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🎧Join the Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000 livestream🎧

We're back! This coming Monday @emilymbender.bsky.social and @alexhanna.bsky.social will look into how our health care system is suffering from AI-hype-itis:

Monday, Feb 2, 8:30am PT,
twitch.tv/dair_institute

**Note special time**

Since last year, we’ve been reporting on ICE extensively. But every week brings new information, and it’s getting harder to keep track of what’s happening, let alone remember what’s already happened.

So here’s a quick thread to help.

The tech worker movement and the rise of the tech oligarchy Published in Science as Culture (Ahead of Print, 2026)

New commentary by @cellllla.bsky.social, @perhaxis.bsky.social and myself: "The tech worker movement and the rise of the tech oligarchy". www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Society for Hopeful Technologists For everyone who wants technologies to work for people and planet.

We're looking at setting up the Society for Hopeful Technologists as a co-operative society and I'd love to speak with folks or find examples of folks who have experience of running membership orgs that are also coops societyforhopefultechnologists.org

Desktop microcomputer from the mid-1980s with a beige rectangular metal case, labeled Ferranti PC 2860-AT. The unit is wide and low-profile, with ventilation slats and front-facing drive bays, representing early personal computing hardware.

#AI is changing how we search for information and how the value of knowledge gets measured.

When answers come from summaries instead of clicks, what gets lost in the data? A new blog post looks at how AI-driven discovery is reshaping online behavior.

Read more: https://bit.ly/4t1gDNH

Just started doing new data analysis and I know I keep saying this, but: I really, really don't think people appreciate how much this moral panic was a deliberate and extremely expensive invention.

New issue of ESTS out, including an interesting article by Luis Felipe R. Murillo and Erin McElroy @erinmcel.bsky.social on possibilities for creating “'political software' aligned with the goals of housing action research" estsjournal.org/index.php/es...

Slide from "Critical AI" course with concluding lines to Birhane et al's "Multimodal Datasets" paper: "We critique because we care. And it is good to care."

Gearing up for another day in the classroom with "Critical AI." Responding to students asking why so much focus on critique?

Call for mentors to apply by January 30 for AAS 2026 Conference in Vancouver, engaging advanced scholars with grad students.

We are still seeking potential Conference Mentors for #AAS2026 in Vancouver—advanced scholars are invited to apply by this Friday, January 30!

https://bit.ly/CFM-2026

NEW from Abolitionist Perspectives in Social Work! Submit your abstracts for a Special Issue on Money and Power in Social Work Research. Many thanks to Terri Friedline for bringing this idea to APSW…... NEW from Abolitionist Perspectives in Social Work! Submit your abstracts for a Special Issue on Money and Power in Social Work Research. Many thanks to Terri Friedline for bringing this idea to APSW ...

Call for abstract submissions to Abolitionist Perspectives in Social Work! Bring your best critical and abolitionist scholarship to questions about money and power

www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...

ACH 2026 CFP Submit a proposal: ACH 2026 ConfTool

ACH is holding our annual virtual conference, ACH 2026, from June 24 to 26, 2026. We are excited to announce that we have extended our call for papers to February 23, 2026: buff.ly/Rltfrcu

Just in case you need a refresher on what to look out for to report:
leaflet.pub/7949ab92-a18...

“The Homeland” Is War on America: The Blood-and-Soil Nationalism That Killed Renee Good and Alex Pretti In the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, Trump has clarified an inconvenient fact: The culture war is an actual war.

Absolutely brilliant new Coates piece on the racial politics (and racism) of The Homeland.

Volume 32 Issue 1 | GLQ | Duke University Press

I'm excited that so many early career scholars are a part of this GLQ issue @dukepress.bsky.social, including my incredible co-editors (I was just here to handle the emails). It's hard times, y'all. Hugs. read.dukeupress.edu/glq/issue/32/1

AAUP Sends Letter of Concern Regarding Expanding Surveillance at the University of Michigan January 23, 2026Via email and physical mailDomenico Grasso, President, University of Michigan3190 Ruthven Building1109 Geddes Ave.Ann Arbor, MI 48109grasso@umich.eduDear President Grasso,The AAUP (…

Important letter from the University of Michigan AAUP chapter and @aaup.org national challenging the expansion of surveillance practices at our university: umaaup.org/2026/01/23/a...

