Berk Alkoç

Pretty cool content, always been such a fan of simlish... Ooh be gah!

Speak like the Sims: why Simlish is peak UX In which we use UX as an excuse to spend hours playing the Sims for research. Here’s why Simlish is my favourite feature of the games.

In honour of The Sims' 25th birthday, geeking out about Simlish language as a core part of the game's UX.

bendaviesromano.medium.com/speak-like-t...

Did you know Simlish draws on Filipino, Irish, Navajo and Ukrainian? 👀 #TheSims #UX

you can say "yardım edin! yanıyorum!😭" next time.

“molo.news: Zur Validierung einer relationalen Plattform für Stadtöffentlichkeit” hat unter der Leitung von Prof. Dr. Andreas Hepp, Prof. Dr. Wiebke Loosen & Prof. Dr. Christian Pentzold die App molo entwickelt, die Lokalinformationen via Smartphone vermittelt.

zemki.uni-bremen.de/...

how we travel

If the German press didn't constantly report on Elon #Musk's X contributions, that would be a gigantic step. Where did they get the idea that his X contributions are important? Not reporting would probably have saved us from his Welt article.

... and entertaining!

Image from MIT Professor Rosalind Picard’s keynote at #NeurIPS2024, showing how problematic you can be when working on topics like AI Ethics without an intersectional mindset. It’s funny she chose to share a student’s nationality but nothing else… Photo credit: Zhengzhong Tu

Great front page, but this cracked me up. Thanks for the clarification that Peter Dutton isn’t _actually_ a nuclear power station with a human face, Daily Telegraph. #factsmatter

I love a good graph. Always send me good graphs if you see one.

128gb 🤪

insert *prevents to be schocked* meme here

Susan got up onto the dais. There was something odd about the things around her. Of course, there was everything odd about the things around her, but it was a huge major oddness that was simply in their nature. She could ignore it. But there was an oddness on a human level. Everything was just slightly wrong, as if it had been made by someone who hadn’t fully comprehended its purpose. There was a blotter on the oversize desk but it was part of it, fused to the surface. The drawers were just raised areas of wood, impossible to open. Whoever had made the desk had seen desks, but hadn’t understood deskishness. There was even some sort of desk ornament. It was just a slab of lead, with a thread hanging down one side and a shiny round metal ball on the end of the thread. If you raised the ball it swung down and thumped into the lead, just once.

I decided to give ChatGPT a try, to see what all the fuss is about. Its responses were staggeringly vivid and realistic.

But there was something slightly off too. The uncanny valley of prose. I couldn't put my finger on it until I read this passage from Soul Music (Terry Pratchett, Discworld #16).

Performative Neurodiversity – the appropriation and watering down of a Human Rights Movement for profit Performative neurodiversity transforms advocacy into individualized, easily marketable products and services that shut down the entire purpose of the movement while turning the focus of neurodiversity...

We’re now seeing influencers in the ADHD and Neurodiversity space. While some share great content with reliable sources, others promote products and tests, sadly aligning with “Performative Neurodiversity” (therapistndc.org/performative...).

On platforms designed to keep users engaged with long screen times (e.g. Tiktok), ADHD disinformation surfaces (doi.org/10.1177/0706...). It’s interesting how the content on these platforms attract users who might struggle with attention, not due to a disorder, but from consuming too much content.

Neuropsychological Deficits in Disordered Screen Use Behaviours: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis - Neuropsychology Review Over the last few decades, excessive and disordered screen use has become more prevalent, prompting investigations into its associated consequences. The extent to which disordered screen use behaviour...

They mention a systematic review in Neuropsychology Review discussing how excessive screen use affects our brains. It highlights significant struggles with attention and executive functioning, which ties into the whole discussion. Fascinating to see how these pieces connect: doi.org/10.1007/s110...

Is doom scrolling really rotting our brains? The evidence is getting harder to ignore | Siân Boyle ‘Brain rot’ is the Oxford English Dictionary’s word of the year – a fitting choice, given the startling impact the internet is having on our grey matter, says journalist Siân Boyle

🧠 The Guardian’s recent article touches on how screen usage impacts attention spans and cognitive function, I believe, this is a perspective that aligns closely on the intersections of “brain rot” and ADHD misinformation: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

hey bluesky, on my way to work today I went to a coffee shop today to buy coffee and there was a lady with a baby in a stroller leaving so I said 'can I grab the door for you?' She said yes so I did then another person said 'can I give you a platypus sticker cuz you were nice?'