Despite widespread support for the 2021 San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment, the Journal Impact Factor remains the most prominent metric on publisher platforms, according to a new study by Affiliate Professor Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe and MSLIS student Heather Parkin.   ▶️ bit.ly/3JMnRTS

Quinn Kennelly has joined the #iSchoolUI as an office support specialist, where she will serve as the primary receptionist at 614 E. Daniel Street and will also provide administrative support for the Informatics team. Welcome, Quinn! ▶️ bit.ly/481ynyO

For Native American Heritage Month, #iSchoolUI doctoral student David Eby will join a panel on “Decolonizing Knowledge: Rethinking Research, Scholarship, and Community Engagement.”   🗓️ Monday, Nov. 17 ⏰ 5:30-7:00 p.m. 📍 Asian American Cultural Center ▶️ bit.ly/4hVXMOT

🎉 Congratulations to Informatics PhD student Sepehr Vaez Afshar on being named a Student Scholar by the Association for Preservation Technology (APT)! He’ll present his research on XR applications in U.S. museums at APT’s annual conference in Providence. ▶️ bit.ly/488TSP9

The #iSchoolUI will be well represented at the 88th Annual Meeting of the Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T), which will be held November 14-18 in Arlington, Virginia.   See the full schedule of our participation here ▶️ bit.ly/43lEb4z

After earning his BSIS+DS, Aisaiah Pellecer planned to go to grad school, but his path took a new turn when he was accepted into the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange. 🇺🇸🇩🇪   Now in Germany, he’s attending CS courses and preparing for an internship.   ▶️ bit.ly/4oI84of

Another #iSchoolUI Research Showcase is in the books! Thanks to everyone for making it a success! ✨

The #iSchoolUI has 🔸FOUR🔹 open faculty positions in the areas: Information Sciences, Information, Culture & Society, Information Behavior/HCI/UX, and Early Literacies! Submit your application by December 15 ▶️ bit.ly/iSchoolatIllinoisJobs

If you’re interested in viewing any of tomorrow’s proceedings, the event will be streamed on their YouTube channel. #comics #libcomix #censorship cc. @ischoolui.bsky.social

Wrote a short piece arguing that higher ed must help steer AI. TLDR: If we outsource this to tech, we outsource our whole business. But rejectionism is basically stalling. If we want to survive, schools themselves must proactively shape AI for education & research. [1/6, unpaywalled at 5/6] +

"The world isn't facing a lack of information, but rather an overload.” #iSchoolUI MSIM student Zhanchen Kang hopes to help people make sense of the overwhelming amount of information in their daily lives. Read more about his student experience ▶️ bit.ly/4qQYSQ3

Students from The Stu/dio, the #ILLINOIS student-led game studio, are heading to #MDEV2025 (Nov. 7–8 in Madison, WI)! 🎮 One of the Midwest’s top game dev conferences, MDEV celebrates innovation, collaboration, and creativity in gaming. ▶️ bit.ly/3LkUyZ0

Join Library Trends on November 11 for a webinar on generative AI’s impact on librarians.   The discussion, which will be moderated by #iSchoolUI Adjunct Lecturer Melissa Wong, will feature authors Andrea Baer, Nicole Murph, and Kay Slater.   🤖▶️ bit.ly/492OrlR

Attend tomorrow’s “The AI Disruption” talk! Chaowei Xiao, assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University and researcher at Nvidia, will present “Towards Secure and Safe AI Agents: From Model to System." ▶️ bit.ly/3WDnq0Y

At #NDiSTEM in Ohio, #iSchoolUI Postdoc Janaynne Carvalho do Amaral and @prereview.bsky.social’s Daniela Saderi hosted a hands-on workshop on recognizing and interrupting bias in peer review. 💡📝

#iSchoolUI PhD students have received A. Serwin Conference Scholarships from the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) to attend their annual conference, held October 30-31, in San Diego, California. Congratulations! ▶️ bit.ly/4ntilmL

#iSchoolUI doctoral candidate @janajm.com has successfully defended her dissertation, “Scholarship writ large: A data-rich analysis of professionalization in English literary scholarship from 1940 to the present.” Congratulations, Jana! 🎉▶️ bit.ly/4oO1Jr9

