Time: Friday, February 20, 2009 9:45 a.m. - 10:45 a.m.
Location: Boardroom 1, the Nittany Lion Inn
Moderated by Dr. John Yen
The goal of this panel is to discuss research topics related to energy and information sciences and technology. Exemplar topics for the panel include the following:

• Innovative use of information technologies for studying new energy
• Transforming large-value of information into actionable intelligence for monitoring energy production in real-time
• Using information technology to improve the efficiency of energy distribution
• Energy-efficient IT operations (e.g., cloud computing)

Time: Friday, February 20, 2009 4:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.
Location: Boardroom 2, the Nittany Lion Inn
Moderated by Dr. Carleen Maitland
It has been observed that information and communication technologies (ICTs) may facilitate and even have a multiplier effect on economic development. By facilitating information sharing within and between remote or underdeveloped regions and connecting them to commercial centers ICTs are valued as much in rural and underserved areas of the U.S. as they are in low income countries around the world. This panel will bring together an interdisciplinary group of scholars to explore the many ways in which ICTs can foster (or perhaps hinder) economic development, the challenges that need to be overcome to further enhance their multiplier effect and the ways in which new technologies may be used to reduce economic inequalities.

Time: Friday, February 20, 2009 4:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.
Location: Boardroom 1, the Nittany Lion Inn
Moderated by Dr.Jim Jansen
Collaboration and community are key characteristics of Web 2.0 technologies. These social mediating services have garnered considerable usage. One new form of social communication on the Web is micro-blogging, using Web services such as Twitter, Jaiku, Facebook (status postings), Pownce, and FriendFeed. Micro-blogging is a form of communication in which users can describe things of interest and express attitudes that they are willing to share with others in short posts (i.e., micro-blogs) distributed by instant messages, mobile phones, email, or the Web. These micro-blogs are short comments usually delivered to a network of associates.
Micro-blogging is new means of communication, allowing people to share these thoughts almost anywhere (i.e., while driving, getting coffee, or sitting at their computer) to almost anyone connected (e.g., Web, cellular phone, IM, email) on a scale that has not been seen in past. While the shortness of the micro-blog (usually limited to about 140 characters) keeps people from writing long thoughts, it is precisely the micro part that makes these blogs unique from other communication mediums like blogs, Webpages, and online reviews. In short, these micro-blogs are immediate, ubiquitous, and scalable. Since they are online, they are also typically accessible by anyone with an Internet connection. There are also archival in the sense that these micro-blogs permanently exist and are searchable via Web search engines and other services.
In this panel, we will examine micro-blogs as utterances and expressions and their possible long term effect on the way we communicate.

Time: Thursday, February 19, 2009 1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Location: Boardroom 2, the Nittany Lion Inn
Moderated by Dr.John Bagby
Through the twentieth century, institutional constraints on security historically have focused on traditional criminal enforcement, a slow but steady increase in civil remedies and physical barriers to security threats. During that period, professional security protection could satisfy reasonable assurance criteria by managing security risks based on commonly-held understandings of burglary, theft, conversion and widely-understood but related institutional constraints in the protection of physical property, both real and personal. This focus retained effectiveness so long as physical security over tangible property appeared successful, even extending to the maintenance of control over the physical structure of large mainframe computers and their peripherals. However, the proliferation of networked computers has made access and storage ubiquitous, vastly increasing the vulnerability of confidential data, private information and critical national security infrastructure. Security and privacy regulation compliance responsibility now falls much more harshly on both organizations, their individual personnel and the infrastructure of information and communication technologies (ICT). These complex new duties constrain organizations in the data management industry, a wide variety of service providers to the data management industry, government agencies as repositories and users of personally identifiable information (PII) as well as suppliers and users of data. Indeed, PII custodial duties profoundly impact nearly all participants in the "information supply chain," including consultants, software suppliers, applications service providers, maintenance, outsourcing and communications providers.
Other factors exacerbate the difficulties of this risk management enterprise. Advances in network computer storage and use, the broadening perception of heightened value of information and the pervasive availability of rich data warehousing increase the vulnerability of PII, trade secrets and sensitive national security information under data management. Risks of information theft and integrity losses as well as the explosion of privacy rights and national security concerns now mandate pervasive and fuller management of these risks. The principles and techniques of custodial standards are applicable to all PII managers and subordinates in the data management industry as well as in government. Information suppliers, handlers, owners and network service providers are increasingly exposed to litigation, regulatory oversight/compliance, and liability for breach of contract and criminal prosecution for various information-related wrongs. For example, confidentiality is compulsory for corporate trade secrets, privacy is required for personally identifiable information about individuals and secrecy is mandatory over matters of national security; all of which create complex legal duties that are fundamentally driving the design of information handling processes. This panel discusses the risks under both public policy and technical practices as they impinge on data custodians.

