2025 Keynote Speakers Nominations
Keynote nominations are closed.
Contents
Cory Doctorow
Cory is a great speaker, and he is brilliant. He bridges the worlds of learning, technology, ethics, and sanity. He embraces the dystopian without being maudlin. Doctorow married Alice Taylor in October 2008, and they have a daughter named Poesy Emmeline Fibonacci Nautilus Taylor Doctorow, who was born in 2008. (fromBoing Boing via WikiPedia) What more do you really need to know.
LA Times interview ... and many more.
He can be reached at doctorow@craphound.com
Molly White
From Molly's website:
I research and write critically about the cryptocurrency industry and technology more broadly in the Citation Needed newsletter. I also run the websites Web3 is Going Just Great, where I highlight examples of how cryptocurrencies, web3 projects, and the industry surrounding them are failing to live up to their promises, and Follow the Crypto, where I track cryptocurrency industry spending in the 2024 election cycle. I spend a lot of time thinking about how to make a better, more human-centered web, and am a passionate advocate for free and open access, digital sovereignty, and ethical technology.
I regularly speak to journalists and do media appearances. I also have given talks and guest lectures, and have advised policymakers and regulators in and outside of the United States.
Before veering into spending so much of my time thinking about cryptocurrency and its implications for the web and society, I was a professional software engineer.
I have also been an active editor of the English Wikipedia for over fifteen years, where I edit under the username GorillaWarfare. I am an administrator and functionary, and previously served three terms on the Arbitration Committee. I care deeply about free and open access to high-quality information, and view projects like Wikipedia as critical infrastructure.
Not from Molly's website:
Molly has intelligent takes on issues of concern to Code4Lib. For example, here's her take on Controlled Digital Lending: Big publishers think libraries are the enemy. She is likely to enjoy and learn from Code4Lib as we enjoy and learn from her.
She can be reached at [molly@mollywhite.net]
Anne Washington
Dr. Washington is a public interest technologist and professor of data policy at the NYU Steinhardt school. Her expertise on public sector information currently addresses the emerging governance needs of data science. She has an undergraduate degree in computer science, an MLIS, and a PhD in information systems. She's worked at the Library of Congress and is the Advisory Boards of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and the Open Government Foundation.
Nikki Stevens
Dr. Stevens is a faculty associate at Arizona State, maintainer of the Open Demographics project, and past postdoctoral researcher at MIT, in the Data + Feminism Lab. Formerly a software engineer, she studies how software engineering is situated in systems of power -- for instance, the ways that relational database architecture dovetails with carceral logics. She says "if you invite me for a talk (hint hint), I would give talks titled:
- “Abolitionist Data Practices: Applying political goals to data structures”
- “Is my database racist? How white supremacy structures our databases”
- “The history of data modeling” (this one is more exciting than it sounds, I swear!)
- “Beyond ‘anti-racist’ engineering: why anti-racism does not make better software”
Cat Hicks
Dr. Hicks is a psychologist studying developer thriving. Her social science research includes learning cultures, code review anxiety, and the psychological affordances of organizations. She says "I'm passionate about learning equity, access to opportunity, and how we make visible the invisible effort of people operating under extraordinary adversity." I think we would be interested in her research, and she would also be interested in code4lib's overlap with and differences from industry tech culture.
Meredith Martin
As Director of the Center for Digital Humanities at Princeton, she has pioneered interdisciplinary initiatives, fostering collaboration across departments and institutions worldwide. She co-chairs the Artificial Intelligence + Digital Humanities special interest group for the Association for Computers and the Humanities and is an editor of the Journal of Cultural Analytics. As Director of the Center for Digital Humanities at Princeton University, Professor Martin is a leading expert on the intersection of technology and the humanities. Her innovative work, including the Princeton Prosody Archive and forthcoming Poetry’s Data, explores how technologies like natural language processing and machine learning can transform humanities research. Professor Martin would provide a thought-provoking keynote, sparking meaningful discussions about the evolving role of technology in academia and beyond.
CDH Link [1]
Ruth Kitchin Tillman
Ruth Kitchin Tillman works on discovery, the library catalog, and linked data projects at Penn State University Libraries. During her graduate school, she created EADiva.com for people who need to learn Encoded Archival Description (EAD) and still maintains the site. Her research primarily about working conditions of library staff. She was a co-PI in Collective Responsibility, an IMLS-fund project that that investigated the labor conditions created by grants. She has written and presented on linked data, metadata encoding standards, library discovery, institutional repositories, and labor issues in libraries. Her current research focuses on the impacts of library systems migration and the staff who use and maintain them.