Character.AI will soon bar users under 18 from using its chatbots, reports @nytimes.com. #iSchoolUI Professor Yang Wang shared insights from his research, which concluded that such platforms didn’t have sufficient child safety protections. 🤖▶️ bit.ly/432FcOK

For her work on human-centered AI safety for youth, #iSchoolUI PhD student Yaman Yu has been named a recipient of the 2025 Google PhD Fellowship in Privacy, Safety, and Security! Congratulations, Yaman! 🤖▶️ bit.ly/48OF0q9

Illinois is facing its driest year since 1988. 🌾 SIDE, an AI-driven drought estimation framework developed by #iSchoolUI Professor Dong Wang, aims to understand the social effects of drought. He discussed his research with the Illinois News Bureau ▶️ bit.ly/4ohEMg0

Join us for tomorrow’s “The AI Disruption” talk! Jeff Clune, professor of computer science at the University of British Columbia, will present “Open-Ended, Quality Diversity, and AI-Generating Algorithms in the Era of Foundation Models." ▶️ bit.ly/48RVQEE

Still need a costume idea? 🎃 Head to the Champaign-Urbana Community Fab Lab, the only makerspace on campus open to everyone, where anyone can create, from DIY costumes to laser-cut ornaments. 🧵 bit.ly/47nz0lK

Cindy Brya has been appointed assistant dean for communications and marketing, where she will lead the #iSchoolUI’s Communications and Marketing team, provide counsel to the dean, and shape the overall communications strategy. Congratulations, Cindy! 🎉▶️ bit.ly/4ox2Nzs

Next week, #iSchoolUI faculty & students will present their research at the 27th International Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Special Interest Group (SIG) ACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (#ASSETS2025).   Learn more ▶️ bit.ly/3JeeKLu

#iSchoolUI Professor Anita Say Chan will give an invited lecture at the American University of Beirut, as part of their “Confronted with America” series, about her new book, “Predatory Data.” More details ▶️ bit.ly/43mbPXO

Attend tomorrow’s “The AI Disruption” talk! Rishi Bommasani, senior research scholar at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, will present "Technocratic AI Policy." More details here ▶️ bit.ly/3JkyXiC

#iSchoolUI doctoral student Precious Olalere has been awarded the 2025 Helen Knoll Jira Scholarship from the Health Science Librarians of Illinois (HSLI). Congratulations, Precious! More about her here ▶️ bit.ly/48JS9kl

Book Launch for THE FUTURE OF MEMORY by Jimi Jones & Marek Jancovic at the Eye Filmmuseum on Friday, October 24 at 14.30 (CEST) More info and how to attend online here⤵️ asca.uva.nl/shared/subsi... cc: @uvahumanities.bsky.social @ischoolui.bsky.social

#iSchoolUI BSIS student Daria Meshcheriakova combines creativity and analytics to transform data into understanding. 
Through UX research, design, and her Sketching Club, she explores new ways to see and share patterns in the world around us. More about Daria ▶️ bit.ly/48w2mAL

Congrats to #iSchoolUI Adjunct Lecturer Anne Craig on being named an Illinois Library Luminary! From leading the Illinois State Library to directing CARLI, she’s strengthened libraries across Illinois and beyond. ▶️ bit.ly/47oAVaT

#iSchoolUI faculty, staff, and students will present their research this week at the 2025 Illinois Library Association Annual Conference. Keep an eye out for CUC Fab Lab’s makerspace at booth 736 👀! More details on our participation here ▶️ bit.ly/46RQ84f

Join us for tomorrow’s “The AI Disruption” talk! Nihar B. Shah, associate professor in the machine learning and computer science departments at @cmu.edu, will present “LLMs in Science: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly." More details here ▶️ bit.ly/48vFph6

At the #iSchoolUI, alum Manas Godha (BSIS '24) learned how to connect "different contexts, people, and processes with data and technology.” Now, he is putting those skills into practice in his work as the growth and strategy lead at Advaiya. Learn more about Manas ▶️ bit.ly/4oe03Xl

