The International Outreach Action Group of the International Association for Social Science Information Service and Technology (IASSIST) is seeking applications from social science data professionals from developing economies who wish to attend the IASSIST annual conference. The 2000 conference will be held in Chicago, Illinois, USA on June 7-10, 2000. This year’s theme is Data in the Digital Library: social, spatial and government services."

The mission of the IASSIST International Outreach Action Group is to provide support for data professionals from emerging economies who are in the position of developing information infra-structures to address emerging technologies and information policy decisions at their home institutions regarding the use and preservation of public and private data.

In order to show support for the activities of the Outreach Action Group, the IASSIST Administrative Committee has provided funds to partially support a limited number of data professionals who wish to attend IASSIST 2000.

Professionals seeking support should:

• submit a letter stating why they would like to attend IASSIST 2000. This letter should include a description of the applicant’s background, institutional setting, existing structure and future plans,
• be able to show some level of support from their home institution - it is not expected that the IASSIST funds will cover all conferences expenses,
• have a working knowledge of the English language (all IASSIST sessions are conducted in English),
• be prepared to attend the entire conference and participate fully in the proceedings,
• expect to report to the Outreach Action Group and consider producing a brief article for the IASSIST Quarterly on their experiences at the conference.

Applications must be received by February 15, 2000. Applicants should send a letter of intent to request funding to the Outreach Action Group Chair Ilona Einowski (ilona@ucdata.berkeley.edu). Successful applicants will be notified by March 15, 2000.