Author: ISSA

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Dalhousie Association of Graduate Students (DAGS)

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The Dalhousie Association of Graduate Students (DAGS) is an umbrella organization that has represented graduate students at Dalhousie University for over 30 years, acting as an advocate of graduate students at the local, provincial, and national levels. It is also the owner of The Grad House Social Club.

DAGS’ Board of Directors is made up of nine Dalhousie graduate students. New Board Members are elected or appointed every winter term, and take office May 1st.

The 2014-2015 Board of Directors includes:

Jim Boyle, President (president@dags.ca)
Mahbubur Rahman, Vice-President (Academic Affairs) (vpacademic@dags.ca)
Vishwa Patel, Vice-President (External Advocacy) (vpexternal@dags.ca)
Scott Read, Operations Officer (operations@dags.ca)
Andrew Bucci, Graduate Student Senator (senator@dags.ca)
Shalendra Panwar, Director of Architecture, Planning, Computer Science and Engineering (director1@dags.ca)
Jessica Stark, Director of Arts, Social Sciences, Journalism, Law and Management (director2@dags.ca)
Lisa Fisher, Director of Health Professions (director3@dags.ca)
Sean Aitken, Director of Medicine and Science (director4@dags.ca)

For more information, please visit www.dags.ca.

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The School of Information Management Student Association (SIMSA)

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The School of Information Management Student Association (SIMSA) is a ratified society representing all students in the School of Information Management. Its goal is to foster connections between students in the program and in other graduate program at Dalhousie, between SIM associations, and between students and faculty.

Besides planning fundraisers, Orientation, and social events, SIMSA also fosters connections between students and professionals by supporting the Brown Bag Lunch and Public Lecture Series, the Dalhousie Journal of Interdisciplinary Management (DJIM), and the annual Information Without Borders (IWB) Conference.

The 2014-2015 Executive Members are:

Andrea Kampen, Co-Chair
Ben Worth, Co-Chair
Megan O’Brien, Communications Officer
Lee Wilson, Financial Officer
Valerie Collins, Vice-Chair (Academic)
Maria Bartlett, Vice-Chair (Non-Academic)
Alieda Blandford, Digital Publications Officer
Hilary Lynd, Information Without Borders (IWB) Conference Chair

In September 2014, three positions on the executive will need to be filled, include the Incoming Year Representative, the Outgoing Year Representative, and the Digital Publications Assistant (you can review descriptions of the open positions here). These positions entail a time commitment of at least one meeting per month. However, we are always looking for casual volunteers to help with functions throughout the year.

Elections will take place during the General Meeting on September 16th at 12:00 (noon) in the SIM Common Room.

You can contact SIMSA at simsa@dal.ca for more information.

 

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CAPAL Student Chapter coming to Dalhousie

This summer, SIM students Hilary Lynd, Mark McCumber, and Jaq-Lin Larder are starting up a Dalhousie Student Chapter of the Canadian Association for Professional Academic Librarians (CAPAL).

CAPAL is more than an association: it’s an advocacy group that focuses on the areas of education, standards, professional practice, ethics, and core principles. The Dalhousie Student Chapter is sure to collaborate with other SIM associations in order to promote the interests of future academic librarians in the program.

If you are interested in academic libraries, this is a great opportunity to get involved. Contact us for more information.

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E-Mail Buddies

Summer is around the corner, and you know what that means: 30 new students have been accepted into the Dalhousie MLIS program next fall. If you are a current SIM student, then you’ll remember being paired with an e-mail buddy before launching into the (somewhat overwhelming) orientation week in September.

Please consider volunteering a few moments of your time to help an incoming student and participate in the e-mail buddy program this year. You can volunteer by contacting SIMSA here, tweet to @DalSIMSA, or find us on Facebook.

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SIM Students @ APLA

Spotlight on Student Research

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Left to right: SIMSA Vice-Chair (Academic) Valerie Collins, DJIM Co-Chair Carlisle Kent, APLA Past President Louise White.

SIM students took the annual Atlantic Provinces Library Association (APLA) conference by storm in Moncton, NB last week.

Valerie Collins presented her paper on “Social Media and Scientific Communication,” a collaborative project she completed as part of a reading course with Lou Duggan, Dr Anatoliy Gruzd, and Dr Bertram MacDonald. Their research explored how the dissemination of scientific information has evolved from the Age of Reason to the Information Age.

Carlisle Kent presented “Art in the Age of Digital Reproduction,” a collaborative project she completed with Maria Bartlett, Andrea Kampen, and Hilary Lynd as part of the INFO 5520 (Research Methods) course, supervised by Dr Mike Smit. Their research investigated issues surrounding the meaning, perception, and experience of visual art in the digital age.

If you attended the 2014 Information Without Borders (IWB) Conference at Dalhousie, then you may be familiar with Marc Harper‘s work concerning the human rights issue of information access in North Korea. “Information access: a study of the potential for an information revolution in North Korea” was a presentation that tapped into Marc’s personal experiences in Asia.

Gayle Graham explored the role of publication in the spread of misinformation in her project, “The Halifax Explosion and the Spread of Rumour, 1917 to the Present.“

Mingyue Chen presented a pilot study of international students’ online health seeking behaviours, where she investigated barriers to finding health information for international students.

Finally, James Ross explored the dissemination of information in an environmental context in “What do users want in a State of the Environment report? A study of the State of the Scotian Shelf Report.“

You can read more about the Spotlight on Student Research here.

Check out the Twitter discussion generated by student research at the APLA conference using the hashtag #InfoStudies.