Saskia Huc-Hepher

Artificial Intelligence and the news: ‘could do better’ Growing numbers of people are getting their news from artificial intelligence assistants. A new international study raises some concerns.

AI is reshaping how we get news – but not always how we want.

A BBC/EBU study found AI assistants often blur fact and opinion, invent quotes, or get context wrong. New standards aim to fix that.

I cannot tell you how many tech journalists at prominent media organizations do not understand this

The conversation about immigration has taken a sinister turn. It’s no longer just about policy; it’s about race.

I won’t stand for it. We can’t let hate and division decide who belongs in Britain. This country is stronger, kinder, and better than that 🇬🇧 #immigration #race #sarahpochin #british

SSHM 2026: In/Out Location: University of Leeds Dates: 30 June to 3 July 2026 Submission Deadline: 5.00pm (GMT) 11th January 2026 Conference Co-Convenors: Dr Alexia Moncrieff & Dr Katherine Rawling Conference Co…

The 2026 SSHM Conference will be @universityofleeds.bsky.social. The theme will be In/Out and we are inviting papers that consider experiences of being in and/or out of health or health care in any period or geographical location. #HistMed #HistSTM
sshm.org/sshm-2026/

coming soon in Language and Linguistics

Cambridge University Press and the @lingsocam.bsky.social are proud to announce the new Journal of Black Language and Culture (JBLAC), launching in 2027. JBLAC fosters a transdisciplinary conversation through a global, diasporic lens.

📢 Learn more: cup.org/3KA2i9a

#linguistics #LangSky

Ready for a new academic year? Let's start on a high note by kicking off the brand-new CTIS Research Seminar Series 2025-26 together! Here is the Semester 1 programme. Zoom links for individual sessions will be shared in the comments.

Data protection (UK GDPR) Obtain confirmation that Anthology will continue to meet its UK GDPR Article 28 obligations as your data processor throughout the process. Get clarification of sub processor stability (no changes planned; if changes are anticipated, please provide advance notice and details). Confirm that no organisational changes arising from the restructuring will alter how your personal data is accessed, processed, or transferred; if any changes are envisaged, please outline controls, locations, and safeguards.

The situation with Blackboard - now its owner is bankrupt and it's coming under new private equity ownership and control - is serious enough the UK agency for HE tech is advising all affected universities to seek assurances regarding data security inspiringlearning.jiscinvolve.org/wp/2025/10/s...

Disadvantaged students ‘more likely to miss out on GCSE foreign languages’ In 2004, language learning ceased to be compulsory at Key Stage 4, aged 14 to 16.

Disadvantaged students ‘more likely to miss out on GCSE foreign languages’

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...

VERSEDLE Test your literary knowledge with Versedle!

I made a lil game inspired by the Wordle universe. It's called Versedle (pronounced Verse-a-dle). You guess who wrote famous lines of literature.

As my parents can attest, it's hard! I made them an Easy Mode, but it's still kinda hard. Maybe you'll like it!

▶️ 📚: melaniewalsh.github.io/versedle/

Poster with a gradient blue background. Large text reads “the web we’ve built.” Smaller text says “Celebrating 1 trillion web pages archived.” Pixelated 3D icons of a floppy disk, magnifying glass, cursor arrow, computer window, and others radiate outward from a bright starburst in the center. On the right, text lists event details: “Wednesday, October 22, 5–10PM PT. Live stream: 7–8PM PT. 300 Funston Avenue, San Francisco.” The Internet Archive logo appears in the bottom right corner.

📢 The #InternetArchive is celebrating an extraordinary milestone: 1 trillion web pages preserved by the #WaybackMachine. 🎉

Join us!
📆 Weds, Oct 22

🎟️ IN-PERSON: 5–10 PM PT (SF) ⤵️
www.eventbrite.com/e/1626438133...

💻 ONLINE: 7–8 PM PT ⤵️
www.eventbrite.com/e/1626431011...

#Wayback1T

Thinking Strategically: Challenges Facing Language Educators – ILCS An online event with the ILCS focussing on issues faced by language educators will take place on 21st November 2025, featuring Megan Bowler (Oxford), Emma Cayley (Leeds and UCFL), and Charles Forsd…

21 November ILCS event on thinking strategically about the challenges faced by language educators.
Don't miss it, sign up now!
university-council-for-languages.org/2025/09/24/t...

Britain is going backwards under Starmer, Labour voters say Disappointing figures come on the eve of a crucial Labour Party Conference

Politicians may avoid mentioning it – but the people know what's up.

"When Labour voters were asked why they believed things were getting worse, they overwhelmingly cited Brexit, with 69 per cent naming the decision to leave the European Union as the main reason behind the country’s problems."

Colonial epidemiology: The poetics and politics of incommunicability in Sartre’s Typhus (1944): Journal of Romance Studies: Vol 25, No 3 Moving beyond an understanding of colonialism as a metaphor for individual doctor–patient relationships and towards an analysis of the political consequences of colonialism for the operation of disease on specific communities, this article analyses ...

A very interesting approach to Jean-Paul Sartre’s screenplay Typhus, by Steven Wilson liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/10.3828/...

Cover image for the Journal of Romance Studies, Volume 25, Number 3, Autumn 2025. The left side shows the journal cover with a decorative tile motif. On the right, text reads: Reading Bodies: Narrating Illness in European Literatures and Cultures (1870s to 1960s and beyond), edited by Katharine Murphy and Olivia Glaze. Logos of the Institute of Languages, Cultures and Societies, the School of Advanced Study (University of London), and Liverpool University Press are also displayed, with a green banner at the bottom reading “Special Issue.”

