The last few years have seen communities continuously redefine themselves to meet challenges they may never have imagined — and SSP is no exception! So the theme of this year’s Annual Meeting, Building a More Connected Scholarly Community, is especially timely and relevant, and this year’s keynote speakers bring a fresh perspective on community building related to both our personal and professional lives.
Kicking off the Annual Meeting on Wednesday, June 1, is the CEO of Chicago Mahogany Tours, urban historian, and TikTok sensation, Shermann “Dilla” Thomas—maybe better known as 6figga_dilla. A modern historian, cultural worker, and public employee, Dilla began producing short videos focusing on the history of Chicago after bonding with his then eight-year-old daughter over the social media app, TikTok. Although he focuses on the underappreciated aspects of Black Chicago, Dilla also energetically shares the rich history and culture of his city with the world. Get to know his work, from TikTok to NPR to a future Netflix series.
Keeping the momentum going on Thursday, June 2, is Jennifer Heimberg, Director of The Strategic Council for Research Excellence, Integrity, and Trust at The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Under Jenny’s leadership, the Council has progressed towards identifying, anticipating, and prioritizing key challenges to research ethics, integrity, and trustworthiness; articulating principles, policies, and best practices; catalyzing progress by coordinating collaborative action; and breaking barriers where needed to accelerate solutions. Jenny’s work has focused on the impacts of safety, security, technical efficacy, and other policy and societal issues arising from applying nuclear and radiation-based technologies. Additionally, she has directed studies related to reproducibility and replicability in science (Reproducibility and Replicability in Science, 2019) and estimating the costs of climate damages (Valuing Climate Damages: Updating the Estimation of the Social Cost of Carbon Dioxide, 2017).
Community is, of course, one of SSP’s recently announced core values, and this year’s keynote speakers very much reflect this. Our annual meeting will be a great opportunity to live all our values — to be inclusive and welcoming to newcomers and old friends from all parts of our community; to share how we continue to adapt to the ever-changing scholarly communications ecosystem; and to engage with each other respectfully and with integrity, even when we disagree.
Join the SSP community to learn from Dilla and Jenny about how our communities can look back, reflect, learn, adapt, evolve, and move forward even stronger and more connected. And, in case you missed it, the Scholarly Kitchen Chefs and various members of our community recently shared what they are looking forward to the most about the upcoming meeting.
For more information and to register for the SSP 44th Annual Meeting (Sheraton Grand Chicago Riverwalk, Chicago, Illinois, USA, June 1-3, 2022), visit the meeting website. Keynotes will be live-streamed for all virtual meeting attendees. Register by April 22 to take advantage of the early discount rate.
