Sonya

Let’s talk about AI art.

theoatmeal.com/comics/ai_art

RIP Jane Goodall, by all accounts a wonderful woman who loved this Far Side cartoon

RIDL HE Conference Here is a compilation of the seven interviews with eight people Mark conducted with participants at the Research in Digital Learning Conference at Northumbria University today (3rd September 2025) …

I was at the #RIDLHE conference at Northumbria today, where a live podcast was being recorded with many of the presenters and participants. Listen here:

www.pedagodzilla.com/ridl-he-conf...

After Expertise: Why Get an Education When You Can Get a System Upgrade? There is a widespread belief that ‘humanity has irrevocably ruined the planet’ and that it is time for a higher form of intelligence to take control. The AI industry promises salvation by seeking to r...

Good article from Helen Beetham in the Berliner Gazette on the actual challenges generative AI presents to higher education, and what we need to do to educate students in the new paradigm.

berlinergazette.de/after-expert...

BBC News screenshot shows a woman working at a computer: “Teachers can use AI to save time on marking, new guidance says” Getty Images “The government says Al should only be used for "low-stakes” marking””

-chefs can use ready meals to save time on cooking
-zoos can use stuffed toys to save money on animals
-bars can serve piss and cut out the middle man

Job Vacancy at the University of Sunderland: Senior Digital Learning Manager £54,354-£58,981 per annum (raising to £54,790-£59,533 on 1 March 2025)Please note that we normally appoint at the bottom of the salary range.Location: Canary WharfAre you enthusiastic about contributi...

#LearningTechnologist vacancy at Sunderland’s London campus, Senior Digital Learning Manager starting at £54k. Closing date of March 10th. Full details here:

jobs.sunderland.ac.uk/vacancy.aspx...

UK Universities are reluctant to break a toxic social media relationship Andy Tattersall presents new data on the extent to which UK universities are continuing to engage with X and shifting their activities to alternative social media platforms. Whether universities sh…

Good article here from LSE on universities who have ditched the bird site. While it may seem disappointing that it is so few, work like this is needed to put pressure on them to make changes in the right direction.

blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsoci...

The hero we need

DOLMEN, PORTAL TOMB, Circa 2,500 BCE. In a green field under grey misty sky in May 2023, with terraced two storey houses in the background. Ballybrack, Dublin county, Ireland.

I don’t think I posted on Bluesky the Dolmen that still stands just around the corner from where I grew up but I didn’t properly appreciate until about two years ago. It is ooooold. #TombTuesday #Dolmen

While I'm here posting at the end of the day, I would just like to tell everyone that last week I was invited to speak at our conference for Online Instructors. The OI Conference. The 'oh aye' conference! As a Scot this delighted me more than you can possibly imagine.

Ooh, I updated my Bluesky account to point to my own domain using AT Protocol. That's nice, now you *know* it's really me!

So, she’s diagnosed the problem, then said they won’t do anything to fix it 🤦‍♀️

YouTube video by Miss PunnyPennie Sorry Peter! 💙🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Sorry Peter! youtube.com/shorts/GzOF4...

Your rights are under threat from AI. It’s time to have your say! The Government recently launched a consultation on AI and copyright. Now is the time to have your say and make sure that legislators hear the concerns of creators.

UK writers: if you haven't yet responded to the government's AI consultation (& don't feel like giving away your copyright), the @alcs-uk.bsky.social have produced some really helpful advice ⤵️
www.alcs.co.uk/news/your-ri...

Judith Butler, philosopher: ‘If you sacrifice a minority like trans people, you are operating within a fascist logic’ A leading figure in feminism and gender studies, the thinker welcomes EL PAÍS in California after being voted one of the most influential minds in the world

Really fascinating interview with the great philosopher on gender, Judith Butler. One line really stands out for me, when they describe far right supporters emotion : ‘I call it a nostalgic fury for an impossible past.’

english.elpais.com/culture/2024...

It may help to pronounce is as ‘dodgy’, which is exactly what it is

I’m really torn on Bluesky vs. Mastodon. I’ve been a fan of Mastodon for years, very aligned with it ideologically, but the harsh truth is that there’s no bugger there. At least Bluesky doesn’t feel like screaming into the void.

Homepage | European Alternatives We help you find European alternatives for digital service and products, like cloud services and SaaS products.

Useful website for digital services and products hosted in the EU, instead of the US. You know. Because reasons.

european-alternatives.eu

UK HE shrinking This is a live page of all the redundancies, restructures, reorganisations, and closures taking place across the sector at the moment. Solidarity to all. This sector is vital to the country’s…

This has been a good discovery this morning, and a very useful resource. The #UCU Branch at Queen Mary University of London has been collating a list of redundancies and cuts across the UK HE sector:

qmucu.org/qmul-transfo...

I would like to go back and re-read Orlando, having just finished After Sappho. I read it many years ago, but modernism was scary back then and I don’t feel like I ‘got it’.

Virginia Woolf

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

Orlando by Virgina Woolf

Today’s a special day—it’s Virginia Woolf’s birthday! 🎉✨

I’m 100% sure you’ve either read or have these on your list:

Mrs. Dalloway - tinyurl.com/ywedb6nr
To the Lighthouse - tinyurl.com/mwu5upr2
Orlando - tinyurl.com/2vxm9njk

Any #VirginiaWoolf fans here? Which of her books do you love most? 📚💙

In an effort to be more #BookSky and less tech and ed, I recently finished After Sappho by Selby Wynn Schwartz. A semi-fictionalised history of the lesbian / feminist movement at the turn of the 20th century, and a timely reminder that progress is not linear. Apropos of nothing.

For filtered results, look to Open University text books and reading lists

🪦

A very similar kind of glass was developed in the US by Corning, and became the stuff used on your phone

TIL: The government spent / wasted (delete as appropriate) almost £3 million giving public sector bodies ‘free’ portraits of the king.

475 UK HE institutions were offered a portrait, only 35 accepted. The second lowest take up rate at 7.4%.

Also available for Chrome and Edge. (But Firefox is the OG and best.)

Sky Follower Bridge – Get this Extension for 🦊 Firefox (en-US) Download Sky Follower Bridge for Firefox. Instantly find and follow the same users from your Twitter follower on Bluesky.

I've just used Sky Follower Bridge in Firefox to find 69 people I used to follow on *that* old site, you know the one with the fascists, and follow them over here. Quick and easy, highly recommend.

addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefo...