School of Information Sciences

SIS Faculty, Students to Participate in ASIS&T 2021 Annual Meeting

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At the end of this month, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, will be well-represented at the Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T) in Salt Lake City. It is at this conference that SIS Professor and Director Abebe Rorissa will move into the position of ASIS&T President-Elect Nov. 2, but many others from the SIS community are also presenting their work or participating in panels and workshops. They include:

  • Associate Professor Xiaohua “Awa” Zhu is co-leading the 17th Annual Social Informatics Research Symposium and the 3rd Annual Information Ethics and Policy Workshop: Sociotechnical Perspectives on Equity, Inclusion, and Justice (SIG-SI and SIG-IEP)
  • Professor Dania Bilal is participating in several sessions, including:
    • Co-leading a workshop that grew out of the IDEA Institute on AI conducted this year and that is also part of the brand-new Special Interest Group, SIG-AI, “Artificial Intelligence in Information Research and Practice: Fostering Interconnected Communities.”
    • Chairing the “Paper Session 03: The Intersection of AI, LIS, and Ethics.”
    • Serving on a panel titled, “Youth Information Interaction Research in the Pandemic: Adjustments, Innovations, Implications.”
  • Bilal is also presenting twice with CCI PhD student Jessica Barfield:
    • They are presenting the paper, “Hey There! What Do You Look Like? User Voice Switching and Interface Mirroring in Voice-Enabled Digital Assistants (VDAs)” with CCI doctoral student Jessica Barfield.
    • And they are also presenting the paper, “Increasing Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Design and Use of Voice-Based Digital Assistants.”
  • Rorissa is participating in several sessions, including:
    • Serving on a panel titled, “North-South Scholarly Collaboration: Opportunities and Experiences in Africa.”
    • Presenting the paper, “Digital Readiness Assessment of Countries in Africa: A Case Study Research.”
    • Serving on a panel titled, “Conducting and Publishing Research in Developing Countries: Challenges and Solutions (SIG-III and ASIS&T Africa and South Asia Chapters).”
    • Serving on a panel titled, “Unity in Diversity: A Conversation Around the Interdisciplinary Identity of Information Sciences.”
    • Presenting a lightning talk at the SIG-AI-sponsored workshop titled “Artificial Intelligence in Information Research and Practice: Fostering Interconnected Communities.”
  • Joseph Winberry, MSIS alum and current CCI doctoral student, is on a panel titled, “Conceptualizing Relevance of Information as a Social Justice Issue: An Interactive Panel Discussion.”
  • Associate Professor Devendra Potnis is serving on the panels, “Conducting and Publishing Research in Developing Countries: Challenges and Solutions (SIG-III and ASIS&T Africa and South Asia Chapters)” and “Unity in Diversity: A Conversation Around the Interdisciplinary Identity of Information Sciences.”
  • CCI doctoral student Cassandra Huang is presenting the paper, “I Don’t Want a Book That’s Going to Make Me Sad or Stressed Out, Especially in This Day and Age: Fiction Reading (and Healing) in a Pandemic.”