Dr Pen

Im not an expert at all with github but looking forward to getting used to it and transferring more of my other github stuff.

Goldsmiths drops three out of five deals with big publishers.

University cites “financial and values-based” reasons for not renewing with Elsevier, Springer Nature and Wiley.

www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-o...

Assetizing academic content and the emergence of the ‘assetizen’: education platforms, publisher databases, and AI model training - Higher Education Higher Education - Academic content, such as teaching materials and academic publications, has become an economic resource. This has occurred through assetization as the key economic regime in...

New OA article just out on "assetizing academic content" led by @jkom.bsky.social with me, @keanbirch.bsky.social & Klaus Beiter, exploring how academic materials are turned into value-generating digital assets by HE institutions, edtech platforms, and AI companies link.springer.com/article/10.1...

I found the old 35mm slide for the cover for Neuromancer and had it scanned in for your pleasure. Enjoy!

I’m interested to know what happens in cases like this where the university provides an institutional license to a chatbot (ChatGPT, Gemini, etc.). If universities are providing access to the chatbot and it causes harm, who is liable?

Lawsuit: ChatGPT told student he was "meant for greatness"—then came psychosis AI Injury Attorneys" target the chatbot design itself.

The case “marks the 11th such known lawsuit to be filed against OpenAI that involves mental health breakdowns allegedly caused by the chatbot. Other incidents have ranged from highly questionable medical and health advice to a man who took his own life…”

So long, and thanks for all the Researchfish - LSE Impact Rob Johnson reflects on the demise of a platform that united the UK research community in one thing: complaining about it.

💥New | @rschrobuk.bsky.social reflects on the demise of a platform that united the UK research community in one thing: complaining about it.

#ResearchFish #AcademicSky #ResearchFunding

Todays #Fediverse academic paper:

https://openaccess.city.ac.uk/id/eprint/36821/1/Phish_hunters-3.pdf

Its always rewarding to find papers talking about similar things and contexts to things Ive written about. This is a key reason I dont use chatbots. I value the sense learning and knowing by […]

I wouldn't dismiss anything with "AI" in it if it was presented to me as a product designed to satisfy a very specific purpose.

There is no need to say "AI" if you can clearly say what it is for and I can clearly see that it actually does that thing. Specifically. No general purpose bullshit.

Today's OYOD post: bookmarks. I was using Raindrop as its a nice app and gets the job done. But it recently added the dreaded 'Ask AI' button, placed right next to the 'Add+' button. A dark pattern of AI UID, with no way to disable, and doesnt work for free accts. So I installed LinkAce, and […]

Let’s talk about Ring, lost dogs, and the surveillance state The security camera maker’s Search Party feature, advertised during the Super Bowl, has sparked a surveillance backlash.

This is the best write up I’ve seen about the whole Ring Super Bowl commercial/backlash/Flock divorce, with the added context of a thorough interview with Simonoff. I appreciate how Nilay Patel presses Simonoff on a lot of his claims about Ring.

Any feedback on Frontiers journals - esp Frontiers in Comp Sci? Predatory or just not in the big name club?

Any feedback on Frontiers journals - esp Frontiers in Comp Sci? Predatory or just not in the big name club?

I need feedback on Frontiers in Computer Science journal. Predatory, or not? Is it really any different from big name journals? Is it similar to MDPI? The APC is approx £1k, Citescore 5.3, Impact 2.7. These figures seem ok. (Some MDPI journals have very high APC.) All input welcome on this […]

Projector screen, Emily M. Bender, Fen 10.

I’m so grateful for our wonderful colleague @emilymbender.bsky.social’s Katz Distinguished Lecture, deconstructing the dehumanizing qualities of “AI.” It was such a rich, transdisciplinary takedown, and argument for refusal.

Ive now uploaded almost all my academic articles to Zenodo, and put them in a 'community' to group them together. I'll create another group for my tech project on designing and developing a personal online information utility, and another group for my best academic blogposts as PDF prints and […]

A Tsunami of Grifting Edtech and Academic Slop | penworks.net We should all be angry. But somehow, no one seems to be. Two things happened to me recently, and with a sad heart I am realising that there is no going...

Today Im creating a presence on Zenodo. Along with academic preprints I'll share some useful/relevant blogposts as printed versions. I saw a Dutch professor doing this and think its a great idea.

