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

Tenure-track positions open

The School of Information has several openings for tenure-track faculty in data science, digital curation and archival studies, and social media at the assistant, associate or full professor level. 

A new UM tool measured ‘iffy’ news on social media

In the run-up to the 2018 midterm election, the UMSI Center for Social Media Responsibility released a new tool to help the media and the public monitor the prevalence of questionable news stories on social media platforms. The tool monitors the amount of stories from potential untrustworthy sources on social media. Learn more here, or read UMSI professor Paul Resnick’s article for The Conversation.

New UMSI online graduate degree gets final approval

The new online Master of Applied Data Science (MADS) degree has been approved by the Michigan Association of State Universities. The program is the first all-online degree offered by UMSI and one of the first offered by the University of Michigan. Learn more.

Lampe and Adar named Distinguished Members of the Association for Computing Machinery

UMSI faculty Clifford Lampe and Eytan Adar have been named Distinguished Members of the Association for Computing Machinery, the largest and most prestigious organization in the world for computing professionals. Learn more.

Few took action following Equifax data breach, study finds

UMSI researchers led by Yixin Zou and Florian Schaub found that, following the major Equifax data breach last year, few consumers took any action to protect their data, even amongst those who had heard about the breach and were aware of the risks of identity theft. Learn more.

Sandvig and Ellison named to collegiate professorships

UMSI faculty members Christian Sandvig and Nicole Ellison have been appointed to collegiate professorships, honoring scholars H. Marshall McLuhan and Karl E. Weick, respectively. Learn more.

“Digitization for Everyone” will assist curators in digitizing analog archives

UMSI associate professor Paul Conway is leading the charge to prepare for the long-term digital future. With a $100,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, as Principal Investigator Conway is working to develop an education program that addresses the barriers that cultural heritage professionals, such as librarians or museum employees, currently face in digitizing their collections. Learn more.

International Society of Learning Sciences elects Barry Fishman as a Fellow

UMSI professor Barry Fishman was named a Fellow of the International Society of Learning Sciences, in recognition of his “substantial contributions to the learning sciences.” Learn more.

Video: Robin Brewer on designing tech for seniors

UMSI assistant professor and presidential postdoctoral fellow Robin Brewer studies how to improve the functionality of technology for senior citizens, taking into account some physical limitations inherent in aging. Read more and watch the video here.

Florian Schaub authors new book, “Privacy in Mobile and Pervasive Computing”

Privacy authority Florian Schaub has just published Privacy in Mobile and Pervasive Computing, which addresses the privacy concerns arising from the ever-expanding reach of mobile technology. Our expectations of privacy, what constitutes “privacy” in the first place, and why we should care are explored by Schaub and his co-author Marc Langheinrich in this book, published by Morgan and Claypool. Read more.

A recent study by Schaub details the attitudes of consumers towards privacy and smart speakers, such as those offered by Amazon or Google.