Call for Papers

The 35th Annual International Association for Social Science Information Service and Technology (IASSIST) conference will be held in collaboration with the International Federation of Data Organizations for the Social Science (IFDO). Hosted by the Finnish Social Science Data Archive and the University of Tampere, IASSIST/IFDO 2009 will take place in Tampere, Finland, 26-29 May, 2009.

The theme of this year's conference, Mobile Data and the Life Cycle is intended to stimulate discussion around creation, collection, sharing, storage, preservation, dissemination, confidentiality, licensing and access to data in a world that is becoming increasingly mobile. In addition, research is becoming increasingly interdisciplinary and global in nature. Key to success in this new order is establishing standards and best practices at all stages of the life cycle in order to facilitate the free and easy movement of information between hardware devices, software platforms, individuals, governments, or organizations.

We seek submissions of papers, panel sessions, and poster/demonstrations that fit into the above theme. Below is a sampling of possible topics that may be considered:

• Life cycle models for managing data
• Infrastructure for data collection, access and preservation
• Applying metadata standards for data
• Integrating data services into the social science research process
• International comparative data for topics such as health, crime, energy, environment, international development, etc.
• Sharing data across applications
• Integrating the mobile community
• Social networking and data
• Barriers to data sharing and strengthening the reception for data sharing
• Reaching new populations through data services
• Data services in virtual spaces
• E-science, cyber infrastructure and open data
• New data partnerships in knowledge communities

Papers on other topics related to the conference theme will also be considered.  We strongly encourage papers in different areas to ensure a broad balance of topics are covered that will attract the greatest breadth of participants, and we encourage conference participants to propose papers and sessions that would be of interest to themselves and other attendees.

The Program Committee welcomes proposals for:

1. Individual presentations (typically 15-20 minutes)
2. Sessions, which could take a variety of formats (e.g. a set of three to four presentations, a discussion panel, a discussion with the audience, etc.)
3. Posters/demonstrations for the poster session
4. Workshops, see a separate call for workshops

Session organizers are welcome to experiment with different formats for their session (not limited to the ideas listed above). Proposals for complete sessions should list the organizer or moderator and possible participants; the session organizer will be responsible for securing both session participants and a moderator.

Proposals for presentations, sessions, and poster/demonstrations should include the proposed title and an abstract no longer than 200 words (note: longer abstracts will be returned to be shortened before being considered). Please note that all presenters are required to register and pay the registration fee for the conference; registration for individual days will be available. And please note that Conference Program Committee may not be able to accept all proposals.

Use the online form for submission of proposals to send in your proposals for presentations, sessions, and poster/demonstrations.

Note: You will be taken temporarily off the conference website and after submitting the proposal automatically transferred back.

Submissions are now CLOSED for this conference.

• Deadline for submission: November 21, 2008.
• The Program Committee will send notification of the acceptance by: January 16, 2009.

For more information about the conference, including travel and accommodations, see the conference web site at: www.fsd.tuni.fi/iassist2009/.

IASSIST is an international organization of professionals working in and with information technology and data services to support research and teaching in the social sciences. Typical workplaces include data archives/libraries, statistical agencies, research centers, libraries, academic departments, government departments, and non-profit organizations, see www.iassistdata.org for further information.

IFDO was established in 1977 in response to advanced research needs of the international social science community. The purpose of IFDO is to stimulate and co-ordinate worldwide data services and thus enhance social science research; see www.ifdo.org for further information.