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The Call for Papers for IASSIST 2012 is below.  The conference website is still under development, but we thought it important to disseminate the call for papers to IASSIST membership now.  The Call will be reposted and further disseminated once the conference website is up and running.  Thanks.

2012 Conference Program Chairs

-Pascal, Oliver and Jake   

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Data Science for a Connected World: Unlocking and Harnessing the Power of Information

The 38th International Association for Social Science Information Services

and Technology (IASSIST) annual conference will be held in Washington DC, June 4 - 8, 2012.

The theme of this year's conference is Data Science for a Connected World: Unlocking and Harnessing the Power of Information. This theme reflects the growing desire of research communities, government agencies and other organizations to build connections and benefit from the better use of data through practicing good management, dissemination and preservation techniques.

The theme is intended to stimulate discussions on building connections across all scholarly disciplines, governments, organizations, and individuals who are engaged in working with data.  IASSIST as a professional organization has a long history of bringing together those who provide information technology and data services to support research and teaching in the social sciences.  What can we as data professionals with shared interests and concerns learn from others going forward and what can they learn from us?  How can data professionals of all kinds build the connections that will be needed to address shared concerns and leverage strengths to better manage, share, curate and preserve data? 

We welcome submissions on the theme outlined above, and encourage conference participants to propose papers and sessions that would be of interest to a diverse audience. Any paper related to the conference theme will be considered; below is a sample of possible topics

Topics:

• Innovative/disruptive technologies for data management and preservation
• Infrastructures, tools and resources for data production and research
• Linked data: opportunities and challenges
• Metadata standards enhancing the utility of data
• Challenges and concerns with inter-agency / intra-governmental data sharing
• Privacy, confidentiality and regulation issues around sensitive data
• Roles, responsibilities, and relationships in supporting data
• Facilitating data exchange and sharing across boundaries
• Data and statistical literacy
• Data management plans and funding agency requirements
• Norms and cultures of data in the sciences, social sciences and the humanities
• Collaboration on research data infrastructure across domains and communities
• Addressing the digital/statistical divide and the need for trans-national outreach

Papers will be selected from a wide range of subjects to ensure a broad balance of topics.

• The Program Committee welcomes proposals for:
• Individual presentations (typically 15-20 minutes)
• Complete sessions, which could take a variety of formats (e.g. a set of three to four individual presentations on a theme, a discussion panel, a discussion with the audience, etc.)
• Posters/demonstrations for the poster session
• Pecha Kucha (a presentation of 20 slides shown for 20 seconds each, heavy emphasis on visual content) http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/magazine/15-09/st_pechakucha
• Round table discussions (as these are likely to have limited spaces, an explanation of how the discussion will be shared with the wider group should form part of the proposal).
• [Note: A separate call for workshops is forthcoming].

Session formats are not limited to the ideas above and session organizers are welcome to suggest other formats.

Proposals for complete sessions should list the organizer or moderator and possible participants; the session organizer will be responsible for securing both session participants and a chair.

All submissions should include the proposed title and an abstract no longer than 200 words (note: longer abstracts will be returned to be shortened before being considered).  Abstracts submitted for complete sessions should provide titles and a brief description for each of the individual presentations.  Abstracts for complete session proposals should be no longer than 300 words if information about individual presentations are needed.  

Please note that all presenters are required to register and pay the registration fee for the conference; registration for individual days will be available.

Deadline for submission of individual presentations and sessions: 5 December 2011.

Deadline for submission of posters, Pecha Kucha sessions and round table discussions: 16 January 2012.

Notification of acceptance for individual presentations and sessions: 3 February 2012.

Notification of acceptance for posters, Pecha Kucha sessions and round table discussions: 24 February 2012.