Information for Presenters
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Presentations for full papers will be 30 minutes - 20 minutes for the presentation and 10 minutes for questions.
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Presentations for short papers will be 15 minutes - 10 minutes for the presentation and 5 minutes for the presentation.
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Posters will be displayed on poster boards that are 4’ x 7’ (121 cm x 213 cm). The poster session will take place on Tuesday, June 2 from 5-7:00.
Conference Proceedings
Proceedings for the short and long papers are published in Information Research and available here: https://doi.org/10.47989/ir31ISIC
Proceedings for the posters, panels, and workshops are available here: 
ISIC 2026 Poster, Panels, and Workshops Proceedings
ISIC 2026 Final Conference Program
All events (except the conference dinner) take place in the Trottier Building.
A PDF of the final conference program is available here: ISIC 2026 Final Conference Program
Monday, June 1 |
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9:00-16:00 |
Doctoral WorkshopTrottier 0060 accepted students only |
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Tour of McGill's Rare Books and Special Collections McLennan Library Building (map)
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| 5:30 |
Meet at Bar Dominion - a downtown pub - for drinks and/or food |
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16:15-18:00 |
ISIC Steering Committee meetingby invitation only |
Tuesday, June 2 |
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8:30 |
Registration opens |
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9:00-10:30 |
Conference openingFirst keynote speaker: Nadia Caidi Trottier 0100 |
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10:30-11:00 |
Coffee breakLOCATION Trottier Mezzanine |
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11:00-12:30 |
Session 1 |
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1.a. Conceptual mattersTrottier 0100 Moderator: Heidi Julien Information practices are environmental Isto Huvila Information behaviours and the inner life Ian Ruthven Who’s a heretic now? Conceptualizing information seeking on controversial topics George Buchanan, Dana McKay, Yimin Chen, Ian Ruthven |
1.b. Parents & familiesTrottier 0060 Moderator: Leanne Bowler Is trust enough? Parents’ health information behaviour around childhood vaccination Anna Mierzecka “Transparency would be lovely”: Differences in information seeking and assessing behaviours between vaccine hesitant and vaccine confident mothers of newborns Maria Mulder, Emily Gemmell, Julie A. Bettinger, Devon Greyson Repetition, regulation, and reappraisal: Information behaviour in persistent coping with chronic illness in families Lindsay K. Brown, Tiffany C.E. Veinot |
1.c. Student life & technologyTrottier 0070 Moderator: Owen Stewart-Robertson Educational technology and the everyday information practices that shape student thinking and learning Kayla Burt, Damian Bebell Information behavior as a mediator of the influence of e-health literacy on counseling decisions among Universitas Indonesia students Muhammad Yusrizal, Rahmi iSchool students’ mental models of genAI Irene Lopatovska, Conor Mack, Ellen Connors |
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12:30-13:30 |
LunchLOCATION Trottier Mezzanine |
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13:30-15:00 |
Session 2 |
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2.a - MethodsTrottier 0100 Moderator: Jenny Bronstein Situated storywalks: A participant-led elicitation method Elke Greifeneder, Maria Gäde, Katlin E. Montague Navigating subjectivity in causal context: a non-deterministic approach for information behaviour research Marek Deja Exploring emerging knowledge landscapes through preprints: a DIKW-based computational framework for transforming data into actionable scholarly insights Tzu-Yu Lin, Pei-Chun Lee |
2.b - Age & healthTrottier 0060 Moderator: Emma Nicol Constructing trust in complex information environments: Older adults’ information behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic Maryline Vivion, Valérie Reid, Alexandre Coutant, Eve Dubé, Christopher Fletcher, André Tourigny The impact of information encountering on the health literacy of older adults in health science short video Xiaojuan Xu, Li Pan, Manli Wu, Yuxiang Zhao, Zerui Zhao Exploring health information needs in Islamic contexts through health fatwa questions in Saudi Arabia Mahmud Alblowi, Ian Ruthven, Perla Innocenti |
2.c - AcademicsTrottier 0070 Moderator: Pam McKenzie Social media practices among academics: The case of Sri Lankan universities Nishantha Gamage, Pethigamage Perera, Sangeetha Kutty, Ritesh Chugh Taxonomies as boundary objects for social change: Enhancing visibility of academics’ impact-related information behaviours Joann Cattlin, Lisa M. Given, Rolf Hvidfeldt, Marianne Lykke Foraging for instruction: A microethnography of information behaviours and practices exhibited by academic librarians in instructional planning Aleksandar Golijanin |
