Category Archives: Division News

Launch of Graduate Student Lounge – 3 September 2009 @5pm

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We will be officially opening the Graduate Student Lounge located at Level 2 of the WKWSCI building, right at the end of the corridor, tomorrow (3 Sep.) at 5pm.  The lounge will be open to all graduate students and entrance is by the matric card.  It will be a place for discussion in between classes, where you can bring your own coffee or tea sachets and make yourself a hot drink (hot water provided!).  Or simply chill out there and make some music on the piano!

Two ground rules: No overnighters and do keep it clean and neat for other users!

Here are the details:

Date: 3 September 2009, Thursday
Time: 5:00 pm to 6:30 pm
Venue: Outside the Level 2 Graduate Lounge (WSCI Building, #02-22)
Registration: https://wis.ntu.edu.sg/pls/webexe/REGISTER_NTU.REGISTER?EVENT_ID=OA09082810361769

Programme
5:00 pm – Opening remarks by Chair,Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information
5:15 pm – Food Galore…faculty and students interact over food and tea
6:30 pm – End of session

Congratulations to the Class of 2009!

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Convocation 2009 was held on 24th July. A total of 244 students graduated in the 2008-09 academic year:

Ph.D.
1
M. Applied Sci.
1
M.Sc. Information Studies
84
M.Sc. Information Systems
97
M.Sc. Knowledge Management
61

Award winners:

  • Library Association Gold Medal (Information Studies): Leow Zheng Yu
  • LexisNexis Gold Medal (Information Systems): Mohamad Faizal Bin Abdolah
  • LexisNexis Gold Medal (Knowledge Management): Ku Yin Ling Evelyn

It was so nice to see graduates bringing their extended families, sometimes from distant countries, to celebrate together. We wish graduates the very best in their career. Please keep in touch with your former classmates and with the school.

 

Faculty positions available

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DIS has three tenure-track faculty positions available. We are recruiting at the rank of Assistant or Associate Professor in the following areas:

  • Library & Information Service:
    Preferred areas of expertise are information organization, reference/information service and health/ medical information service. Candidates must have a PhD degree in library and information science or related area, and have an active programme of research.  Preference will be given to candidates with at least 2 years professional experience in a library or information service.
  • Knowledge Management:
    Preferred areas of expertise include knowledge sharing, communities of practice, storytelling, knowledge assets and social network analysis. Candidates must have a PhD degree, and an active programme of research in knowledge management.
  • Medical Informatics or Records Management:
    Preferred areas of expertise include electronic medical records, health information systems, enterprise records management and digital preservation. Candidates must have a PhD degree, and an active programme of research in medical informatics or records management.

For further information on each position, please contact Dr Chris Khoo at ASSGKHOO@ntu.edu.sg .

To apply, please refer to the Guidelines for Submitting an Application for Faculty Appointment (http://www.ntu.edu.sg/ohr/Career/SubmitApplications/Pages/Faculty.aspx) and send your application to:

Office of Human Resources
Nanyang Technological University
Administration Building, Level 4
50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798
Fax: (65) 6791 9340
Email: Acad-talent@ntu.edu.sg
To ensure full consideration, applications must be received by 15 October 2009. 

Welcome to new students

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We welcome the 2009 cohort of students in the Information Studies, Information Systems and Knowledge Management MSc programmes. Out of a total of about 1,400 completed applications, admission offers were made to 270 applicants:

MSc (Information Studies) 81
MSc (Information Systems) 116
MSc (Knowledge Management) 73

For the first time, admission interviews were held in Beijing, Shanghai and Yangon, in addition to the interviews in Singapore.

Student matriculation (registration) is going on now. The final number of registered students may be lower. Orientation for new students will be held on Thurs, Aug 6, at 7pm, in the school’s Lee Kong Chian Lecture Theatre (level 1).

A-LIEP 2009 Conference in Tsukuba

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A contingent of DIS faculty, students and alumni attended the A-LIEP 2009 conference in Tsukuba, Japan, 6-8 March.

A paper by Dr Shaheen Majid and Rakiba Reaz Tina, Perceptions of LIS Graduate Students of Peer Learning, was selected as one of the two best papers, and presented at a plenary session. Congratulations, Shaheen and Rabika!

Other papers from Singapore:

  • Adrian Heok & Dr Brendan Luyt: Perceptions of Education, Learning and Access: Public Libraries and the Internet in Singapore
  • Dr Chris Khoo & Dr Na Jin Cheon: Issues in Ontology Design for a Clinical Decision Support System
  • Gladys Low & Dr Abdus Sattar Chaudhry: An Analysis of Reading Profile of Generation-X in Singapore
  • Jaclyn Teo & Serena Tan: Qualitative Evaluation of a Polytechnic Library As a Learning & Social Hub
  • Dr Brendan Luyt, Ng Peck Suan & Linus Wong Tsun-Wei: What Motivates Singaporean Wikipedians?
  • Dr Chris Khoo: Preparing LIS Professionals for Global Knowledge Process Outsourcing

The e-proceedings of the conference is available at: http://a-liep.kc.tsukuba.ac.jp/proceedings/index.html

This was the third A-LIEP conference — the first was held in Singapore (A-LIEP 2006) and the second in Taiwan (A-LIEP 2007). A steering committee was formed to plan future A-LIEP conferences with Dr Chris Khoo (chair), Dr Makiko Miwa (Japan) and Dr Chih-Feng Lin (Taiwan).

