Six sessions were given at the ASIST 2001 Annual Meeting,(Washington DC) November 2-8, 2001:

Session (1): Sunday, November 4, 3:30 PM

Critical Information Theory

In this session, speakers examined current thinking in the field of critical information theory.

• Critical epistemology and how it is used in the fields of sociology, management theory, and organization behavior
• The concepts of "general intellect" and "immaterial labor" and their relationship to the historical trajectory and future possibilities of information science

• Michael Chumer, Rutgers University: Critical Theory in Information Science
• Nick DyerWitheford, University of Western Ontario: General Intellect, Immaterial Labor and the Future of Information Science
• Ronald Day, Wayne State University: The Folds of Information: Shaping Method, Shaping Society

Session (2): Tuesday, November 6, 9:00 AM

History and Continuing Influence of the Classification Research Group

Abstract:

This session looked back at the groundbreaking work of the Classification Research Group (CRG) and assessed the impact of their efforts on the information retrieval field today.

• The history of CRG
• The relationship between the CRG and the socialist science movement, which took a strong interest in scientific documentation in the 1940s and 1950s
• Whether the group's distinctive contribution was a collective one or the work of a number of individuals who shared some common interests

• Shawne Miksa, Florida State University: The CRG and Information Retrieval Research, 195070
• Ian McIlwaine, University College, London: The CRG: Its Legacy for Today
• Alexander Justice, University of California, Los Angeles: The CRG as a Facet of the History of British Science
• Jonathan Furner, University of California, Los Angeles: A Citation Study of the Work of the CRG

Session (3): Tuesday, November 6, 1:30 PM

Information Science and Intelligence Work

Abstract:

James Bond may spend most of his time jumping out of airplanes, sipping martinis and engaging in gun battles, but real-world intelligence agents spend most of their time on the more mundane tasks of gathering and analyzing information. In reality, information science (IS) techniques are far more valuable to an agent than the latest gizmo or weapon. In this session, several former intelligence agents explored the relationship between IS and intelligence work and the impact that IS has had on intelligence practice and work patterns.

• What intelligence agents learned about IS on their jobs
• How IS knowledge has contributed to their work as agents
• What they wish they would have known about IS

Presenters

• Robert Taylor, former US military intelligence agent
• Norman Horrocks, former British military intelligence agent
• Robert Chartrand , former US military intelligence agent and policy analyst
• Fred Kilgour, former US military intelligence agent
• David Batty, former British military intelligence agent
• Colin Burke , historian of intelligence work

Moderators

• Robert Williams, University of South Carolina
• BenAmi Lipetz, State University of New York, Albany

Session (4): Wednesday, November 7, 10:45 AM

As Sharp as a Pen: Direct Semantic Ratification in Oral, Written, and Electronic Communication

Abstract:

Direct semantic ratification traditionally has referred to the ability to question the producer of a statement and to immediately gain knowledge about the statement's social and spatial context. More recently, it has also been interpreted to include a human bodily presence, which allows for the possibility of expressing and interpreting nonverbal signs. Direct semantic ratification forms a crucial dimension, which differentiates oral from written and electronic communication. In this session, speakers took an in-depth look at direct semantic ratification from both an historical and humanistic perspective and from a more scientifically informed viewpoint.

• The potential for social rather than purely individual learning of the appropriate use of communication forms
• How strategies for avoiding inappropriate communication uses must be grounded in a deeper understanding of communicative behavior rather than imposed by technical constraints

Presenters

• Julian Charles Warner, Queen's University of Belfast
• Cate Cox, Queen's University of Belfast

Session (5): Wednessday, November 7, 1:30 PM

Abstract:

In this session, speakers discussed some of the most recent developments in information theory.

• Theories on the role of information as a "thing" (documents, data, and signals) and as a process (the act of becoming informed)
• The interconnections between classification, rhetoric, and the making of knowledge

Presenters

• Michael Buckland, University of California, Berkeley: "Information As Thing" Reconsidered
• Richard Smiraglia, Long Island University: Holding the Fort: The Case for Information as Process
• Stephen Paling, Syracuse University: Bibliography, Rhetoric, and the Classificatory Horizon

Moderator:

Mikel Breitenstein , Long Island University

Session (6): Wednessday, November 7, 3:30 PM

Social Epistemology and Information Science

Abstract:

Social epistemology (SE) is defined as "the study of those processes by which society as a whole seeks to achieve a perceptive or understanding relation to the total environment; physical, psychological, and intellectual." Increasingly, information scientists are finding SE theories to be of invaluable assistance in analyzing information systems, particularly citationbased and recommender systems, which depend in part on the user's level of trust in the testimony of others. In this session, speakers examined how SE theories have been utilized in the information science field.

• The historical development of the concept of SE in the literature of information science
• Definitions and applications of SE and their place in information science today
• Two epistemic concepts for information studies

Presenters

• John Budd, University of Missouri, Columbia
• Don Fallis, University of Arizona
• Jonathan Furner, University of California, Los Angeles
• Leah Lievrouw , University of California, Los Angeles