aphid
@aphid.org
net artist, garden pest
scraper/scholar of media, metadata,
oversight &counterintelligibility
i teach "new" media histories, theories, and practices at uc santa cruz
they/he
scraper/scholar of media, metadata,
oversight &counterintelligibility
i teach "new" media histories, theories, and practices at uc santa cruz
they/he
M (@blinkpopshift.com) is the lead artist for the Leonardo CripTech AI Lab of the and they're an amazing being. I got a lot out of their instruction, facilitation, questions, and reflections. M provided important framing for thinking through, with, and against tech with thoughtful &embodied care.
Y'all I got to work with aphid this year and let me tell you the banger lines they were handing out were such a snack
put a new piece out into the world on friday. it's a transmission of medical images using slow-scan television and radio teletype. it's a rumination on cancer surveillance. aphid.org/enhance-reda...
December 11, 2025 at 5:00 AM
M (@blinkpopshift.com) is the lead artist for the Leonardo CripTech AI Lab of the and they're an amazing being. I got a lot out of their instruction, facilitation, questions, and reflections. M provided important framing for thinking through, with, and against tech with thoughtful &embodied care.
Reposted by aphid
Extremely proud of @aphid.org for tirelessly working on two artworks this year! enhance-redact being one of them. This work explores medical imaging, cancer surveillance, and transmission. It’s so much more than these words. I always tell Abram how deeply poetic their work is. ♥️
put a new piece out into the world on friday. it's a transmission of medical images using slow-scan television and radio teletype. it's a rumination on cancer surveillance. aphid.org/enhance-reda...
enhance-redact
aphid.org
December 8, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Extremely proud of @aphid.org for tirelessly working on two artworks this year! enhance-redact being one of them. This work explores medical imaging, cancer surveillance, and transmission. It’s so much more than these words. I always tell Abram how deeply poetic their work is. ♥️
put a new piece out into the world on friday. it's a transmission of medical images using slow-scan television and radio teletype. it's a rumination on cancer surveillance. aphid.org/enhance-reda...
enhance-redact
aphid.org
December 8, 2025 at 5:53 AM
put a new piece out into the world on friday. it's a transmission of medical images using slow-scan television and radio teletype. it's a rumination on cancer surveillance. aphid.org/enhance-reda...
Reposted by aphid
In these cases, AI is being used to solder together the libertarian goal of dismantling administrative capacity with the fascist goal of ever present control and enforcement. This mediating function between contrasting desires is at least as important whether it actually works.
“School officials have created a Microsoft Copilot prompt to review course descriptions with an eye toward avoiding ‘advocacy-oriented or prescriptive terms.’”
Terms: “dismantling, decolonizing, interrogating, challenging, centering, combating, liberation, resistance, activism, justice oriented”
Terms: “dismantling, decolonizing, interrogating, challenging, centering, combating, liberation, resistance, activism, justice oriented”
To Root Out Wokeness in the Course Catalog, This Texas University Is Turning to AI
“The AI was upset with my use of the phrase ‘women's rights movement.’”
www.texasmonthly.com
December 6, 2025 at 3:46 PM
In these cases, AI is being used to solder together the libertarian goal of dismantling administrative capacity with the fascist goal of ever present control and enforcement. This mediating function between contrasting desires is at least as important whether it actually works.
Reposted by aphid
Today's absurd sci-fi headline that's somehow our reality: Fact-checkers barred from immigrating to the U.S.
Holy shit.
Reuters reporting that new admin instructions on visas are if you worked at a platform in trust & safety or content moderation or on fact checking or online safety at an platform you *and your loved ones* are ineligible for H-1B visa.
www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...
Reuters reporting that new admin instructions on visas are if you worked at a platform in trust & safety or content moderation or on fact checking or online safety at an platform you *and your loved ones* are ineligible for H-1B visa.
www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...
December 4, 2025 at 7:20 PM
Today's absurd sci-fi headline that's somehow our reality: Fact-checkers barred from immigrating to the U.S.
Reposted by aphid
Here’s a folder with the key assignments I use to get my students using Zotero. Along with this, they produce an annotated bibliography for a research prospectus and have to put all the annotations in Zotero. I introduce the platform in an in class workshop. drive.google.com/drive/folder...
Zotero Assignments - Google Drive
drive.google.com
December 1, 2025 at 4:53 PM
Here’s a folder with the key assignments I use to get my students using Zotero. Along with this, they produce an annotated bibliography for a research prospectus and have to put all the annotations in Zotero. I introduce the platform in an in class workshop. drive.google.com/drive/folder...
Reposted by aphid
Home Depot is running a surveil Santa ad that also has Santa dropping off more surveillance gear for the family, in this world there is only surveillance
November 24, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Home Depot is running a surveil Santa ad that also has Santa dropping off more surveillance gear for the family, in this world there is only surveillance
fuck yeah!
BREAKING: In AAUP et al v. Trump (wall-to-wall union lawsuit challenging the administration’s unlawful use of TItle VI to reshape the University of California system), the faculty and staff of the UC system WON!!!
We were granted our preliminary injunction! @aaup.org
We were granted our preliminary injunction! @aaup.org
November 15, 2025 at 12:15 AM
fuck yeah!
Reposted by aphid
I asked about this, and one of our excellent librarians discovered that in fact AI summaries/"Research Assistant" can be switched off at the level of the library. Something to request. support.proquest.com/s/article/Eb...
November 11, 2025 at 9:44 PM
I asked about this, and one of our excellent librarians discovered that in fact AI summaries/"Research Assistant" can be switched off at the level of the library. Something to request. support.proquest.com/s/article/Eb...