Time: Thursday, February 19, 2009 1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Location: Boardroom 1, the Nittany Lion Inn
Moderated by Dr.Andrea Tapia
Computer games and virtual worlds have become an integral part of modern society. Millions of people are interacting via online virtual worlds like Second Life and World of Warcraft every day. The Gartner Group predicts that by the end of 2011, 80 percent of active Internet users will have an avatar with some form of presence in an online, virtual world (Pettey 2007). Hundreds of universities are experimenting with virtual worlds to enhance teaching and learning while dozens of Fortune 500 organizations are also experimenting with virtual world use, ranging from advertising and marketing to employee training and collaboration (Rose 2007). In some of these environments, people from opposite sides of the world are collaborating to build objects, run organizations or solve complex problems and puzzles (Pursel, proposal 2008). According to Bainbridge (2007) we Virtual Worlds also offer researchers opportunities previous unavailable. In this panel, each scholar will answer the following questions (a) What advantages and do virtual worlds offer the academic researcher? (b) What have we learned about the differences between Virtual behavior and society from that of offline? (c) What is the cutting edge of research on/in virtual worlds and what does the future hold?

Time: Friday, February 20, 2009 1:00p.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Location: Assembly Room, the Nittany Lion Inn
Moderated by Dr.William McGill
What is an extreme event? How do extreme events differ from non-extreme events? What is extreme events systems science and what types of research fall under this category? Why study extreme events in the first place? This research panel comprised of IST faculty and practitioners will explore these questions and describe current and future practices and research aimed at decreasing vulnerability to extremes.

Time: Thursday, February 19, 2009 10:15 a.m. - 11:15 a.m.
Location: Boardroom 1, the Nittany Lion Inn
Moderated by Dr.Lee Giles

Time: Thursday, February 19, 2009 12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Location: Assembly Room, the Nittany Lion Inn
Moderated by Dr.Xiaolong (Luke) Zhang

Time: Friday, February 20, 2009 9:45 a.m. - 10:45 a.m.
Location: Boardroom 2, the Nittany Lion Inn
Moderated by Michael Montalto-Rook

Information Visualization is “the design and creation of interactive graphic depictions of information by combining principles in the disciplines of graphic design, cognitive science, and interactive computer graphics” [1].
According to Card, Makinlay, and Schneiderman (1999), "the foundational period of information visualization is now ending." New advances in computer hardware and software have enabled the "exploration of visualization techniques for abstract information". They propose that in the next period of information visualization, "info vis will pass out of the realm of an exotic research speciality and into the mainstream for user interface and application design." [2]
Panelists will discuss and answer the following questions:
1) What does the field of information visualization mean to you (how do you define information visualization)? What is your current research in information visualization?
2) How can we assist designers to create more effective and useful visualizations?
3) In information aesthetics, that is, the combination of information visualization and aesthetics, what is the role of aesthetics in user experience?
4) What do we know in terms of research findings in information visualization and what do we not know (still need to learn)?
5) What domains should we look at to inform theory development in information visualization?
6) What do you see as the future of information visualization and what do you see as a viable goal for the area of information visualization by the year 2015?
Possible participants include Dr. Frank van Ham (IBM), Dr. Brian Smith (IST), and graduate students: Heather B. Hughes (ART ED), and Liang Gou (IST).

[1] Chi, E.H. (2002) A Framework for Visualizing Information. Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
[2] Schneiderman, B., Card, S.K., and Mackinlay, J.D. (1999) Readings in Information Visualization: Using Vision to Think.