on our website following the lecture. Live streaming is not currently available. 

Presented in partnership with Dalhousie Libraries, as part of the Digital Preservation Management Workshop.

Evelyn McLellan
President, Artefactual Systems (BC)

Abstract: The last decade or so has seen an explosion in the number of software tools and services designed to assist archives and libraries to preserve digital content and make it available online. Some institutions have been drivers of this change; some have been gradually drawn in as funders and implementers; and some have lagged behind, as yet unable to take advantage of new technologies to achieve their mandates to acquire, preserve and present digital content. What are some of the barriers to implementing new technologies, and how have institutions successfully overcome these barriers? And how well do existing tools and services meet institutional needs anyway? This lecture will draw on the experiences of the presenter, who has spent the last eight years working with institutions as they have attempted (both successfully and unsuccessfully) to launch digital preservation programs.

Biography: Evelyn is responsible for directing Artefactual’s business operations and strategy. She also works as a senior systems analyst on Artefactual’s development and client projects. Evelyn is a graduate of the University of British Columbia’s Master of Archival Studies program (1997) and, prior to joining Artefactual, had over 10 years experience as an archivist and records manager at a number of organizations including the City of Vancouver Archives and the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia.  Evelyn has been with Artefactual since 2008, working as the first AtoM Community Product Manager, then as the Archivematica Product Manager, then assuming responsibility for managing Artefactual’s implementation and digital preservation strategy projects. In September 2013 she took on the role of President when Peter Van Garderen stepped aside to work full-time on archives systems research.

Lecture Details
Thursday, September 22nd, 2016
5:35-6:35pm *embedded in the class INFO 5500: Information in Society
Room 1011, Kenneth C. Rowe Management Building, 6100 University Avenue

The Information Management Public Lectures give attention to exciting advances in research and professional practice. The topics are diverse reflecting the importance and global extent of Information Management in today’s society. The lectures are open to all members of the Dalhousie campus and surrounding community. When feasible, recordings of the lectures are posted here for wider circulation. For the full schedule, visit the Public Lecture page of our website here.

NOTE: We encourage you to attend in person, but if that is not possible you can access an audio recording + slides on our website following the lecture (a notice will be sent when posted). Live streaming is not currently available.

“Complex Innovation and the Patent System”

Ryan Whalen

School of Information Management, Dalhousie University

Abstract: As the universe of available information becomes larger and innovation becomes more complex, the task of examining patent applications becomes increasingly difficult. This project demonstrates that the United States Patent Office has insufficiently responded to changes in the information universe and to innovation norms, leaving the Patent Office less able to adequately assess patent applications, and more likely to grant bad patents. 

After first demonstrating how innovation has been responsive to contemporary innovation norms for hundreds of years, this project uses information and data science methods to empirically demonstrate how innovation has drastically changed in recent decades. After empirically demonstrating the changed innovation system and the inadequate response to these changes by the Patent Office, this presentation concludes with policy prescriptions aimed to help the Patent Office implement examination procedures adequate to assess 21^stcentury innovation. These prescriptions include more granular crediting for the time spent by examiners assessing applications, an increased focus on teamwork at the Patent Office, improvements to the inter partes review process, and alterations to the analogous art doctrine.

Biography: Ryan Whalen is a faculty member of Dalhousie University’s School of Information Management. His research focuses on innovation policy, intellectual property law, and computational social science. He holds a JD from Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, and a PhD in Media, Technology, and Society from Northwestern University.