There are only three information schools in Korea, one of which is Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU).

Earlier this year, SKKU became the first university in Korea to join the iSchools, a collective of information schools dedicated to understanding the relationships between information, people, and technology. Due to strict requirement for the membership, there are only 59 member schools in the world.

"SKKU is catching the wave for data science at precisely the right moment," said Dr. Thomas Baker, who moved to Korea this year for a position as associate professor of SKKU's Department of Library and Information Science.

On December 4 to 6, SKKU hosted the first iSchools meeting in the Asia-Pacific (AP) region, chaired by SKKU Library and Information Science Professor Sam Oh. The iConference brought together information experts from around the world, including Dr. Steven Miller (Singapore Management University), Dr. Fang Qing (Wuhan University), Dr. Simon Milton (University of Melbourne), Dr. Shigeo Sugimoto (Tsukuba University), Dr. Fred Ye (Nanjing University), Dr. Joon Lee (Seoul National University), and Dr. Min Song (Yonsei University). Attendees participated in spirited discussions on data science during the workshops and presented their teaching and research programs during the AP-iConference to foster mutual understanding for future collaborations. A colloquium was organized to help AP-iSchool doctoral students. They also participated in a tour of Sungkyunkwan's old campus where they visited Jongyeonggak, Korea's first library.

At the iSchool heads meeting on December 6, delegates agreed to form a regional AP-iSchool chapter and elected Dr. Sam Oh (SKKU) as the first chair. The 2015 AP-iConference will be hosted by one of the Chinese iSchools, likely Wuhan University according to Dr. Oh.

"The AP-iSchool regional chapter will play a vital role in promoting the brand of iSchools throughout this region and a key role in promoting collaboration among AP-iSchools,” said Dr. Oh. "The role of iSchools has become crucial in the age of the data-intensive society, so hosting the AP-iConference gave us visibility to the overall iSchools community."

Attendees of the iConference at SKKU gather together at the end of the session.