Information Institute (iInstitute)

The information field, or the iField, resorts to interdisciplinary approaches to enrich and facilitate generation, transfer and curation of data, information, and knowledge by the widespread use of technology in order to maximize the potential of humans. The iInstitute at Linnaeus University strives towards fulfilling this vision.

About iInstitute and iSchools

Today, the iSchool organisation involves over 100 prestigious universities from around the world. The aim of the iSchools organisation is to promote and practice the iField. Disciplines of the iField include computer science, library and information science, business informatics, knowledge management, business, sociology, psychology, philosophy, ethics, linguistics, media, with a range of applied fields and disciplines such as astronomy, medicine, biology, health, history, religion, archaeology, musicology, literature, art.

The need for the iField and the iSchool at Linnaeus University is best described in the following paragraph by Professor Andrew Dillon, Head of iSchool at the University of Austin at the time, Linnaeus University's iSchool project advisor (2017):"

"The most pressing problems of the 21st century are trans-disciplinary and invariably mediated by information or its associated technologies. To lead change, scholarship must cross boundaries and equip the next generation of graduates to think in terms of leveraging human abilities through new IT. There is no single subject or discipline for this, it has to be outside traditional boundaries or it will not work. To do this, an iSchool at your university is essential. Without it, progress will invariably be limited and narrow".

Linnaeus University got accepted as a member of the iSchools organisation in December 2017.

Watch our presentations

Management

Head of iInstitute

Koraljka Golub Professor
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- koraljkagolublnuse

Deputy Head

Marcelo Milrad Professor
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iBoard members

iAdvisors

iAffiliates

Faculty of Arts and Humanities

Faculty of Health and Life Sciences

Faculty of Social Sciences

Italo Masiello, Professor, Department of Pedagogy and Learning

Faculty of Technology

School of Business and Economics

Office of External Relations

Mathias Gaunitz, Innovation Adviser

Highlights of iInstitute

Grant awarded for project “QUEERLIT database: Metadata Development and Searchability for LGBTQI Literary Heritage” . Led by University of Gothenburg with Linnaeus University as a key partner
November 2020: a seminar by Annette Markham: Is speculative imagination a myth? A critical theory take on the power of anticipatory logics to limit thinking differently about digital tech futures. See video recording of the seminar.
Project: Digital Methods Platform for Arts and Humanities (DiMPAH). Erasmus+ funded project 2020–2022.
Project: Development of a new master programme in Digital Humanities at Linnaeus University. In 2020, the Swedish Knowledge Foundation granted the iInstitute at Linnaeus University 2 MSEK to collaborate with industry and other public sectors over a period of two years in implementing the Digital Humanities, Master Programme.
In 2020, iInstitute became an affiliated node of the Linnaeus Knowledge Environment Digital Transformations.
Second BALADRIA Summer School in Digital Humanities, organized by iInstitute and University of Zadar, 15–19 June, 2020, in Zadar, Croatia.
Call for Contributions to a Special Issue on Open Government Data (OGD) for Data Analytics and Knowledge Discovery of Journal of Data and Information Science (JDIS); deadline to submit: 15 August 2020.
October 2019: Invitation to The fourth workshop for "Higher Education Programs in Digital Humanities: Challenges and Perspectives” at the 4th DHN conference, Riga, Latvia, 17-20 March 2020
September 2019: iInstitute becomes a member of European iSchools mobility scheme.
September 2019: Digital Humanities becomes a new subject of study at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at Linnaeus University.
July 2019: An article on BAL-ADRIA Summer School in media (in Croatian)
May 2019: A blog post on Fredrik Hanell’s research “The digital daily lives of pre-school student teachers” has been published on the iSchools website.
January 2019: Call for proposals: A special issue of Education for Information on Emerging interdisciplinary curricula in the information sciences
December 2018: Call for proposals: Information Organization in Digital Humanities: Global Perspectives
Digital Humanities Day with Frank Fischer, co-director of DARIAH-EU and Associate Professor for Digital Humanities at the Higher School of Economics, Moscow. October 30, 2018. See a five-minute interview with Frank Fischer on "Why DARIAH?" here: https://vimeo.com/305977797
BAL-ADRIA Summer School on Digital Humanities, Zadar, Croatia, June 16–23, 2019 (keynote: Geoffrey C. Bowker, University of California, Irvine.
The Making of an iInstitute (top story at Information Today, May 9, 2018)
Inauguration lecture of the iInstitute: Christine Borgman, University of California, Los Angeles, May 7, 2018. Abstract.
Linnaeus University accepted as member of prestigious iSchools organisation April 27, 2018 (news item in Swedish).
Digital Humanities Initiative
Call for Contributions to a Special Issue on Open Government Data (OGD) for Data Analytics and Knowledge Discovery of Journal of Data and Information Science (JDIS); deadline to submit: 15 August 2020.