Zenodo is hosted by CERN and part of OpenAire. Make your account there today 🙂

A Tsunami of Grifting Edtech and Academic Slop | penworks.net We should all be angry. But somehow, no one seems to be. Two things happened to me recently, and with a sad heart I am realising that there is no going...

Today Im creating a presence on Zenodo. Along with academic preprints I'll share some useful/relevant blogposts as printed versions. I saw a Dutch professor doing this and think its a great idea.

Zenodo is hosted by CERN and part of OpenAire. Make your account there today 🙂

over here in non America (southern Europe/north Africa) noone understands or cares about American football but we are all hearing about Bad Bunny on the news and enjoying it 😍😀

SFUSD Approves OpenAI Contract, Bypassing School Board The San Francisco Unified School District signed a contract with OpenAI three weeks before seeking approval from its school board.

The boring work of procurement and the need for public scrutiny of proposed contracts with tech companies are essential safeguards against the uncritical adoption of GenAI in K-12 schools.

As a parent and educator, if my district leaders did something like this, I would be furious.

Our petition asking the CSU chancellor to “Cancel ChatGPT Edu. Invest in Humans” is very close to 2,000 signatures—many irate faculty, students, alums.

We‘ll be sending signatures and comments to the administration on *Monday.* Last call, & anyone can sign!

actionnetwork.org/petitions/ca...

Osborne wrote that OpenAI’s own research showed the scale of this imbalance, noting that “the typical power user relies on about seven times more advanced ‘thinking capabilities’ than the typical user.” He also highlighted that the divide was not strictly linked to national wealth, pointing to countries such as Vietnam and Pakistan ranking among the world’s most advanced AI users despite lower average income levels. OpenAI confirmed that the expanded OpenAI for Countries initiative now includes new programs focused on education systems, AI skills training and certifications, health, cybersecurity, disaster preparedness, and startup accelerators. Education-focused partnerships aim to integrate AI tools into national systems alongside teacher training, student access, and research into learning impact.

IDK but "OpenAI's own research" characterixing the 7x "thinking capabilities" of its "power-users" (*seriously WTAF does that *mean* and by what metric?) probably isn't the most reliable source for promoting massive government pivots to AI. Sorry, not *AI*. Pivots to *OpenAI*.

Saddened to learn that First Monday will cease publication. It was a quality open-access journal that eschewed the traps of big publishing and promoted innovative thinking & research regarding tech and society. #academicsky
firstmonday.org/ojs/index.ph...

Waking up again to the poisonous chaos of Trump, Epstein, Bezos, Musk et al., and dont forget SamA et al. "AI". Is it just me that feels so tired of this American global created horror?

Ive started watching some old downloads of Sarah O Connor chronicles.

#saturdaymorning

A Tsunami of Grifting Edtech and Academic Slop | penworks.net We should all be angry. But somehow, no one seems to be. Two things happened to me recently, and with a sad heart I am realising that there is no going...

The chaotic state of the academic knowledge sphere, both edtech and GenAI content. This is a rapidly increasing view of much cleverer and higher profile academics than me.

#academia #ai

The chaotic state of the academic knowledge sphere, both edtech and GenAI content. This is a rapidly increasing view of much cleverer and higher profile academics than me.

#academia #edtech #academicchatter #ai #GenAI #academicpublishing […]

This Wikipedia page is the most ridiculous thing I've read in a while. The amount of hype and misinformation is ridiculous. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moltbook

Exposed Moltbook Database Let Anyone Take Control of Any AI Agent on the Site 'It exploded before anyone thought to check whether the database was properly secured.'

Meanwhile, these so-called "AI agents" have rendered security protocols and frameworks people have come up with over decades, moot, because people give permissions to LLMs to do anything and access anything (e.g. see this 404 media article: www.404media.co/exposed-molt...).

Tracing the social half-life of a zombie citation Photo by Henrik L. on Unsplash Academic publishing is currently experiencing a viral spread of “zombie citations.” This term refers to references of academic publications that do not ex…

Academic publishing is currently experiencing a viral spread of “zombie citations.” I tried following one to see how these references are infecting academic knowledge systems codeactsineducation.wordpress.com/2026/01/30/t...