Encouraging Diversity of Dialogue as Part of the iSchools Agenda

摘要

This paper takes the conference themes of Diversity, Divergence, Dialogue and applies them to an analysis of the published topic headings and keywords from previous iConferences to determine the extent to which diversity is an important aspect within the iSchools community. It follows previous research from 2016 where Bogers and Greifeneder conducted a quantitative analysis of the metrics for submission and acceptance of papers for the 2014 iConference in Berlin. Their interest was in the potential for bias resulting from a lack of diversity in the established review process. We look at topic headings, language and country of presenters as a sub-set of diversity and how we might move away from the Anglophone dominance towards more demographic diversity and in doing so widen the channels for scholarly communication and dialogue. The move to a virtual conference removes any geolocational difficulties and competition for limited travel budgets. The 2021 Chinese track accepts submissions in Chinese, removing the difficulties of the English-language requirement for scholars of the host nation. Language, publication and travel are determining factors for encouraging and facilitating diversity; these should be reinforced within the iSchools movement to develop a sense of community with members as stakeholders so that they feel that they are part of a diverse but inclusive community. This Short Paper is the first stage in a wider study looking at the changes that the innovations for the 2021 iConference have on diversity, divergence, and dialogue for papers and published proceedings.