Academic Freedom Panel Series. Academic Freedom and International Institutions. Tuesday, Jan 27, 2026. 9 AM-10 AM (ET). 2 PM-3 PM (UTC). ISA logo. Background: University buildings.

#AcademicFreedom is essential for #Academics to #Teach & #Research, but what it means around the #World varies. Join ISA & @aaup.org to discuss how academic freedom manifests #Globally & how #Professional associations can help #International #Scholars in the fight to preserve it: buff.ly/cOo1aZE

Every oppression is connected, and is even in our technology. @schock.cc, author of the book Design Justice, spoke on a panel I moderated at MozFest 2025, "Unlearning Cisnormativity".

an important step in fighting competent yet vapid LLM generated text is getting really cool about the breadth human writing. it's not unprofessional to have dyslexia, write in a non-native language, struggle with spelling. communication is a team sport

Announcing the Verso Big Sale - the biggest discount we'll offer!

Sale ends January 30 @ 11:59pm ET

research thread! i study queer histories of computing -- how LGBTQ+ people seize the means of connection & computation to build community and keep each other safe.

here are a few pieces that might interest you:

Join Our Livestream Today: Welcome to the Chinese Century Join our livestream on China’s dominance, influence, and how it is rewriting the future.

Livestream alert! 🎥 Join WIRED today at 12 pm ET/9 am PT for Welcome to the Chinese Century—a deep look at China’s global rise in tech, energy, industry, and more.

⏰ Two days away ⏰

Join Data & Society at 3PM ET online for their first event of the year: a very important and timely conversation on the current administration's AI agenda

datasociety.net/events/one-y...

Excited to share my letterpress poster design for the Vitale II Media Lab for Book History + Digital Humanities! The subtractive print colors (CMY) are highlighted by the additive light colors (RGB) to reveal, "BOOK HISTORY", "DESIGN" and "DIGITAL HUMANITIES" #DHMakes

taking reading, media recs, especially for tech policy!!

Sometimes the most radical thing you can do is educate normal people on complex subjects in ways that are engaging and digestible.

YOUR RING CAMERA IS AN ICE AGENT [a drawing of a ring camera with an ice agent dragging a person away in its field of vision] "In October of 2025, Amazon's Ring announced its partnership with FLOCK, an A.I. surveillance group that freely shares its footage with ICE, the secret service, and the navy. Flock customers can use A.I. tools to sift through footage to assist in all manner of operations (like raids and deportations) without a warrant. Unplug Ring! Melt ICE! Protect your neighbors! See: https://blog.ring.com/about-ring/ring-expands-community-requests-to-additional-community-safety-partners/ https://www.404media.co/ice-secret-service-navy-all-had-access-to-flocks-nationwide-network-of-cameras/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pp9MwZkHiMQ https://www.aclum.org/campaigns-initiatives/get-the-flock-out-resource-guide/

jack asked if i would sketch up a poster to tell people in nearby neighborhoods about the partnership between flock and ring, and this is what i came up with. it can be printed on an 8.5x11 sheet of paper.

Flier announcing open applications for the 2026 Digital IDEAS Summer Institute, with details about its theme and a QR code on the bottom right for applying. The background is a gradient transitioning from dark purple in the bottom left diagonally to light pink in the top right. An illustration of a light pink jellyfish swims behind the text. Logos for the Digital Studies Institute and Digital IDEAS appear at the top.

⏳Reminder on behalf of our beloved @umichdigital.bsky.social that applications for the 6th Annual Digital IDEAS Summer Institute close in just under two weeks!

Apply by Sunday, February 1, 2026 and visit myumi.ch/QwAbz

Reads: What is trans-exclusionary data activism? And the logo for the Gender + Sexuality Data Lab.

New research maps the campaign to erase trans people from UK data 🔢

This peer-reviewed article offers the first detailed account of how UK campaign groups have sought to define sex as strictly biological across the census, policing, healthcare and digital ID.

doi.org/10.1080/0958...

Headshot of Brian Jones, photo by Tatiana Daubek.

TODAY is #MLKDay! Join us in the Michigan Union (or on Zoom) at 2pm for a talk by Brian Jones, New York Public Library, about how the study of Black history challenges our understanding of race, nation, and the stories we tell about who we are. https://myumi.ch/JPyrN

Two weeks from today!!