The Conference, the City and the University

About the Conference

The international conference USE-2008: From Information Provision to Knowledge Production will be organized by the Information Studies Unit, Faculty of Humanities, University of Oulu, Finland on June 23rd – 25th, 2008. USE-2008 celebrates the 20th anniversary of the information studies discipline at the University of Oulu, and the 50th anniversary of the University itself. USE-2008 is held in conjunction with the international Digital Humanities 2008 conference organized by the Faculty of Humanities and the Department of Electrical and Information Engineering on June 25th – 29th (www.ekl.oulu.fi/dh2008).

The international conference USE-2008: From Information Provision to Knowledge Production aims at addressing issues related to theoretical conceptions and empirical applications of research on information use in knowledge production processes at different levels of activity in society. Research on Library and Information Science has focused on information users, information uses, provision of information and development of information services for more than 50 years. A new angle on these mainstreams of research can contribute to the generation of new knowledge and innovations and thus enhance the development of the knowledge society and the knowledge-based economy. The underlying assumption of this development is that knowledge creation and generation of innovations are the primary sources of wealth and social well-being in the knowledge society. Therefore, there is a clear need to explore the relationship between knowledge and information, and how the information behavior and practices of individuals, groups, organizations, and the wider community relate to the aspects of knowledge creation and production.

The themes of USE-2008 are:

  • Knowledge management and the research of paradigms of information studies
  • Knowledge creation as a research object of information studies
  • Theoretical aspects and models of knowledge creation and production, the perspective of information studies
  • Theoretical and empirical issues of information use
  • Methodologies in knowledge behavior, practices and use, including aspects of information literacy
  • Information seeking and interactive information retrieval in knowledge production
  • Innovativeness and knowledge processes
  • Creativity and innovations
  • Knowledge-based economy, knowledge production and information professionals
  • Knowledge production, information, content, documentation, and the materialities

About Oulu

The city of Oulu is located in Northern Finland, by the Gulf of Bothnia, approximately 550 kilometres north of Helsinki. The city was founded in 1605 by King Carl IX of Sweden and has been a provincial capital since 1776. Oulu has a population of approximately 130,000, making it the sixth biggest city in Finland.

Up to the end of the 19th century, Oulu was a significant centre of the wood tar trade. Tar was exported throughout Europe, where it was used mainly for waterproofing wooden ships. In the 1860's Oulu had the largest fleet of merchant ships of any Finnish city.

Today, Oulu is considered one of the most significant centres of competence in Northern Europe. A significant amount of high technology know-how, especially in the field of mobile communication, has concentrated in the area.

A free WLAN network, panOULU, is available in the city centre, at the university and at the airport.

 

About the University

The University of Oulu (Oulun yliopisto in Finnish) was founded in 1958. It has six faculties with a total of approximately 17,000 students and 3,000 staff, making it the second largest university in Finland.

Information technology, biotechnology, northern and environmental issues are special research focus areas at the University of Oulu, which also cooperates closely with industry and commerce and has connections with hundreds of international research and educational institutions.