Call for Papers

11th Biennial Conference of the French ISKO Chapter (International Society for Knowledge Organization)

Epistemological and theoretical foundations of Information – Documentation science: a tribute to francophone pioneers

Organized jointly by the French ISKO Chapter, GERiiCO – University of Lille, the UNESCO Knowledge Societies Division (KSD) and the CURAPP – University of Picardie Jules Verne

Date: 11-12th July 2017

Venue : UNESCO Headquarters, 7 place de Fontenoy, Paris

Conference theme

Since its creation in 1996, the French chapter of ISKO has been grappling with knowledge organization issues. This topic has been dealt with from different angles: knowledge organization structures, tools for mediation, forms and mechanisms for knowledge disseminating and sharing. Given that issues are at the center of information production and access as well as knowledge dissemination, the 11th edition of the ISKO-France conference aims to pay a tribute to the francophones theoreticians and visionaries of Information Science.

Around 60 years ago, an academic discipline called Information Science or Library and Information Science was born across the Atlantic. How has it gradually become acclimatized to the intellectual and professional world of the Francophone researchers and practitioners, their modes of thought and their institutions? What has been the contribution of these specialists and researchers to the theoretical debates and practices stemming from the ongoing development of this science?

The 2017 ISKO-France edition aim is to pay a tribute to the francophone visionaries and theoreticians of Information Science, such as Paul Otlet, Suzanne Briet, Jean-Claude Gardin, Eric de Grolier, Jean Meyriat, Robert Escarpit, Robert Pagès, Madeleine Wolff-Terroine, Jacques Maniez, Jacques Chaumier and George Van Slype. Each of these French-speaking authors has contributed to the construction of information science in the French-speaking world and even beyond. It is now time to link the traditions of knowledge organization of the 20th century ‘classifiers of the world’ and all their followers, with the new digital methods of large scale information processing which are visible in search engines, in the Wikipedia project, in Europeana, and in the Web of Knowledge (Web 3.0). Paul Otlet, who is considered as a central figure, is known for his important advances in bibliography and information science, but also for his many intellectual intuitions which half a century ago anticipated the time of the Internet. Long forgotten by history, the Belgian documentalist has regained attention over the last twenty years. Suzanne Briet, still largely unknown in the 1990s by the majority of the French researchers in information science, enjoys today an important reputation in Anglo-Saxon countries. She is recognized as a leader in the modernization of French libraries and as a pioneer in Information Science. Other precursors of information-documentation in France, whose work is seen as making a significant contribution to information science, such as Robert Pagès, Jean-Claude Gardin and Eric de Grolier, have led both theoretical reflections, but also designed and implemented professional tools. It is also important to recall the major contributions of Robert Escarpit and Jean Meyriat to the information science but also to the communication science. Jean Meyriat, has been a major player in the institutionalization of information and communication sciences in France. He laid the theoretical foundations of an information science embedded in the humanities and social sciences and in connection with the communication sciences. Since 1950 he has collaborated on the UNESCO program and is part of a committee of experts, Secretary-General of the International Committee for Social Science Information and Documentation (ICIDSS) (UNESCO). From 1975 to 1982, in liaison with UNESCO, he chaired the UNISIST Committee on Policies and Information Training Programs.We should not forget either the contributions of Madeleine Wolff-Terroine, who has always been careful not to dissociate technical innovations from scientific research. Or Jacques Maniez who promoted knowledge organization when it was not yet well known in France some thirty years ago and tirelessly worked at creating the French ISKO chapter. His role in the development of Francophone research in Information Science was essential and remains highly visible in the permanence of ISKO-France and its activities.The 11th ISKO-France conference invites original contributions on the epistemological and theoretical foundations of the information science, in particular in relation to the following aspects:

  • The epistemological and theoretical foundations of knowledge organization of (systems, schemes and their reconfiguration by digital technology);
  • Document theory of the influence of French -speaking authors and their impact on the definition of the document;
  • Cultural and social approaches to knowledge organization (influence of culture on the design of knowledge organization tools);
  • Local and global approaches to knowledge organization (glocal approaches);
  • Information architecture and the impact of Paul Otlet;§   Scientific communication and the dissemination of knowledge produced in the discipline;
  • Transdisciplinarity and interdisciplinarity and the role of the precursors such as Robert Pagès, Jean-Claude Gardin and Eric de Grolier and the way they they integrated these idea sin the research developed in information science;
  • The role of precursors such as Jean Meyriat and Robert Escarpit in the institutionalization of information science in France and their inclusion in the humanities and social sciences

Timeline

  • Deadline for submission of proposals: March 21st 2017
  • Notification of acceptance or refusal: April 21st 2017
  • Deadline for final version: June 6th 2017
  • Deadline for registration: June 20th 2017

Submission Guidelines

Potential authors are invited to submit a manuscript of three or four pages in Word format. As reviewing will be blind, authors are asked to remove all texts that will enable reviewer to identify them. The proposal (3 pages minimum, Word format) must be submitted via EasyChair conference management system (https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=iskofr2017) before March 21st 2017.

If you do not have an EasyChair account, please follow the instructions provided by the platform and create one. Each proposal will be reviewed by at least two reviewers from the Scientific Committee, who will evaluate its relevance, scientific validity, originality and the proposal clarity.

April 21st 2017: Notification date of acceptance or refusal.

The acceptance notification will be sent with technical specifications for publication. They must be necessarily respected regarding the future proceedings publication.

June 6th 2017: The final paper submission deadline. The accepted authors must submit the final version (in Word format, 12 pages maximum) to communication@isko-france.asso.fr.

June 20th 2017: The deadline for registration.