CNI Fall 2020
Virtual Membership Meeting
November 10-December 15, 2020
#cni20f

Project briefings (presentations) are the heart of every membership meeting. Project briefings address state-of-the-art developments and issues of interest to the membership, as outlined in CNI’s Program Plan. Attendees include senior IT and library administrators, publishing executives, government officials, and others with a high level of interest in and understanding of digital information issues. Anyone may propose a project briefing, including groups/individuals from non-member institutions and organizations. While participation in live webinars will be restricted to pre-registered membership meeting participants, our expectation is that sessions will be recorded and posted publicly unless presenters request that they not be.

Project briefings are typically live, 30-minute or one-hour sessions that focus on a discussion of a timely topic, or on a specific institutional/organizational project related to digital information; they can also explore parallel developments across institutions. We are also accepting proposals for shorter, pre-recorded presentations. A limited number of project briefings will be accepted. Applicants will be notified whether or not their proposal has been selected. All presenters will be invited to attend the full meeting.

Submissions are Now Closed

Conference Themes

Four weeks will be devoted to project briefings: three weeks based on the three major themes of CNI’s Program Plan, and the final week devoted to emerging issues and developments related to the current crisis. While there may be some overlap among themes, we ask presenters to choose what they believe to be the best fit for their proposal; conference organizers may request or suggest a different theme. A few presenters may be contacted in advance and invited to participate in a Monday summary session; participation is optional. We aim to notify presenters within one week of submission deadlines. Once accepted, presenters will have an opportunity to sign up for an available slot during the relevant week on a first-come basis. 

Week 1: Developing and Managing Networked Information Content 

Proposals due Oct. 19; Schedule

CNI has broad interests across all forms of digital content that can be used to support research and education. Some examples of potential topics within this theme would be strategies for the creation, management, presentation, accessibility, and preservation of digital collections, digital libraries, and federated services in support of digital content, or the reassessment of content and collections in light of current developments in diversity, inclusion and equity. Digital scholarship, institutional repositories, and digital preservation are popular issues in this area.

Week 2: Transforming Organizations, Professions, and Individuals

Proposals due Oct. 21; Schedule

CNI seeks to highlight and promote organizational initiatives that facilitate cooperation across institutional units and professional cultures, particularly with respect to collaboration between librarians, information technologists, and other key players within the research and education ecosystem (offices of research, faculty, publishers, and instructional designers and technologists, for example). Currently, particular areas of focus within this theme include career paths and professionalization of roles for those who support data-intensive research, organizational structures to support digital scholarship, the acquisition and creation of instructional materials, and responding to and advancing changing scholarly research practices.

Week 3: Building Technology, Standards, and Infrastructure

Proposals due Oct. 23; Schedule

This area of CNI’s focus comprises the key areas of standards and infrastructure development. Other examples of topics within this theme would include identifiers, digital books, metadata, distributed and federated network services, harvesting, recommender systems, personalization and other emerging technologies. Issues surrounding security and privacy would also fall under this theme.

Week 4: Emerging Issues and Developments Related to the Current Crisis

Proposals due Oct. 26; Schedule

We will use the fourth week of our meeting to focus on challenges and strategies that have emerged or grown increasingly acute in recent months. Here we anticipate focus primarily to be on the impact of covid-19 on campuses, instructional and research resilience, implications of coming disruptions such as climate change, or responses to other societal developments although we welcome proposals on other themes relevant to CNI’s program that have taken on particular urgency of late.

Code of Conduct

CNI is committed to maintaining a welcoming and inclusive environment for inquiry, constructive disagreement, and intellectual freedom and honesty. We do not tolerate personal attacks, harassment of any kind, violence, or disruptive behavior. Please be respectful of our community’s diversity and generous of others’ views. Please bring concerns to our attention by contacting a member of the CNI staff.