The conference photo album is at: http://picasaweb.google.com/aliep09. Here’s a pic of Dr Shaheen presenting his paper.

Dr. Shaheen presenting his paper at the keynote session in ALIEP, March 09
Dr. Shaheen presenting his paper at the keynote session in ALIEP, March 09

Farewell, Prof Abdus!

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 A mini-alumni reunion cum farewell party was held in honour of Dr Abdus Sattar Chaudhry, former head of DIS, who was leaving to take up a position at the Universityof Kuwait. The dinner party was held on 27 February at the Riverwalk Tandoor along Clarke Quay.

Prof Abdus had been with the Division for 12 years, and played seminal roles in developing a flegling Information Studies program with 5 faculty members and an intake of 50 students a year, to a vibrant Division with 15 faculty members, 3 MSc programmes, an annual intake of 220 students and 1,400 applicants.

It was a cosy farewell, with Prof reminiscing about his time at NTU and catching up with ex-students. Prof Abdus hoped that his move to the Middle East will stimulate educational and research collaborations between DIS and information schools in the Middle East. Dr Chris Khoo, who joined DIS at about the same time as Prof Abdus, has taken over as the new Head of DIS.

Send your well-wishes to Prof Abdus at: abdussattar.chaudhry [at] ku.edu.kw

Alumni and current students unite to bid adieu to Prof Abdus
Alumni and current students unite to bid adieu to Prof Abdus

 

Educational Visit by RMUTI-Thailand

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A delegation of graduate students from the Rajamangala University of Technology Isan (RMUTI-Thailand) visited WKWSCI on an educational visit as part of their ICT Graduate Programme, on 13th February. RMUTI is located in the Northeastern region of Thailand, called Isan.

After a tour of the school facilities, Dr Chris Khoo introduced WKWSCI’s graduate programmes. This was followed by a presentation on RMUTI by Dr. Sanun Karnka, Head of the Applied ICT Graduate Programme at RMUTI. The delegation then interacted with research students of DIS about the culture and student life at WKWSCI.

WKWSCI Staff Perform at NTU Fundraiser

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The NTU staff fraternity celebrated Lo Hei in a colourful, fun-packed party held to launch the Faculty and Staff Annual Giving 2009, on 9th Feb. In a carnival of interesting sights and sounds, it was easy to forget work and deadlines, and revel in the Chinese New Year festivities. Faculty and staff from different schools mingled and chatted in the serpentine queues and crowds surrounding booths of traditional Chinese arts such as calligraphy, tarot card reading, tattooing, and dragon beard candy.

Violin duet by Chris Khoo & Marina Tan

WKWSCI representatives received a resounding ovation for their rendition of O Sole Mio and Tangos, with Dr Chris Khoo and  Mrs Marina Tan Harper (Director of the Development Office) on the violin, Phung Meei Lin (WKW school finance manager) at the piano, and Dr Lee Chu Keong on the clarinet. The Guest of Honour, NTU President Su Guaning, sportingly obliged the audience with a song for the occasion, and together with Marina Tan made a strong case for giving generously to NTU.

ntu_fund_raisingblog

Information Session at Suntec City

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An information session for the three MSc programmes was held at Suntec City Convention Centre.  About 160 prospective students attended the session. The programme introductions by Dr Chris Khoo, Dr Shaheen Majid and Dr Dion Goh were followed by a forum with a panel of faculty members — Dr Margaret Tan, Dr Shaheen, Dr Dion and Dr Ng Wee Keong (from the School of Computer Engineering).

Chris highlighted the Knowledge Management programme as one of the first of its kind in the world. He characterized the KM programme as one for Thinkers rather than Doers, Leaders rather than Followers, and Boardroom executives rather than Backroom workers.

Many of the questions centred on admission criteria, types of jobs, and on the possibility of continuing in the PhD programme.

A few current students and alumni came to share their experience of the programmes with the participants. They included Ashalatha Krishnan, Grace Ng, Jayakumaran, Thant Sin, Khine Yee Mon, and PhD students U Tun, Blooma and Shalini.

SCI staff and students at the Graduate Programme Briefing '09

DIS at NTU Career Fair ’09

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DIS and the Library Association of Singapore collaborated to host a booth at the NTU Career Fair on 4-5th February at the Nanyang Auditorium. Many undergraduate as well as graduate students came by the booth to find out about career opportunities in the various libraries in Singapore as well as the MSc Information Studies programme at NTU.

Three DIS graduate students participated in the fair and shared with visitors their experience of the programme, and the academic and research culture. Librarians from the major libraries were on hand to talk to visitors.

NTU Career Fair