Thirteenth Annual Info City Lectures (2021)
Join us via Zoom on Wednesdays 10:20-10:55 am Illinois time via Zoom. Write to katewill [at] illinois.edu for Zoom details.
April 7. Mike Smeltzer, local broadband champion and Chairman Emeritus of UC2B, giving an update on the rollout of community broadband that was first conceived (by him) in the 1990s. Video, Slides
April 14. Janice Mitchell, founder and director, Urbana Neighborhood Connections Center, and Abdul Alkalimat, Professor Emeritus of African American Studies and Information Science, UIUC, talking about local digital divides and digital community work. Video
April 21. Alex Carruthers, Toronto Public Library, on their seniors tech help line and other digital literacy programming.
April 28. Tracy Smith, Director of Research IT and Innovation, UIUC, Raya Hegeman-Davis, School University Research Coordinator, Bureau of Educational Research, UIUC School of Education, and Paul Hixson, past CIO for UIUC, on the overarching plan for the university to address local digital divides, part of the current "Campus-Community Compact to Accelerate Social Justice."
Info City Lectures on hiatus (2020)
Campus leave puts the info city talks on break this year. Stay safe in the pandemic, everyone, and see you next year.
Twelfth Annual Info City Lectures (2019)
In Spring 2019 we partnered with UC2B, Urbana Champaign Big Broadband, on a campus-community Day of Discovery that reflected on and contextualized UC2B's Community Benefit Fund. This fund was established to help overcome local digital divides. Video, program, and more.
August 28. Jacob Johnston, Age-Friendly Program Coordinator for the Urbana Park District and Clark-Lindsey Village. Video.
September 4. Michael Smeltzer, local internet inventor-designer and Board President, Urbana Champaign Big Broadband. Video.
September 11. Abdul Alkalimat, Professor Emeritus, Department of African American Studies and School of Information Sciences, speaking on the information ecology of the Black community, past and present. Video.
October 9. Aaron Ammons, County Clerk, and Angela Patton, Chief Deputy Clerk, Champaign County, speaking on the state of electronic voting in our county, with a glance backwards and forwards. Video, Slides.
Monday, October 14. Rebekah Buchanan, Associate Professor, Department of English, Western Illinois University, speaking on Norway's libraries for prisoners, schoool, and the public. Details here. Recording of the livestream.
October 16. Bill Van Cleave, Arrow Taxicab, on driving a cab in the age of the app. Video.
November 13. Laura Bleill, founder, ChambanaMoms.com on local information online. Video part 1 Video part 2 Video part 3.
November 15-16. Mortenson Distinguish Lecture and "Why Libraries, Why Librarians?" Indaba. Partnering with the Mortenson Center we invited faculty, alumni and friends to explain their current priorities for libraries, librarians and MSLIS education. Event website including archived video.
November 20. Jason Liggett, Urbana Public TV, on maintaining the local public airwaves. Video part 1 Video part 2 Video part 3.
Eleventh Annual Info City Lectures (2018)
This year we continue the Minitalks in partnership with Mortenson Center, in Spanish and English, in spring and fall. Archived video and slides are here.
September 6. Hui Yan, Associate Professor, Renmin University, Beijing, 数字边缘人群田野研究报告 Digitally Marginalized Communities: A field report from China. This talk was co-hosted by the iSchool's Chinese Students and Scholars Group, which has a WeChat group and can be found via this year's president Shuyi Liu (shuyil2@illinois.edu). To advance a global approach to scholarship and recognize the international composition of the iSchool, this event was conducted in Chinese, and to our knowledge this was the first ever school event in Chinese. Slides and Video.
Also this semester we are partnering with UC2B, Urbana Champaign Big Broadband, towards a community-based event that advances the discussions we've been having on campus and supports the Community Benefit Fund, a digital divide initiative of UC2B. Please stay tuned.
Tenth Annual Info City Lectures (2017)
September 7. Michael Smeltzer, local internet inventor-designer (UC2B), and Mike Whitaker, I3/Countrywide Broadband. http://www.uc2b.net/ and https://i3broadband.com/. Video.
September 21. Abdul Alkalimat, professor emeritus, UIUC iSchool and Department of African American Studies. http://eblackstudies.org/ Video.
