2010 iSymposium: the IST Graduate Student Symposium

We invite you to the 2010 iSymposium to be held at Nittany Lion Inn, The Pennsylvania State University on February 19, 2010. The theme of this year’s symposium is “The Critic and the Constructor - Building Bridges, Connecting Communities”. Often, there is a split between academic units and researchers who primarily do either one of these: “describe things” or “invent things.” There have been efforts in the past towards coming up with a true translational science that integrates these two spheres of description and construction. The “iSchool Movement” is an effort in that direction. However, practical constraints, including the length of such research projects and the coordination costs involved in these endeavors, and issues related to the professional identity of researchers often act as blockades towards achieving this integration. The symposium's Call for Participation solicits contributions that reflect on these issues as well as empirical studies that aim at integrating the descriptive with the design. Contributions that reflect on the complex relationships among people, information and technology are also encouraged.

CONTINUING TO BUILD ACROSS DISCIPLINES

The iSymposium has been a platform for IST graduate students and researchers across campus (and beyond) to explore interdisciplinary research in the information sciences. The event has featured a growing number of participants and speakers from IST, Penn State, and external institutions and organizations. This year, all proceedings will be published and web-accessible (authors will retain copyright). We will also bring IST industry partners to interact with students and faculty to facilitate discussions about research and internships, careers, and collaboration opportunities. Now is the time to get involved!

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The 2010 iSymposium organizing committee would like to acknowledge the contributions of several key contributors to the success of this year’s event.