Global Information Village Plaza

While there exist many expert sources of information on the varied aspects of the information society, forums for the professional public to debate the implications of this society on their personal and professional lives are less available. The Global Information Village Plaza (or Global Plaza for short) provides such a forum. It offers an opportunity for all ASIS&T members and information professionals at large to share opinions and consider these implications in an informal setting. It allows the community of information professionals to examine their own views, as opposed to institutional or other otherwise "official" views.

The Global Plaza considers a different issue, frequently one with an international context, every year, and invites discussion from Plaza attendees on how that issue impacts them. Past Plaza themes have included

• In the global information society, what will impact you and how? (2002)
• Connecting multi-cultural, multi-lingual and multi-media universes (2003)
• "What if" questions (such as "What if people in university departments (or other organisations with relevant interests) helped people "on the other side of the digital divide" to become "e-mail pen-pals" with them, in order to address issues of shared interest?) (2004)
• Trust in information, and how ideas of "trustworthy" information change in different parts of the world (2006)
• Social networking in an international context (2007)

The diverse range of ideas contributed by Plaza attendees from all over the world always offer fertile ground for considering and reconsidering the impact of an issue on information professionals at large.

The Global Plaza makes use of the SIG-III blog, accessible via the SIG-III website, to facilitate discussion of the Plaza topic.  SIG-III Blog contrubutors can post short questions and discussions to open conversation on the Plaza topic.

The Plaza was facilitated from 2002-2004 by Michel Menou and Nadia Caidi, and from 2006-2007 by Aaron Bowen. Plans are underway to reintroduce the Plaza at the 2010 ASIS&T Annual meeting in Pittsburgh -- please check back here for updates!

Facilitators Michel Menou and Nadia Caidi at the first Global Plaza, 2002 ASIS&T Annual Meeting in Philadelphia

Facilitator Aaron Bowen

Click here to view the archive of documents relating to the 2002-2007 Global Plazas