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15:00-15:30 |
Coffee breakLOCATION Trottier Mezzanine |
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15:30-17:00 |
Session 3 - Plenary sessionTrottier 0100 Chaired by Ian Ruthven Moderator: Rebekah Willson Paper: Celebrating 30 years of the ISIC conference: Citation impact and collaboration Mette Skov, Birger Larsen Panel: Reflecting on the field: 30 years of information behaviour and practices research Heidi Julien, Lisa Given, and Isto Huvila |
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17:00-19:00 |
Poster session and conference receptionLOCATION Trottier Mezzanine [see the proceedings for poster titles and abstracts] |
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Wednesday, June 3 |
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8:30 |
Registration opens |
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9:00-10:30 |
Conference updateISIC Steering Committee presentationSecond keynote speaker: Sara GrimesTrottier 0100 |
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10:30-11:00 |
Coffee breakTrottier Mezzanine |
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11:00-12:30 |
Session 4 |
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4.a - Intersectional identitiesTrottier 0100 Moderator: Africa Hands Race, identity, and everyday life information-seeking: A study of African American teens in Chicago Faith Rice Supporting a new generation of informed voters: An interdisciplinary literature review pairing informed voting and current events information behaviours [short paper] Nancy Ross Dribin Passing the vibe check: Initial findings from an investigation into the health information behaviours of LGBTQ+ individuals with disabilities [short paper] Miranda Downey, Marilyn Harbert, Sarina Li A literature review of the information needs and behaviors of Black adults and the predominance of studies on health information [short paper] Jamillah R. Gabriel Information behaviour as a framework for exploring STEM participation of Black women [short paper] Joanna Adewunmi |
4.b - At workTrottier 0060 Moderator: Elke Greifeneder When digital systems meet human-centred work: a qualitative study of information behaviour Marie Ollerup Sall, Trove Faber Frandsen What is left unshared: Using a third space lens to explore information sharing behaviour within Scrum in Agile Software Development Anika Meyer, Ina Fourie, Preben Hansen ‘It's helping people, but it's helping people with literally everything under the sun.’ Exploring the work and information behaviours of constituency caseworkers Charlotte Jackson, Emma Nicol, Ian Ruthven |
4.c - Avoidance & regretTrottier 0700 Moderator: Anna Mierzecka “I’d rather not have known this”: A study of information regret Dirk Lewandowski Information behaviour of data breach victims and the relevance of health information avoidance Hung Fai Joseph Cheng, Paul Scifleet, Misita Anwar Rethinking information practices to embrace avoidance: Everything old is new again [short paper] Jenny Bronstein, Alison Hicks, Jette Seiden Hyldegård, Pam McKenzie, Ian Ruthven Information is a gun: Recognising information facilitated interpersonal harms [short paper] Yimin Chen, Dana McKay |
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12:30-13:30 |
LunchLOCATION Trottier Mezzanine |
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13:30-15:00 |
Session 5 |
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5.a - Emplaced experiencesTrottier 0010 Moderator: Rebecca Noone Floating libraries and Bible rolling papers: Accessing books and information while incarcerated Elizabeth Willson Gordon, Rebekah Willson 'I know a place': The informational value and loss of queer spaces Vanessa Kitzie, Travis Wagner “Get rid of the unimportant so that the important can shine”: An exploration of vehicle residents’ personal collections and information practices [short paper] Kaitlin E. Montague, Helene Hellmich Information as compost: Decentring humans in information practices research [short paper] Owen Stewart-Robertson, Kaitlin E. Montague |
5.b - Newcomers & language learnersTrottier 0060 Moderator: Leanne Bowler Cultural community as an information ground of Middle Eastern women refugees in Sweden - a road to better integration into society Khadijah Kainat, Kristina Eriksson-Backa Understanding immigrant information acculturation: Perspectives and recommendations for information behaviour research Ana Ndumu, Hayley Park, Connie Siebold Hiding in plain sight: the linguistic and behavioural challenges of second language learners in academic search [short paper] Tim Leigh, Frances Johnson |
5. c - Uncertainty & stigmaTrottier 0070 Moderator: Devon Greyson How catastrophic misinterpretation triggers health anxiety: Health information seeking as a mediator in rural China’s information-poor populations Lin Wang, Chi Xu, Sisi Song Self-stigma, alcohol use disorder, information behaviour: A theoretical & conceptual synthesis Opeyemi Oboh Mapping information uncertainty in hospital wayfinding through patient journey maps [short paper] Ladislava Zbiejczuk Suchá |
