Information School News

 Data is the lifeblood of our digital society, but how our personal information is stored and shared is an understandably contentious issue. ‘ Tools for Life: Data Sharing and Public Health ’, a 20-month public engagement project which concluded in March 2021 and was headed by Information School Lecturer Dr Jonathan Foster, looked into the issues surrounding this idea in the context of patient data, with consideration of this issue being particularly important against the backdrop of the current NHS opt-out system for consent. Dr Jonathan Foster Alongside Dr Foster, the project involved fellow Information School Lecturer and expert in Health Informatics Dr Laura Sbaffi, and Professor Suzanne Mason, a clinician academic and Professor of Emergency Medicine based at the University’s School of Health and Related Research (ScHARR). With Jonathan’s expertise being in Information Management, the project had a broad knowledge base from both the health and the data side of the equation. The...

  We’ve had several good news stories in the School recently, showing off the strength of our staff’s research! Lecturer Dr Mengdie Zhuang was published in the Conversation, discussing the varying degrees to which the public obeyed COVID lockdown rules Her piece, ‘Household mixing during COVID-19: our research suggests adherence to lockdowns in England declined over time’ can be read here . Lecturer Dr Susan Oman has an exhibit on Understanding Well-being Data in the Festival of the Mind The exhibit is based on her current research on well-being data, recently published as a book, and includes her recently produced videos. You can view the exhibit here . Drs Sara Vannini, Efpraxia Zamani, Caitlin Bentley and Suvodeep Mazumdar have all successfully attained Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF) funding for their research projects Lecturer Dr Sara Vannini and Senior Lecturer Dr Efpraxia Zamani have received funding for their work on digital poverty with the Sheffield Mayoral Combin...

Levels of COVID-19 research data sharing have remained low during the pandemic, and preprinting of research on the virus has been lower than two initiatives tried to ensure it would be. This is according to a new report that examines the effectiveness of initiatives taken by players in the research ecosystem to promote sharing of COVID-19 research by stepping up open science approaches. While the efforts of scientific publishers and the research community have speeded up publication times for COVID-19 research, and made much of it freely accessible, more effort is needed if society is to truly benefit from open science, the Scholarly Communication in Times of Crisis: The response of the scholarly communication system to the COVID-19 pandemic report says.   The sharing of the SARS-CoV-2 genome is seen as the poster child for open science, and the pandemic held up as a turning point for open science. Yet the report finds this has only partly been realised. It makes a series of key r...

Dr Briony Birdi chapter in new book: Narrative Expansions: Interpreting Decolonisation in Academic Libraries Dr Briony Birdi, Senior Lecturer at the Information School, has a chapter in a new book edited by Jess Crilly and Regina Everitt.  Narrative Expansions: Interpreting Decolonisation in Academic Libraries , published by Facet Publishing , brings together the theory and practice of an area of critical concern to the academy, this book is an important reference for academic librarians, educators and researchers in LIS, education and sociology.  Dr Birdi's chapter is in Part 2 of the book, titled The Contribution of Library and Information Science Education to Decolonising.  For more information, click here. 

Senior Lecturer Dr Andrew Cox has a piece in the LSE Impact Blog entitled 'Higher Education Science Fictions – How fictional narratives can shape AI futures in the academy'. The piece follows his work on AI in Higher Education, descibing how he uses fictional narratives to explore scenarios in this field. Read the post here:  https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2021/11/05/higher-education-science-fictions-how-fictional-narratives-can-shape-ai-futures-in-the-academy/

On 13th October, over a hundred and twenty information professionals gathered online for the formal launch of The impact of AI, machine learning, automation and robotics on the information professions: A report for CILIP https://www.cilip.org.uk/general/custom.asp?page=researchreport The report explores how the information professions can respond to the opportunities and challenges presented by such technologies as Artificial Intelligence. Speakers included Nick Poole (Chief Executive, CILIP), Sue Lacey Bryant ( National Lead NHS Knowledge and Library Services), Sir Alan Wilson (Turing Institute), Jo Cornish (Chief Development Officer, CILIP) and Andrew Cox, the author of the report. A recording of the event can be found at: https://vimeo.com/636947943

Congratulations to Dr Andrew Cox: Information Manager of 2021 CILIP Special Interest Groups, the Knowledge and Information Management Group (K&IM) and the UK e-information Group (UKeiG), are delighted to announce that the winner of their prestigious Information Manager of the Year Award, 2021 is Dr Andrew Cox, Senior Lecturer, Information School, Sheffield University. The award will be presented at the  Knowledge & Information Management virtual Awards evening  on Wednesday 10 th  November starting at  5. 30 pm.  Please join us for this free event as we celebrate all the K&IM Award winners for 2021.   Book to attend the awards  here .   The Information Manager of the Year Award is presented to professionals who have raised awareness of, and made a significant contribution to, the value and impact of knowledge and information management in the workplace and across the LIS sector.   The judging pan...

