Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

aphid @aphid.org · 1d

I've been waiting for deets about their new Linux based OS to take the plunge. mostly because it might mean better zotero support

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Benjamín Schultz-Figueroa @benjaminschultzfig.bsky.social · 5d

Something I write about in The Celluloid Specimen is that eugenics has always had a futurist bent, one that often involves replacing human workers. I feel as though this aspect isn't discussed as much in how the general public uses of the term.

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aphid @aphid.org · 9d

Really looking forward to reading this

Allen @allenriley.bsky.social · 9d

“It’s about the history and future of socially interactive video”

Allen @allenriley.bsky.social · Feb 17

I have advanced to candidacy and my dissertation is titled “The Imagination Synthesizer”

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Miriam Posner @miriamposner.com · 9d

The UC Academic Council, which represents the T and TT faculty across the UC, has issued a letter calling on UC President James Milliken to reject any potential agreements with the Trump administration "that compromise institutional autonomy and academic freedom."

senate.universityofcalifornia.edu

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Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 11d

Trump's higher ed ransom note is here - everyone would have to acquiesce to their unprecedented demands or not be "given priority for grants," plus they can demand "reimbursement" for "violations" www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...

A mechanism to enforce fealty. An attack on academic freedom and democracy

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aphid @aphid.org · 11d

Even less than our TAs.

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Miriam Posner @miriamposner.com · 11d

UC faculty are fighting through the courts to save the UC system. Our funding has been swept by central admin. We can’t pay to travel or research. Every time we lecture we’re at risk of attacks by right-wing mobs. Fortunately the UC Regents are on the ball: they’re…finding new ways to discipline us.

The same is true for faculty extramural speech, which may be protected under APM - 010 only insofar as it is consistent with the standards of professional conduct set forth in APM - 015. The standard provided in APM - 015 allows for discipline only for conduct which is not justified by the faculty's ethical principles stated in APM
- 015 and which significantly impairs the University's central functions, as defined in APM - 015's preamble.
This analysis must recognize the particular context of the University as an environment that encourages free inquiry and the exchange of ideas and, as described in APM - 015, "seeks to provide and sustain an environment conducive to sharing, extending, and critically examining knowledge and values, and furthering the search for wisdom."
Faculty, like all University employees, are also entitled to First Amendment protection for speech on matters of public concern, but only insofar as the employee's expressive interests outweigh the University's interests in fulfilling its public service mission.

Coordination with UC Police Departments: Beginning in Fall 2025, the Systemwide Office of Civil Rights will coordinate on developing systemwide guidelines in partnership with the UC Police Departments for sharing information in all misconduct cases, including expressive activities cases.

Notices to Respondents of Proposed Range of Disciplinary Sanctions: The Chancellor already has authority to propose a range of disciplinary sanctions in the notice of proposed discipline under APM - 016. Pursuant to the authority already provided in APM - 016, beginning, in the Fall 2025 term, when a Chancellor issues a notice of proposed discipline, the notice should include a range of proposed disciplinary sanctions. Also, in Fall 2025, campuses should begin including the dates the administration is available to participate in a hearing, providing five (5) or more options, in their notices of proposed discipline.

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Lilly Irani @gleemie.bsky.social · 15d

Government civil rights investigations examine institutional civil rights management practices, not individuals. Individuals are not legitimate targets of federal civil rights investigation.

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Lilly Irani @gleemie.bsky.social · 15d

UC should not give personally identifiable information to federal gov, says @aaup.org. Where they already have, they need to implement harm reduction measures immediately.
www.aaup.org/sites/defaul...

This echoes the call San Diego Faculty Association made to our Chancellor and UCOP 2 weeks ago.

www.aaup.org

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aphid @aphid.org · 15d

iirc Lovink once wrote something like: don't cite adorno, be adorno (and I'm citing Lovink without being...)

aphid @aphid.org · 15d

in our early days, when i would drive back over hwy17 after visiting @drs.bsky.social, i'd leave her voice messages in a similar format: "Dear Constance, as we approach the summit, the oxen are tired. A bobcat has eaten our rations and I fear we may not reach our destination. I think of you always."

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aphid @aphid.org · 15d

also quite good, by @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social www.meditationsinanemergency.com/letter-from-...

Letter from the Portland War Front (humor about something deadly serious)

My dearest wife, It is week two of the Siege of Portland, and still these barbarians will not yield to our troops. We have severed the cords of their latte machines but they are making cowboy coffee ...

www.meditationsinanemergency.com

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Ordinary Notes @hystericalblkns.bsky.social · 25d

If you’re on academia dot edu, let me suggest that you strongly consider deleting your account.

The new TOC from academia dot edu.

By creating an Account with Academia.edu, you grant us a worldwide, irrevocable, non-exclusive, transferable license, permission, and consent for Academia.edu to use your Member Content and your personal information (including, but not limited to, your name, voice, signature, photograph, likeness, city, institutional affiliations, citations, mentions, publications, and areas of interest) in any manner, including for the purpose of advertising, selling, or soliciting the use or purchase of Academia.edu's Services.

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aphid @aphid.org · 25d

this line from Felix Stalder comes to mind: "Repressive orders crumble when people start to lose their fear and act in large numbers, despite being monitored not because they found ways to evade it. Security, in this case, comes from social solidarity and collective action, not from technology."