#iSchoolUI faculty, students, and recent grads will present their research at #CSCW2025, which will be held October 18-22 in Bergen, Norway. The online portion of the conference will be held on October 10.   More details on our participation can be found here ▶️ bit.ly/3WwORt6

The newest issue of Library Trends 74 (1), “Genres and Their Uses in Cultural Documentation,” examines how genre classifications can help readers access creative works in libraries and beyond. Enjoy open access ▶️ bit.ly/46Zv0I6

#iSchoolUI BSIS student Jade Carthans is passionate about the intersection of human-centered design, machine learning, & data analytics. After interning at Microsoft & State Farm, she saw how these areas can come together to solve critical problems. ▶️ bit.ly/4nGIOhD

Last night, we hosted a special alumni reception at the I Hotel during this year’s AISLE conference. It was wonderful seeing so many familiar faces!

Eleven #iSchoolUI instructors were named in the University's List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent for Summer 2025. Congratulations to our amazing instructors! 👏 See the full list here ▶️ bit.ly/46S4HTV

Heading to AISLE? Come say hi at booth 108 in the exhibit hall! 👋   And don’t forget our alumni reception is tonight in the Alma Mater Room. We can’t wait to see you there! 🎉

Join us for the Association of Illinois School Library Educators (AISLE) annual conference, held next week at the I Hotel and Conference Center in Champaign, Illinois.   We will be at booth 108 in the exhibit hall. Stop by and say hi!     View our #iSchoolUI presenters here ▶️ bit.ly/3VO78ly

#iSchoolUI Asst. Prof. Emily Maemura is the Illinois lead for a project that explores how sociocultural data from historical records are collected, manipulated, stored, visualized, & interpreted, as part of a partnership between the U. of I. System & the University of Toronto. ▶️ bit.ly/47457rA

We are pleased to announce that #iSchoolUI Professor J. Stephen Downie has been appointed executive associate dean. Downie joined the faculty in 1998 and has served as associate dean for research since 2011. Congratulations, Stephen! 🎉▶️ bit.ly/4gOmYWS

#iSchoolUI faculty, staff, and students will present their research and be honored at the annual conference of the Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE), which will take place next week in Kansas City, Missouri.   See full details on our participation ▶️ bit.ly/4gNUCMm

#iSchoolUI Adjunct Lecturer Jimi Jones will be in Amsterdam to launch his book on Friday, October 24th! Come join the book launch, which will be held at the Eye Filmmuseum and online via Zoom. For more information and how to attend via Zoom, visit ▶️ bit.ly/4pTTdZ2

This year marks the fourth cohort of the #iSchoolUI’s Postdoctoral Research Associate Program. Welcome, Bogeum Choi, Ece Gumusel, Edwin (Teddy) Roland, Tian Wang, and Qiqi Xie! 🎉 Read more about the group and their research interests ▶️ bit.ly/4pNISh5

All are welcome to attend tomorrow’s “The AI Disruption” talk! @pascalhitzler.bsky.social, University Distinguished Prof. & endowed Lloyd T. Smith Creativity in Engineering Chair at the Dept. of Computer Science at Kansas State University, will present “How Disruptive Is It Really?" ▶️ bit.ly/471ZTg3

Thanks for a great Homecoming, Illini! 🔸💙

We’re proud to see the #iSchoolUI represented on the #ILLINOIS 2025 Homecoming Court through BSIS student Lauren Ravury. Read about her student experience and her passion for tech and data privacy law 🧡▶️ bit.ly/4nr4MoO

#iSchoolUI Professor Yang Wang has been appointed by @govpritzker.illinois.gov to the new Autism Data Privacy Advisory Group, which will strengthen protections for the rights of people with autism in Illinois. Congratulations on this honor, Yang! ▶️ bit.ly/3VB4krW

#iSchoolUI BSIS student Riddhima Patllollu biked 4,500+ miles with Illini 4000 to raise awareness & funds for cancer research. As the group’s marketing director, she encourages students to apply for the 2026 team by Sep. 27. More about Riddhima 🚴‍♀️▶️ bit.ly/4njt5F0