The BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association, with support from BCLA, is pleased to offer a free hands-on workhop on filing Freedom of Information requests. The event will be facilitated by Mike Larsen from Kwantlen Polytechnic University. Details for the event below and registration will be limited and is on a first come – first serve basis. Please rsvp to Tyler Morgenstern, Program Director for BC FIPA at tyler@fipa.bc.ca and NOT to me.

FOI 101: A Hands-on Skills Training Workshop & Book Launch
When: Thursday July 25th, 2013 | 1 PM-4 PM
Where: The People’s Law School, 900 Howe Street, Vancouver
Cost: Free, Donations Appreciated

Snacks and light refreshments provided

RSVP with your name, email, phone number, and institutional affiliation (optional) to tyler@fipa.bc.ca no later than noon on July 22nd

Registration is limited to three seats per order Attendance is capped at 30 attendees

On July 25th, join the B.C. Freedom of Information and Privacy Association as we launch our brand new educational resource–Access in the Academy: Bringing ATI and FOI to Academic Research–with a Freedom of Information skills training workshop, generously co-sponsored by the B.C. Library Association.

Facilitated by Mike Larsen, Professor of Criminology at Kwantlen Polytechnic University and co-editor of Brokering Access: Power, Politics, and Freedom of Information Process in Canada (UBC Press, 2012), this workshop will provide attendees with a comprehensive and practical overview of B.C.’s Freedom of Information landscape.

By combining a legal review of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act with theoretical perspectives on our provincial access regime and hands-on request-writing exercises, this workshop will give you the tools you need to start tackling your own FOI research projects.

You’ll also be among the first to get a look at B.C. FIPA’s brand new educational resource, Access in the Academy. Developed with a generous grant from the Law Foundation of British Columbia, Access in the Academy is one of the first resources of its kind in Canada, providing a lucid, theoretically engaged, and highly practical look at how researchers, students, and others working in higher education can make the most of FOI and ATI mechanisms.

About the Book:

Compiled by Mike Larsen, Professor of Criminology at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in Surrey, B.C. and co-editor of Brokering Access: Power, Politics, and Freedom of Information Process in Canada (UBC Press, 2012), Access in the Academy is one of the first resources of its kind tailored specifically for Canadian researchers.

By combining legal reviews of British Columbian and Canadian ATI/FOI legislation with nuanced theoretical perspectives on “the politics and ethics of secrecy” and plenty of real-world tips for formulating successful access requests, Access in the Academy provides readers a lucid, theoretically engaged, and highly practical introduction to the world of ATI and FOI.

Although they offer a unique ‘backstage’ look at how, and more importantly why, information becomes (or doesn’t become) public knowledge, FOI and ATI mechanisms remain a rarity in the university classroom. Access in the Academy seeks to change that.

This brand new text explores ATI and FOI as prime arenas for data and information collection, where patterns of disclosure, delay and exemption tell compelling stories of policy formation, message control and secrecy, Together, they reveal what’s at stake when governments act.

FIPA is proud to be offering this excellent resource to the community by donation through our website at fipa.bc.ca. It will be available for download beginning July 25th.

This workshop is free, but will especially benefit those working in records management, libraries, archives, and research-driven academic programs. As well, donations are always very appreciated. B.C. FIPA and the BCLA are non-profit organizations that rely on the contributions of community members like you to continue providing public legal education sessions such as this. Your generosity is very much appreciated.

REGISTRATION AND WAIT LIST INSTRUCTIONS PLEASE READ CAREFULLY

This is a long and fairly complex message so please read it carefully.

Registration for  Winter Terms 1 & 2 opens for Graduate and PhD students on June 12th. You have probably already received your emails from Enrolment Services giving detailed instructions and confirmations of the date and time that you can begin to register.

Please register for both terms as soon as is feasible after the opening time on Wednesday.  The School cannot pre-register you prior to the time specified so please do not call or email anyone asking that this be done. If for some reason you are unable to register on Wednesday you should register as soon as feasible after that date.  The School cannot put you in courses or on wait lists if yu are unable to register on Wednesday.

You will need you CWL ID and password.  Please ensure that your email address in SSC is up to date.

As the registration system is centralized please contact Enrolment Services if you are having difficulties.  In the first instance visit  http://www.students.ubc.ca/coursesreg/contact-us/  if you cannot locate the information you are looking for on this site, there is a link for your question or call 604 822 9836 or 1.877.272.1422.

If after contacting all of the above and working through the problem with them you are still unable to register please email Debra Locke using slais.registration@ubc.ca with the following information. Please use only this email as messages sent to other addresses will not be acted on.

Name: Program: Student number: The Course and Section you wish to Register for: Time you contacted Enrolment services and a brief outline of what they told you.

In most cases, Debra Locke may be able to tell you what the problem is, but she will not be able to put you into courses or onto wait lists if they are full.

NEW WAIT LIST PROCEDURE  – please use an up to date browser

The Winter Session wait lists will open on Thursday, June 13 at 12 noon.

Please visit:  https://applications.arts.ubc.ca/slais_waitlist

You will need your CWL to access the system.

The courses are laid out on the screen in this order: term-term-program.

