The NISO Plus Forum is an opportunity to engage in some of the most vital conversations in the information ecosystem and connect the often disparate aspects of that ecosystem in concrete and meaningful ways. With thanks to the American Geophysical Union for their support, this year’s conference will be held at the AGU headquarters in Washington, DC on October 3, 2023. The theme of our day of conversation and problem solving is AI & Machine Learning in Scholarly Publishing: Services, Data, and Ethics.

We will spend the day in a series of World Cafe-style workshop discussions, where we will work together in small groups to examine each of three AI & Machine Learning areas: service, data, and ethics. By the end of the day, through a series of questions that guide us toward areas of common concern, we will have identified topics to be moved forward for future NISO work. This process will ensure that everyone who attends has a chance to work with all the other attendees, maximizing your opportunities for in-person networking and collaboration. 


Benefits of Attending

  • In-person networking — the opportunity to share perspectives with a diverse group of colleagues from across the information industry
  • A focus on practical work in small groups, to help shape the focus of the NISO Plus conference and NISO’s standards development priorities more generally
  • Cross-sector conversation between all the various members of the scholarly information community: libraries, publishers, vendors, researchers, non-profits, and more
  • A focus on three aspects of AI & Machine Learning
    • Services: what’s being used, what’s in development, and what does the information ecosystem need (and not need) from new services
    • Data: what can be done with collections, what rights are exchanged, and what credit is given
    • Ethics: ethical and unethical uses, tracking of AI use through research cycles, and metadata labeling for AI data sets

Feedback from Last Year

“The format was really fresh and I loved that it kept us moving around physically and gave me opportunities to meet lots of people and gain exposure to new ideas and perspectives. Thank you!”

“The format was conducive to vibrant and engaged conversation and provided an excellent opportunity to network.”

“World Cafe really allowed for diversity of ideas and discussions.”


The 2023 NISO Plus Forum is intended for information professionals who are dealing with the challenges of the recent explosion of AI & Machine Learning tools and are interested in seeking solutions and opportunities for current and future tools with others in the community. Attendees who have enough seniority and functional expertise to understand the challenges and opportunities (both external and internal to their organization) are the ideal candidates for this event. This includes product managers, community managers, department directors, heads of functional units, and others—publishers, libraries, vendors, government agencies, and more.

Preliminary Program

8:30am 	Breakfast/Coffee/Networking
9:00am 	Welcome and Overview of Day
9:30am 	World Cafe Session One - Services
10:45am Coffee Break/Networking
11:15am	World Cafe Session Two - Data
12:30pm Lunch and Researcher Provocations
1:45pm 	World Cafe Session Three - Ethics
3:00pm	Refreshment Break/Networking
3:30pm	World Cafe Session Four - Gather, Report, Outcomes
4:45pm 	Closing Remarks
5:00pm	End of Day

Speakers

We will have a Lunch Provocation, with speakers to be announced soon, so watch this space!