September 28. Rudolf Haken, viola professor, UIUC College of Music. http://www.rudolfhaken.com/ Video.
October 5. Noah Lenstra, assistant professor, UNC Greensboro Department of Library and Information Science. http://www.noahlenstra.com/ Video.
October 12. Chris Hamb, consultant to the City of Champaign and owner, Chrisp Media. https://www.chrispmedia.com/ Video.
October 19. Joanne Mierek (MSLIS '10), chief operations officer, Common Ground Food Coop. http://commonground.coop/ Video.
October 26. Tina A. Cowsert, MSEd, NBCT, Deaf & Hard of Hearing/Blind & Low Vision Disability Specialist, UIUC. http://disability.illinois.edu/ Video.
November 2. Tom Laurence, clinical neurologist, UIUC College of Medicine. http://www.med.illinois.edu/ Audio.
November 9. Nancy Delcomyn, commissioner, Urbana Park District. https://www.urbanaparks.org/ Video.
November 16. Jorge Rojas-Alvarez, research assistant for the UIUC Recovering Prairie Futures Research Cluster and PhD student in informatics, on "Radio Sutatenza: Construction of History and Memory in a public library." Since June 2017, the documentary exhibition "Radio Sutatenza: A cultural revolution in the Colombian countryside (1947-1994)" has been opened at the Luis Angel Arango Public Library in Bogotá,Colombia. This exhibition has become a meeting point for researchers, rural leaders trained in the literacy program, radio enthusiasts and activists, and agricultural improvement organizations. This talk will focus on the narrated history about this multimedia based literacy program, the particular features of designing a documentary exhibition like this in a public library, and the formation of networks of people who find in the library a place to build a historical memory about this program. Video.
Additional events for 2017: Minitalks "Libraries, Literatures and Literacies"
In Spring 2017 as the Graduate School of Library and Information Science became the School of Information Sciences, we initiated a series of minitalks called "Libraries, Literatures and Literacies." These featured innovative practitioners and our own faculty. These also continued in Fall semester. Our goal from the start was to connect to unfolding events and our school's current research, hosted jointly by the iSchool and the Mortenson Center for International Library Programs. For more information see http://publish.illinois.edu/minitalks. Open to all interested parties.
January 19. Hailley Fargo (MSLIS '16), Penn State Library, on her Trump election libguide. http://hailleyfargo.com, http://guides.libraries.psu.edu/post-election-2016. Talk archived at: https://ischool-media-storage.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/dl/classes/katewill/fargo_jan19_17.mp4
February 2. Lucie Faulknor, Producer with Serendipity Films on the Free4All project. http://www.serendipityfilms.org/, https://www.youtube.com/user/free4allfilm. If you can, watch these short videos in advance: https://vimeo.com/184591346, password F4@2016, and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8hNmPHNdZM&t=11s. Talk archived at: https://ischool-media-storage.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/dl/classes/katewill/faulknor_feb02_17.mp4
February 9. Bonnie Mak on How to Publish a Cabinet. http://illinois.edu/person/bmak. Talk archived at: https://ischool-media-storage.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/dl/classes/katewill/mak_feb09_17.mp4
February 23. Kate Williams on Libraries and Communities in times of Digitization and Crisis. http://go.illinois.edu/katewill. Talk archived at: https://ischool-media-storage.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/dl/classes/katewill/williams_feb23_17.mp4
March 2. Liz Hoiem on The Literacy Practices of Child Laborers. http://www.elizabethhoiem.com/. Talk archived at: https://ischool-media-storage.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/dl/classes/katewill/hoiem_mar02_17.mp4
March 9. Kate McDowell on Storytelling Thinking for Professionals. http://www.katemcdowell.com Talk archived at: https://ischool-media-storage.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/dl/classes/katewill/mcdowell_mar09_17.mp4
March 16. Laurie Allen, U Penn Libraries, on #datarefuge. http://www.laurieallen.org/. Talk archived at https://ischool-media-storage.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/dl/classes/katewill/allen_mar16_17.mp4
March 30. Alistair Black on Information Management in the Intelligence Branch of the British Army 1870-1914. https://ischool.illinois.edu/people/faculty/alblack. Talk archived at https://ischool-media-storage.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/dl/classes/katewill/black_mar30_17.mp4
