#iConf15

In March, I had the pleasure of attending the iConference in Newport Beach, CA. This was related to my experience as a 2013 i3 cohort at the University of Pittsburgh's iSchool. During my time at i3, I was paired with a group of similarly-minded graduate students, and together we created a research plan to study the lack of representation by Latinas in STEM (further information on the research can be seen here).

The poster was submitted and accepted for the poster session held during the conference. I was able to attend for the majority of the conference, and was incredibly pleased with the overall conference experience - I was able to attend a number of workshops (one which was, previously unbeknownst to me, being held by Rebecca Morris, a professor at UNCG, my current institution.

During the poster session, I was able to speak with a number of other researchers about the methods of research used, and other forms which could also be employed. I had several excellent conversations about the results themselves, both from women who found our qualitative results to be personally relatable, as well as professionals in STEM who had encountered some of the issues that had been uncovered in our research. All in all, the poster sessions were both validating in showing that our research was quite relevant, as well as powerful in suggesting ways that the research could be further improved upon.

Along with the poster sessions, the workshops and social events provided a number of thought-provoking conversations. I had the opportunity to explore many topics from the role of the rural public library, to MOOCs, to the powers of social media in sharing culture. I met with fellow researchers both from around the country as well as from around the globe. The iConference provided me with an exceptionally inviting platform for presenting my first poster, participating in my first IS workshops, and - most excitingly - meeting some incredible people in my field who are asking questions which I found deeply intriguing and urgently relevant. It was a fabulously powerful academic experience, and I look forward to my own future in conference exploration.