January 2020 Seminar: Virtual working and learning: is it working for you?

Summary NetIKX had a dazzling meeting with Paul Corney, President-elect of CILIP, showing his wealth of knowledge about meetings of all kinds, and specifically virtual meetings.  The presentation ranged from detailed analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of technology packages – where he pulled out some surprising issues to watch out for – to the […]

November 2019 Seminar: Useful evidence: getting research evidence valued and used.

Summary At this meeting Jonathan Breckon of the Alliance for Useful Evidence explained the role of his organisation. It is a network, hosted by the UK’s innovation charity Nesta, the government’s vehicle for designing, testing and scaling new solutions to some identified problems. These organisations champion the smarter use of evidence in social policy and […]

July 2019 Seminar: Using content strategy to meet your business goals: content strategy at work

Summary The seminar in July received very positive feedback. The two speakers were able to present their different perspectives on this practical topic with expertise and they coordinated together like the perfect double act! The audience learnt from first hand experience how to work through the four stages of Content Strategy development, and then had […]

May 2019 Seminar: Information Literacy: Current Ideas and Developments plus NetIKX AGM

Summary This session provided an opportunity to discuss current ideas and developments relating to information literacy (IL). Last year, CILIP completely overhauled its definition of IL. Unlike the previous version, which was heavily focused on academic skills, the 2018 definition places IL firmly in a broad societal context that no longer resides just within higher […]

March 2019 Seminar: Open Data

Summary At this meeting David Penfold gave an introduction to the applications and implications of Open Data and the related topic of Linked Data. As more and more data is generated daily, and even by the minute, how that data is used and what information can be obtained from it becomes more and more significant. […]

January 2019 Seminar: Making and sharing knowledge in communities: can wikis and related tools help?

Summary At this meeting Andy Mabbett, a hugely experienced Wikipedia editor, gave an introduction to the background of Wikipedia and discussed many of the issues that it raises. Accumulating, organising and sharing knowledge is never easy; this is the problem Knowledge Management sought to address. Today we hope networked electronic platforms can facilitate the process. […]

November 2018 Seminar: The Networkness of Networks

Summary At this meeting Yasmin Merali, Professor of Systems Thinking and Director of the Centre for Systems Studies at Hull University Business School, and Drew Mackie gave an introduction to network science and demonstrated some practical applications. Speakers Yasmin Merali is Professor of Systems Thinking and Director of the Centre for Systems Studies at Hull […]

September 2018 Seminar: Ontologies and domain modelling: a fun (honest!) and friendly introduction

Summary At this lively meeting Helen Lippell and Silver Oliver introduced ontologies and explained how they could be used. Michael Smethurst and Anya Somerville ran an interactive practical session Speakers Helen Lippell has run her own consultancy since 2007, working as a specialist in taxonomy, metadata, ontologies and enterprise search. She loves getting stuck into […]

Blog for the July 2018 seminar: Machines and Morality: Can AI be Ethical?

In discussions of AI, one issue that is often raised is that of the ‘black box’ problem, where we cannot know how a machine system comes to its decisions and recommendations. That is particularly true of the class of self-training ‘deep machine learning’ systems which have been making the headlines in recent medical research. Dr […]

July 2018 Seminar: Machines and Morality: Can AI be Ethical?

Summary At this meeting Stephanie Mathisen, Policy Manager at Sense About Science, and Tamara Ansons, Behavioural Science Consultant at Ipsos, addressed the question of the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence – is it possible for machines to have morality? Speakers Dr Tamara L Ansons is an expert on behavioural science. After receiving her PhD in Brain […]

June 2018 Seminar: Organising Medical and Health-related Information

Summary At this meeting held in Leeds, Ewan Davis, one of the first developers of a GP computerised health record system, discussed Electronic Health Records. This is a joint meeting with ISKO UK. Speakers Ewan Davis was one of the first developers of a GP computerised health record system. His background is solidly in Health […]

Titus Oates claims that there is a Catholic plot against the King’s life

May 2018 Seminar: Trust and integrity in information

The question of how we identify trustworthy sources of information formed the basis of this varied and thought-provoking seminar. Hanna Chalmers, Senior Director of IPSOS Mori, detailed the initial results of a recent poll on trust in the media. Events such as the Cambridge Analytica scandal have resulted in a general sense that trust in the media is in a state of crisis.

March 2018 Seminar: Working in Complexity – SenseMaker, Decisions and Cynefin

Summary At this meeting attendees were given the opportunity to take part in experimenting with a number of tools and analytical approaches that have been used to good effect in dealing with intractable, complex problems.  It was a lively action-packed meeting with useful learning for Monday morning, and plenty of opportunity for networking and exchanging […]

January 2018 Seminar: Making true connections in a complex world: new technologies to link facts, concepts and data

Summary At this meeting new approaches to Linked Data and Graph Technology were presented and discussed. Dion Lindsay introduced the New Graph Technology of Information and David Clarke discussed Building Rich Search and Discovery User Experiences with Linked Open Data. Speakers Dion Lindsay Introducing the New Graph Technology of Information. Graph technology is a rapidly […]

November 2017 Seminar: The Future for Information and Knowledge Professionals – Tenth Anniversary Seminar

Summary 2017 has been the tenth anniversary of the founding of NetIKX and this meeting was a celebration of this. The programme focused on the situation of knowledge and information professionals in 2017. Talks to set the scene were from Peter Thomson on major changes to the world of work and from Stuart Ward, Chair […]