IBI-Weblog

Stephen Wolfram, founder & CEO of Wolfram Research, creator of Mathematica and Wolfram|Alpha, and Marti Hearst, a professor at UC Berkeley currently working in the Obama administration, are the keynote speakers for the fifth annual iConference, which will be held at the
iHotel and Conference Center at the University of Illinois
Urbana-Champaign, on Feb. 3-6, 2010. The iConference is sponsored by the iSchools, a growing number of leading information schools across the globe who have joined together to build awareness of, support for, and
involvement with the information field. The theme of this year’s conference is “Impacts,” particularly concerning the Obama Administration’s commitment to promoting open government and citizen participation.

Hearst, a professor in the School of Information at the University of California, Berkeley, will discuss how information technology is playing a new central role in the governing of the United States. Additional sessions throughout the conference will focus on international
perspectives on information, its management and application, public access, social networking, health informatics, and community engagement.

Wolfram is scheduled to speak at 11 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 4, in the Chancellor Ballroom at the iHotel. Hearst speaks at 10:30 am Friday, Feb. 5. Both plenaries are free and open to the public.

Early registration ends Friday, January 15. Registration costs are $300 regular attendee/$100 students. After that date, regular registration is $375 regular attendee/$125 students. An awards banquet will be held on
Friday, Feb. 5. The cost is $50 regular attendee/$10 student.