Category: Archived

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SIMSA Year End Party!!

 

SIMSA_YearEndParty

It’s been a long year! And what better way to wrap things up than to enjoy some food, drink, and good company with your friends and colleagues from the School of Information Management. Join us for an evening out with SIMSA; Appetizers will be provided and drinks will be readily available.
Where: The Arms Public House @ the Lord Nelson (1515 South Park St, Halifax)
When: Friday April 8th, 7-10PM
Cost: Students/Guests: $10 | Faculty/Staff: $20
*Pay at the door upon arrival

Please RSVP via the eventbrite link provided below. Click register and confirm your ticket option – you will not be charged electronically and payments will be received in cash at the door of the event.

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A New Page on SIMSA: Conference Calls

Hey, I just thought I would make people aware that I have created a new page on the website titles “Conference Calls” which will hold all of information we get about calls for abstracts, posters, essays, etc. that will be used in conferences or presentations of a higher professional capacity. This new page makes it easier to showcase all of your academic writing.

It can be found under the “Other Resources” tab in the main navigation. Feel free to email the SIMSA DPO with any comments 🙂

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Recording Available! IM Public Lecture Series: “On Transformations of Scholarly Communication in the Digital Era”

*Recording Here*

Dr. Vincent Larivière (Canada Research Chair on the Transformations of Scholarly Communication)
University of Montreal

Abstract:
This year marks the 350th anniversary of the creation of the first scientific journal, the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. At the beginning of the 19th century, journals became the fastest and most convenient way of disseminating new research results, outranking correspondence and monographs with which they had happily coexisted until then. They consolidated this position throughout the 20th Century, especially in the sciences. The advent of the digital era then challenged their traditional role and form. Indeed, digital technologies, which are easy to update, reuse, access, and transmit, have changed how researchers produce and disseminate knowledge, as well as how this knowledge is accessed, used, and cited. Drawing on historical and contemporary empirical data, this talk will address the past and current transformations of scholarly communication, with an emphasis on how these transformations have affected the speed at which knowledge is disseminated.

Biography:
Vincent Larivière holds the Canada Research Chair on the Transformations of Scholarly Communication at the Université de Montréal, where he is an associate professor of information science. He is also the scientific director of the Érudit platform, associate scientific director of the Observatoire des sciences et des technologies (OST) and a regular member of the Centre interuniversitaire de recherche sur la science et la technologie (CIRST). Vincent holds a bachelor’s degree in Science, Technology and Society (UQAM), a master’s degree in History (UQAM) and a Ph.D. in Information Science (McGill), for which he received the 2009 Eugene Garfield Dissertation Scholarship award.

Lecture Details
Tuesday, March 8th, 2016 from 4:15pm-5:15pm
Room 3089, Kenneth C. Rowe Management Building, 6100 University Avenue

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

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IM Workshop: “From Bibliometrics to Altmetrics: Current Challenges in the Measurement of Scholarly Activity”

*A light lunch will be served at 11:45am in Rowe 3087

*co-sponsored by the Dalhousie President’s Office, SSHRC (Research Development Fund), and Dalhousie Libraries

Abstract: 
Since the creation of the Science Citation Index in 1963, sociologists of science and information scientists have developed methodologies to quantify various aspects of scholarly activity based on papers and citations. The digital era, which makes it easier for knowledge to be diffused, accessed and used, has led to a diversification of the means for communicating scholarly information, but also increased the traces it leaves online—especially on social media. This workshop will provide an introduction to bibliometrics and to the new family of social media-based indicators of scholarly activity currently grouped under the umbrella term of “altmetrics”, emphasizing possibilities and limitations.

Bios: 

Vincent Larivière holds the Canada Research Chair on the Transformations of Scholarly Communication at the Université de Montréal, where he is an associate professor of information science. He is also the scientific director of the Érudit platform, associate scientific director of the Observatoire des sciences et des technologies (OST) and a regular member of the Centre interuniversitaire de recherche sur la science et la technologie (CIRST). Vincent holds a bachelor’s degree in Science, Technology and Society (UQAM), a master’s degree in History (UQAM) and a Ph.D. in Information Science (McGill), for which he received the 2009 Eugene Garfield Dissertation Scholarship award.

Stefanie Haustein is a post-doctoral researcher at the Canada Research Chair on the Transformations of Scholarly Communication at the University of Montreal. Her current research focuses on social media in scholarly communication and making sense of so-called “altmetrics” and is supported by a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. She is co-chair of the NISO Working Group on altmetrics data quality. Stefanie holds a Master’s degree in history, American linguistics and literature and information science and a PhD in information science from Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany.

Workshop Details
Monday, March 7th, 2016 from 12:00pm-1:30pm
Room 3089, Kenneth C. Rowe Management Building, 6100 University Avenue

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Bowling For Literacy: Bowlarama on March 18th

SIMSA will be raising money to donate to Halifax Public Library Literacy Programs. We are hosting an evening of bowling — $20 gets you ~2 hours of bowling and some sexy bowling shoes with all additional proceeds going to HPL to support literacy in our community!

WHO: SIMSA
WHAT: Bowling for Literacy!
WHERE: Bowlarama, Bayers Rd.
WHEN: March 18th, 7-9PM
HOW MUCH: $20.00

You can pay:
1) in advance to Hannah Steeves (or any friendly neighbourhood SIMSA member who is willing to accept your cash)
2) when you arrive at the bowling alley
*If you think you will be attending please fill out the following form so we have an approximate idea of numbers:
http://goo.gl/forms/OYtZti9vmy

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IM Public Lecture Series: “Choosing Food: Exploring Consumers’ Use of Ingredient Information”


Presented by Mark McCumber (New Brunswick Public Library Services)

*embedded in the class INFO 6750: Health Sciences Literature and Information Sources

Abstract:
Food labelling is designed to help consumers make better food choices. Understanding how this information is used becomes increasingly important as relationships between diet and diseases are recognized. Research on food label use has left the list of ingredients under-explored, despite its identification as an important component of the food label. As an internal cognitive process, information use during food choices is difficult to measure without influencing behaviour. This lecture will present the results of mixed-methods research designed to gain insight into cognitive and behavioural aspects of food choices. A survey measured self-reported nutrition behaviours of 518 university students. A screening tool identified surveyed volunteers likely to use ingredient information, 11 of which completed a simulated shopping task that produced rich qualitative data relating to food label information use. A theoretical approach to thematic analysis revealed that participants focused on avoidance of negatives when making food choices, employing various strategies to accomplish this goal.

Bio: 
Mark McCumber graduated from the MLIS program at Dalhousie in 2015. For a devoted vegetarian and conscious consumer who is eternally suspicious of our food production industries, it was the natural choice to incorporate some aspect of food security into his pursuit of the MLIS. Having become intrigued by the study of information seeking behaviour, he determined to combine this field with his natural interests, designing a study intended to explore how people use food label information when making food choices. Mark currently works for New Brunswick Public Library Services as the Public Services Librarian for the York Region. Residing in Fredericton, New Brunswick, he still reads every food label of products that he’s considering purchasing, as well as many that he is not, and is somewhat dissatisfied that he can only wear denim on Fridays and weekends.

Lecture Details
Thursday, February 25th, 2016 from 5:35-6:35pm
Room 3001, Kenneth C. Rowe Management Building, 6100 University Avenue