Published March 2, 2022 by Hilary Meehan

Hello, SJSU iStudent virtual community! I’m Hilary (she/her/hers), your new iStudent blogger. I look forward to addressing your school-related information needs effectively and comprehensively. Additionally, I encourage you to communicate to me your ideas, comments, questions, and concerns regarding the blog. You may use the comment box at the bottom of each blog post or contact me directly at hilary.meehan@sjsu.edu. I look forward to hearing from you and commit myself to respond to your messages. 

Before I get started with today’s topic, let us take a moment to thank former iStudent blogger, Leslie Parry, for her excellent work and dedication. Thank you, Leslie. We wish you well with your next adventure. 

Publishing and Presenting Research: Avenues for Students

Attending the recent College of Professional and Global Education (CPGE) Online Student Conference started me wondering about how iSchool students can present/publish their scholarly research. In her keynote address for the CPGE Conference, Dr. Sandra Hirsh, CPGE Associate Dean for Academics, outlined the importance and impacts of scholarly research. Here are a few examples of those benefits:

Importance of the Research Experience to Students

• Finding solutions to complex problems.
• Evaluating the validity of a hypothesis or an interpretive framework.
• Assembling a body of substantive knowledge and findings.

Impacts of the Research Experience on Professional Development

• Researching and identifying solutions and opportunities.
• Helping people improve their lives.
• Making data-driven decisions.

With these benefits in mind, it is vital to understand how iStudents can effectively identify research topics of interest to them, collaborate with faculty, staff, and other students toward designing and implementing a research project, and publish and/or present their findings. In addition to defining a research question, practical and logistical issues arise:

• Is it possible to publish the findings of secondary research? (see the Oxford Reference definition of “secondary research“)
• Does the iSchool offer opportunities to define, conduct, and present our research findings?

The answer to both of these questions is a resounding YES!

Below you will find a list of reliable access points to aid your own research and publishing/presenting goals: 

INFO 285 Applied Research Methods

A required course for most iStudents, INFO 285 is a primary avenue by which to identify and develop topical ideas for your scholarly research and enhance the skills necessary to conduct and analyze that research successfully. A variety of course sections focusing on different topical areas are available every semester. Follow this link to view current sections. 

SJSU iSchool’s Student Research Journal (SRJ)

SRJ, (pronounced “serge”) a scholarly publication for graduate student authors, is “a double-blind peer-reviewed, open access journal…developed and led by current graduate students at the School of Information and advised by Dr. Anthony Bernier and the Editorial Advisory Board. The editorial team is comprised of current iSchool students.” SRJ welcomes article submissions by graduate students and also encourages them to join their editorial teams. 

Learn more about submitting your scholarly work to SRJ, download the most recent edition, and watch a brief video about the value of becoming a published author here, or contact the editor-in-chief directly at sjsu.ischool.srj@gmail.com.

CPGE Online Student Conference 

This conference is “an opportunity for CPGE students to share their school or professional work, help students communicate and connect with each other, and ultimately foster a stronger sense of community among students”. For inspiration, watch iStudent Soraya Andriamiarisoa’s five-minute presentation, “The Power of Cosplay as a Sustainability Initiative for Libraries.” Additional student presentations may be accessed here. 

To participate and/or present at the next CPGE Online Student Conference, contact CIRI Coordinator and iSchool faculty member, Dr. Lili Luo. 

Library 2.0 Conferences

“Designed to foster collaboration and knowledge sharing among information professionals worldwide”, Library 2.0 holds three virtual mini conferences annually. The next mini conference, entitled “Virtual Reality and Learning: Leading the Way“ takes place on March 29, 2022. The call for presentation proposals is open now through March 15, 2022. Participation is free. Click here to learn more about Library 2.0,  and/or register to attend. Follow this link to view recordings of past Library 2.0 presentations. 

Center for Information Research and Innovation (CIRI)

CIRI “showcases faculty, staff, and student research and innovative practice, develops research-based and innovative products for the profession/field, fosters grant development, and enhances partnerships with individuals across campus, the continent and indeed the world, as well as with institutions and organizations.” 

An example of a recent CIRI-facilitated, collaborative research project opportunity is the  “interactive immersive opportunity session” (entitled “Augmented Reality: Immersive Learning & Virtual Community Building”) presented by SJSU iSchool faculty, staff, students and alumni at the ALA’s LibLearnX 2022 virtual conference. 

To learn more about how CIRI can facilitate your research endeavor, contact CIRI Coordinator and iSchool faculty member, Dr. Lili Luo.

ICANN Lab

The iSchool’s Intelligent Conversational Agents and Neural Networks Lab (ICANN, pronounced “I can”) is a fully online research collaboration environment for graduate and undergraduate students. “The research at the lab looks at multiple problems in the areas of information and data sciences from a socio-technical viewpoint…[and supports] research, education, and professional activities [situated] at the intersection of information retrieval, human-computer interaction, and deep neural networks.” The ICANN team publishes scholarly articles regularly. Current projects include “Understanding Man-Machine Dialogues,” “User-Centered Conversational Search Systems,” and “Analyzing Covid19 Tweets for Sentiment Markers.” 

To get involved with ICANN Lab projects, contact School of Information Lab Director and Assistant Professor, Dr. Souvick Ghosh at: souvick.ghosh@sjsu.edu. 

Graduate Research Assistantships

Check your SJSU email regularly for announcements about paid research assistantships for iStudents. To ensure you receive these announcements, confirm that your preferred email address is enrolled with the iSchoolAlert notification system.

iStudents: Valuable Contributors to Scholarly Conversation

As graduate students, we actively engage with scholarly research and writing and, as a result, our professional oeuvres grow and deepen every week. Our perspectives add value to academic conversations taking place in the world of information science and benefit not only ourselves but the information community as a whole.