Monday, February 25, 2008

Final Program

Sunday       Tuesday

Links to speaker presentations (where permission to post has been granted) appear next to the individual speaker's name.

Monday, February 25, 2008

8:00am - 5:00pm: Registration, Grand Ballroom Foyer,

7:45am - 8:30am: Continental Breakfast

Sponsored by Thomson Scientific

8:30am - 10:00am: Plenary Session: Leveraging the New Information Environment.

Information providers and librarians have access to a spectrum of technologies with which to provide state-of-the-art tools for information discovery.  Web 2.0 features such as RSS feeds, blogs, wikis, and podcasts; participation in virtual communities; use of geo-spatial and visualization software, and many more.  Come and learn how both traditional and new information providers are blending content and technology to ensure that their products and services will meet the expectations of today’s techno-savvy information seekers.

Speakers:

• Rafael Sidi, Vice President, Product Development, Elsevier 
  
  Title:  Introducing Illumin8

• Martin R. Kalfatovic, Head, New Media Office and Preservation Services, Smithsonian Institute Libraries  [Slides]
  
  Title: A Global Library of Life: The Biodiversity Heritage Library
  
  Abstract: The Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) is a consortium of major research libraries from natural history museums, botanical gardens and universities. The BHL focus is on creating a digital library of the world’s taxonomic literature from the 18th century forward. Unlike other mass digitization projects, the BHL is focusing on a very specific literature and developing a suite of Web 2.0 applications in parallel with the scanning. The BHL is also a cornerstone member of the Encyclopedia of Life which will provide online documentation for the worlds 1.8 million plus species.
  
  Over 4.5 million pages have been scanned with BHL’s partner, the Internet Archive. A charter member of the Open Content Alliance, the BHL is committed to working with additional partners to provide open access to the world’s taxonomic literature for the scientific community.

• Krista Mantsch, Senior Research Librarian, Libraries and Information Services, National Geographic Society [Slides]
  
  Title: Growing Web 2.0 @ National Geographic
  
  Abstract: National Geographic Society’s Libraries & Information Services staff see ourselves as change agents. We work within the “white spaces” of the organizational chart – the place where no one else is working. Over the past few years, our focus has been on testing, prototyping and growing interactive and collaborative intranet-based tools and applications that we believe would benefit NGS staff. Because we are able to model practical examples, we are able to translate how Web 2.0 might meet their needs. The most important lesson we have learned is that building knowledge networks in the era of Web 2.0 is not just about the technology. It is more about building relationships, facilitating projects and teams, and engaging LIS and NGS staff in discovery and experimentation with new ideas.

10:00am - 10:30am: Break and Networking Opportunity

Sponsored by the American Psychological Association

10:30am - 12:00pm: Information Discovery: Emerging Technologies

Each new advance in technology raises user expectations and the bar is set higher for the next iteration. Users no longer want a lot of information in response to their queries - they are seeking knowledge. They want relevant answers; they want tools to help them understand those answers; and in seeking those answers they want the ultimate search experience. Come and learn about some newly emerging technologies that will allow you to create even greater perceived value for your products and services.

Speakers:

• John Crupi, Chief Technology Officer, JackBe Corporation  [Slides]
  
  Title: Making Web 2.0 Meaningful and Achievable in the Enterprise
  
  Abstract: Has the consumer side of the Web spoiled us in the enterprise? With today’s web focusing on user-generated content, social networking and building communities, how we communicate and collaborate in today’s enterprise continues to evolve. This session is designed to focus on providing practical and actionable steps to adopting Web 2.0 solutions in the enterprise.

• Dr. Aaron Brown, Program Director, Content Discovery, IBM Information Management Software [Slides]
  
  Title: Text Analytics Gets Real: Mining Content for Profit and Insight
  
  Abstract: Text analytics technologies burst upon the scene several years ago with the promise of revolutionizing unstructured information management. Yet despite initial enthusiasm, they've struggled to gain widespread traction outside of narrow niches. The time has come, however, for text analytics to get real. Over the past two years the market has started to shift, with text analytics gaining new prominence as a key tool for competitive differentiation and risk management used by market-leading organizations worldwide in industries such as insurance, publishing, manufacturing, healthcare, and more. The driver behind this shift is that analytics has evolved from an extraction technology to a mining technology, leveraging metaphors of search and navigation to empower everyday business users with the ability to mine deep insight out of mountains of unstructured content -- helping organizations drive profit, reduce compliance risk, and differentiate their own information services offerings. We are approaching a watershed moment for text analytics, and in this talk I'll outline the trends and implications of this new era of analytics, highlight the technology innovations behind it, and describe examples where leading organizations have set the bar for others in their industries to follow.