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15:00-15:30 |
Coffee breakLOCATION Trottier Mezzanine |
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Session 6 |
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15:30-17:00 |
Session 6.a - PanelTrottier 0100 Moderator: Owen Stewart-Robertson Agnotology, Disinformation, and Epistemicide: Exploring conceptual and methodological approaches to understanding and resisting information behaviours that silence and suppress Beth Patin, Maria Mulder, Tyler Youngman Chaired by Devon Greyson |
Session 6.b - Information-seeking & mediationTrottier 0060 Moderator: Africa Hands Platforms, Algorithms, and the Shifting Boundaries of Information Horizons Kayla Burt Push Me, Pull You: Factors that Drive Information-Seekers away from Traditional Environments and Towards LLMs Priti Shah, Stephann Makri, George Buchanan, Dana McKay Non-events and nothings: The potentiality of negatively defined phenomena for Information Science [short paper] Andrea Kampen, Kaitlin E. Montague Information behaviour concepts in the reference service research [short paper] Amy VanScoy |
Session 6.c - N/ANo papers in Trottier 0700 at this time |
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18:00/19:00 |
Conference dinnerHotel William Gray 18:00 cocktails Google Map from Trottier to Hotel William Gray |
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Thursday, June 4 |
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8:30 |
Registration opens |
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9:00-10:30 |
Session 7 |
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7.a - Indigenous experiencesTrottier 0100 Moderator: Pam McKenzie Bridging Theory and Practice: Affordance Theory as a Methodological Link in Information Interaction and Repository Design Danica Pawlick-Potts Seeking Relations and Kin: pursuing the information seeking practices and experiences of Indigenous students Cora Coady, Tina Liu, Desmond Wong Decolonizing information – Comparing Western conceptions of information to Indigenous Knowledge and Indigenous Knowledge Systems [short paper] Connor White |
7.b - Artists, fans, & leisureTrottier 0060 Moderator: Leanne Bowler Viewing leisure as experience Priya Kizhakkethil Authenticity, performativity, and contextuality [short paper] Tyler Youngman 'Bonnetheads' fandom: Information experiences of Little House on the Prairie cast members [short paper] Amy Lanier, Tara Zimmerman, Priya Kizhakkethil 'The industry will tell you what you’re good for:' Theatrical typecasting, information embodiment, and body capital [short paper] Julia Anne Maxwell Exploring fandom as Information practices: A phenomenographic pilot study of Chinese K-Pop music fans [short paper] Chengling Li, Somsak Sriborisutsakul |
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10:30-11:00 |
Coffee breakTrottier Mezzanine |
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11:00-12:30 |
Plenary panelTrottier 0100 Moderator: Rebekah Willson Emerging voices: Exploring futures for information behaviour and practices research Anika Meyer, Ana Ndumu, Danica Pawlick Potts, Sarah Polkinghorne, Connor White Chaired by Pam McKenzie |
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12:30-13:30 |
Closing of the conference; Conference awardsTrottier 0100 Followed by lunch - Trottier Mezzanine |
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13:30-17:00 includes coffee break, 15:00-15:30 |
Workshops |
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Workshop 2Trottier 0060 States of Uncertainty: A collaborative exploration of the potentiality and inevitability of uncertainty Andrea Kampen, Helene Hellmich |
Workshop 3Trottier 0070 Governance as a new Context: The Governing Knowledge Commons Framework for Studying Information Spaces Melissa Ocepek, Aparajita Bhandari, Rebecca Noone, Ana Santos Rutschman, Elizabeth Wickes |
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END OF CONFERENCE - SEE YOU IN 2028! |
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Keynote Speakers
Sara M. Grimes
Keynote Title: The Imagined Child: Information, Rights, and Children's Digital Worlds
Children's information worlds are often designed around an imagined child — one increasingly shaped by AI and algorithmic recommendation systems, the commercial logics of the big data economy, and a surge of new regulations aimed at defining their rights, risks, and capacities. Drawing on a series of case studies from current developments and her own ongoing research in this space, Sara Grimes presents a theoretical framework for understanding how children are configured as both information subjects and information objects across three intertwined realms: as data used (or not used) to train AI models, as emerging citizens participating in digital culture, and as learners developing the literacies needed to inhabit and make sense of the information society. The talk opens up what is at stake when these three configurations collide with the lived experiences and practices of actual children, and what the technologization of childhood reveals about our broader hopes and fears for the digital futures we are now building.
