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jESSE Colleagues: The University of Alabama School of Library and Information Studies is pleased to welcome Dr. Michael Olsson to our campus as the final speaker in the UA SLIS Research Colloquia Series<http://blogs.slis.ua.edu/uaslis-researchcolloquiaseries/> on Wednesday, November 14, 2012<http://blogs.slis.ua.edu/uaslis-researchcolloquiaseries/2012/10/05/ina-fourie-university-of-pretoria-slis-visiting-scholar-102312/> in Gorgas Library room 503 from 12 noon to 1:00 pm CDT. Please also note that this research presentation WILL be available at a distance (see below). Dr. Olsson is Senior Lecturer in the Communication Studies Group at the University of Technology, Sydney. He will giving a public research presentation during his visit: Wednesday, November 14, 2012 - 12:00 noon to 1:00 pm CDT - RESEARCH PRESENTATION in Gorgas Library room 503 and via Blackboard Collaborate at a distance 'Knowledge is Power' - More than a Bumper Sticker: Foucault, Power/Knowledge and Critical Discourse Analysis in Information Research Context has been recognized as a key concept in information research for several decades. Yet prevailing approaches in the field have been widely criticized for their narrow focus, theoretical naivety and implicit systems-centrism. Critique has focused in particular on information behavior research's failure to focus adequate attention on social norms and power relations. Critical discourse analysis draws on Foucault's concept of the inextricable link between knowledge and power to study language as a form of social practice. It acknowledges that all social practices are tied to specific socio-historical contexts and are the means by which existing social relations are reproduced or contested and different interests are served. Rather than seeing people as isolated information seekers and language as a transparent conveyor of cognitive structure, critical discourse analysis allows the researcher to ask such important questions as: * What are the social rules that determine what can or cannot be said in relation to a topic at a given point in space and time? * How is a given speech act positioned in relation to existing discourses - established ways of speaking about a topic? * What are the consequences of this positioning? * Whose interests are served by this positioning? * Whose interests are negated? BB Collaborate session for participating in this Colloquium from a distance: http://tinyurl.com/9h697lk. Facebook event page<https://www.facebook.com/events/208928315907446/> (please share with your FB friends!) Event tweet<http://twitter.com/stevenmaccall/status/258644883420610560> (please retweet to your Twitter followers!) University of Alabama events page<http://events.ua.edu/events/index.php?com=detail&eID=9705> -- Steven L. MacCall, PhD Associate Professor School of Library and Information Studies College of Communication and Information Sciences The University of Alabama Box 870252 Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0252 http://twitter.com/stevenmaccall/