Beth Tapster

My eldest finished sixth form today (🫠). Very amused to learn that during leaver's assembly the school finally acknowledged their most notorious alumni Liz Truss, as a warning to learn to be good with money and have decent principles (accompanied by an embarrassing photo of her as a student there) 😂

This morning I managed to retrieve a clinician's 3000 word assignment that they had accidentally deleted twenty minutes before their submission deadline. I have never felt career satisfaction like it.

YouTube video by Zoe Gardner Another BACK DOOR to seek asylum?

The ultimate catch-22 for refugees:

You have to be in the UK to seek asylum BUT
According to our government,
You are illegitimate if you come here through irregular means...
AND you are illegitimate if you come on a visa, too 🤔🤔 www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MIP...

When ChatGPT Broke an Entire Field: An Oral History | Quanta Magazine Researchers in “natural language processing” tried to tame human language. Then came the transformer.

Very interesting oral history -- interviews with some top NLP folks on the effects of GenAI on their field:

www.quantamagazine.org/when-chatgpt...

(actually I suppose I don't find it weird, it makes sense in the context of all the other, very real issues around genAI + political/social power structures, but it runs the risk of undermining those valid arguments if we aren't accurate, logical and contextual when discussing environmental impact)

I found this really useful, logical and sensible and I dare not repost it as I would be ripped to shreds.. I really care about the climate and sustainability, and I find it weird that this is the one online activity that gets this response when I've never seen anyone shaming gamers for energy use...

Oh interesting! I don't have access to the book, been trying to hunt down more sources...

Gaaaahhh. Of interest to #medlibs ...so happy we pay so much to publishers for high quality work like this!

This is what I was talking about during my keynote at @lilacconf.bsky.social #LILAC25 last week for all those who asked, what can they do and how to be involved in challenging the way big tech shape oir worlds ✨️🤘

With ‘AI slop’ distorting our reality, the world is sleepwalking into disaster | Nesrine Malik A perverse information ecosystem is being mined by big tech for profit, fooling the unwary and sending algorithms crazy, says Guardian columnist Nesrine Malik

This week’s column is on AI slop and the aestheticisation of fascism. Happy Easter! www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Ah yes, we pedestrians and public transport users have had all the power for too long... It's about time someone thought of the poor car drivers who absolutely haven't had the whole infrastructure designed around them and don't have any negative impact on their surroundings or the environment 🙄🙄

I'm slightly reassured that someone else got drowned on their way to the dinner... I was soaked to the skin when I turned up and couldn't quite believe how dry everyone else was 😭😂

An excellent addition to the "How to read a paper" fold - focus is clearly on health but the introduction has wide relevance as do many of the questions 📚 #medlibs

Thanks to all the @lilacconf.bsky.social organisers and speakers and all the lovely people I've met for making it such a brilliant experience #lilac25

Already hoping to find a way to be back next year- so I'm very pleased that it will be in Yorkshire! I've had such a great time at my first LILAC-it has been both practical and inspiring (and fun) (and it dispelled some negative preconceptions I may have had about it as a conference 😬!). #lilac25

There was a steam train at the station though so that was nice.

Booked early afternoon train home from #lilac25, partly due to maternal guilt + wanting to be home by bedtime, partly because I'd usually be completely over it by day 3 of a conference.
Still glad I'll be home by bedtime but I reallllly didn't want to leave yet and I'm gutted to miss the afternoon.

About Us — Careful Industries

www.careful.industries/about

Great shout-out to the brilliant work of @rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social and Careful Industries during the discussion on the keynote from @elinorcarmi.bsky.social #lilac25

Brilliant keynote from @elinorcarmi.bsky.social - definitely going to read the report on my way home! openaccess.city.ac.uk/id/eprint/31...

Outdoor pool in the rain!

Combining my Lilac experience with my love of outdoor pools by visiting the National Lido of Wales before the conference dinner...managed a (lovely) 15 minute swim before we all had to evacuate because of a thunderstorm 😂

"If you're providing an online system with very personal data about you, like your face or your job or your favourite colour, you ought to do so with the understanding that those data aren't just useful to get the immediate outcome — like a doll." I have to explain this to students almost daily!

Jess Haigh's presentation about her research on the impact of LILAC is full of really informative descriptions of the practicalities of her research process and getting research done without funding or a supervisor. So useful to see this discussed in detail. #lilac25

First conference I've been to with a live musical performance (of an original folk song about information literacy no less) in the keynote. Jane Secker's keynote was amazing in all the ways! #lilac25

Is traditional information literacy like folk music, and AI literacy our moment to "go electric"? Under the hype about AI we still need a solid foundation of information literacy, but we may need to rethink some of our models and practices #lilac25

Really enjoyed this session, wondering whether there is any scope to try out something like this across NHS libraries to help us develop our teaching practice... #lilac25

Here is a very good post by @rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social on responsible use of AI.

For those of us who think by writing (me included) the writing is the thinking and there’s no point getting AI to do it. But not everyone thinks by writing.

www.careful.industries/blog/2025-4-...

I really should have done the same! 😂

Insultingly pallid bowl of macaroni cheese

Made an extremely regrettable choice by eating in the hotel bar because I'm too tired to move...this macaroni cheese looks and tastes like it came out of a sachet and cost just under half of my (very cheap) room for the night 😭