Biography: Sara M. Grimes is the Wolfe Chair in Scientific and Technological Literacy, Director and Founder of the Kids Play Tech Lab, and a Full Professor in the Department of Art History and Communication Studies at McGill University. Her research centers on understanding emerging trends and issues related to the technologization of childhood and supporting the development of ethical designs, business practices, and policies that advance children’s rights and wellbeing in the digital games and across the digital environment. Her current and upcoming projects include examinations of age-appropriate design in games, the legal and ethical dimensions of algorithmic marketing to children, as well as an upcoming study of children's creativity, play and emerging parasocial relationships with AI in digital platforms. She is the author of the award-winning book, Digital Playgrounds: The Hidden Politics of Children’s Online Play Spaces, Virtual Worlds, and Connected Games, and the upcoming Kidfluenced: Children’s Digital Media-Making, Content Creation, and Cultural Rights. She was also the lead author of the recently published CIFAR AI Insights Responsible AI and Children policy brief, a critical review of the literature and best practices for regulating and developing data-centric and AI technologies for children that advance a rights-based approach to AI governance.
Nadia Caidi
Keynote Title: Securitizing the Sacred: Pilgrims’ Trails Across Digital Landscapes
Pilgrimage is alive and well! Over 300M people engage in religious (or spiritual) journeying every year, resulting in hundreds of billions of dollars of profit for the sectors involved. This talk examines spiritual and religious experiences as information contexts, with a particular emphasis on the evolving landscape of pilgrimage. In its simplest form, pilgrimage is about the movement of people over space, and the infrastructures that underpin the management of large crowds and the provision of goods and services. Increasingly, though, other infrastructural configurations are permeating (and reshaping) the experiences of pilgrims worldwide. Even before reaching the shrines or sacred places, pilgrims encounter and interact with a range of systems. The design and use of digital platforms that mediate pilgrims’ experiences—including web-based booking systems, social media, virtual pilgrimage applications, and AI agents—shape and reconstitute pilgrims’ identities in myriad ways (e.g., as consumers, content creators, data subjects). Not only do pilgrims leave trails behind as they engage in ritualized travel, but pilgrimage sites are also becoming significant gatherers of data owing to the constant monitoring and policing infrastructure of CCTV, biometrics, and other technologies of governance. Taken together, these developments offer an exceptionally rich opportunity for examining the pilgrimage infrastructurally rather than through the lens of pilgrims’ information practices alone. In doing so, the aim is not to do away with the “sacred” but, rather, to inscribe it in a wider debate about faith and technology. As AI touches every aspect of the human experience, pilgrimage may offer a useful glimpse into a new kind of religious imaginary.
Biography: Dr. Nadia Caidi is a Professor at the Faculty of Information, University of Toronto. Trained in Linguistics and Communications, she also holds an MLIS and a Ph.D. in Information Studies from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). Dr. Caidi’s contributions aim to inform and promote a critical LIS lens and a public interest approach to the information fields. She has published extensively in the areas of information behaviour, socio-technical practices of marginalized communities, digital diasporas and techno-religious practices. She sits on several journal editorial boards and has been recognized with numerous research grants and awards. In 2019, the Association of LIS Education awarded her the Pratt-Severn Faculty Innovation Award.
Dr. Caidi is committed to community-engaged research and has been academic lead on recently-funded research by the Public Health Agency of Canada examining misinformation in newcomer digital spaces (with partner Refugee613) ; Workfinding and Immigrant Women’s Prosperity in STEM (with partner TechGirls Canada) ; Reading as Belonging in multilingual youth (School of Cities), and the intersections of pilgrimage and data in Securitizing the Sacred (funded by SSHRC). Dr. Caidi was the the 2016 President of the International Association for Information Science & Technology (ASIS&T), and the 2011 President of the Canadian Association for Information Science (CAIS).