Comments on: Draft Strategic Plan – Member Input Requested

By: Jayne Sappington

Jayne Sappington — Fri, 12 Jun 2020 19:16:28 +0000

In reply to Gail Thornburg. I thought at one time ASIS&T had established a knowledge base that was to include documents to inform the organization of operating procedures, policies, etc. as well as the history of the organization. What happened to that? In one organization I was a member of we had a designated Archivist who managed the archives with the history of the organization. Having a designated individual ensured a consist presence from year-to-year. The History Committee and SIG-KM could assist in the work the Archivist would do.

By: Eileen Breen

Eileen Breen — Fri, 05 Jun 2020 13:44:40 +0000

How much the annual conference can be improved to the timeline given, will depend on COVID-19 matters. As will the development of the other in-person knowledge-sharing activities. Online knowledge-sharing could be progressed faster to compensate, if necessary. As could Publications.

By: Eileen Breen

Eileen Breen — Fri, 05 Jun 2020 13:23:27 +0000

In reply to Jim Jansen. 'Publication' on online conference proceedings usually precludes submission of more-or-less the same paper to a journal, so Jim's recommendation makes sense from a publishing perspective.

By: Blessing Mawire

Blessing Mawire — Mon, 01 Jun 2020 15:10:03 +0000

Very strategic plan to grow the association and I like the clear timelines.

By: Gail Thornburg

Gail Thornburg — Sun, 31 May 2020 16:45:47 +0000

Under threats: ACM is mentioned w SIGCHI. SIGIR should be mentioned too, and perhaps others. I mention that specifically because ACM is an example of broad association with strong subgroups. In Tactic 3.6.3 – I like the suggestion of all SIGS having a guaranteed space in the annual meeting as it acknowledges the importance of strong subgroups. I’m not so clear that ACM has the inherent interdisciplinarity of the ASIS&T membership

Tactic 3.5.2 History of ASIS&T – since the description describes “operationalization of an appropriate records/document/knowledge management strategy”, perhaps the responsibility should split between History Committee and the SIG-KM ?

By: Julian Warner

Julian Warner — Sat, 30 May 2020 08:22:13 +0000

Heide Julien’s comments above are very appropriate. A central challenge would be to retain the revenues from JASIST while establishing a journal which has the function once held by JASIST of a forum for ASIS&T members’ research and practice (recalling the utility of a revealing theory) – perhaps this could be done by retaining JASIST but establishing a new journal with fewer, but more focussed to ASIS&T’s interests, papers.

The Annual Meeting was once longer, with more extensive premeetings (at least my impression), and this made it more worthwhile to travel to.

Emphasize the truly global role of ASIS&T and adapt to the changed information ecology (particularly the growth of the I Schools).

By: Jim Jansen

Jim Jansen — Sat, 30 May 2020 07:02:13 +0000

Hi!

Nice job all!

Recommend (ASIS&T Conference): As a goal of increasing attendance, give authors the option of submitting a full paper for ONLY presentation but NOT having the paper appear in the conference proceedings.

This, I believe, has several advantages, including:
(a) top conferences. such as ICWSM. do it in order to appeal to disciplines where conferences are not a big deal, So, these researchers want to save their work for this outlets that matter to them
(b) researchers may more willing to submit better work to the conference knowing that they can get reviews and then still publish the actual findings at a journal, another conference, etc.
(c) having a full paper accepted allows for most researchers to justify funding to the conference.

So, seems like a win all around. Possibly better research (certainly no worse). Attendance (at least) unaffected if not a better draw. Researchers have a choice.

I believe that this mode fits better with the ASIS&T Conference, which I (personally) view more as a networking conference rather than an outlet for top quality research. It also fits better with panels, which seem popular at the ASIS&T conference.

By: Heidi Julien

Heidi Julien — Fri, 29 May 2020 19:46:27 +0000

This is a very ambitious plan, but one which will strengthen ASIS&T considerably. I commend the task force for its thorough process and excellent outcome.