As societies face the challenges brought about by the assimilation of the physical, digital, and biological worlds made possible by the advancements in artificial intelligence and similar innovations, there rises a need to build sustainable and ethical communities that will address them. Sustainability is meeting the needs of the present without compromising the needs of the future. It takes into account environmental, social, and economic factors in decision-making processes to ensure that resources are used responsibly and equitably. Ethical societies, on the other hand, prioritize values such as fairness, justice, and respect for all individuals. Such societies ensure that basic human rights are upheld, while promoting diversity and inclusion, and holding individuals and organizations accountable for their actions.
As such, library and information science educators, researches, practitioners, and students should focus on how to use data, information, and knowledge to help build sustainable and ethical societies. This is what the 2025 International Forum on Data, Information, and Knowledge for Sustainable and Ethical Societies (IFDIK 2025) is all about. It provides an excellent venue for various scholars, practitioners, and students to gather, discuss, and collaborate on how they practice or advance these initiatives.
IFDIK 2025 is the umbrella conference for the three co-located important international conferences, namely:
- The 27th International Conference on Asia-Pacific Digital Libraries (ICADL 2025)
- The 12th Asia-Pacific Conference on Library Information Education and Practice (A-LIEP 2025)
- Asia-Pacific iConference 2025 (the annual meeting of Asia-Pacific chapter of iSchools, or the AP iSchools)
The mode of conference/ meeting is hybrid – a combination of online and on-site or in-person participants and speakers. This mode is preferred given our learnings from the pandemic, and to accommodate individuals who would still like to participate yet confronted with some challenges.