Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Sarah J White @drsarahjwhite.bsky.social · 1d

Finally my Year 12 comparative studies on Blade Runner (and Brave New World) are directly relevant to my work! 😅 @saulalbert.bsky.social @lizstokoe.bsky.social

A screenshot with the text: Introduction
In Ridley Scott's (1982) film Blade Runner, the
"Voight-Kampff Empathy Test" distinguishes androids from humans by monitoring the subject's biometric responses while the examiner describes a series of grotesque scenes. This interpretation of Alan Turing's
(1950) thought experiment, fictionalised by Phillip K. Dick, imagines a future of ubiquitous
"strong deception" in human-machine communication (Natale, 2023), in which it has become otherwise impossible to tell them apart. By 2019, the year in which the film's events are set, Google's conversational artificial intelligence (Al) agent Duplex (Leviathan and Matias, 2018) was able to mimic human callers well enough to make booking calls to real restaurants and salons, with the artificial agent apparently passing as human "in the wild" at its product launch ionstration. Duplex has since been
mithdrawn amid questions about the ethics

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Sarah J White @drsarahjwhite.bsky.social · 1d

An image with two photos. The top photo is of a folded tshirt in a backpack with the words conversation coach printed on the shirt. The bottom is the same shirt but with some bedside manners merchandise including notepads, pens, and business cards on top. There is additional text on the image that says packing for my overnight stay in hospital. Is this a good tshirt choice? And emergency merch!

Reposted by Sarah J White

ISCA @iscaupdates.bsky.social · 5d

Online Course

Starting 13 Oct: an online, asynchronous 10-week course for learning how to do conversation analysis.,https://bedsidemanners.thinkific.com/products/courses/conversation-analysis

dlvr.it

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Sarah J White @drsarahjwhite.bsky.social · 5d

If you're interested in learning how to do conversation analysis, my company, Bedside Manners, is running a course. Starts in a week!

ISCA @iscaupdates.bsky.social · 5d

Online Course

Starting 13 Oct: an online, asynchronous 10-week course for learning how to do conversation analysis.,https://bedsidemanners.thinkific.com/products/courses/conversation-analysis

dlvr.it

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Reposted by Sarah J White

ISCA @iscaupdates.bsky.social · 11d

📣 Our #19 newsletter is out: this season marks a fresh chapter for many in our community it is the beginning of a new academic year in the Northern Hemisphere or the start of a new term in the South, this season marks a fresh chapter for many in our #ILEMCA community.✨ 🧵1/7

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Sarah J White @drsarahjwhite.bsky.social · 7d

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before… #kpdh #emca

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Sarah J White @drsarahjwhite.bsky.social · 8d

Recording day today!

A selfie taken with a camera and teleprompter on a tripod and a larger grey background for making videos

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Sarah J White @drsarahjwhite.bsky.social · 9d

I knew the sketch but didn’t know there was a real person that inspired it! montypython.fandom.com/wiki/Colin_%...

Sarah J White @drsarahjwhite.bsky.social · 10d

Aren’t they closing their public health department?!

An ad for the UTS Master of Public Health

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Sarah J White @drsarahjwhite.bsky.social · 12d

Having surgery soon and had the option of morning or afternoon (the privilege of private treatment) and chose the morning because of a study I’d seen on judges making different decisions depending on the time of day. Good to see health-specific research!

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Sarah J White @drsarahjwhite.bsky.social · 12d

Check out my company, Bedside Manners, if you want to book some bespoke training for your organisation. bedsidemanners.com.au

manners.com.au

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Sarah J White @drsarahjwhite.bsky.social · 12d

I had a great time facilitating a roundtable at the South Western Sydney Local Health District Corporate Services Conference 2025 on Friday. We discussed the challenges of interdisciplinary working and levels of formality as well as the opportunities for leadership in all conversations.

A photo of a page in a program that says: NSW
South Western Sydney
/ Local Health District
CORPORATE SERVICES CONFERENCE 20g5
ELEVATING CORPORATE SERVICES: CONNECTION, DEVELOPMENT. IMPACT
Roundtables
Using the science of conversation to improve communication
12.00pm - 1.00pm
Dr Sarah White, Bedside Manners PTY LTD
This
interactive workshop explores how
conversation
works in practice, helping
participants
identify
key communication
challenges and reflect on strategies to address them. Using real-world examples and transcript data, we'll examine conversation in depth and discuss how to apply these insights in professional contexts.
Sarah J White, PhD, is the Director of Bedside Manners Pty Ltd. Sarah is a social scientist who specialises in conversation analysis. She has over 18 years of experience as a communication educator and researcher, with particular expertise in healthcare communication and professional practice skills. Sarah is also an Adjunct Senior Lecturer at UNSW and an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at Macquarie University.

