UBIT Faculty Fellow

Dr. Nesset is an Associate Professor in the Department of Library and Information Studies at UB and is the editor of the Canadian Journal of Information and Library Science. Dr. Nesset is also one of the founding members and Chair of the Faculty Senate IT Committee.

In August 2017, Dr. Nesset was named Faculty Fellow in recognition of her work to create opportunities for meaningful interactions and new communication channels between faculty and UBIT professional staff.

While she continues her research on the intersection between information-seeking behavior and information literacy, specifically with elementary school students, more recently she has returned to the research she did as part of a research team at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. The team developed a participatory design methodology, Bonded Design, to work with intergenerational teams to design low-tech prototypes of technologies for children.

Adapting the Bonded Design methodology to work within the higher education setting, Dr. Nesset used it as the framework for the Faculty IT Liaison Program, an initiative to bring faculty and IT professionals together in the shared experience of a design team. Dr. Nesset acts as facilitator for design teams who provide innovative ideas for improvements to existing university technologies.

As UBIT Faculty Fellow, Dr. Nesset’s goals and related actions are as follows:

• Act as a liaison between UBIT and other UB administrators and faculty
  • Faculty Senate IT Committee
    • Chair
    • Review policies (e.g., security standards) and suggest writing revisions to make more faculty-friendly
  • Information Security and Privacy Committee (ISPAC)
    • Member
    • Review UB policies regarding privacy and security
  • Pedagogy & Design Committee
    • Co-Chair
    • Liaise with architects, campus planning, registrar, etc. to suggest ways in which faculty can provide input
• Identify and open new channels of communication between UBIT staff and faculty
  • Town halls
    • Informational sessions held on North and South Campuses
    • Panopto, Webex, UBbox, network upgrade
  • Liaison with CEI
• Identify research opportunities to investigate IT practices
  • UBIT Faculty Liaison Program
    • Faculty and IT representatives working together in design teams to come up with ideas for modifications to existing technologies
    • Conferences:
      • Association for Information Science & Technology (ASIS&T) – Vancouver, BC
        • Submitted
      • Canadian Association for Information Science – Regina, SK (May 30 – June 1, 2018)
      • Emerging Learning Design, Montclair, NJ (May 31 – June 1, 2018)
      • iConference – Sheffield, UK (March 31 – April 3, 2018)
    • Papers/visual presentations
• Increase usability in all areas of UBIT (policy, technologies, etc.)
  • Meetings with CEI personnel to suggest modifications to technology (e.g., UBlearns) based on findings from UBIT Faculty Liaison Program and town hall feedback