by Megan Sherry
The buzz around the ILS department this academic year was the 2025 iConference, which was hosted by the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering during the IU Spring Break. Months of preparation went into this week-long event.
The iConference is an annual gathering of informational professionals—the largest in the world—and is presented by the iSchools, which are members of an international group of over 130 information schools, though no iSchool affiliation is required to attend. The conference itself is always evolving based on technological advancements, and this year’s theme was “Living in an AI-gorithmic world.” The goal was to examine how collecting, storing, retrieving, using, and distributing information is increasingly influenced by processes like generative artificial intelligence, machine learning, data analytics, and other similar technologies.
The ILS department was especially involved in preparing for this conference. The official conference chairs were Howard Rosenbaum, Carol Choksy, and Devan Donaldson, all faculty within the department. In addition, Noriko Hara and Gillian Dunn were conference coordinators, who were responsible for much of the behind-the-scenes work. It was not flashy, but these were necessary tasks: reserving rooms, advertising on social media, coordinating food and drink for events, making schedules for volunteers, creating directional signage, posting sponsorship slides—as well as countless meetings to stay on track. Though it may seem simple, this logistical coordination was vital for running such a large event as smoothly as possible.
One team member shared her excitement about helping host the iConference because it provides a platform for collaboration with so many scholars in the field:
“It’s an honor to host such a wonderful sharing of knowledge and know that we’re having such a positive impact on the field of information science.”
Hosting the iConference is not without its challenges. Most are outside the organizers’ control,like the replacement of a water line next to Luddy Hall resulted in street closures and variable traffic patterns. In addition, uncertainty about acquiring travel visas for international scholars slowed registration. Luckily, there was a virtual portion of the conference that can provide access to events for those who could not join us in person. The team was prepared for additional challenges to arise during the conference, but thanks to their preparation and support from ILS, the Luddy School, and IU, the event ran smoothly and was hailed as a success.
