New SIG SI newsletter soliciting contributions!

Hello all SIG SI members! At our business meeting at ASIS&T 2012 in Baltimore it was decided to begin a SIG SI newsletter, to be coordinated by me, new Secretary Lysanne Lessard. It aims at gathering all SI-related activities in one place, in order to improve the visibility of SI activities in general and of SIG SI within ASIS&T. We’re aiming for two newsletters per year, more or less one for the Fall semester and one for the Spring semester. Each newsletter will enumerate SI-related activities (talks, conferences, publications, events) that happened during that semester.

If you are aware of SI-related activities taking place on your campuses, at conferences that you’re attending, or elsewhere, we ask that you send me (Lysanne) and Communications Officer Adam Worrallan e-mail. You don’t need to summarize or write about it (although you can!), but simply send us a link, or title with info and short description. If the event hasn’t happened yet, or is happening as you’re sending it in, Adam will spread the word via our Facebook group, Twitter account, and/or the SIG SI listserv as appropriate. At the end of the semester, I (Lysanne) will compile all the notices into a newsletter which will be edited collectively by the officers. The newsletter will then be sent to the ASIS&T community as well as posted here on our website.

Of course, activities of interest to the Social Informatics community do not always bear that name, but please send in anything that you find relevant and we’ll assess it. Since this is a new endeavor, we would also welcome your ideas on how to make the newsletter more attractive! If you wish to do so, you could also contribute original material (reviews, summaries of events, etc.).

Our first newsletter will be distributed in early January, consisting of content sent and collected by December 15. We invite your contributions and content to be part of our Spring newsletter, for which the deadline will be sometime in late March or early April (exact deadline TBD). Please e-mail us if you have any questions about the newsletter, and thanks in advance for your contributions!