“Destination Everywhere”
We invite information professionals everywhere to join us August 4-13, 2021 for a virtual interactive experience to benefit from the ideas, insights, and connections SLA provides!
Legal Community Annual Meeting
4:30 PM - 5:30 PM EDT on Tuesday, August 10
CryptoCurrency and FinTech: Opportunities and Challenges
2:30 PM - 3:30 PM EDT on Wednesday, August 11
Financial technology, as manifest in the world of cryptocurrencies, is becoming a bigger part of everyone's lives, both personal and professional. Information professionals need to be able to understand and communicate effectively the following 1) how these technologies work 2) the impacts on banking and securities law and regulation 3) the short, intermediate and long term implications for commerce in general. In addition, it is vital that information professionals have a deeper understanding of the these technologies so that they can identify career opportunities. Information professionals need to be able to move beyond the theory of these technologies and understand the practical application of them so that they can better do research in relation to financial technologies and cryptocurrencies.
Speakers:
- Eric Berman, Thomson Reuters, Senior Legal Editor, Practical Law
- Joseph Raczynski, Thomson Reuters, Technologist/Futurist
The New World of Vaccines: Medical, Legal, & Equity Issues of Vaccinations
2:30 PM - 4:00 PM EDT on Wednesday, August 11
The new world of COVID-19 vaccines has arrived with revolutionary technological advances for safe and rapid development. Hear from a medical expert on the accelerated progress in vaccine development and approval during COVID time. Since employers may require vaccines for a return to work (with affirmation from the EEOC that this is possible), learn from a legal expert on these employment implications. Discover about health disparities from a bioethics expert who will discuss equitable access to vaccinations and what programs helped improve distribution in communities of color. Information professionals in the biomedical, pharma, technology, bioethical, and legal fields will be better positioned to perform research in these areas when they are well-informed about the issues and how to enhance their research in these subjects.
Speakers:
- Susan Buchbinder
- Faith Fletcher
- Dorit Reiss, UC Hastings Law, San Francisco, Professor of Law
Moderators:
- Ruth Gustafson
- Mary Talley
Free Speech: A Global Perspective and a Tool for Diverse Communities
3:45 PM - 4:45 PM EDT on Thursday, August 12
Freedom of speech is one of the cornerstones of American democracy. The purpose of this session is twofold. First, it is to provide a global perspective on free speech protections because not all countries have those protections similar to the ones found in the US. It is important for information professionals, especially those involved in legal research and writing to understand those distinctions and be able to effectively articulate them. The second purpose of the session is to provide insights into how free speech protections can be used to advocate and help marginalized communities.Speakers
- Dina Aboughazala
- Israel Balderas, Palm Beach Atlantic University, Assistant Professor of Convergence Journalism
- Hassan Kanu, Thomson Reuters, Columnist
- Rodney Smolla, Widener University, Dean & Professor of Law