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Sarah J White @drsarahjwhite.bsky.social · 12d

Had a procedure last week and had to go under a general. The surgeon held my hand as I was going under and it was so comforting. I don’t know if that’s a typical thing to do but it should be.

Sarah J White @drsarahjwhite.bsky.social · 12d

Looking forward to some surgery soon 🥴

A comic with four boxes. In box 1 the liver says to the gallbladder “what is it, gall bladder? can't you see I have a lot to do?” With the gallbladder saying “I maked these”
In box 2 the liver says “you made STONES?” In box 3 the liver says “YOU'RE JUST SUPPOSED TO HOLD WHAT I GIVE YOU!
GET OUT! GO ON!” And in box 4 the sad looking gallbladder says
“i maked these”
theAwkwardYeti.com

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Sarah J White @drsarahjwhite.bsky.social · 20d

New member of the family.

A photo of a golden retriever puppy looking longingly into the distance.

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Sarah J White @drsarahjwhite.bsky.social · 22d

#IMGConference2025

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Sarah J White @drsarahjwhite.bsky.social · 23d

If you’re at the IMG Conference, come say hi!

A photos of a conference booth. On the top panel it says “8” and “Bedside Manners”. In the booth there are two bar stools and bar table. On the table are some flyers and merchandise. Next to it is a large vertical banner in a teal colour with the word communication on it as well as other words and pictures that are harder to make out in the photo.

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Sarah J White @drsarahjwhite.bsky.social · 23d

Looking for food and coffee recommendations near the state library!

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Reposted by Sarah J White

Sally Wiggins Young @profsalwiggins.bsky.social · 25d

Two PhD positions at @liu.se in the department of language and culture. Would suit #EMCA and similar. Spread the word!

liu.se/en/work-at-l...

PhD student in language and culture

liu.se

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Sarah J White @drsarahjwhite.bsky.social · 28d

Oh hello

A photo of a red bird with green wings sitting in a tree

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Sarah J White @drsarahjwhite.bsky.social · 29d

If communication in healthcare is truly a priority, it is essential that universities, professional colleges, and health care services provide ongoing evidence-based training and feedback opportunities.

Or read the paper here: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

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Complexity and objectivity in teaching interprofessional healthcare communication

This article, based on a plenary presentation from ICCH 2024, examines the challenge of balancing objectivity and complexity, and the risk of violent …

www.sciencedirect.com

Sarah J White @drsarahjwhite.bsky.social · 29d

Conversation is complex and our educational processes should reflect that. This requires significantly more investment than is currently provided.

You can see my plenary here: youtu.be/U8O7JO5YnFs

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Complexity and objectivity in teaching interprofessional healthcare communication

YouTube video by Sarah White

youtu.be

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Sarah J White @drsarahjwhite.bsky.social · 29d

It's been one year since my plenary talk at the International Conference on Communication in Healthcare. In it, I drew together different threads of my work to argue for increased engagement with complexity to improve teaching and assessment of interprofessional healthcare communication.

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A woman standing at a podium. She is wearing a beige jacket. in front of her is a water bottle and ipad. On the podium are the words: ICCH2024 Zaragoza Spain. The photo is taken with some audience members in the foreground.

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Sarah J White @drsarahjwhite.bsky.social · Sep 7

Same

Evan @evansmithhist.bsky.social · Sep 7

The shrinking of academia is contributing to this. Peer review was an accepted part of academic labour for those employed in the system, but that pool is dwindling.

I haven’t been employed in academia properly for nearly 2 years but still doing peer reviews because there’s no one else to do it.

Ben Williamson @benpatrickwill.bsky.social · Sep 6

Peer reviewers are exhausted. It's common to spend *months* inviting reviewers, getting refusals, inviting more, maybe 12 or more, then 2 agree but 1 doesn't complete, so you go again. That's why your paper is in limbo. I'm very sorry, it's awful, but it's also an untenable academic labour issue.

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