• George Spix, Technical Officer, Microsoft Corporation
  
  Title: Immersive Computing, Microsoft Surface and Other Palettes

12:15pm - 1:45pm: Lunch (Members Only Session)

Sponsored by Elsevier

2:00pm - 3:30pm:  Plenary Session: The Future of Information Discovery

User expectations are shaping the future of information discovery.  And effective search strategies for Web-oriented databases and massive cloud computing resources have raised their expectations regarding the remarkable opportunities in exploratory search that can lead to productive discoveries. Collaborative searching techniques combined with social networking have the potential to harness collective intelligence so that domain experts and novices alike can make important discoveries across integrated databases. Designers of creativity support tools (demonstrations will be presented) are applying advanced visualizations in innovative ways to provide visual overviews with interactive tools that enable systematic yet flexible exploration. The best is yet to come!

Speakers:

• Dr. Ben Shneiderman, Professor, Computer Science and Founding Director of the Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory, University of Maryland  [Slides]
  
  Title: The Future of Information Discovery
  
  Abstract: Effective search strategies for Web sites and databases have raised user expectations, but there are still great opportunities in supporting exploratory search that leads to productive discoveries. Collaborative searching techniques combined with social networking have the potential to harness collective intelligence so that domain experts and novices can make important discoveries. Designers of creativity support tools are applying advanced visualizations in innovative ways to provide overviews with tools that enable systematic yet flexible exploration. The best is yet to come.

• Randy Marcinko, President and CEO, Groxis  [Slides]
  
  Title: Visualizing Search Results from Multiple Databases
  
  Abstract: The presentation of search results is still almost exclusively a list, sometimes ranked by parameters such as relevance or date. Knowing that most end-users rarely surf beyond the first or second screen, a very small percentage or search results are ever seen or even considered by the end-user. Visualization, textually or graphically, is a viable solution to this problem, offering the end-user greater power to select those results that are most useful. Visualization also gives the content creator greater assurance that their work will be given a fair chance to be viewed. When searching on federated sources, it is even more important to put control of what is seen in the hands of the end-user. This talk will address the visualization of federated search results and include meaningful demos. The concept of visualization as an alternative to keyword search will be raised.

• Susan Dumais, Senior Researcher, Microsoft Researcher
  
  Title: Search and Context
  
  Abstract: Today most search systems treat queries in isolation, without regard to searchers previous queries and interactions. Context is a key to improving search by understanding searchers interests, the rich interrelationships among objects, and the larger task environments in which information needs arise. Understanding and incorporating these contextual variables into search algorithms and interfaces will dramatically change the information landscape in the next decade. Demos of systems that support rich metadata and tagging (Phlat) and personalization (PSearch) will be shown.

3:30pm - 4:00pm: Break and Networking Opportunity

Sponsored by the Philosopher's Information Center

4:15pm – 5:00pm: Miles Conrad Lecture

Given by Robert J. Massie, President, CAS [Slides and Text]

Robert J. Massie has been President of CAS (Chemical Abstracts Service), an operating division of the American Chemical Society, since 1992.

Prior to his appointment, Mr. Massie had extensive publishing industry experience, including having served most recently as President and CEO of Gale Research, Inc., at the time a subsidiary of the Thomson organization, and widely considered the leading library reference publisher. In the 1980's, Mr. Massie held senior executive positions with the Torstar Corporation, the largest newspaper and book publishing company in Canada. Prior to that, he was a management consultant with McKinsey & Co. in New York where his clients included the General Electric Company and the New York Times Company. He also practiced law with the firm of Covington & Burling in Washington, DC. One of his areas of specialization was Food and Drug Law, representing pharmaceutical manufacturers before the FDA.

Mr. Massie is a member of the board of directors of the Columbus Chamber of Commerce, TechColumbus, and the Columbus Partnership. He has also served on several private and public company boards.  He has authored a number of papers, and speaks frequently to industry groups on the subject of scientific research in the digital age. In 1998, Mr. Massie received the Executive of the Year award from the Industry & Technology Council of Central Ohio. Mr. Massie was the 2003 recipient of the Patterson-Crane award for Outstanding Contribution to Providing Chemical Information Services, from the Columbus and Dayton, Ohio sections of the American Chemical Society.

Mr. Massie Holds a joint J.D./MBA degree from Columbia University, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar . He earned a B.A. with honors from Yale.

Miles Conrad Lecture Title: 
CAS in the New Information Order

Abstract:  For 100 years, CAS has adjusted its business model, technologies and practices to meet changing times. From CAS' perspective, today's "New Information Order" might simply be called the "Next Information Order", given the number of changes CAS has already weathered. This year's Miles Conrad Lecture is given by the head of one of the founding organizations of NFAIS, CAS, who will first reflect on lessons learned from CAS' history of adapting to and taking advantage of successive changes in the technology, economic and cultural scenes. He will then focus on the key elements of the current information order as well as the major trends in scientific information, and discuss how CAS is addressing them. Chemical degree not required.

6:00pm - 8:00pm: 50th Anniversary Gala (Academy of Music)

The gala this year will be held in the Ballroom of the historic Academy of Music -- the oldest grand opera house in the United States still used for its original purpose.

Please note that name tags will be required for admittance to the Academy.

Sponsored by H.W. Wilson

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