Information Science: Between Computer Science and Psychology
Seminar, Wednesday 19th October, 2pm. Library Seminar rooms 1 & 2.
Amanda Spink
Professor of Information Science, Loughborough University
Abstract: This talk will provide an overview of the field of information science and discuss trends in the field moving forward. The presentation includes a discussion of the major research areas, schools, journals and conferences associated with information science. Currently, the major issue for the field is the growing nexus between computer science and psychology. As information science is a field concerned with the human use of information, it both draws upon and is influenced by fields associated with computer science and technology, as well as psychology and the social sciences. However, being a small field with limited scholarly impact, the long term future for information science is probably limited as “information” is becoming increasingly the purview of many fields related to technology and psychology. For example, there is a shift under way in cognitive and computer science to conduct research into the human aspects of Web and information retrieval, which has been a key area of information science.
Professor Spink is an international leader in information science research with 340+ publications and 6 books. Her research focuses on developing theories and models of information behaviour and she has over 20 years experience in information science in the United States, Australia and the UK. http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/ls/people/ASpink.html