Mukund Raghunath
Mukund Raghunath, Founder & CEO of Acies Global, has several years of experience building organizations in the data and technology space and empowering Fortune 1000 clients in their digital transformation journey. Mukund is a passionate problem solver with a penchant for bringing together business fundamentals with first principles analytical thinking and cutting edge technology. He is an investor in and advisor to several startups in the technology and AI space. Mukund was previously part of the leadership team at Mu Sigma where he helped scale the organization from the ground up. His prior experiences also include stints at Motorola and ZS Associates. Outside of work, Mukund loves to travel the world and is on a constant endeavor to improve his golf handicap. Mukund has a Masters in Computer Science from the University of Illinois and an MBA with Honors from The University of Chicago, Booth School of Business.
Fobazi Ettarh
Fobazi is a former librarian, now a second-year PhD student at University of Illinois-Champaign. An excerpt from her bio reads "Fobazi Ettarh’s research is concerned with the relationships and tensions between the espoused values of librarianship and the realities present in the experiences of marginalized librarians and library users. In 2018, she coined the term and defined the concept of 'vocational awe,' which describe, 'the set of ideas, values, and assumptions librarians have about themselves and the profession that result in beliefs that libraries as institutions are inherently good and sacred, and therefore beyond critique.' In her article 'Vocational Awe: The Lies We Tell Ourselves,' she describes how vocational awe can lead to burnout and a sense that one’s own self-care is less important than the work being done. Although written before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ettarh’s words have resonated with many library workers throughout the nation in the current moment, as we strive to serve our patrons and our profession as best we can amidst the competing demands of home, work, and health. Her research has been covered in numerous outlets and she consults in library and corporate contexts on labor, identity, and diversity. She is also the creator of the open-access video game Killing Me Softly: A Game About Microaggressions."
John Kunze
John Kunze is a pioneer in the theory and practice of digital libraries. With a background in computer science and mathematics, he wrote open source BSD Unix tools that come pre-installed with Mac and Linux systems. For the past 25 years he has been working on cross-domain issues with libraries, archives, museums, and data centers.
He created the ARK (Archival Resource Key) persistent identifier scheme (a non-paywalled alternative to the DOI and Handle systems) and the N2T.net scheme-agnostic resolver (a global ARK resolver, that also resolves hundreds of identifier schemes). Since 2001, 8.2 billion ARKs have been created by over 1400 organizations, including 10 national libraries, 185 universities, 209 archives, 104 museums, and 101 journals.
He also contributed heavily to the first standards for URLs (RFC1736, RFC1625, RFC2056), library search and retrieval (Z39.50), archival transfer (BagIt - RFC8493), web archiving (WARC), and Dublin Core metadata (RFC2413, RFC2731, ANSI/NISO Z39.85).
His specs and tools for repository microservices -- Pairtree, Namaste, ReDD, oxum, ERC/ANVL, TEMPER, THUMP -- may be found in such places as the HathiTrust and OCFL. Follow-on work in metadata includes creation of the Dublin Kernel and yamz.net. His current professional focus is with the ARK Alliance (arks.org).
Timnit Gebru
Gebru is the founder and executive director of the Distributed Artificial Intelligence Research Institute (DAIR). She previously co-led Google’s Ethical AI research team and received her PhD from the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. With artificial general intelligence’s (AGI’s) recent rapid expansion in libraries as noted by this year’s many AI-focused conference talk proposals, Gebru’s research on AI ethics and her illuminating exploration (with Émile Torres) of AGI through the lens of the TESCREAL bundle of ideologies will hopefully be of interest to all who are motivated to support core library values while engaging with emerging technology.
Piper Hutson
[Ed. note: this was received after the closing of nominations and will not be considered for 2025. Please consider nominating again for 2026! -- thatandromeda, 2025 keynote committee chair]
Dr. Piper Hutson is an expert in neurodiversity, inclusive design, and the intersection of technology and accessibility. With a Doctorate of Education focusing on adult learning and the art viewing experience, she brings a multidisciplinary perspective to creating inclusive environments. Piper has co-authored two books, Sensemaking and Neuroaesthetics and Inclusive Smart Museums, and has published over 18 articles on topics ranging from neuroinclusion and cognitive accessibility to the role of AI in fostering innovation. As an independent consultant, international speaker, and author, she explores how cognitive AI and adaptive technologies can empower neurodivergent individuals, fostering innovation and accessibility in libraries, museums, and workplaces. Piper is passionate about bridging the gap between technology and human-centered design, advocating for equity in both digital and physical spaces.
