Congratulations Spring 2023 SLIS Grads!

• May 5th, 2023
• in SLIS News

SLIS graduates preparing for the May 5, 2023 graduation ceremony.

Congratulations to all of our hard-working Spring 2023 SLIS graduates! We are thrilled to see what you all accomplish in the next chapter of your lives!

2023 ALA Conference Alumni Reception – June 24th!

• April 11th, 2023
• in SLIS News

If you are attending the ALA conference in June or will be in the area, please join us at the SLIS alumni reception, June 24 from 7-9 pm at Labriola Chicago.

UA SLIS Welcomes Award-Winning Author-Illustrator Grace Lin

• April 6th, 2023
• in SLIS News

We are pleased to welcome Grace Lin to SLIS on April 19^th where she will be co-presenting with Book Artist Na Zhou on the art of illustration at 11 am in the Yellowhammer Room of Gorgas Library. The event is free and open to all students.

Grace will also be presenting a family event at the Tuscaloosa Public Library on the evening of April 19^th at 6 pm. The first 100 children will receive a free copy of Grace’s new book Once Upon A Book. The event is free and open to the public.

Both events are sponsored by the School of Library and Information Studies in the College of Communication and Information Sciences.

SLIS Participates in University of Alabama’s 14th Annual Discerning Diverse Voices Symposium (DDVS) on Diversity

• March 1st, 2023
• in SLIS News

Congratulations to SLIS students and faculty that presented today at the 14^th Annual Discerning Diverse Voices Symposium (DDVS) on Diversity.  From panels to research poster presentations, SLIS was well represented by our MLIS students, faculty –  including Dr. Bharat Mehra and Dr. Miriam Sweeney, and information science-focused doctoral students. More information about the presentations is available here. Thank you to the symposium planning committee for your hard work SLIS representatives on the committee included Dr. Miriam Sweeney as symposium co-chair and MLIS student AL Cassada as the symposium graduate assistant.

Pictured are SLIS-affiliated students with their research posters.

The Discerning Diverse Voices Symposium

• February 20th, 2023
• in SLIS News

CC&IS is hosting its 14^th annual Discerning Diverse Voices Symposium, which will take place on Wednesday March 1^st. The conference is FREE and will be taking place in a hybrid format to encourage broad participation.

The theme this year is Under Observation: The Conditions of “Being Seen”.

We are particularly excited to welcome our keynote speaker, Dr. Melissa Villa-Nicholas from the University of Rhode Island:

Keynote: Data Borders: How Silicon Valley is Building an Industry to “Know” Immigrants

Abstract: This lecture investigates the emerging state of borderland technology that brings all people into an intimate place of surveillance where data resides and defines inclusion and exclusion to citizenship. Detailing the new trend of biologically mapping undocumented people through biotechnologies, Villa-Nicholas shows how Latinx immigrants are the focus and driving force for surveillance and technology design by Silicon Valley’s emerging industry within defense technology manufacturing. A murky network is revealed that gathers data on marginalized communities for purposes of exploitation and control that implicates law enforcement, border patrol, and ICE, but that also pulls in public workers and the public, often without their knowledge or consent. Enriched by interviews of Latinx immigrants living in the borderlands on their daily use of technology, and their caution around surveillance, this work argues that to move beyond a heavily surveilled state that dehumanizes both immigrants and citizens, we must understand how the data is being collected, aggregated, and correlated with artificial intelligence, and push for immigrant and citizen privacy information rights along the border and throughout the United States.

Check out the full program here and visit the conference website here for more information! Register today and join us on March 1^st  (either in person on online) in support of the excellent research and creative outputs from our C&IS community! We hope to see you there!