Seminars and talks

Video recordings of seminars by lecturers who gave permission are now available via LnuPlay.
On December 9, 2020, Zoi Tsiviltidou held a seminar titled  ‘Digital storytelling in the museum for self-directed learning and mobile-supported interaction'. Watch the seminar: https://play.lnu.se/media/t/0_2hcil2mv
December 2019: On December 2, Ying-Hsang Liu from Australian National University gave a seminar titled ‘Human-Centred Computational Thinking for Digital Humanities’: Watch the seminar: https://play.lnu.se/media/t/0_srja3iok
October 2019: Lecture arranged by Gunilla Bradley Centre for Digital Business (GBC) about The development and implementation of a PhD Program in ICT for the Kosovo Education System
May 2019: Christian Wartena, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Hanover, held a lecture named Analysis of Image Captions in Scientific Publications. Video. Slides.
Seminar by Jean-Francois Blanchette, University of California, Los Angeles, May 18, 2018. Abstract. Video.
Seminar "Emerging Information Field, iSchools Organisation, and Potential for Linnaeus University". Michael Seadle, Executive Director of iSchools; Dean of Faculty of Arts, Humboldt University and Sam Oh, iCaucus Chair-elect; Head of School, Library & Information Science and Data Science Department, Sungkyunkwan University, featured. The recorded video of the seminar is available at: https://connect.sunet.se/p92gwguambp/. Presentations by Sam Oh & Michael Seadle. November 3, 2017.

Education in Digital Humanities

Within the iInstitute, Linnaeus University offers the following:

Course Programming for Digital Humanities, online, in English, 50%
A Summer School in Digital Humanities, in collaboration with University of Zadar, Uppsala University, iInstitute and Linnaeus University’s Centre for Data Intensive Sciences and Applications
Master in Digital Humanities in the field of Digital Humanities, online, in English, 100%

The Master's program in Educational Technology is a challenge-driven program that caters to those with a technical, educational or behavioural science background with an interest in the digital transformation of teaching and learning practice in the education sector. The new social conditions that digital transformation in education entails mean that new knowledge and roles need to be developed in order to provide the right skills to those who work in, with and for education. The interaction between design, technology and learning are central to the program.

The master's program started in September 2019 and is given part-time. The program is still under development and given only in Swedish at the moment. The plan for the near future is to open up the courses and give them also in English to international participants.

Courses in the information field

A number of courses is given at Linnaeus University in the information field.

Our vision

Our long-term vision is to create a leading education, development and research regional centre in the iField, that combines in novel ways already existing expertise from different Linnaeus University departments and faculties working in close collaboration and co-creation with relevant stakeholders from the surrounding society. Addressing future societal challenges would be possible by highly skilled professionals whose education has been markedly enhanced by practice-informed education and joint, cross-sector innovation. Strategic values to be developed during these efforts refer to uniting and consolidating the expertise we already have to create new constellations for collaboration leading to new knowledge and products (expertise, education, research, public and commercial services relevant for the region, such as a cultural tourism industry perspective), resulting in a return on investment.

Plans for the first period (24–36 months) are to focus on the development of new educational programmes and research as outlined in the figures below.