Information School Lecturer Dr Salihu Dasuki has been published in The Conversation, with a piece entitled 'How mobile phones help internally displaced people in Nigeria'. “Mobile phones have been described as being as important as food and water for displaced people" says Dr Dasuki in the piece, which went live on 1st November. Read the piece here:  https://theconversation.com/how-mobile-phones-help-internally-displaced-people-in-nigeria-168607

  Following the recent release of her new book Understanding Well-being Data , Information School Lecturer Dr Susan Oman will be exhibiting her research at the University’s Festival of Social Sciences , which is being held in the first week of November as part of the national ESRC Festival of Social Science. Dr Oman’s digital exhibition presents three animations on: well-being, data and understanding. She asks questions about the power and potential of well-being data to shape society, and how thinking differently about these issues could lead to a more understanding society.   Find out more here: https://player. sheffield.ac.uk/exhibits/ understanding-wellbeing-data? fbclid=IwAR3BZFpMisA- w7F04pPdtvWpRG2xWdgohl- mwQYBIjoFYTW4iM7k1YS__40

Information School lecturer Dr Susan Oman's new book 'Understanding Well-being Data' is out now, with a launch event happening today . The book, available in open access here , has received endorsements from many in the field: “Given their power and influence, we might wonder how we feel about data and how data make us feel. In considering the relations between data and well-being, Susan Oman's vital new book considers what data now mean for our lives, opportunities, judgments and, crucially, for our impressions of our selves. Taking a critical approach, this book makes the crucial step of not just thinking of how data shape well-being but also how well-being itself is redefined by data processes.” - Prof. David Beer, Professor of Sociology, University of York “To understand well-being is to understand current cultural policy; it is also to understand the new language of data and metrics at the heart of how culture is governed. Understanding Well-being Data offers an es...

Senior Lecturer Dr Paul Reilly has been elected  Vice-Chair of the IAMCR Crisis, Security and Conflict Communication Working Group for the 2021-25 period. The International Association for Media and Communications Research (IAMCR) is the preeminent worldwide professional organisation in the field of media and communication research. The Crisis, Security and Conflict Communication Working Group aims at providing a forum for scholars researching the mediation of political and economic crisis and 'scandals', wars and terrorism, disasters, catastrophes and risks, combining global and local perspectives.

 Dr Andrew Cox at the RLUK Digital Shift Forum - Watch on Demand Dr Andrew Cox spoke at the RLUK Digital Shift Forum recently. The talk, entitled The academic library and artificial intelligence: some possible futures – Andrew Cox, Senior Lecturer, Information School, University of Sheffield is available to watch online.  The term ‘artificial intelligence’ has many meanings, past and present. In its current guise, it has many potential applications in HE. An important aspect of this is the increasing use of data science techniques, such as machine learning, in research across all disciplines: from digital humanities, computational social science through to more obvious applications in the sciences. As data science skills are increasingly in demand in many sectors of the economy so there is an employability driver for it being taught in many disciplines. There are a number of ways academic libraries are already and could in the future be involved in supporting this activity: s...

There is already a vast literature on ethics of Artificial Intelligence, but little (to our knowledge) specifically designed for information professionals as such. To fill this gap Andrew Cox has produced a collection of eight ethics scenarios about Artificial Intelligence (AI) relevant to those working in our sector: Ethics Scenarios Of Artificial Intelligence For Information And Knowledge Management And Library Professionals , DOI: https://doi.org/10.15131/shef.data.15147411.v1 It builds on his recent report, The impact of AI, machine learning, automation and robotics on the information professions: A report for CILIP https://www.cilip.org.uk/general/custom.asp?page=researchreport This collection is designed to enable information professionals to: 1) better understand AI and the roles they might play 2) think through some of the ethical issues 3) weigh up how existing codes of professional ethics apply, as well as their own personal stance. The document follows the CILIP ...

The University of Sheffield PRIEST study team have been awarded funding to develop clinical risk-stratification tools to help prevent hospitals in low and middle income countries from becoming overwhelmed during the Covid-19 pandemic. Led by Carl Marincowitz from ScHARR, the team also includes our own Professor Peter Bath and Dr Laura Sbaffi. The project is being conducted with a team from the University of Cape Town in South Africa, and aims to develop a risk assessment tool to help emergency clinicians quickly decide whether a patient with suspected COVID-19 needs emergency care or can be safely treated at home to avoid overburdening hospitals particularly in low- and middle- income countries. The project is funded by the International COVID-19 Data Alliance (ICODA). Find out more at this University of Sheffield news story  and this ICODA announcement .

 I was absolutely delighted to receive a bursary place to attend FestivIL by LILAC. I have just finished my first year of the distance learning Library and Information Services Management course. The module I enjoyed the most was Information Literacy and I was excited to learn more about the best practices from experienced information professionals at FestivIL. Day One After a shaky start with Zoom (it had to do an update just before the conference started!), I was able to log into the Welcome session. In order to encourage conversation and networking at a virtual event, it was explained how you could attend two campfire conversations a day. Campfire conversations involved being randomly allocated into a breakout room where you could talk to other delegates. I decided to give it a try and enjoyed my first session so much, I opted to join for each campfire conversation. In each session, I felt that I could reflect on the conference and share my experience.  Emily Drabinski’s Ma...

Congratulations to Andrew Cox, Pam McKinney & Paula Goodale who got thanked in the "Gallery of Information Behaviour Gratitude" by students at the University of Toronto Information School. The website recognises and celebrates researchers in the field of Information Behaviour, and the first two images in the gallery relate to our staff. You can view the gallery here:  https://galleryofgratitude.weebly.com/

This year’s LILAC conference was shifted online in the form of the condensed LILAC FestivIL situated over three half days on the afternoon of 6th July, the morning 7th July and the afternoon 8th July. LILAC is an annual conference organised by CILIP's Information Literacy Group and covers all aspects of information literacy. Double lucky for me, as well being online (accessible even from my Dubai location), I was offered the opportunity to virtually attend assisted by a Sheffield iSchool bursary. This was not my first time attending LILAC, and although the programme was compressed, as usual it delivered. Given the enforced deprivation of social connection during the global pandemic, the well-considered conference theme was community. This was echoed and reinforced by the conference structure on each half-day, with two daily slots being dedicated to ‘Campfire Conversations’. These informal online spaces, facilitated by small breakout rooms, provided attendees a welcome opportunity t...