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aphid @aphid.org · Sep 12

Super excited to be part of this, and to collab with @drs.bsky.social

Indexical @anindexof.bsky.social · Sep 11

Indexical is pleased to announce the selection of four Santa Cruz-based artists for it’s residency program throughout our 2025-26 Season: MIMIXOMI, Thadeus Frazier-Reed, Abram Stern, and Rip Florence.

Read the announcement here: www.indexical.org/posts/announ...

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · Sep 10

getting fired from your job because some dipshit student who missed their calling in the Stasi filmed you talking about gender in a class about gender

Kim Weeden @weedenkim.bsky.social · Sep 10

I agree but this case is even worse: it appears that the detailed course description* explicitly mentions that it will explore how gender and sexuality are depicted in YA literature.

*As the reddit poster mentions, there's some confusion and possible misreporting of which course she's teaching.

Screenshot of reddit post from user Wang_Lung_1921.

Begin quote:

I understand that ENG 360 is Children's Literature, and that's what has been reported, but she's not in the Course Schedule for 360. Instead, look at ENG 394, which does show as her course. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong. But that's what my search pulled up.

You can still find her syllabus, with a detailed course description, that falls within the range of the general description given in the Catalog.

"COURSE DESCRIPTION Did you read what we now call “young adult literature” as a young adult? What exactly is a young adult? Does the term refer to an age category or a marketing tool, a personality type or a genre? What differentiates adult from young adult from teenager from child? How do we understand the genre of literature for and about this blurry, shifting group? In this course, we will explore a range of young adult or YA literature in English, including poetry, contemporary fiction, graphic memoirs, historical fiction, and fantasy, from a diverse group of authors with many varied perspectives on race, gender, sexuality, disability and other realms of human difference. Our task is to think critically about what these books can tell us about how we (and others) understand adolescence, how those definitions have changed over time, and how these books participate in larger movements of history, culture, and literature."

End quote

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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · Sep 10

"The firm guarding sites where aid is distributed in Gaza has been using members of a US biker gang with a history of hostility to Islam....BBC News has confirmed the identities of 10 members of the Infidels Motorcycle Club working in Gaza"

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Anti-Islamic US biker gang members run security at deadly Gaza aid sites

BBC identifies members of Infidels MC gang hired as armed security at US and Israel-backed aid sites.

www.bbc.com

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Micah Lee @micahflee.com · Sep 8

Update: He has updated Apache to 2.4.65! Public disclosure after getting privately ignore works, it turns out

Micah Lee @micahflee.com · Sep 8

I told @joshua.stealingheather.com, developer of @iceblock.app, that he was running a vulnerable version of Apache on his server. He ignored my vulnerability report and blocked me, and his service is still vulnerable today micahflee.com/iceblock-han...

ICEBlock handled my vulnerability report in the worst possible way

Last week, I wrote about how Joshua Aaron's ICEBlock app, which allows people to anonymously report ICE sightings within a 5-mile radius, is – unfortunately, and despite apparent good intentions – act...

micahflee.com

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aphid @aphid.org · Aug 31

Came here to recommend this one!

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aphid @aphid.org · Aug 30

I'll be sharing a new project at SPAM in September. Looking forward to seeing the other works &performances, the space looks amazing.

University of Washington College of Arts & Sciences @uwartsci.bsky.social · Aug 25

Explore creative works in the field of digital arts and experimental media at the SPAM New Media Festival! Presented by @uofwa.bsky.social DXARTS graduate students and collaborators, this event will be held September 12–14 at Seattle’s Georgetown Steam Plant.
artsci.washington.edu/news/2025-08...

Art Meets Technology at SPAM New Media Festival | UW College of Arts & Sciences

Art meets technology at the SPAM New Media Festival, an exhibition of creative works that use technology in unexpected ways. The event will be held September 12-14.

artsci.washington.edu

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Kylie M. Smith @drkyliesmith.bsky.social · Jul 24

Same as it ever was, same as it ever was (ask the historian).

ACLU @aclu.org · Jul 24

BREAKING: President Trump signed an executive order directing states to criminalize and institutionalize people experiencing homelessness, addiction, and mental health disabilities.

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Matt Seybold @mattseybold.bsky.social · Jul 24

Canvas just became one of the most powerful surveillance, IP theft, & data monetization tools in the world.

OpenAI bought a user-base locked in to long-term contracts.

But they can’t make us use their trashware.

Boycott. Luddify. Open source.

Don’t let them have your work or your students.

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Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · Jul 21

NYC announces partnership with the app formerly known as “Vigilante.”

Citizen will share crime videos with the NYPD

A ‘real-time crime center’ promises police direct access to videos.

www.theverge.com

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aphid @aphid.org · Jul 21

the rest of that series can be found here ias.ucsc.edu/visualizing-...

Music for Abolition — Institute of the Arts and Sciences

Directed and curated by Terri Lyne Carrington

ias.ucsc.edu

aphid @aphid.org · Jul 21

Malcolm Jamal Warner performing his poem "Comfort Food" as part of Visualizing Abolition's Music for Abolition series @ UCSC. RIP. vimeo.com/1062919899

Malcolm Jamal Warner- Comfort Food

As a society we have been conditioned to be creatures of comfort. We artificially sweeten inconvenient truths to make us feel good. We hold onto lies to make us…

vimeo.com

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