Nordic Research School in Library and Information Science

Workshop I: Health and Information Mastering

The workshop deals with the topic health and well-being, within the broad scope of library and information science. Students who are doing a research in relation to other topics are therefore encouraged to apply for the workshop.

The purpose of the workshop:
The objective of the workshop is to give researchers the possibility to discuss information about health and well-being from different angles and to give a broad overview of the problem area in this field of research. Health information is a very topical but still an underdeveloped research area within the Nordic and Baltic States . The fragmented research in this field needs to be strengthened and collected in order to gain a better understanding of people's construction of health knowledge.

The workshop will focus on the various aspects relevant to both supply and use of health information. To ensure a good discussion spanning the various approaches and questions relevant to health and wellbeing, the workshop will invite a broad spectrum of papers both from LIS and from other fields that can deal with questions crucial to health information like:

•  Information access and control
•  Accuracy and currency of information
•  Difficulty in mastering information, e.g. interpretation of scientific data and other kinds of barriers
•  Quality aspects of health information provision from health authorities, for instance inappropriate audience or context
•  Potential for source bias, source distortion, and self-serving information
•  Uneven distribution of information: unavailability of certain services or products under different conditions
•  The impact of various factors for example social, cognitive and cultural on peoples information behavior and knowledge construction
•  Health information management.

The workshop consists of senior researchers ´lectures and doctoral students´ reports on their research work for feed back. The students are required to acquaint themselves of literature in the reading list provided.

Main responsible persons:
Kristina Eriksson-Backa, PhD, Information Studies, Åbo Akademi University. ( kristina.eriksson-backa@abo.fi ) ( http://www.abo.fi/fak/esf/bii/ )

Stefan Ek, PhD, Information Studies, Åbo Akademi University. ( stefan.ek@abo.fi ), ( http://www.abo.fi/fak/esf/bii/ )

Ágústa Pálsdóttir, PhD, Library and Information Science, University of Iceland . ( agustap@hi.is ), ( http://www.felags.hi.is/page/bok )

Raimo Niemelä, Ph.D student, Information Studies, University of Oulu . (rmn@sun3.oulu.fi ), ( http://www.oulu.fi/hutk/departments.html )

Co-organizers:
Olof Sundin, Ph.D, Swedish School of Library and Information Science & University of Lund, Sweden ( http://www.hb.se/bhs/bhs-eng/ )

Kimmo Tuominen, Ph.D. Library of Parliament, Helsinki, Finland.

Lecturers:
Pauliina Aarva , Ph.D, Docent, Researcher, Tampere School of Public Health, University of Tampere , Finland ( http://www.uta.fi/laitokset/tsph/Value/Aarva/ )

Peter Bath , Ph.D, Senior Lecturer, Information Studies, University of Sheffield , UK ( http://www.shef.ac.uk/is/staff/bath.html )

Time:
2007, June 7 – June 8.

Location:
Department of Information Studies, Building: Gripen, 2 nd floor, Åbo Akademi University , Tavastgatan 13, 20500 Åbo , Finland .

Accommodation:
Åbo Akademi University guest house “Domus”, Biskopsgatan 10, 20500 Åbo, Finland.

Application deadline:
2007, February 23.

The applicants will be informed about the acceptance/rejection by March 15 by email.

Credits:
The workshop is recommended to be equivalent to 3ECTS (European Credit Transfer System).
Note: Final credits are decided by the person in charge of the local Ph.D. program.

How to apply:
Participants are asked to submit an extended abstract (approximately 2500 words) of the topic(s) of the workshop based to the ongoing or completed research, including research questions and the methodological issues of the research project. The application should also include a brief CV. This information will be used for selection purposes.

The application should be electronically submitted at the latest by January 31, 2007 in either Word or RTF-format to Kristina Eriksson-Backa .

For NorsLIS doctoral students: The application must contain the following information

Name of course/workshop:
Last name:
First name:
Birth date:
Male/female:
E-mail address:
Estimated travel costs:
Name of supervisor:
Supervisor's e-mail address:

Participation is primarily reserved for Ph.D. students registred at one of the 15 NORSLIS departments. Provided that there is room for more participants, Ph.D. students from outside the NORSLIS departments, as well as researchers and lecturers at the NORSLIS departments, may participate. However, travel and accommodation costs cannot be financed by NORSLIS for these two groups.

Reimbursement of travel and accomodation costs