April 6. John Chrastka, EveryLibrary, on Political Campaigns for Libraries. http://everylibrary.org/ and http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2014/03/people/movers-shakers-2014/john-chrastka-movers-shakers-2014-advocates/. Talk archived at https://ischool-media-storage.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/dl/classes/katewill/chrastka_apr06_17.mp4
April 13. Terry Weech on ALA Accreditation of LIS Education. http://people.ischool.illinois.edu/~weech/. Talk archived at https://ischool-media-storage.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/dl/classes/katewill/weech_apr13_17.mp4
April 20. Jodi Schneider on Making Sense of Research Literature: Can we improve Systematic Reviewing methodologies? http://jodischneider.com/jodi.html. Talk archived at https://ischool-media-storage.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/dl/classes/katewill/schneider_apr20_17.mp4
April 27. Emily Knox on Reading practices and the control of information. http://emilyknox.net. Talk archived at https://ischool-media-storage.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/dl/classes/katewill/knox_apr27_17.mp4
Ninth Annual Info City Lectures (2016)
September 8. Darryl Hoemann, local photographer and retired photo editor with the Champaign News-Gazette: Photography shifted from film to files. Video | Slides
September 15. Greg Lambeth, local birdwatching teacher, guide, photographer: Birdwatching in digital transition. Video
September 22. Harriett Green, UI Library: Publishing Without Walls, a project of U of I supporting digital humanities at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and elsewhere. Video
September 29. Paul Arroyo, electronic publisher, UI Press: The evolution of the digital book Video
October 27. Jack Linchuan Qiu, professor, the Chinese University of Hong Kong School of Journalism and Communication: Book talk on his study of tech factory workers in China, Goodbye iSlave: A Manifesto for Digital Abolition Talk at 9 am, via skype Video
November 3. Pattie Piotrowski, recently named university librarian, University of Illinois at Springfield: Academic libraries and their immediate local communities in the digital age Video
November 10. Hui Yan, associate professor, Renmin University Department of Information Resources Management: Digital citizenship in urban and rural China Talk at 9 am, via skype
November 17. Mike Smeltzer, designer and implementer, UC2B project building broadband across Champaign-Urbana, and colleague TBA: Community broadband in Champaign Urbana Video
Eighth Annual Info City Lectures (2015)
September 10. Peter Resnick, Internet Engineering Task Force. Video
September 17. Chris Hamb, Chrisp Media. Video
September 24. Laurie Matheson, Jennifer Comeau, Linda Schuh, and Paul Arroyo, U of I Press. Video
October 1. Brenda Nyandiko Sanya, Phd Student, Department of Education Policy, Organization and Leadership. Video
October 8. Mike Smeltzer, CITES, UC2B and beyond. Video
October 22. Carol Ammons, Illinois State Representative. Video
October 29. M. C. Neal, Urbana Free Library. Video
November 5. Carolyn Anthony, Skokie Public Library. (VIA SKYPE) Audio
November 12. Alroy Scott and Tod Petrie, Illini Bookstore. Video
Friday, November 20. Librarian Alison Macrina presents her Library Freedom Workshop. This extended lecture ran from 9 to noon. Video (incomplete / ends at 1:27) | Audio | Slides as pdf
Seventh Annual Info City Lectures(2014)
September 4. Celeste Choate, Executive Director, The Urbana Free Library. Video | Slides
September 11. Will Kent, Brooke Bahnsen and Ed Remus, Three graduates of the Community Informatics program at GSLIS working in public libraries. Video
September 25. Kristina Hoerner, Champaign Public Library Adult Services Manager. Video | Slides
September 27. Mark Henderson, Chief Information Officer of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This event was the Information City Lecture Series first community-based lecture. It was held from 2 to 3:30 p.m., Saturday, September 27, at the Champaign Public Library. Video
October 2. Noah Lenstra, Aging in the Information City. Noah is a PhD candidate in Library & Information Science researching how community institutions support the digital literacy of older adults. Video | Slides
October 9. Chris Hamb, Info City. Chris Hamb is founder and director of Chrisp Media. Video
October 16. Kerris Lee and Brian Bell. Kerris Lee is the founder of CTRL Shift (Creative.Technology.Research.Lab.) Shifting Education. Teaching K-12 students how to computer program. Brian Bell is the founder of the Digital Equality Initiative. Video
