Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Jenny Lewin-Jones @jennylewinjones.bsky.social · Aug 12

One for #Sociology of Health and Digital Sociology students:
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

AI tools used by English councils downplay women’s health issues, study finds

Exclusive: LSE research finds risk of gender bias in care decisions made based on AI summaries of case notes

www.theguardian.com

1 8

Jenny Lewin-Jones @jennylewinjones.bsky.social · Aug 12

Important read for #Sociology
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Low-income and minority ethnic people in England most at risk from dangerously hot homes

Exclusive: Homes are heating up as summers get hotter but least well-off are shouldering greatest risk, study finds

www.theguardian.com

3

Jenny Lewin-Jones @jennylewinjones.bsky.social · Jul 30

Latest addition to my Sociology of Emotions module reading list for students: 'Come what may' by @lucygobag.bsky.social. It's full of experience and examples, with much to say on social structures, norms, agency etc.. And it is beautifully written - once started, I just had to keep reading!

Book cover of 'Come what may', featuring an orange life buoy on ocean waves.

2 3 10

Jenny Lewin-Jones @jennylewinjones.bsky.social · May 27

Thank you for such a powerful discussion on Sunday. Ordering your books for our university library, and adding to my module reading list

2

Jenny Lewin-Jones @jennylewinjones.bsky.social · May 27

I was very lucky to be in the audience. Your talk and the discussion was amazing! So many ideas to take away and think about - thank you

1 1

Reposted by Jenny Lewin-Jones

Prof. Elaine Chalus @profelainechalus.bsky.social · May 27

Systems are crumbling – but daily life continues. The dissonance is real www.theguardian.com/wellness/ng-...

Systems are crumbling – but daily life continues. The dissonance is real

If everything feels broken but strangely normal, the Soviet-era concept of hypernormalization can help

www.theguardian.com

1 3 8

Reposted by Jenny Lewin-Jones

Dr Laura Smith-Khan @lauraskh.bsky.social · May 27

An interesting analysis of gender and dialogue in movies, incl. a Disney subset.
Gender is just one characteristic that comes into play on our screens. In a recent @languageonthemove.bsky.social podcast ep, @brynnquick.bsky.social and I discussed accents and how they can shape how we see the world

11 26

Reposted by Jenny Lewin-Jones

Doug Specht @dougspecht.bsky.social · May 21

This argument is about more than naming rights – it reminds us of the extent to which maps don’t reflect but instead create and shape the world.

geographical.co.uk/news/digital...

Digital cartography on trial: Mexico sues Google for ‘Gulf of America’ label

Mexico sues Google over renaming the Gulf of Mexico ‘Gulf of America’, raising concerns about digital sovereignty and cartographic power

geographical.co.uk

1 2

Reposted by Jenny Lewin-Jones

Barbara Bleiman @barbarableiman.bsky.social · May 9

Did you know this about English & Media Centre? It's not a commercial organisation - it's an educational charity, with a tiny staff, offering as much as it can for free, doing loads of advocacy for the subject & offering a very wide range of support for teachers!

1 11 20

Jenny Lewin-Jones @jennylewinjones.bsky.social · May 1

Well worth reading this piece by Libby Farrier-Cave. Includes this point on assessment: "Instead of focusing on how students write about knowledge, we should be assessing how they apply it"

Jim Dickinson @jimdickinson.bsky.social · May 1

NEW on Wonkhe: Conversations about generative AI are framed in terms of misconduct. But for Libby Farrier-Cave, the deeper issue is a crisis of confidence buff.ly/MLZBPUG

3

Jenny Lewin-Jones @jennylewinjones.bsky.social · Apr 29

Interesting insights by John Gledhill about the language of peace-making :
"If the words we use not only reflect our understanding of issues but also shape understandings, then replacing discussion of peace “agreements” with talk of peace “deals” matters a lot"
theconversation.com/language-of-...

Language of peace: why talk of ‘making deals’ rather than ‘reaching agreements’ is not helpful

The language of peacemaking is critical to the success of a settlement.

theconversation.com

3

Jenny Lewin-Jones @jennylewinjones.bsky.social · Apr 24

Looking forward to Word of Mouth with @michaelrosenyes.bsky.social discussing misunderstandings in digital online communication e.g. oldies not 'getting' a new usage. My own moment of confusion was when I first encountered 'drop' in the meaning of 'become available'.

