Source: School of Information Management
Written by: School of Information Management
Edited by: Wang Dongmei

The “6th International Symposium on Information Management in a Changing World” (IMCW) was successfully held from November 25th to 27th, 2015 in Guangzhou, China. It was hosted by the Department of Information Management of Hacettepe University in Turkey (the iSchool member) and the School of Information Management of Sun Yat-sen University, and co-organized by the National MLIS Education Steering Committee. The conference attracted scholars from departments of information management in universities in various countries including America, Japan, Turkey, Qatar and Slovenia, domestically well-known universities such as Wuhan University, Peking University, Nankai University, Central China Normal University, Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU), as well as representatives from fields of libraries and business. Over 100 attendees gathered in southern China, focusing on the theme of “Information Management in Big Data Era”. 


Prof. Huang Changzhu (Researcher of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences), Prof. Ma Feicheng (Wuhan University), Prof.Yaşar Tonta (Hacettepe University) and Prof. Serap Kurbanoğlu (Hacettepe University ) were presidents of the IMCW conference. Dr. Wei Jingzhu, co-chair of the conference and Prof. Serap Kurbanoğlu hosted the opening ceremony. Prof. Li Shanmin (Vice President of Sun Yat-sen University), Prof. Ma Feicheng, Prof. Bülent Yılmaz, Head of the Department of Information Management at Hacettepe University and Prof. Yaşar Tonta addressed the opening ceremony respectively.

Prof. Eiji Mizushima from University of Tsukuba and Prof. Chen Chuanfu, Dean of the Graduate School in Wuhan University gave reports respectively in the meeting. By combining the working and research experience in the field of museum, Prof. Eiji Mizushima explained how to obtain the fragmented and small data, information and knowledge from objects and compose them into big data, which could finally be a potential solution for research of record heritage. Prof. Chen Chuanfu pointed out the challenges on the education of library information science (LIS) in a big data environment. He claimed that faculties need to focus more on the challenges outside the discipline and from external institutions, and therefore faculties should pay more attention to the interdisciplinary and leadership skills of the students and combine the application in campus with emerging information technology. He also made a point that it is the goal for the Chinese LISE (library information science education) to educate a new generation of well adapted LIS students with knowledge and skills that can be applied directly to their work after graduation and to improve the status and competitiveness of the LIS discipline in the job market. In addition, he added that faculties need to build more capital for LISE by creating more outreaching programs so as to make people outside the discipline and institution aware of LISE and to support LIS.

Famous scholars and experts of information management were invited to the conference and gave several academic reports, including Prof. Serap Kurbanoğlu (Hacettepe University), Prof.Yaşar Tonta (Hacettepe University), Prof. Li Yuelin (Nankai University), Prof. Wang Weijun (Central China Normal University), Dr. Zhang Pengyi (Peking University) and Mr. Ke Chunxiao, General Manager of Overseas Knowledge Management Company of Tongfang Knowledge Network Technology Co., Ltd.. They respectively gave speeches on their recent research achievements on the topics of information literacy, competitive intelligence, intellectual property rights, online product reviews, user information behavior, informatics and so forth in big data era.

 “Information Management in the Big Data Era: For a Better World” was the theme of the symposium with the purpose of bringing together the information professionals, data librarians, archivists, information engineers and businessmen so as to discuss and penetrate into the problems of the combination of people, technology and information resources in information management in big data era and present solutions. Scholars and experts from all over the world discussed on the topics of the process of information resources, optimization of information system, information behaviors of users, library information science education (LISE) and so forth. As organizers, we regarded IMCW 2015 as an opportune time to review the challenges for information organizations, libraries, archives and museums, and provide data and information services in the digital age.

The closing ceremony was co-hosted by Prof. Cao Shujin, Dean of School of Information Management at Sun Yat-sen University and chairman of the organizing committee of the conference, and Prof.Yasar Tonta, co-chair of the conference. They summarized the achievements of the conference, provided an outlook of the future development of information management and expressed their heartfelt thanks to the attendees and organizers of the conference. Finally, Prof.Yasar Tonta announced that the 7th IMCW international seminar would be held in October next year in Vienna, Austria.