Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Devon @devononabike.bsky.social · 17d

I decided to get a burner Facebook (many of my community's activities are communicated only on that platform).

It's been over a decade since I had one, but I did not anticipate this degree of nightmare:

to verify your account, they want to video your face.

screenshot of a notification box that reads "Confirm your identity with a video selfie. To make sure you're a real person, we need you to record a video selfie. We'll ask you to move your head during the recording to help us capture your face at different angles. Continue"

Devon @devononabike.bsky.social · Aug 20

THANK GOODNESS

Charles Logan @charleswlogan.bsky.social · Aug 20

Lots of great collected resources folks are putting together for educators to use in resisting and refusing GenAI. Starting a thread - and please add more! #EduSky

1 3

Devon @devononabike.bsky.social · Aug 18

@mlisrevenge.bsky.social !!!

1 1

Devon @devononabike.bsky.social · Aug 18

I've been wondering about how people make sense of how AI influences their own infoseeking behavior, like diff demographics, like perhaps there are specific "algorithmic imaginaries" we ought to be preparing to respond to?

Also, how AI eats and then controls folks' access to media, but that's huge

1

Devon @devononabike.bsky.social · Aug 13

THIS. I am lucky enough to have a session with students on the knowledge economy and while we map the systems, what I'm really doing is making space for them to really see the scale at which they've been betrayed, and then feel their feelings about it.

Yvonne Lam @yvonnezlam.bsky.social · Aug 13

I think all kinds of people's documentation/sensemaking needs have been so poorly served by terrible software systems and their makers that people have no idea that they could or should have meaningful access to information about how the system works.

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · Aug 13

“Without meaningful access to documentation about how the system works, there’s no one weird trick for decoding a chatbot’s programming from the outside.”

1 4

Devon @devononabike.bsky.social · Jul 15

quote is from page 35.

Also, thank you to @womeninaiethics.bsky.social for holding space for these needed discussions with your reading circle! I am excited to take part in the discussion of Marshall's Data Conscience on July 25th!

AI Ethics Reading Circles | Women in AI Ethics™

womeninaiethics.org

1 2

Devon @devononabike.bsky.social · Jul 15

Yes, tech bros are gaslighting you about AI ethics.

And, surprise, it's probably because it was missing from their computer science curricula:

"...the Computer Science Draft Competencies provided didn’t include any occurrences of “ethics.”

please go read Brandeis Marshall's, "Data Conscience"

Data Conscience: Algorithmic Siege on our Humanity (autographed copy) | Brandeis Marshall

EXPLORE HOW D4TA STRUCTURES C4N HELP OR H1NDER SOC1AL EQU1TYData has enjoyed ‘bystander’ status as we’ve attempted to digitize responsibility and morality in tech. In fact, data’s importance should ea...

www.brandeismarshall.com

1 1 2

Devon @devononabike.bsky.social · Jul 2

Was excited to read this, but using AI hype terminology IS taking a position, & it's the wrong one

the author on AI processing:

"I’ll use “understand” and similar terms throughout this guide but take no position in the larger debate"

the laziness is nauseating

katinamagazine.org/content/arti...

A Librarian’s Guide to AI in Academic Search Tools

As Katina covers the integration of AI into academic search tools and other library products, this guide offers useful background information on the technology.

katinamagazine.org

4 17

Devon @devononabike.bsky.social · Jun 30

@violetbfox.bsky.social, TY for continuing to refuse, and bringing us all along. I'm working with two OT faculty on a project about student agency within higher-ed AI boosterism, and we want an interdisciplinary framing. These resources help me explain AI in libraries acrlog.org/2025/06/11/a...

AI Refusal in Libraries: A Starter Guide - ACRLog

This week I was on a panel at the Generative AI in Libraries (GAIL) virtual conference. Along with my fellow panelists Andrea Baer and Emily Zerrenner, I joined moderator Sarah Appedu to discuss the c...

acrlog.org

2 9

Devon @devononabike.bsky.social · Jun 23

And also, generally, I want to bend everyone's ears about the impact of AI on our beleaguered planet. But particularly given that my institution is in the same state as the Water Protectors of Standing Rock, I would hope that the relevance would be undeniable.

2

Devon @devononabike.bsky.social · Jun 23

Oooh! Thank you so much for BOTH of these! Info systems as infrastructure, especially in non-US contexts, is the secret heart of my scholarly communications lectures, and usually a brand-new paradigm for my students. Thank you!

