University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, School of Information Studies 

Updates, News & Events
July 12, 2012



Social Studies of Information Research Group (SSIRG)

New Research Group at the School of Information Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee


The Social Studies of Information Research Group (SSIRG) is a newly formed group that will examine the application of social science and humanities disciplines such as sociology, anthropology, history, critical theory, philosophy, media studies, political science, and economics to the study of information. Information is itself a multifaceted concept, and SSIRG will follow the broad scope of the iSchool movement in including information technology, information science, information systems, information services, information businesses and information practices. The group plans to host a series of speakers, details and website coming soon. 



Visiting Professor
Professor Hao-Ren Ke


Professor Hao-Ren Ke, the Director of the Graduate Institute of Library and Information Science (GLIS) program at the National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU), is visiting the School of Information Studies this week. Professor Ke is here to meet with faculty and students to discuss future collaborations. SOIS has had an ongoing exchange with the National Taiwan Normal University for a number of years. SOIS colleagues have presented at NTNU, and SOIS and the UW-Milwaukee Libraries have hosted several Taiwanese students over the past few summers. While in Milwaukee, Professor Ke is also meeting with the current group of NTNU students interning at the UWM Libraries.


SOIS Faculty Updates

Dr. Michael Zimmer


Dr. Michael Zimmer, an Assistant Professor at SOIS, will be participating in the 8th Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security in Washington DC. Dr. Zimmer is contributing to a panel discussion on the ethics of gathering data online via public postings, working with data (both identifiable and anonymized), and observational research. He has been a faculty member at SOIS since 2008 and is the Co-director for the Center for Information Policy Research (CIPR). 


Dr. Kimberly Anderson


Assistant Professor Kimberly Anderson will be attending the Archival Education Research Institute (AERI) conference at the University of California Los Angeles. During the conference, Dr. Anderson will be leading two workshops along with Dr. Michelle Caswell titled "Entering the Job Market: Tips for the Graduating Doctoral Student" and "Integrating Pluralistic Approaches into Archival Curriculum". She will also be presenting a paper on problems in archivists' conceptualization of archival appraisal and professionalism. Dr. Anderson has been a faculty member at SOIS since 2011 and is the 2011-2012 chair of the Appraisal and Acquisitions section of the Society of American Archivists. 


PhD Graduates

Suyu Lin & Kun Lu


The School of Information Studies is excited to announce our first doctoral graduates in Information Studies: Suyu Lin and Kun Lu


Suyu's dissertation is titled "A Comparative Study on Institutional Repositories (IRs): Comparing Organizational Factors Influencing Initiation and Implementation of Two IR Projects". In the abstract, Suyu writes "The results suggest that a formal faculty leader in the initial stages of development of institutional repository project may assist in garnering faculty support related to the endeavor and that later librarians may take the lead to move the IR project forward when the institution has developed sufficient faculty support." She received a B.A. in Library and Information Science from the National Taiwan University and a M.L.S from the University of Pittsburg. Her research interests include open access, international and comparative librarianship, intercultural information ethics, knowledge management and information policy. 


Kun's dissertation is titled "Assessing Systematic Topic Difficulty Based on Query and Collection Features". As stated in the abstract, the results of the study "provide a comprehensive understanding of the existing problems, possible solutions and future trends for research on assessing systematic topic difficulty." He received a B.S in Information Management and Systems and a M.S. in Information Management from Wuhan University. His research interests include information retrieval system design, applied infometrics, data mining, and natural language processing. 


SOIS began offering a PhD in Information Studies in 2008 with three concentrations in: information organization, information policy, and information retrieval. The program currently has over 25 students. On August 28th SOIS will host the PhD orientation, welcoming five new incoming students. 




FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
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Rebecca Hall
Web Development & Marketing Coordinator
Instructor
UW-Milwaukee, School of Information Studies
PO Box 413, Milwaukee, WI 53201
Ph: 414.229.2855 | F: 414.229.6699
http://www.uwm.edu/sois