Reposted by aphid
here's something cool: the son of the letter carrier on Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood (McFeely) is a real letter carrier for the USPS and he's our letter carrier and he's awesome
November 8, 2025 at 3:39 AM
here's something cool: the son of the letter carrier on Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood (McFeely) is a real letter carrier for the USPS and he's our letter carrier and he's awesome
Reposted by aphid
everyone knows Richard Scarry's "Very Busy Surveillance State." classic.
The diagram for what Palantir does is like if Richard Scarry got super paranoid and did an Apocalypse picture book
November 7, 2025 at 10:06 PM
everyone knows Richard Scarry's "Very Busy Surveillance State." classic.
Reposted by aphid
This is very clearly the direction in which things are headed, especially since so many of the people who built and maintained the tools the US IC has developed-in house have been fired or have left.
YIKES: NSO floats Pegasus spyware used in hypothetical "time of domestic crisis" in 🇺🇸America.
I believe they won't stop lobbying until they get Pegasus into USA.
To hack Americans. 1/
I believe they won't stop lobbying until they get Pegasus into USA.
To hack Americans. 1/
November 7, 2025 at 10:11 PM
This is very clearly the direction in which things are headed, especially since so many of the people who built and maintained the tools the US IC has developed-in house have been fired or have left.
Reposted by aphid
There is a lot going on in this sentence:
"On 17 October, Gelsinger delivered his “Gutenberg moment” stump speech at Liberty University’s CEO Summit, which also featured Liz Truss, Michael Flynn and Dan T Cathy, the Chick-fil-A chairman, as keynote speakers."
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
"On 17 October, Gelsinger delivered his “Gutenberg moment” stump speech at Liberty University’s CEO Summit, which also featured Liz Truss, Michael Flynn and Dan T Cathy, the Chick-fil-A chairman, as keynote speakers."
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
An ex-Intel CEO’s mission to build a Christian AI: ‘hasten the coming of Christ’s return’
Patrick Gelsinger, executive chairman of Gloo, has made it his mission to advance Christian principles in Silicon Valley
www.theguardian.com
October 28, 2025 at 5:45 PM
There is a lot going on in this sentence:
"On 17 October, Gelsinger delivered his “Gutenberg moment” stump speech at Liberty University’s CEO Summit, which also featured Liz Truss, Michael Flynn and Dan T Cathy, the Chick-fil-A chairman, as keynote speakers."
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
"On 17 October, Gelsinger delivered his “Gutenberg moment” stump speech at Liberty University’s CEO Summit, which also featured Liz Truss, Michael Flynn and Dan T Cathy, the Chick-fil-A chairman, as keynote speakers."
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
a good day for this banger, happy to own this on flexidisc
Ronald Reagan w/ Doug Kahn - Reagan Speaks for Himself
YouTube video by hitmusicsingles
www.youtube.com
October 24, 2025 at 4:48 AM
a good day for this banger, happy to own this on flexidisc
Reposted by aphid
I see two diametrically opposed conversations about tech in the classroom—one from disability studies/justice, which focuses on accessibility for students; the other from media studies/STS, which focuses on EdTech as a mode of privatization. Are there ppl synthesizing the findings from both?
October 22, 2025 at 6:07 AM
I see two diametrically opposed conversations about tech in the classroom—one from disability studies/justice, which focuses on accessibility for students; the other from media studies/STS, which focuses on EdTech as a mode of privatization. Are there ppl synthesizing the findings from both?
Reposted by aphid
Time to rewatch Tribulation 99 (Craig Baldwin, 1991)
October 16, 2025 at 12:42 AM
Time to rewatch Tribulation 99 (Craig Baldwin, 1991)
Reposted by aphid
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.
October 7, 2025 at 11:10 PM
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.
Really looking forward to reading this
“It’s about the history and future of socially interactive video”
I have advanced to candidacy and my dissertation is titled “The Imagination Synthesizer”
October 4, 2025 at 5:05 AM
Really looking forward to reading this
Reposted by aphid
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
October 3, 2025 at 7:04 PM
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."
Reposted by aphid
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
A mechanism to enforce fealty. An attack on academic freedom and democracy
October 2, 2025 at 1:32 AM
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
A mechanism to enforce fealty. An attack on academic freedom and democracy
Reposted by aphid
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.
October 1, 2025 at 2:32 PM
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.
Reposted by aphid
Government civil rights investigations examine institutional civil rights management practices, not individuals. Individuals are not legitimate targets of federal civil rights investigation.
September 28, 2025 at 6:40 AM
Government civil rights investigations examine institutional civil rights management practices, not individuals. Individuals are not legitimate targets of federal civil rights investigation.
Reposted by aphid
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/sites/defaul...
This echoes the call San Diego Faculty Association made to our Chancellor and UCOP 2 weeks ago.
www.aaup.org
September 28, 2025 at 6:40 AM
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/sites/defaul...
This echoes the call San Diego Faculty Association made to our Chancellor and UCOP 2 weeks ago.
Reposted by aphid
If you’re on academia dot edu, let me suggest that you strongly consider deleting your account.
September 17, 2025 at 7:09 PM
If you’re on academia dot edu, let me suggest that you strongly consider deleting your account.
Super excited to be part of this, and to collab with @drs.bsky.social
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...
Read the announcement here: www.indexical.org/posts/announ...
September 12, 2025 at 12:04 AM
Super excited to be part of this, and to collab with @drs.bsky.social