2 9

Jenny Lewin-Jones @jennylewinjones.bsky.social · Apr 14

Interesting episode of #Sociology podcast Thinking Allowed, on 'Motherhood'.
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Thinking Allowed - Motherhood - BBC Sounds

The politics of motherhood and US mums on the sharp end of the law.

www.bbc.co.uk

3

Jenny Lewin-Jones @jennylewinjones.bsky.social · Apr 10

Great piece by @francesryan.bsky.social. Her new book is already on order for our uni library and my #Sociology students are looking forward to reading it
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

‘I’m still sick. I’m still disabled. But I’m proud of my body’: Frances Ryan’s manifesto for disabled women

Women with disabilities are the biggest minority group in the world, but are still shut out of society. In an extract from her new book, the writer reveals how that is changing – and what more needs t...

www.theguardian.com

3

Jenny Lewin-Jones @jennylewinjones.bsky.social · Apr 2

Telling the difference between real and AI generated news images is getting harder #VisualSociology #DigitalSociology
theconversation.com/can-you-tell...

Can you tell the difference between real and fake news photos? Take the quiz to find out

As the tide of AI ‘slop’ rises, it’s more important than ever to hone your reality-checking skills.

theconversation.com

6

Jenny Lewin-Jones @jennylewinjones.bsky.social · Apr 2

Fascinating piece for #VisualSociology
www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

Women behind the lens: ‘Through needle and thread, a quiet defiance of patriarchy’

One of a series of photographs taken across India in which women, many of them abuse survivors, use traditional needlework to embellish portraits of themselves

www.theguardian.com

2 3

Jenny Lewin-Jones @jennylewinjones.bsky.social · Mar 27

Words added to the Oxford English Dictionary, filling lexical gaps in English
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Gigil, alamak among new words in Oxford English Dictionary

The Oxford English Dictionary has added new untranslatable words from South East Asia.

www.bbc.co.uk

1

Jenny Lewin-Jones @jennylewinjones.bsky.social · Mar 19

"It’s a reminder that language rules are often more flexible than we think, shaped by real-world use rather than textbook guidelines"
Fascinating research by Daniel Guarin
theconversation.com/spanish-spea...

Spanish speakers in Philadelphia break traditional rules of formal and informal speech in signs around town

It’s all about what they want you to do.

theconversation.com

2

Reposted by Jenny Lewin-Jones

Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · Mar 9

We titled our 2021 @britishacademy.bsky.social review of the societal effects of the pandemic ‘the Covid Decade’ as we argued that the pandemic would have long term effects - particularly in exacerbating existing inequalities
www.theguardian.com/world/2021/m...

UK faces 'Covid decade' due to damage done by pandemic, says report

British Academy review calls for major policy changes to reverse rise in deprivation and ill health

www.theguardian.com

2 9 38

Reposted by Jenny Lewin-Jones

Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · Mar 9

I’m quoted on the front page of the Observer today. They are looking back at the effects of the pandemic five years on. I say that it is primarily a story of inequalities. The poorest, disabled, young people have suffered the fallout, but this is easy to overlook
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...

Hetan Shah, chief executive of the British Academy, said inequality was “the primary story of the pandemic”. “You still find that people from poorer backgrounds are more likely to have been impacted,” Shah said, adding that the rate of long Covid in the most deprived households is double that of the most wealthy.

“One of the dreadful things about the pandemic was that, as a side-effect, there was less money to invest in public services across the piece. The worry is that some of the trends we’re seeing, unless there’s active work to stop them, will continue.”

30 230 900

Jenny Lewin-Jones @jennylewinjones.bsky.social · Mar 7

I learnt the word 'exochoronym' from this article: a name for a region not used in the region itself #NameStudies #Onomastics

London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · Mar 6

‘The word “decipherment” is in a sense a misnomer. Ancient scripts are not ciphers. They were not designed to be unintelligible to outsiders or intentionally deceive.’

@tomstevenson.bsky.social on the recently deciphered Linear Elamite script: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Tom Stevenson · Beyond Mesopotamia: Linear Elamite Deciphered

Decipherment has attracted more than its fair share of formidable scholars, enthusiastic amateurs and crackpots, all...

www.lrb.co.uk

Reposted by Jenny Lewin-Jones

London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · Mar 6

‘Multilingualism was so ordinary in 14th-century England that not everyone would have had a reliable sense of the boundaries between the country’s different languages.’

John Gallagher (@earlymodernjohn.bsky.social) on the influence of French on medieval English: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...