Welcome to UMSI WIRE, a quarterly compendium of news and research from the University of Michigan School of Information for educators and information professionals.

Open faculty positions

The School of Information is currently seeking qualified applicants for health informatics (assistant/associate/full professor) and for Presidential Post-Doctoral Fellows.

New faculty for Fall '17

With seven new faculty beginning this fall, UMSI acquires additional expertise in social media, behavioral economics, digital curation, museum informatics, and online communities. Meet the new faces.

From co-founder to director

Tiffany Veinot was one of the founding faculty members of the UMSI Health Informatics Program at the University of Michigan. Effective September 1, she is now Director of the program. 

 Better tools for job seekers  

Job seekers with limited technology access, low digital literacy and the resulting low confidence in technology face obstacles with today’s online job applications. UMSI’s Tawanna Dillahunt’s NSF-funded study will address this challenge. Read more. 

The Library of Congress makes history

When the Library of Congress released to the public 25 million digital catalog records formerly only accessible through high-cost subscriptions – the largest such release in U.S. history – “The Conversation” sought someone to explain its significance. U-M librarian Melissa Levine stepped up to the task. Read her article.

Re-accredited (and it feels so good)

The master’s program at the School of Information has received its 7-year re-accreditation from the American Library Association, making it one of the longest continuously accredited programs in the U.S. Read more. 

Have tech, will travel

The camper-turned-Techmobile owned by UMSI PhD student Chanda Phelan garnered some local attention in rural Montana over the summer. In the course of her research, Phelan offered free, friendly tech assistance where she knows it is needed – in rural America. Read more.

All in a life’s work

Mark Ackerman is known as a pioneer in online knowledge-sharing. On Aug. 31 the European CSCW (computer-supported cooperative work) acknowledged this work, and much more, by awarding Ackerman a Lifetime Achievement Award. Read more. 

Distracted drivers

Working as a ride-sharing driver is a dead-end job with high levels of discontent and turnover. This creates problems for ride-sharing companies and ultimately passengers using these services. Working with China’s ride-sharing service DiDi, Yan Chen and Qiaozhu Mei will study what these drivers miss from more traditional workplaces, and what can be done about it. Read more. 

Save the date for SIGIR

The 2018 ACM SIGIR conference will be held in Ann Arbor, Michigan, July 8-12. Follow the program development on Facebook and Twitter.