Uncharted: Navigating the Future of Data
Call for Proposals
IASSIST and the ACMLA would like to invite you to join us for the 49th Annual IASSIST conference and 57th annual Carto conference being jointly held in Halifax, Nova Scotia, from May 28-31, 2024 to talk about the future of data in libraries, archives, and data services.
The motto of Halifax is “e mari merces”, or “wealth from the sea”; this wealth was originally measured in fish, but today we could equally think of the wealth to be found in an ocean of data. Artificial intelligence, climate change, and a host of other influences are moving us into uncharted territory. This conference challenges you to chart new pathways and to think about using data to navigate our way to a better future together.
The conference will be held in-person, centering networking opportunities and interaction. We welcome submissions for papers, presentations, posters, demos, workshops, and lightning talks that embrace our conference theme, Uncharted: Navigating the future of data, by looking towards emerging trends and topics of particular relevance to data and geospatial professionals working within libraries, research and data services, and archives. Possible topics include (but are not limited to):
- Geospatial and data services of the future
- Maps and data for social justice
- Environmental impact and sustainability
- Artificial Intelligence
- Reproducibility
- Partnerships and collaboration
- Data and geospatial literacy
- Data management and archiving
- Data discovery, access, and metadata
- Data governance and ethics
Call for Posters and Demonstrations
Do you have a new idea you would like feedback on? Would you like to showcase a new service, initiative, or resource? Consider submitting a poster! Posters are a great way to exchange ideas and get feedback. We will be holding a “Poster Reception” to encourage interaction and networking while engaging with these visually dynamic materials.
Call for Papers & Paper Competition
We will also be holding a paper competition and the winner of the paper competition will be announced at the Business Meeting during the conference. To be considered completed papers will need to be submitted by April 15, 2024.
Submit Your Proposals and Workshops
Submit your proposals and workshops using the Conference Proposal Submission Form (OpenConf site).
Submit your conference proposal
The deadline for submissions is November 22, 2023 December 1, 2023.
Questions about presentation submissions may be sent to the Program Co-Chairs (Sophia Lafferty-Hess, Zack MacDonald, Kristi Thompson) at programme ( at ) lists.iassistdata.org.
Support for Attending the Conference
IASSIST Fellows Program supports data professionals from countries with emerging economies and underrepresented regions who are developing information infrastructures regarding the use and preservation of public and private data, implementing information policy decisions, and providing data services at their home institutions.
IASSIST Early Professional Fellows Program supports early career data professionals from under-resourced institutions and recognizes the value of new and innovative ideas from graduates and professionals new to data in the social sciences, who may not otherwise have the funding to travel.
Applications will close on November 22, 2023. Please address your questions about the Fellows Program to Fellows Committee Co-Chairs Florio Arguillas (foa2@cornell.edu) and Sarah Young (sarahy@andrew.cmu.edu).
Submit your Fellowship application
For information about travelling to Halifax, check out this conference website.
Presentation Formats
The Program Committee welcomes proposals for the following formats:
Workshops Successful workshop proposals will blend lecture and active learning techniques. Typically workshops are half-day with 2-hour and 3-hour options. Workshops will be held on May 28, 2024.
Individual Presentation Typically this format is a 15-minute talk. If your individual proposal is accepted, you will be grouped into an appropriate session with similar presentations.
Paper Presenters are required to submit an original research paper in advance of the conference and present and discuss its findings at the conference as an Individual Presentation. We will select submissions based on proposals, and the authors of accepted proposals are required to submit their final and complete papers by April 2023. All papers will be eligible for publication consideration in an edition of IASSIST Quarterly. In addition, one paper will be selected as best paper with a prize of one free registration for a future IASSIST conference.
Posters or Demonstration This format is most useful for one-on-one discussions about your research topic or tool demonstration. Proposals in this category should identify the message being conveyed in the poster or the demonstration.
Lightning Talks A lightning talk is a short, highly visual presentation. Presentations in this category are timed, and speakers are restricted to 5 minutes total. Presentations should have a maximum of 15 slides, but there is no restriction on how many minutes you stay on each slide or the exact format of the presentation as long as you stay within the strict time limit. These are not your typical conference presentations.
Panel You may propose an entire session (80-90 minutes) with a minimum of three speakers to “deep dive “into a specific resource or concept. The session proposal can take a variety of forms, e.g., a set of three to four presentations, a discussion panel, a tutorial (with less substance than a pre-conference workshop), a discussion with the audience, etc. If accepted, the person who proposed the session becomes the session organizer and is responsible for securing speakers and a chair. Please note: the names of all speakers and the moderator must be included in the proposal.
NOTE: When submitting you will be required to select one of the proposal formats above, but it is possible that your submission may be accepted on the condition of adapting it to another format (e.g., an individual presentation proposal might be accepted if you are willing to adapt it to a poster or a Lightning Talk). If this is the case, you will be given the choice to accept this format change or to decline being in the conference program when notified of its acceptance.
About IASSIST
The International Association for Social Science Information Services and Technology (IASSIST) is an international organization of professionals working with information technology and data services to support research and teaching.
About ACMLA
The Association of Canadian Map Libraries and Archives (ACMLA) is the representative professional group for Canadian map librarians, cartographic archivists and others interested in geographic information in all formats.
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