October 23. Mike Smeltzer and Levi Dinkla, High-speed broadband. Mike Smeltzer, former primary investigator of UC2B and retired Director of Networking, CITES, University of Illinois will discuss UC2B origins and history. Levi Dinkla, vice president, iTV-3, will discuss the current state and future of high-speed fiber optic broadband access in Champaign-Urbana. Video | Mike Smeltzer Slides | Levi Dinkla Slides
October 30. Laura Frerichs, University of Illinois Research Park Director and Director of Economic Development for the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus. Video | Slides
November 6. Hui Yan, The Information City in China. Associate Professor in Information Resources Management, Nankai University Business School. Video | Slides
November 13. Julia Hersberger, A study of how the homeless use free cell phones to expand their information networks. Hersberger is a faculty member in the Library and Information Studies Department of the School of Education at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. Slides | Audio
November 20. David Keyes, Community Technology Program Manager, City of Seattle Department of Information Technology. Video | Slides
December 4. Scott Bonner, Ferguson (Missouri) Municipal Public Library, Information City Lecture Series. Video | Chat [Note: audio disrupted during last 10 minutes of lecture].
Why a new name? (2014)
For six years GSLIS has sponsored ten Digital Divide Lectures each fall. This year we continue under a new name: the Info City Lectures. But the digital divide has not disappeared. So why the change?
These lectures and our other work have taught us that the digital divide is not only a simple matter of haves and have nots. It is the have-nots, the have-less, and the have-mores. It is in motion, expanding from computers to phones to chips everywhere. Old applications (email) are joined by new ones (social media). It is pervasive in our work, education, culture, and daily lives. Yet some data is plentiful, some non-existent, and most of it not shared or even understood. Looking at it sector by sector, there are many surprises.
Through all this, an information city is coming into being. The industrial city was a result of all kinds of forces. This time around, can we be more conscious and deliberate? Can we make sure the outcomes work for all of us?
This means conversation, so the Digital Divide Lectures become the Info City Lectures.
It also means work. So far infocitycu includes:
1. Connectivity: affordable broadband
2. Computers: recycled and updated
3. Public computing: open and functioning labs
4. Cybernavigators: supporting people at public computing sites
5. Community help desk: an IT department for the community
6. Cyberspace: online content of, by, and for the community
7. Annual community meeting: to keep it all on track and transparent
infocitycu builds on UC2B and its Community Benefit Fund. And on PLATO, Prairienet, and many more campus and community innovations. It is currently led by four partners -- Chrisp Media, Digital Equality Initiative, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Department of African-American Studies, and the Graduate School of Library & Information Science Community Informatics Research Lab -- and is gaining supporters. Implementation is the task, but the concept is simple: Connected we stand!
Sixth Annual Digital Divide Lecture Series (2013)
September 5. Marisa Duarte, Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow for American Indian Studies. Video
September 12. Maria Mobasseri, Department Chair of Computer Science and Information Technology, Parkland College. discussion handout
September 19. Brian Bell, Digital Equality Initiative. Video
September 26. Mike Smeltzer, UC2B. Video | Slides |Map
October 10. George Reese, Director of Office for Mathematics, Science, and Technology Education, University of Illinois | EtoysIllinois | Public Engagement Portal | Video
October 10. Marina Kukso, LocalWiki. Skype Video
October 17. Dave Witzany, Interim Station Manager, WEFT-FM, Champaign, IL. Audio | Slides
October 24. Raphaëlle Bats, École nationale supérieure des sciences de l'information et des bibliothèques (ENSSIB), France’s National School of Information Science and Libraries On the way to participatory democracy in libraries: from political discourse to communication to publics. Video
October 31. Annie Abbott, University of Illinois Spanish, Italian & Portuguese Department, How Do You Say Digital Divide in Spanish? Community-Campus Partnerships with Spanish-Speakers. Website | Video | Slides
November 7. Neo Blagness, TruBu Press, Defying The Prime Directive: The Dangers of Filling Rather Than Bridging The Digital Divide. Video
November 21. Sarah Christensen and Merinda Hensley ExploreCU. Website | Video