The event, which will be held between December 1 and 3, 2009 at Olympia, conference centre London UK, will feature one opening keynote session each day by these experts.

With its theme: “Information + Conversation = Collaboration + Innovation”, the conference aims at preparing professionals for the information challenges of 2010.

On the first day, Dame Hall and professor Shadbolt, both from the University of Southampton, will introduce the day’s track - Semantic Web Revolution: unleashing the world’s most valuable information. Their session will explain what’s happening and describe real world applications operating across academia, business and government today.

On the following day, Cronin, editor-in-chief, Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology will set out to look into the notion of an information profession through his session - E Pluribus Unum?: The Paradox of Postmodern Profession, introducing the second track – Information Professionals Delivering and Demonstrating Value.

The final day will see Charlene Li, a thought leader and guide on emerging technologies, she will explore the impact of social media on organisations, examining how the adoption of social media by customers and workers is pushing organisations to re-examine how they engage with these audiences. Li will introduce the third track: the Social Web – transforming the workplace.

Adrian Dale, the conference chairman said: “The recession has hit hard across many sectors. But nothing seems to stem the tide of innovation in our industry. If anything, the economic climate has fuelled even greater innovation and allowed companies to be even more radical in the way they use the information tools and platforms now available.”

Online Information 2009 will also feature a closing keynote panel discussing how cloud computing is driving the evolution of the web moderated by Stephen Arnold.

Attracting more than 800 delegates from over 40 countries, this year will hold pre-conference workshops and a dedicated conference social network to facilitate meetings with industry peers. Delegates will receive automatic free entry to the conference and IMS 2009 exhibitions which run alongside.