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EDITOR'S SUMMARY ASIS&T SIG/MET held the METRICS 2016 workshop on October 14, 2016, in Copenhagen, Denmark. Topics covered during the workshop include informetrics, information retrieval, bibliometrics and scientometrics, especially as they apply to evaluation of individuals and scholarly work. Nine presentations were given at the full-day workshop, as well as seven posters, three of which were open posters. The end of the event included presentation of the Best Student Paper award, a staple in the METRICS workshop, and the prize winners were invited to discuss their papers at the event. The SIG/MET Best Paper Award sponsored by and Digital Science was awarded to Dangzhi Zhao and Lucinda Johnson for their case study To What Degree Are Uni-citations Perfunctory? A Case Study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

EDITOR'S SUMMARY ASIS&T has continuously worked to enhance diversity and inclusion over its long history, including the formation of the Special Interest Group/International Information Issues and the name change from the American Society for Information Science and Technology to the Association for Information Science and Technology. During the 2016 ASIS&T Annual Meeting (AM), a Diversity and Inclusion Luncheon was held to promote discussion and ideas of new ways for ASIS&T to promote diversity. Attendees of the luncheon were asked to share positive personal experiences with diversity, as well as share ideas for how to bolster diversity and inclusion in future AMs and for ASIS&T as an organization. Suggestions include the meeting being held outside of North America more frequently, inclusion of mentor programs for papers and new attendees of AMs, removing North American-centric language from communications and more ASIS&T board members from other continents. The suggestions were recommended to the ASIS&T Board for further discussion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the 2014 ASIS&T Annual Meeting, the Special Interest Group/Social Informatics (SIG/SI) celebrated 10 years spearheading research on the intersection of people, information and communications technology. The SIG's pre-conference symposium attracted an international group of scholars and students demonstrating ways their work applies to the Annual Meeting's theme of Connecting Collections, Cultures, and Communities. Presented papers examined the influence of IT consultants' work by organizational and technical contexts, social and cultural barriers impeding the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) by resource-poor individuals, genre analysis of technologically mediated workplace practices and links between social networks and ICTs. A panel discussion explored ties between epistemic cultures and intellectual communities and ways to promote social informatics research on the topic. The SIG presented awards for Best Paper and Best Student Paper, both touching on collaboration to enhance content. The importance of the annual research symposium was reinforced by SIG/SI earning the 2014 SIG Publication-of-the-Year Award for a book that emerged from its 2012 symposium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ASIS&T's Special Interest Group/Information Needs, Seeking and Use (SIG/USE) met during the 2014 Annual Meeting for the group's 14th Annual Research Symposium, focusing on Context in Information Behavior Research. Keynote speaker J. David Johnson set the tone as he encouraged research into the context of information activities outside the usual settings and using varied theoretical perspectives and tools. Attendees also heard 14 lightning talks exploring conceptual and methodological issues. Speakers considered time and emotion as dominant contextual influences in information behavior, the role of information overload and ways diverse contexts affect seeking and providing information. Discussion of research methods encouraged a mixed-method approach and analytic bracketing and illuminated how study participants create their own information context. During the world café session, tablemates discussed how information context is constructed and evolves, research gaps and available methodologies. The symposium ended with presentation of awards for outstanding research, best paper and poster and for travel to pursue studies. Gary Marchionini was recognized for his outstanding contributions to information behavior research throughout his career. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Big data and cloud computing were the focal points of the 12th biennial Library and Information Science (LIS) Across the Taiwan Straits, held in Tianjin, China. The conference was hosted by Nankai University's Department of Information Resources Management and organized by academic heads of Nankai University and the National Taiwan Normal University. About 270 attendees from universities, libraries and scholarly journal publishing houses from the region participated. ASIS&T funded keynote speaker Diane H. Sonnenwald's discussion of visioning to explore the impact of future technologies. The Association also sponsored a lunch and presented information on the benefits of membership. Key speakers addressed challenges facing LIS and core competencies of information professionals, the value and management of technical reports and research experiences in the United States in the context of challenges to academia across the Taiwan straits. Conference sessions covered papers, doctoral research and a panel discussion by LIS program deans, chairs and faculty. The 2016 conference is planned for Central China Normal University in Wuhan and will offer further opportunity for interchange and mutual support between straits regions, LIS scholars and ASIS&T. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

EDITOR'S SUMMARY Bringing comic relief to the 2015 ASIS&T Annual Meeting, SIG CON opened with discovery that the alleged nephew of the group's figurehead, Dr. Llewellyn C. Puppybreath III, and speaker at the 2014 meeting was an imposter of dubious character. With the purloined ceremonial wand accounted for, the 2015 symposium opened with a presentation on the I-Index, an anti-establishment altmetric, eschewing group recognition in favor of individualism and self-citation. A paper on the correlation among computer science doctorates, rising arcade revenues and climate warming in Australia highlighted the income and career opportunities available to techies relocating to Oz. Analysis of ASIS&T members' social media posts revealed a skewed distribution of posters, topics and irrelevant content, especially by Association leadership. The session also featured a Monty Python character reporting on fatal answers at the Bridge of Death, multiple personalities of Dr. N. E. Doofus and a séance with illustrious ASIS&T members spanning the spectrum from living to dead. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

EDITOR'S SUMMARY Special Interest Group/Information Needs, Seeking and Use (SIG/USE) convened at the 2015 ASIS&T Annual Meeting to explore the links between theory and practice in information behavior. In his keynote address, Ross Todd urged the audience to go beyond models and aim for synthesis and meta-analysis, focusing on the user. Lightning talks addressed a social cognitive theory analysis of a program for disadvantaged youth; adults with limited literacy and health information; mobile information workers; forming a community of practice; and information sharing practices among online communities. A key takeaway was that research should actively involve communities and their members rather than simply being about them. Safiya Noble's keynote highlighted hidden biases in automated search engine returns with encouragement to design algorithms enabling users to opt in or out of filtered returns. Attendees explored the topics raised further during a mixer chat and table talks. The symposium ended with presentations for the best paper, poster and research proposal and awards for student and international conference travel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

EDITOR'S SUMMARY At the 2015 ASIS&T Annual Meeting, Special Interest Group/Social Informatics (SIG/SI) celebrated its 11th research symposium and the more than 100 panels, papers and posters presented over the years. The theme, 'The Impacts of Social Informatics Research,' was evident in studies illustrating social informatics in a variety of contexts. Speakers explored the use of communications technology in marginalized communities and language use in informal chat about illegal behavior in online communities. Presenters also examined human rights in Indonesia, taking a value-oriented approach in social informatics research, efforts to create a safer internet and ways big data marginalize individuals through algorithms used in quantitative analyses. A panel considered where social informatics fits in the IT curriculum of iSchools. An examination of social connectedness through digital channels and devices won the Best Paper Award. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]