University of Illinois

The Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will use its grant to create a graduate specialization in Sociotechnical Data Analytics (SODA). Library and information science professionals have been stewards of information for centuries. Changes in how information is created, disseminated, and re-used provide new opportunities to ensure that information created today will be available for centuries to come. In some cases, particularly those involving large research data sets, this means that the information stewards must apply a greater level of analysis to the materials they hold, if they are to successfully preserve them and make them useable. The project will benefit from strategic partnerships with researchers and businesses that already work with large data sets.