Conference Program

Tour: Mechanics’ Institute Library and Chess Room

Located just six blocks from the conference hotel, this unique San Francisco library and cultural center will provide an enjoyable window into Bay Area history. We will have a one-hour private tour.

Though initially a library dedicated to the mechanical arts, a merger with another institution, known as the Mercantile Library Association, in 1906 caused the Mechanics’ Institute Library’s collection to drop its technical focus. Its collection today covers all subjects with special strengths in literature, fine and performing arts, history, philosophy, business, finance, and periodicals that are hard-to-find in electronic format.

APLIC Board Meeting

Union Square 7
All APLIC International members are invited to attend.

Registration and Continental Breakfast

Union Square 15/16

Keynote: Information Diffusion in Social Networks

Lada Adamic (bio), University of Michigan / UC Berkeley iSchool
As individuals communicate, their exchanges form a dynamic network. Social ties and group affiliations tend to be predictive of where and how far information will spread, but it is not always clear that they are the direct cause of the spread. In a large-scale field experiment that randomizes exposure to signals about friends’ information sharing  on Facebook, we show that those who are exposed are significantly more likely to spread information, and do so sooner than those who are not exposed. We further show that, although stronger ties are individually more influential, it is the more abundant weak ties who are responsible for the propagation of novel information. Finally, we demonstrate that network structure alone can be highly revealing of the diversity and novelty of the information being communicated in the network. Networks with a higher conductance exhibit higher information entropy, while unexpected network configurations are indicative of higher information novelty

Break

Conversation: Views from the Real World of Population Studies Support

Moderator: Lori Delaney (bio), University of North Carolina

Lunch

On own

Data Sharing for Demographic Research: A multi-center collaborative project

Mary McEniry (bio), University of Michigan, Director
This presentation will focus on several large US and international studies that have archived their data within the demography archive of ICPSR at the University of Michigan.  It will also describe the archive’s collaboration with population centers and the ongoing projects that are aimed at making improvements in the science of data sharing. Finally, it will present future directions and ideas for how the archive can collaborate more closely with NICHD-funded population centers.

Break

APLIC Annual Business Meeting

Banquet (location TBD)

The banquet is included in your conference registration.

Continental Breakfast

Union Square 15/16

Universal Access to All Knowledge

Brewster Kahle (bio), Internet Archive Project
Advances in computing and communications mean that we can cost-effectively store every book, sound recording, movie, software package, and public web page ever created, and provide access to these collections via the Internet to students and adults all over the world.

Break

Reflections of Alexandria in the Alcohol and Other Drug Field

Andrea Mitchell (bio), Substance Abuse Librarians and Information Specialists
In the past decade, with budget cuts and the Googlization myth combined, more than 25 alcohol, tobacco, and other drug libraries and information centers world-wide have been severely downsized or closed. Through a recent editorial in a leading addiction journal, SALIS has made a clarion call to stop the closures, and make recommendations for digitization. With our forthcoming conference, “Stepping Out of Our Silos”, we aim to seek discourse on other ways to not only survive but to keep our organization active and continue as a crucial player in the design of AOD information platforms of the future.

Cloud Computing : What it means for digital curation

Philip Gust (bio), LOCKSS
What is Cloud Computing? How can it improve current practices? What new opportunities does it enable? This presentation will explore its potentials.

Lunch

On own

Special Session : Tools We Use

APLIC Members will outline tools they find useful. We expect this to be a very interactive session with a lot of conversation.

Libbie Stephenson (bio), UCLA – Social Science Data Archives: Tools for Data Management
This presentation will describe how small and “one-man” shops can readily take advantage of existing tools, partnerships and resources without having to rely as heavily on bigger or more established partners to do the majority of the work. It will cover the goals we had for data management, how we arrived at our choices, and will give a brief overview of the tools being used at the UCLA Social Science Data Archive.

Jon Stiles (bio), UC Berkeley – SDA : Analysis, Access and Documentation for Novices & Experts
This presentation will describe the Survey Documentation & Analysis (SDA) tool, with an emphasis on showing how it provides a gentle introduction to analysis of demographic microdata for novices. Will also cover underlying metadata, options which improve usability and power, and data which is avaialble for analysis.

Lori Rosman (bio), Johns Hopkins : Drupal Bibliography

William Fennie (bio), University of Maryland : Basecamp

Others welcome.

Break

A Quick Introduction to the Population Reference Bureau’s New Resources and Formats

Paola Scommegna (bio), Senior Write / Editor, Population Reference Bureau
The Population Reference Bureau, a nonprofit organization in Washington, D.C., has provided timely and objective population data and analysis for more than 80 years. This session will introduce their new educational materials, now in easy-to-use formats, all freely available on the PRB website including:

• PRB’s recently expanded DataFinder website-a searchable database of hundreds of population and health indicators for thousands of U.S. and international locations-allowing users to quickly create custom maps, tables, and charts to print, download, and share.
• Distilled Demographics, PRB’s short online video series that explains key demographic concepts in clear, concise nontechnical language and graphics.