University launches Future of Information Alliance this week

As methods for gathering and dispersing information evolve, leaders from every academic department at this university have teamed up to form a new alliance set to tackle the ever-changing field of information technology.

Today marks the launch of the Future of Information Alliance — an interdisciplinary, campus-wide initiative to address effective strategies for obtaining and spreading information. The new collaboration operates under three main goals: inviting annual high-profile visitors to the campus, giving grants to forge trans-disciplinary research teams that involve at least three university colleges and utilizing the Internet as a forum for researchers to talk about their ideas, iSchool Associate Dean and Alliance Co-director Allison Druin said.

The alliance's weeklong kickoff will include a series of panel discussions in Stamp Student Union featuring university panelists and three global leaders in the information revolution: Google "director of user happiness" Dan Russell; Microsoft human-computer interaction Manager Mary Czerwinski; and former Twitter chief scientist Abdur Chowdhury.

These events will provide a forum for university faculty, staff and students to brainstorm effective solutions to information challenges to the university and greater society.

The idea for the initiative formulated a year ago at the Future of Information Forum, during which university faculty, staff and doctoral students discovered commonalities between different departments that were working to research issues linked to evolving information, journalism professor and alliance co-director Ira Chinoy said.

"It was very clear that people had a lot to say to each other and had a lot of common ground," Chinoy said.

Although it was designed to address challenges in the world of information, Chinoy said the alliance is not intended to solve problems exclusive to this university.

"It isn't specifically to solve problems we're having here; it's to address problems and identify challenges and opportunities in general," Chinoy said. "We're starting this conversation at the university with the idea it wouldn't be limited to the university."

Vice President for Research Patrick O'Shea said the alliance will serve as a model for other universities and other global parties interested in researching the field.

"This is meant to be a global engagement," O'Shea said. "We've got the broad area of skills and location to really have a strong influence on the world as a whole."

Because news consumers have begun branching out from mainstream news outlets and seeking information from new media sources, such as social media websites, this shift will inevitably change the way people think and work, O'Shea said.

"How we assess information is changing very rapidly, and we need to understand how to use that," O'Shea said. "It's a great unknown, and it's something a great research university should be involved in."

In the face of these changes, Chinoy said cross-disciplinary collaboration is more important than ever.

"One thing we may find is that in one part of the university there are people wrestling with the idea of information while the other side has found a solution already," Chinoy said. "Information cuts across all disciplines and is in some ways a topic that's hiding in plain sight."

Students have played a critical role in the formation of the alliance, Chinoy said, adding he hopes they actively participate in discussions this week.

"I constantly learn from my students; they're constantly bringing new tools to me and bringing me things I didn't know about," Chinoy said. "The student perspective is really important."

saravia@umdbk.com