In this episode of The Shush Free Zone, host Dawn Brushammar talks with Jessica Talisman - librarian, semantic systems expert, and founder of Ontology Pipeline - about what it really takes to build knowledge systems that work for both humans and machines.

Jessica shares her journey from GLAM institutions into the corporate world, where she discovered just how urgently library skills are needed to make sense of messy data, AI hype, and “semantic slop.” Together, Dawn and Jessica unpack ontologies (without the jargon headache), the Ontology Pipeline methodology, and why intentional semantic structure is the key to trustworthy, scalable AI.

From childhood card catalogs to enterprise taxonomies, tag-a-thons, and the hidden power of inference, this conversation is a love letter to librarianship as a technical, strategic, and deeply human discipline, right when the world needs it most.

About Jessica:

As an Information Architect, Jessica applies her extensive experience and education in data architecture, taxonomy, and ontology to build information systems that enhance user experience, support business goals, and enable machine learning. Jessica has a Master of Library and Information Science with a concentration in Informatics and a MicroMasters in Design Thinking.

She has over 25 years of experience in developing and implementing enterprise architecture, e-commerce content structures, knowledge management systems, digital libraries, taxonomies, ontologies, and knowledge graphs for various domains and purposes.

Jessica is founder of the Ontology Pipeline, a framework for building semantic knowledge infrastructures and Contextually, which offers collaborative consulting and coaching, focused on helping people master the ways of semantic systems.

Links:

Jessica Talisman | LinkedIn

Ontology Pipeline

Intentional Arrangement | Jessica Talisman | Substack

In this episode of the Shush-Free Zone, host Dawn Brushammar chats with MJ D'Elia, founder of Thirdway Think and Director of LLEAD, about his journey from academic libraries to teaching and creative facilitation. MJ shares insights on leadership, innovation, and the importance of stepping away from traditional roles to embrace creativity and collaboration. The conversation touches on MJ's unique career path, his passion for teaching, and the transformative power of play in professional settings.

About MJ:

MJ creates and facilitates learning adventures, workshops and custom courses related to leadership development, strategic thinking, and high-performance teams. After 20 years in academia, MJ launched Thirdway Think with a simple mission to instill creative confidence and build capacity for inventive thinking in emerging leaders and their teams. He is the current director for LLEAD, a six-month intensive leadership development program for the library and information sector. He facilitates with a variety of tools including Everything DiSC, The 5 Behaviors, and Lego Serious Play – yes, that’s a real thing. In his spare time, MJ doodles, reads far too many leadership books, and follows the Toronto Blue Jays.

Links:

Thirdway Think

https://www.libraryleadership.org/

In this episode, host Dawn Brushammar sits down with the unstoppable Clare Bilobrk, whose decades-long journey across school, public, and law libraries has evolved into a career in content strategy and remote knowledge work.

Clare shares how her love of literacy began with cloth books at age three, how a Saturday job at Torquay Central Library set her on the path to librarianship, and why understanding why something matters is the secret superpower of every great information professional.

From law libraries in London to a year picking olives on a Croatian island, Clare’s story is full of detours that reveal just how flexible and global library and information skills can be.

About Clare:
Clare Bilobrk has over 25 years’ experience managing law libraries for national and international firms in the UK. She now works with Simple Little Library System and Lucidea, supporting information professionals worldwide in demonstrating the value of their services and systems. She writes regularly on knowledge management and library practice and has presented at BIALL, AALL, and other professional forums.

Links:

https://lucidea.com/author/clare/

https://simplelittlelibrarysystem.co.uk/about-us/library-software-blog/

Clare Bilobrk | LinkedIn