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Dr. Zeynep Tufekci Announced As Closing Keynote at NISO Plus 2021

Dr. Zeynep Tufekci Announced As Closing Keynote at NISO Plus 2021

December 2020
Dr. Zeynep Tufekci, appearing at TEDGlobal in 2017
Zeynep Tufekci speaks at TEDGlobal NYC, September 20, 2017, The Town Hall, NY, NY. Photo: Ryan Lash / TED

Respected scholar and writer, Dr. Zeynep Tufekci, will be the closing keynote at the next NISO Plus conference to be held virtually, February 22-25, 2021.

Dr. Tufekci is an associate professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill in the School of Information and Library Science, with an affiliate appointment in the Department of Sociology. She is also a faculty associate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University. Currently a contributing writer at The Atlantic and the New York Times, she is also the author of Twitter and Tear Gas (Yale University Press). Her newsletter, Insight, is “...a space for thinking deeply about complex, thorny but important puzzles, along with a community. Something between public writing and social media: some of both but neither.”

She studies the interaction between digital technology, artificial intelligence, and society.  Most recently, she has been widely lauded for her work on the societal challenges caused by the pandemic, using complex and systems-based thinking — the New York Times described her as, "Perhaps the only good amateur epidemiologist."  

Previously, NISO announced that noted science fiction author and activist Cory Doctorow will also be a featured keynote speaker at the 2021 event. 

“We are so pleased Dr. Tufekci will join us as the closing keynote speakers at the upcoming NISO Plus Conference,” said Todd Carpenter, NISO Executive Director. “She brings a nuanced and yet comprehensive approach to challenges related to our modern communication structures, including gaps in trust, the need for validity and rigor, as well as how these systems are governed. Dr. Tufeckci will provide useful insight into the trends our industry and the broader community are facing.”  

NISO Plus 2021 is a digital-first, fully virtual global conference taking place across multiple time zones over the course of four days. It aims to capture the spirit of the inaugural NISO Plus, an in-person conference held in Baltimore in February 2020, with a focus on innovation, education, and conversation.  

Registration for NISO Plus 2021 is now open - please check niso.plus or follow @NISOInfo on Twitter for program and speaker updates.