2025 - Information Matters

June 10, 2025 Chirag Shah

How Do You Like Them Agents?

As autonomous agent technologies rapidly permeate our digital landscape, a critical question emerges: what roles should computational agents fulfill to best augment human capabilities? The capabilities of today’s agents—from voice-activated personal assistants to code-generation systems—continue to expand dramatically, prompting urgent questions about their optimal design, function, and integration into human activities. Despite significant technical advances, we lack a coherent framework for conceptualizing the different relationships humans might have with agents, hampering both the evaluation of existing technologies and the principled design of future systems.

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June 9, 2025 Zhe Cao

How Does Scientific Research Influence Policymaking?

According to Nathan Caplan, scientists and policymakers belong to two distinct communities: the former prioritize conceptual understanding, while the latter emphasize the practical applicability of knowledge. So, how exactly does science shape policy? By analyzing the pathways through which research articles are cited in policy documents, we may uncover the underlying mechanisms of this complex interaction.

June 2, 2025 Emmanuel Omeiza Momoh

They Published It, But Can You Read It?

At a time when global research output is booming, access remains a privilege for the few. This article explores the irony of knowledge locked behind paywalls and argues for a publishing model where research truly reaches the people who need it most. If they published it, why can’t you read it?

Original

May 29, 2025 Sheng-Hsiang Lance Peng

The Holy API: Ritual, Protocol and Papal Smoke

Every few decades, a curious thing happens in Vatican City: thousands of people turn their eyes to a chimney. And when the smoke is white, the world knows: Habemus Papam. We have a pope! This centuries-old moment feels ancient, mystical and perhaps even opaque. But let’s look again. What if, instead of dismissing this as quaint Catholic pageantry, we considered it a form of communication? A system. A protocol. In the language of information science and software engineering: an API.

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May 16, 2025 Yong Ju Jung

Academic Libraries’ Spending Matters for College Student Success

Do academic libraries, meaning libraries in colleges and universities, affect students’ graduation rates? Some might think that academic libraries are merely supplemental rather than a critical element for students’ academic success. For the last decade or so, colleges and universities, on average, reduced their total spending for academic libraries while increasing spending in other areas, including student services, research, and institutional support. In this situation, we examined the association between academic library spending and student graduation rates at four-year colleges and universities in the U.S.

Featured InfoFire

May 16, 2025 Shalini Urs

Reframing Information: From “Information as Thing” to “Everything as Document” to the Identity of iSchools — Conversations with Michael Buckland

Michael Buckland, a pivotal figure in information science, has profoundly shaped the field through his scholarship and leadership. In this episode of InfoFire, Buckland engaged with me on foundational concepts, practical applications, and historical perspectives, offering provocative critiques that challenge conventional thinking. He declared “information” a problematic term— “It is a bad word; it is to be abolished”—arguing that its overloaded meanings obscure clarity. Similarly, he labeled bibliometrics a “pseudoscience,” questioning its methodological rigor. These rhetorical provocations underscore his effort to reframe information science around precise, document-centric frameworks.

graphic of AI in education with books and tablet

Featured Original

May 15, 2025 A. Miller

Integrating AI in Education: Educational Technology Practices, Tools, and Accessibility

Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly a topic of interest and concern in higher education. Much of the current research focuses on AI policies, how AI is changing education, and the AI use cases that include benefits (e.g., new insights) and concerns (e.g., academic integrity) of AI use. This article focuses on AI integration and builds on an earlier article on AI tools, algorithmic literacies, and educational technology, demonstrating how inclusive design impacts accessibility and the design of AI in education. With this understanding, educators can evaluate existing educational technologies and AI tools as options they may consider adding to their curriculum. The integration ideas presented may help educators plan for educational technology practices, such as scaffolded lessons and assessments for AI literacy (which include digital and AI literacy frameworks and the benefits and challenges of AI). Additionally, these ideas may help educators get started with AI by offering suggestions on technologies to evaluate.

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May 14, 2025 Haoyang Wang

The Growing Divide in Scientific Attention: A Tale of Two Scientists

Imagine a bustling city where a few towering skyscrapers dominate the skyline, while the surrounding neighborhoods—though full of life and potential—remain in the shadows, overlooked. This metaphor captures a troubling trend in modern science: a small group of prominent researchers increasingly dominate scholarly attention, while the majority of scientists—early-career scholars, specialists in niche fields, or those from underrepresented regions—struggle to be heard. A recent study, analyzing millions of academic publications and citations, reveals how this “attention inequality” is reshaping the scientific landscape, with profound implications for innovation, diversity, and the future of knowledge itself.

Education Original

May 14, 2025 A. Miller

Ensuring Human-Centered AI EdTech: Inclusive Design and Evolving Information, Digital, Media, and Algorithmic Literacies

Emerging technologies increasingly impact the design of and access to education. Current research in higher education and educational technology argues the benefits (e.g., time-saving, personalization, scalability) and concerns (e.g., academic integrity, accessibility, data reliability, ethics, privacy) of students using artificial intelligence in education. Though these pro and con lists may be valid and growing, a perspective is often missing from conversations about AI in education: accessibility and people with disabilities. This article first reviews the importance of understanding relevant literacies—information, digital, media, and algorithmic—and describes examples of educational technologies (EdTech) that highlight learning objectives of using and creating knowledge and content with those tools. Then, inclusive and human-centered design principles are discussed as a foundational construct to design human-centered AI and use cases for integrating AI in learning design.

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May 13, 2025 Xiaoguang Wang

Digital Deduction Theatre: An Experimental Methodological Framework for the Digital Intelligence Revitalisation of Cultural Heritage

In the age of digital intelligence, the digitisation and revitalisation of cultural heritage is reflected in the implementation of technology and profoundly affects the way in which science and technology are merged with culture. The digital humanities (DH) laboratory is a multifunctional space that combines digital cultural heritage resources, tools, and interdisciplinary research methods.