Vision and strategy for 2019–2023

iInstitute Vision and strategy 2019-2023

A graphical view of the iSchool concept at Linnaeus University, October 2017.

Current research and education nodes affiliated with the iInstitute.

Current and future programmes affiliated with the iInstitute.

View the figures enlarged

External supporters

Supporters

Asia

Sam Oh, PhD, Professor, Sungkyunkwan University(SKKU), LIS and Data Science; Chair, iSchool Caucus (2018-2019)

Australia

Ying-Hsang Liu, PhD, Lecturer, School of Information Studies, Charles Sturt University

Europe

Andrew M. Cox, Senior Lecturer, University of Sheffield
Jens-Erik Mai, PhD, Professor, Head of Department, Department of Information Studies, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Isto Huvila, PhD, Professor, Uppsala University
Paavo Aarvola, PhD, Associate Professor, University of Tampere
António Lucas Soares, PhD, Associate Professor, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto
Kim Tallerås, PhD, Assistant Professor, Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences
Tatjana Aparac-Jelusic, PhD, Distinguished Professor, retired from University of Zadar, Croatia

United States

Christine Borgman, PhD, Distinguished Professor, University of California at Los Angeles
Geoffrey C. Bowker, PhD, Chancellor's Professor, University of California at Irvine
Andrew Dillon, PhD, Professor and Dean, School of Information, University of Texas at Austin
Michael B. Eisenberg, PhD, Dean Emeritus and Professor Emeritus, a founder of the iSchools movement
Marija Dalbello, PhD, Associate Professor, School of Communication and Information, Rutgers University
Joseph T. Tennis, PhD, Associate Professor and Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs, Information School, University of Washington

iInstitute in the words of our supporters

"In the information age, every university needs a unit that brings faculty and students together from across the institution to focus on the key knowledge, skills, and issues of information and technology. Welcome, Linnaeus University, to the global community that does just that – to the iSchool community.I think the idea of establishing an information school with those elements is both innovative and very exciting... I think it could help lay the foundation for what an iSchool could also be!"

Michael B. Eisenberg, Dean Emeritus and Professor Emeritus, a founder of the iSchools movement.

Andrew Dillon, Head of iSchool, University of Texas as Austin

"This is an exciting new venture which will place Linnaeus University at the forefront internationally of the burgeoning iSchool movement. Since information occupies a central place in our society – from data science to social media, from library classification to knowledge organization – it is both appropriate and timely that this innovative institute is being created".

Geoffrey C. Bowker, Chancellor's Professor, University of California at Irvine

"I think the idea of establishing an information school with those elements is both innovative and very exciting... I think it could help lay the foundation for what an iSchool could also be!"

Jens-Erik Mai, Head of Department, Department of Information Studies, University of Copenhagen

"...assembling quite a diverse set of units seems to me a novel and potentially very fruitful approach."

Andrew M Cox, Senior Lecturer, University of Sheffield

"I am so glad that you and your colleagues continue with efforts to join the iSchool community. I have been involved with the development of iSchools in the United States from early beginnings as an external follower and even had a privilege to attend their iCaucus meeting in Washington in 2007. There I learned about the importance to discuss the future of LIS education and profession in regards of strengthening the position of LIS departments inside University by opening up and designing new profiles with other, relevant, departments/programs.

By all means, to my knowledge, your department managed to attract the attention of other teachers/researchers at your university up to now, and it seems to me that by entering the iSchool family you could gain more strength both in teaching and research area. Having said that, I mean that potentials of cooperation not only between departments at your own University but also with other Universities across Europe and wider, could enable you to submit research proposals, cooperate in PhD education and exchange students and teachers/researchers with other iSchools.

I am very glad to learn that Michael Seadle and Sam Oh visited your university and hope that this visit opened up new possibilities for your department, digital humanities and other fields in which LIS could contribute a lot."

Tatjana Aparac-Jelusic, Distinguished Professor, retired, University of Zadar, Croatia

The iSchool project at Linnaeus University, November 2016-November 2017

For more information on the iSchool project, please follow this link!

iSchools