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EducationFeatured
Azeez Adeoye

Libraries Aren’t Dying—They’re Leading the Tech Revolution

The library is a technological hub where cutting-edge devices are introduced to the world. Contrary to the unpopular rumour, especially prevalent in Africa, that libraries are outdated and librarians’ services are no longer needed, the library is a phoenix that evolves and adapts to the emerging modern world. Today, it is more relevant than ever, especially with the growing digital divide caused by socio-economic disparities, geographical disadvantages, infrastructure inequality, skillset deficiencies, age factors, and more.

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FeaturedOriginal
Christopher Lueg

Erasing Individuality: The Uncanny Undertone of AI Writing Assistance

There is little doubt that GenAI can provide valuable services in certain areas e.g., by aiding and arguably empowering people who lack experience in say, writing business English or formatting CVs in specific ways, especially when applying for jobs that require submitting job applications online as is very common nowadays. However, it also creates uncanny language with a sensation of unease. Examples include employing idioms, phrases, or expressions that are used slightly incorrectly, or any other “slight but noticeable deviations from natural human writing can create a sense of disconnection and discomfort in the reader.” (ibid) Or, as Robertson (2024) puts it, “AI used to be weird. Now ‘sounds like a bot’ is just shorthand for boring.”

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FeaturedProfessional Development
Aylin Imeri

Information Matters Special Issue on Professional Development

The aim of this special issue (SI) is to encourage readers to think critically about their own professional development and to take time to reflect on it. Are you looking for helpful insights? Or have you ever wondered what others are doing? Then this is the place for you. Ten submissions in this SI on professional development reflected on personal professional development journeys by referring to some aspects of professional development within academia, education and industry. Professional development is a lot like a jigsaw puzzle — it’s made up of lots of different pieces: soft skills, volunteering, networking, career transitioning, navigating work and family responsibilities, among others.

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FeaturedOriginal
Md Anwarul Islam

Disconnected in the Connected World: Internet Blackout

The recent quota-reform movement in Bangladesh has brought the country to a significant historical moment, resulting in the deaths of more than two hundred people, including students and law enforcing agencies. Under the existing quota policy, only 44 percent of government recruitment was based on merit, while the remaining 56 percent was allocated to freedom fighters and their children, district quotas, women, and underprivileged communities. Students opposed this quota system and demanded its reform. Initially, university students across Bangladesh engaged in peaceful protests, rallies, and other activities, calling their efforts the “Anti-Discrimination Students’ Movement.” On July 7, they initiated a nationwide “Bangla Blockade,” obstructing roads and railways with demonstrations in major cities. As the protests escalated, they spread across the entire country, leading to violent incidents. The students’ demand for quota reforms resulted in significant clashes with law enforcement. On Thursday, July 18, around 9 PM, the entire country experienced an internet blackout, with all mobile and broadband services suspended, rendering social media inaccessible. This was followed by a nationwide curfew imposed by the government.

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FeaturedProfessional Development
Marta Bustillo

Developing Professional Skills for the Workplace: A Student-Staff Partnership to Create University-Wide Learning

Students often find themselves learning and using digital technologies in the course of their studies; however, they may not be similarly prepared for a professional workplace environment. These professional skills, which may range from understanding appropriate communication and digital etiquette to creation and collaboration in the online workplace, form part of digital literacy, though the importance of learning these skills can be overlooked. University College Dublin’s strategic plan includes digital literacy for education and the workplace as a core goal for both staff and students. However, we identified a gap in the university curriculum, that is, the development of professional digital skills.

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FeaturedProfessional Development
Bhakti Gala

Volunteering with International Professional Associations: Pathway to Professional Development

How do you build your professional career by volunteering with international professional associations? Can volunteering play a role in expanding your professional growth? It is known that joining an international professional association increases the possibilities of interacting with a global community and expanding domain knowledge. There are two aspects to making this work. First, by becoming a member of an international association, and second, by actively volunteering with the association.

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FeaturedInfoFire
Shalini Urs

Trends in Health Informatics: Fireside Chat with Dean Javed Mostafa, Faculty of Information, University of Toronto

In this episode of InfoFire, I am in conversation with Professor Javed Mostafa, Dean of the Faculty of Information, University of Toronto, Canada, on the topic “Trends in Health Informatics.” Our conversation covered various issues such as Electronic Health Records (EHR); interoperability; EHR and precision medicine; the personalization-privacy paradox; wearable devices and remote health; unstructured health data and machine learning; data analytics; telemedicine; AI and health informatics; and interdisciplinarity in HI.

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FeaturedINFideos
Jenna Hartel

Information Science Workout: Use Your Body to Learn Information Science!

A new video series at INFIDEOS, Information Science Workout, invites people to learn major concepts of Information Science through their bodies. This approach resonates with embodied cognition and multimodal pedagogy, two movements that recognize the important role the body plays in making sense of the world. As the Introduction to the Series declares, “Your body can be your teacher.”

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