Information School News

A month ago I had the amazing opportunity to attend LILAC 2024 at Leeds Beckett University through a bursary funded by the Information School.  This was my first ever conference, and I was unsure what to expect. I was very excited, quite nervous, and felt a little over my head as a distance learning student who has only been working as a health librarian for just over a year.  But those nerves were definitely unfounded! I had an amazing time and gained so much from listening to and speaking with librarians that boast years of experience across multiple sectors. As expected of a room full of passionate librarians and information researchers, everyone was so friendly and approachable, and any apprehension I had quickly dissolved after the first hour. LILAC emblematised the power of the librarian community. I felt assured in my quest to become a qualified librarian after experiencing how everyone at the conference was so willing to share their experiences and best practic...

Public Voices in AI is a new project which aims to ensure that public voices are front and centre in artificial intelligence research, development and policy. UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is investing £850,000 in Public Voices in AI, led by the  Digital Good Network  at the University of Sheffield. Professor Helen Kennedy, Director of the ESRC Digital Good Network, will be the project lead, with support from Dr Ros Williams, Digital Good Network Associate Director. Dr Susan Oman of The Information School leads the evidence review work package to understand how public voices are currently included in responsible AI research policy and practice. This work package will:  draw evidence together (academic, grey, other literatures) review evidence production (methods, motivations, money)  categorise and assess how public voices have been included develop an open and accessible database that is findable and reusable (according to FAIR principles ) for stakeholders acro...

Professor of Data Science Mike Thelwall recently gave his inaugural lecture at the University of Sheffield, entitled  How helpful are AI and bibliometrics for assessing the quality of academic research? The lecture, delivered in the University's Diamond building, was introduced by Head of the Information School Professor Briony Birdi. It covered Mike's research into whether Artificial Intelligence can inform - or replace - expert peer review in the journal article publication process and what this could look like, as well as to what extent bibliometrics and citation statistics can play a role in assessing the quality of a piece of research. Mike also discussed whether tools like ChatGPT can accurately detect research quality. The inaugural lecture was well attended by colleagues from around the University.

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 ...

When it comes to chatbots and humanoid robots, women appear regularly. They have names like Alexa and Siri – chatbots gendered as women, but designed by male dominated teams.  Chatbot technology and robotics are evolving rapidly, and women are there but not as makers. Instead, men are responsible for re-coding women's identity within technology – amplifying gendered issues from the past – and without inclusion of real women's voices.  The Information School is working with feminist network Women Reclaiming AI to create a platform for women to reclaim their voices in AI. The team will design a collaborative statement on how women in AI wish to be (or not be) represented in a technology-driven present and future.  The project will bring together women from across the globe to assert their own needs, wants and desires within technological development.  Dr Caitlin Bentley , Lecturer within the Information School, is helping to create the statement. She said, “we want...

How will AI and robots change university life? Dr Andrew Cox How do you think university life will change because of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robots? Photo by  Alex Knight  from  Pexels Might we see: An intelligent tutor that personalizes learning to your needs and monitors your activities rather than check your learning by exams…? A chatbot helping you in your group work…? An app helping you plan your day…? A friendly robot who you are teaching a new language…? A voice assistant advising staff about university regulations..? A robot scientist conducting hundreds of experiments a day in an entirely replicable way…? Software helping a lecturer plan their career…? A robot mentor advising senior staff about unconscious bias…? The library as a living, lifelong learning companion…? These are some of the things that are being imagined as the future of universities with AI and robots. Of course, this is exciting. But it is also in many ways frightening, in terms of priva...

In April this year, I attended the 10 th World Summit of the Information Society (WSIS) in Geneva, Switzerland. as part of the Faculty of Social Sciences' Global Leadership Initiative (GLI). I represented the Information School as a Policy Analyst in a team of eight students led by Dr. Suay Ozkula (Sociological Studies) and Dr. Paul Reilly (Information School). WSIS is a United Nations (UN) multi-stakeholder global forum that promotes the implementation of the WSIS Action Lines for advancing UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). With a focus on “ICTs for development”, the Summit identified global trends and new partnerships to help achieve the SDGs. In addition to attending various sessions during the week-long Summit, we worked on blogs and policy briefs on our topics of interest, which were later published on Global Policy Opinion . The team also had an opportunity to deliver our own panel during the event. ICTs in the University Environment – 7 Case Studies saw ea...

Our new paper explores the potential impact of Artificial Intelligence on academic libraries. Innovations such as Siri and the driverless car have brought public attention to the potential of the latest developments in computing power, combining machine learning and big data. AI brings with it both exciting opportunities and risks to privacy, equality and employment. But until now the implications of AI for academic libraries have been relatively little explored. Using data from interviews with library directors, library commentators and commentators outside the library world, the new paper,  The intelligent library: Thought leaders’ views on the likely impact of artificial intelligence on academic libraries   ( open-access version available ) ,  explores the potential implications of AI for the academic library. We try to capture how interviewees thought AI would impact on academic libraries and from this reveal eleven issues that will define the paradigm of the "i...