Please click + on the course you wish to register for and the minus sign if you wish to drop.    The system refreshes every 20 seconds and will  let you know where you are on the wait list.  Once the wait list is full you will not be able to register.

You can register for a MAXIMUM of 8 wait lists – this includes both terms.  For example 5 wait lists in term 1 and 3 wait lists in term 2, for a total of 8 wait lists.  Out of consideration for your fellow students, PLEASE do not go on wait lists for courses unless you are committed to taking them if a space opens up.  You will be also responsible to remove yourself from the wait list if you decide not to take the course during the term.

Once a course wait list is exhausted, the course in SSC will be re-opened for registering by students. Spaces will be filled on a first come/first-served basis as students register.  The SLAIS office staff will NOT be maintaining any wait lists.

If you experience difficulties please email slais.registration@ubc.ca with your student number detailing the exact wording of the error message that the system sent you in your email.

If you are a MLIS or Dual student who will complete their degree requirements in December 2013, and must take ARST 570/LIBR 504 or ARST 591/LIBR 505 in order to graduate, please contact Debra Locke ASAP so that a seat can be set aside. This is in accordance with UBC Senate policy and does not apply to any other courses.

The wait lists will close for sign up on Monday, July 15th at 12 noon.

Both undergraduate and graduate students are encouraged to join this course. STS graduate student especially encouraged; a 5xx number can probably be assigned if enough graduate students are interested.

Philosophy 469: Topics in Philosophy of Science
Second Term, 2013-2014
Alan Richardson
Wednesdays 1-4 pm
Topic: Community-Based Research in STS/HPS

NB: This course is a pilot version also of ASTU 360: Community-Based Research and Knowledge Creation

There are times when Science and Technology Studies/History and Philosophy of Science scholars fancy that their disciplines would be useful in helping to resolve actually occurring problems in, for example, the relevance of scientific knowledge production or technological innovation to community concerns, productive citizen engagement with science, or public discourse regarding science and technology.  Meanwhile, there has arisen a field of “community-based research” (CBR) that seeks to bring researchers together with communities to work with those communities to enunciate a joint research project and the appropriate methods for prosecuting that project.  This course is an attempt to explore both of these issues at once: we will partner with a local community (or communities) to try to enunciate joint research projects that can be fruitfully approached using methods from STS/HPS.  Our ambition is limited in the following sense: by the end of the thirteen weeks of the course we are not going to have carried out the joint research project, but rather will have simply articulated what the project is.  If we are very excited actually to do it, we might at the end put together a grant proposal to do it.

Along the way we shall think carefully about the methods of STS/HPS research and will read discussions of CBR methods and case studies.   We will not only seek to bring STS/HPS methods into the purview of CBR but will reflect on the implicit or explicit social epistemologies or sociologies of knowledge in the CBR literature.

Our community group(s) will be chosen in consultation with UBC’s Community Learning Initiative.  In addition to the class times, we will meet on occasion with community groups at other times; a somewhat flexible schedule will help your participation.  Some background in STS/HPS, a willingness to engage with communities beyond the university gates, and a willingness to undertake joint projects are all presumed.

Every effort will be made to bring to the class STS/HPS and CBR expertise from both UBC faculty and from institutions throughout the world.

This message is directed to all students taking MAS/ARST courses in the 2013-2014 Winter Session.

If you are in the stand-alone MLIS program, remember you must get permission from the Rick Kopak, SLAIS Graduate Adviser, before you register for any ARST courses [this also applies to students in the stand-alone MAS program who wish to take any LIBR courses].  You must complete and submit this form prior to registration:
Application for Credit for ‘External’ Courses Form – http://www.slais.ubc.ca/resources/students/RequestExternalCourses.pdf

There have been changes in the prerequisites for these ARST courses, so check the individual Course Descriptions before you register for them:

ARST 545 (3) Advanced Arrangement & Description of Archival Documents
http://www.slais.ubc.ca/courses/coursdes/arst/arst545.htm

ARST 580: Records, Archives, and the Law
[was: ARST 575E (3) Topics in the Management of Records: Archives and the Law]
http://www.slais.ubc.ca/courses/coursdes/arst/arst580.htm

These courses have been changed from 3-credit topics courses to free-standing 3-credit courses. If you took the older version you cannot take the new version as well:

ARST 565:  Administering Records Under Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Legislation
[was: ARST 575B (3) Topics in the Management of Records: Administering Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Legislations]
http://www.slais.ubc.ca/courses/coursdes/arst/arst565.htm

ARST 580: Records, Archives, and the Law
[was: ARST 575E (3) Topics in the Management of Records: Archives and the Law]
http://www.slais.ubc.ca/courses/coursdes/arst/arst580.htm

ARST 560: Records and Information Governance
[was: ARST 575D (3) Topics in the Management of Records: Advanced Management of Current Records]
http://www.slais.ubc.ca/courses/coursdes/arst/arst560.htm

This course has changed its name, but kept the same number:
ARST 530 (3) The History of the Canadian Administrative System  [changed name of course, but kept same number]
[was: ARST 530 (3) The History of Administration in the Canadian Juridical Context]
http://www.slais.ubc.ca/courses/coursdes/arst/arst530.htm