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Lightning talk

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Presentation Title:

How can Socrates help us understand AI?

Presenter:
Vicki Edmunds
Date:
Thursday 14 May 2026 | 11:30am – 12:00pm

Presentation Description:

This lightning talk will cover:

  • Socrates
  • Ancient philosophy
  • The Socratic method (a form of cooperative teaching and learning that uses a shared dialogue of questions and answers to stimulate critical thinking and uncover deeper truths)
  • How the Library Reference Interview parallels with the Socratic method
  • The role of philosophy in all future engagements with AI (especially how Librarians can lead the way in this intereaction/teaching)
  • Where are all our philosophy courses in our Universities and how important these courses and thought patterns will become to us in a world of AI
  • and lastly, how AI and philosophy relate to the ALIA Code of Ethics.

Vicki Edmunds

Manager, Community & Library, Blue Mountains City Council

Presenter Bio

Vicki started working in Libraries in 1988 while still studying Ancient History, Archaeology and Art History and Theory at Sydney University. Once graduating she realised being a Librarian was the best job in the world and completed a Graduate Diploma of Library & Information with Charles Sturt University.

Vicki has worked in Public Libraries in Sydney, University Libraries and Special Libraries. Her favourite job was with the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (SOCOG) in the Library & Research area, followed by the Natural History Museum Library in London in the specialist research library.

Public Libraries are Vicki’s passion and she now works with Blue Mountains City Council as Manager, Community & Library. Vicki believes in the access and inclusion principles that underpins library values. Vicki loves to find new ways to get the community engaged with their library.