Associate Professor Masooda Bashir will present her privacy research at the 14th International Computers, Privacy & Data Protection Conference (CPDP2021), which will be held virtually on January 27-29. The conference brings together academics, lawyers, practitioners, policymakers, industry, and civil society to discuss emerging issues and trends in privacy and data protection. This year’s theme is "Enforcing Rights in a Changing World."

Doctoral candidate Natã Barbosa successfully defended his dissertation, "Exploring Algorithmic Realism in the Data Economy," on January 14. His committee included Associate Professor Yang Wang (chair); Professor Michael Twidale; Gang Wang, assistant professor of computer science at Illinois; and Blase Ur, assistant professor of computer science at the University of Chicago.

The staff at The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (BCCB) have announced the 2020 Blue Ribbons, their choices for the best of children's and young adult literature for the year. Blue Ribbons are chosen annually by BCCB reviewers and represent what they believe to be outstanding examples of fiction, nonfiction, and picture books for youth.

A paper coauthored by Assistant Professor Madelyn Rose Sanfilippo and Yan Shvartzshnaider (New York University) has been named a finalist for the Lee Dirks Award for Best Full Research Paper at iConference 2021. Five finalists were selected for the award, which recognizes "the most exceptional completed research paper" presented at the conference. The winner will be announced during iConference 2021, which will take place online from March 17-31.

Adjunct Assistant Professor Ellen Knutson (MS '02, PhD '08) and Quanetta Batts, director of outreach and engagement at The Ohio State University Libraries, have coauthored a chapter in the new book, Ask, Listen, Empower: Grounding Your Library Work in Community Engagement (ALA Editions, 2020). Edited by Mary Davis Fournier and Sarah Ostman, the book features contributions by leaders active in library-led community engagement and serves as both an educational resource for LIS students and a "go-to handbook" for current programming, adult services, and outreach library staff.

Associate Professor Victoria Stodden has been invited to guest edit a special theme issue of the Harvard Data Science Review dedicated to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) report on Reproducibility and Replication in Science. The Harvard Data Science Review, an open access platform of the Harvard Data Science Initiative, has a primary emphasis on reproducibility, replicability, and readability, along with broad Data Science topics.

Assistant Professor Jodi Schneider has received an award from the University of Illinois Research Board for her project, “Identifying Potential Bias in Science Using Citation Network Structures.” According to Schneider, citation bias happens when authors ignore relevant research and present one-sided evidence, which mispresents what is known about a topic. Citation bias benefits authors in the short-term by bolstering grants and papers, but it can have severe negative consequences for scientific inquiry.

Professor Emeritus Alistair Black discussed his research at the UK's Library and Information Group Work-in-Progress Conference, which was held virtually on November 27. At the conference, he presented an analysis of the 1962 feature film Only Two Can Play as a tool for learning about the history of the post-war public library in the UK.

Associate Professor and MS/LIS Program Director Maria Bonn will present her research at OE (Open Education) Global 2020, which will be held virtually from November 16-20.  The conference attracts researchers, practitioners, policy makers, educators, and students to discuss and explore how Open Education advances educational practices around the world.

PhD student Linh Hoang will present her research with Assistant Professor Jodi Schneider and Assistant Professor Nigel Bosch at the AMIA (American Medical Informatics Association) Annual Symposium, which will be held virtually from November 14-18. The symposium showcases the latest innovations from the community of biomedical informatics researchers and practitioners.