2

Devon @devononabike.bsky.social · Jun 23

Thank you for this! last semester I struggled to find readings for my students that centered community perspectives on data centers, hopefully this will fill that out a bit!

1 2

Reposted by Devon

Matthew Noe @noethematt.bsky.social · Jun 18

Sharing this update provided to me directly about the state of NLM and the future of NNLM, traveling exhibits, and, somehow, MedlinePlus.

I am so worried for friends and colleagues, and I'm stuck on that, but it is hard to not want to scream WTF about a MedlinePlus with no new material.

#medlibs

Screenshot of a DM

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) will undergo a “realignment” effective July 1. With 40% of staff positions eliminated, the remaining staff and services will focus on core library functions, including Collection Development and Health Data Standards (formerly Bibliographic Services). NCBI will continue operations but with reduced staff and services.
Outreach will no longer be considered a core function. The Branch, which oversees NNLM, will be dissolved. NNLM will continue under the Office of Strategic Operations
Traveling Exhibits and History Talks are suspended. Exhibits already on loan or scheduled will proceed, but no new programs or outreach initiatives will be offered.
No new website curations will be created. MedlinePlus will be maintained as needed, but no new content will be developed.

13 84 130

Devon @devononabike.bsky.social · Jun 16

thank you for sharing. Also, EWWWW, BLERRRRG!!

1

Devon @devononabike.bsky.social · Jun 9

I like the Grainline Tamarack Jacket for simplicity/adaptability, but the shoulders get a bit large and in charge when the fabric has a lot of body. The merchant and mills September coat pattern is a lot comfier and roomier, the raglan sleeves can be intimidating but turn out really clean.

1 1

Devon @devononabike.bsky.social · Jun 6

I made a little mend!

(after I literally cut a little hole while hemming a skirt 💩)

A mended tear in the body of a chartreuse skirt with very small, messy stitches

The patch on the inside of a mended chartreuse colored skirt, with messy teeny stitches in the middle and the edges of the patch finished with a blanket stitch

3

Devon @devononabike.bsky.social · Jun 6

"Overworking is both a personal choice and a management failure"

BOTH.

Meredith Farkas @librarianmer.bsky.social · Jun 5

New at Information Wants to be Free: Toxic comparison, time poverty, and a manager’s duty of care meredith.wolfwater.com/wordpress/20...

We should never, ever, assume that other people with whom we work have it better than us or are doing less than us. It’s nearly impossible to know what our colleagues’ workloads look like. Meredith Farkas Toxic comparison, time poverty, and a manager's duty of care.

2 5

Devon @devononabike.bsky.social · Jun 6

Thank you, Meredith. I really appreciate the time and energy you spend calling out these toxic patterns. Hearing from you helps me stay the course on my own boundary-setting, but I think you're also doing a lot of work to keep the profession from sweeping toxicity under the rug. Thank you.

1 2

Devon @devononabike.bsky.social · Jun 2

Aww that's so sweet!! And accurate!! 🤣🤣

1

Devon @devononabike.bsky.social · Jun 2

I feel like I want to make a commemorative quotation needle-point for my wall. But how to choose!? "Stitches form wrong or not at all"?? Or, "Retaining finger in wrong position"?? Perhaps simply, "Lint build up".

2

Devon @devononabike.bsky.social · Jun 2

@mlisrevenge.bsky.social !! the improper tensions!!

1 1

Reposted by Devon

Hilda Bastian @hildabast.bsky.social · May 6

Germany's central medical library, ZBMed, is building an alternative to PubMed. It will be open source, based on MeSH & associated data standards, built to be sustainable in case PubMed becomes unreliable - with APIs & MeSH maintenance. Open meeting called! 1/2 www.heise.de/news/Wegen-T... #MedLibs

Wegen Trump: Zentralbibliothek Medizin baut Alternative zu US-Datenbank auf

Ein deutsches Informationszentrum will eine Alternative zur PubMed-Datenbank in den USA entwickeln, um die Informationsversorgung in der Biomedizin zu sichern.

www.heise.de

1 130 270

Devon @devononabike.bsky.social · May 21

Thank you!!

2

Devon @devononabike.bsky.social · May 21

Design fail this morning, but the bicyclist to arrive before me had a great idea

Two bicycles locked to a picnic table under the shelter of a cantilevered roof, while the bike rack is just to the left, unsheltered in the rain

1 1

Devon @devononabike.bsky.social · May 20

@mlisrevenge.bsky.social 🥹🥹

1 3