The latest JRS special issue explores multilingual & transcultural narratives of health and illness in European literatures (1870s–1960s+).
Read the introduction to the issue #OpenAccess.
➡️ bit.ly/JRS-Reading-Bodies
@ilcs.bsky.social @katharinemurphy.bsky.social @profstevenwilson.bsky.social

'Ethnography and Modern Languages' by Naomi Wells, Charles Forsdick, Jessica Bradley, Charles Burdett, Jennifer Burns, Marion Demossier, Margaret Hills de Zárate, Saskia Huc-Hepher, Shirley Jordan, Thea Pitman, and Georgia Wall on a series of light and mid blue banners.

Popular this week: 'Ethnography and Modern Languages' by @naswells.bsky.social, @cforsdick.bsky.social, Jessica Bradley, Charles Burdett, Jennifer Burns, Marion Demossier, Margaret Hills de Zárate, @svshh.bsky.social, Shirley Jordan, @theapitman.bsky.social & Georgia Wall ⬇️

Lost in translation Even in the language app era there are benefits to learning a foreign tongue

Lost in translation - the case for learning modern foreign languages
www.ft.com/content/c9f3...

Slide with title Digital Humanities for a World Unmade, blue background with stylized images of a Dutch windmill, Leaning Tower of Pisa, Hagia Sofia, Big Ben, and the Singaporean lion.

Here's a write-up of my keynote from #DH2025, since academic publishing is slow and this was written for right now. roopikarisam.com/talks-cat/dh...

Rights & Publishing Services Assistant at @livunipress.bsky.social
Salary: £25,000 (LUP Salary Band 1) plus discretionary annual bonus.
Location: Hybrid schedule with 2 days at LUP’s office in Liverpool, 3 days remote.
Closing date: 18 July 2025.
For more details visit bit.ly/2Zt85SE

@salomeietter.bsky.social and I are very happy to share the call for papers for this year's PSA French Politics Specialist Group annual workshop. This will be held on 14th November at the University of Glasgow; the deadline for abstracts is 14th August. Please get in touch with any questions!

Macron is right – let's revive the school French exchange to secure a future together As a former French teacher, I think I must have been the first MP to reply to Black Rod’s invitation to President Macron’s visit to address parliam...

Macron is right – let's revive the school French exchange to secure a future together

www.politicshome.com/opinion/arti...

📣Important podcast on the value of speaking other languages 👇

The conversation looks at how the languages we speak influence how we think & affect how we relate to others. It explores how multilingualism can foster social cohesion, support cognitive flexibility, & even boost economic opportunities.

Cover of The Sage Handbook of Decolonial Theory with an image of Palestinian Tartreez

Anyhoo, this will be the last post preceding actual publication at the end of this month. Please order it for your libraries. It's been a long-drawn process but totally worth it.
A preview is available on the site, under the rubric 'major work' in cultural theory.

uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/th...

🧐 A sneak peek at the introduction to "Explorations in Digital interculturality"
www.transcript-verlag.de/978-3-8376-7...
It will be available soon! Stay tuned!

Tonight. Share everywhere. 🙏

For those who missed it yesterday, Nathan's wonderful @ihr.bsky.social Digital History talk 'TechnoMnemonics (vol.1): Navigating the Middle Passage Across Algorithmic Undercurrents' is now up on our youtube channel www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZ7X...

Think Like a Linguist: Community and collaboration for a new languages curriculum In this article, Charlotte Ryland reflects on how the learning from creative translation and languages advocacy projects can feed into languages curriculum reform. By focusing in particular on the lin...

What does it really mean to think like a linguist?
Charlotte Ryland argues it's time to move beyond grammar drills and embrace creativity, culture, and collaboration in language education. 🔗 www.lspjournal.com/post/think-l...
✍️ Collection Edited by @wendya-b.bsky.social & @cforsdick.bsky.social

Curriculum and Assessment Review The interim report of the Curriculum and Assessment Review (March 2025) classified 'Languages' as requiring Category 1 intervention.

Curriculum and Assessment Review: ILCS, ALL and UCFL issue a statement.

'The development of a sustainable model for language provision across the whole of the educational sector is of the highest concern to all members of the subject community'

Read the statement:

ilcs.sas.ac.uk/research-pol...

Tuesday 24 June 2025 - Nathan Richards (University of Nottingham): TechnoMnemonics (vol.1): Navigating the Middle Passage Across Algorithmic Undercurrents - Digital History Seminar This seminar is 12:00 pm – 13:30 pm BST live on Zoom at https://zoom.us/j/94630740130, and later posted to our YouTube channel. Session chair: Alice Kinghorn Abstract: This paper presentation seeks to...

🔊 Tomorrow at midday (BST) join the @ihr.bsky.social Digital History seminar live on Zoom for Nathan Richards on 'TechnoMnemonics (vol.1): Navigating the Middle Passage Across Algorithmic Undercurrents'. Details here: ihrdighist.blogs.sas.ac.uk/2024/09/tues...

Registration for the 2025 conference "Resistance/Résister" organized by The Global Consortium for French Historical Studies is now open. Have a look at our stunning program. We can't wait to see you in Paris in a few weeks! www.sfhsconference.org