Ian G. Williams
@igraywill.bsky.social
Personal account. #socialwork, PhD student @thegraduatecenter.bsky.social @gcsocialwelfare.bsky.social. Read & think about tech ethics, digital literacy, innovation, inequality, & social change. Find refuge & inspiration in #humanities & #openscience.
Pinned
Human Service Organizations: Management, Leadership & Governance
Social Innovation, Social Enterprise, and Social Entrepreneurship in Social Work and Human Services. Volume 49, Issue 5 of Human Service Organizations: Management, Leadership & Governance
www.tandfonline.com
Neat! The full collection of the Social Work Innovation Network special issue of Human Service Organizations that I was a guest editor for is now out: www.tandfonline.com/toc/wasw21/4...
Going to enjoy chatting about this over the next few days at #10EMESConf.
@thegraduatecenter.bsky.social
Going to enjoy chatting about this over the next few days at #10EMESConf.
@thegraduatecenter.bsky.social
Reposted by Ian G. Williams
I hope anyone interested in learning about the little dance Booker and Schumer and the rest of them are playing will read my book copaganda. And if you want the truth about body cameras, I wrote about that here: bsky.app/profile/equa...
It's quite similar to the Democratic party and liberal punditry's approach to body cameras, which I wrote about at length last year: campuspress.yale.edu/yjll/volume-.... "Training" rhetoric is an even more stark example of effective counterinsurgency propaganda.
VOLUME 4 (2023-2025) – Page 4 – Yale Journal of Law & Liberation
campuspress.yale.edu
January 18, 2026 at 3:10 PM
I hope anyone interested in learning about the little dance Booker and Schumer and the rest of them are playing will read my book copaganda. And if you want the truth about body cameras, I wrote about that here: bsky.app/profile/equa...
Reposted by Ian G. Williams
a year ago "they're criminally prosecuting a sitting governor" is something you would have said a year ago was an instant Cool Zone trigger but we've frog-boiled ourselves into the media probably shrugging and saying they deserve it
Breaking news: The Justice Department has issued subpoenas for Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey as part of an investigation alleging that they are impeding federal law enforcement officers’ abilities to do their jobs in the state.
Justice Dept. launches criminal investigation of Minnesota governor
The Justice Department has issued subpoenas for Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey as part of an investigation into impeding law enforcement.
www.washingtonpost.com
January 16, 2026 at 11:26 PM
a year ago "they're criminally prosecuting a sitting governor" is something you would have said a year ago was an instant Cool Zone trigger but we've frog-boiled ourselves into the media probably shrugging and saying they deserve it
This is quite alarming.
In April 2024, Spotify implemented a new scheme: songs with less than 1k streams per year would no longer receive royalties.
The data for 2025 was just released via Luminate, and 88% of songs have been demonetized.
Read it again: 88% of songs on Spotify have been demonetized.
The data for 2025 was just released via Luminate, and 88% of songs have been demonetized.
Read it again: 88% of songs on Spotify have been demonetized.
January 16, 2026 at 11:21 AM
This is quite alarming.
Reposted by Ian G. Williams
if you want to give wikipedia a birthday present, edit an article! volunteer labor is wikipedia’s most valuable resource and always has been!!!!
Operating imperfectly in an imperfect world, Wikipedia still deserves support. I do that by being a Wikipedian, correcting clear errors that I can document and fix, and occasionally translating pieces from Portuguese into English. It's a civic duty, like voting.
January 16, 2026 at 5:19 AM
if you want to give wikipedia a birthday present, edit an article! volunteer labor is wikipedia’s most valuable resource and always has been!!!!
Reposted by Ian G. Williams
and if the consultants told them the opposite…
Specifically, David Shor is explicitly saying that AOC's message that "Republicans are cutting healthcare to fund ICE, and therefore Democrats should cut ICE funding" is the most popular message among voters
January 16, 2026 at 5:12 AM
and if the consultants told them the opposite…
Reposted by Ian G. Williams
May be first published photo of Mobile Fortify app in use.
📸: Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu/Getty
Border Patrol agent scans the face of a driver as they stop and question him in the street...in Minneapolis. 13Jan26
Please keep/attach photo credits. Bassim is a well-known, courageous photojournalist.
📸: Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu/Getty
Border Patrol agent scans the face of a driver as they stop and question him in the street...in Minneapolis. 13Jan26
Please keep/attach photo credits. Bassim is a well-known, courageous photojournalist.
The people wearing masks are scanning your face to capture your identity.
January 15, 2026 at 9:36 PM
May be first published photo of Mobile Fortify app in use.
📸: Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu/Getty
Border Patrol agent scans the face of a driver as they stop and question him in the street...in Minneapolis. 13Jan26
Please keep/attach photo credits. Bassim is a well-known, courageous photojournalist.
📸: Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu/Getty
Border Patrol agent scans the face of a driver as they stop and question him in the street...in Minneapolis. 13Jan26
Please keep/attach photo credits. Bassim is a well-known, courageous photojournalist.
The scale and intensity of epistemic warfare of LLMs like Grok against democracy, equity, and social progress is staggering.
Straight to the syllabus.
While some of what is said here is peculiar to Grok & the aspirational models of profit & power around it, @mkirschenbaum.bsky.social quotes @hbcompass.bsky.social to reinforce that any proprietary LLM has the potential to be "weaponized" in these or more subtle ways.
While some of what is said here is peculiar to Grok & the aspirational models of profit & power around it, @mkirschenbaum.bsky.social quotes @hbcompass.bsky.social to reinforce that any proprietary LLM has the potential to be "weaponized" in these or more subtle ways.
Grok is an Epistemic Weapon
Elon Musk's Grok claims to be truth-seeking while shaping discourse and amplifying ideology, argues Matthew Kirschenbaum.
www.techpolicy.press
January 15, 2026 at 4:40 PM
The scale and intensity of epistemic warfare of LLMs like Grok against democracy, equity, and social progress is staggering.
Reposted by Ian G. Williams
Remember when everyone was concerned about DOGE sharing data between government agencies last year?
This app for ICE is built on HHS data.
This app for ICE is built on HHS data.
SCOOP: Internal ICE material and testimony from an official obtained by 404 Media provides the clearest link yet between the technological infrastructure Palantir is building for ICE and the agency’s activities on the ground.
Inside the app called ELITE—what ICE uses to find neighborhoods to raid.
Inside the app called ELITE—what ICE uses to find neighborhoods to raid.
‘ELITE’: The Palantir App ICE Uses to Find Neighborhoods to Raid
Internal ICE material and testimony from an official obtained by 404 Media provides the clearest link yet between the technological infrastructure Palantir is building for ICE and the agency’s activit...
www.404media.co
January 15, 2026 at 3:57 PM
Remember when everyone was concerned about DOGE sharing data between government agencies last year?
This app for ICE is built on HHS data.
This app for ICE is built on HHS data.
Adding this resource to the #SSWR2026 data stream.
For those who live in the D.C. metropolitan area, @dcmigrantmutualaid.org has an ICE emergency hotline to use. Here are their flyers.
January 15, 2026 at 4:23 AM
Adding this resource to the #SSWR2026 data stream.
The ICE wave of terror is very much part of a larger continuation and revival of the American settler colonial project.
4 Lakota men were kidnapped by ICE in Minneapolis. 3 of them were taken to what used to be a concentration camp for Native people, and the only people talking about it are other Indigenous people. I am angry but mostly numb, I am so used to this at this point. We are always forgotten.
January 15, 2026 at 1:08 AM
The ICE wave of terror is very much part of a larger continuation and revival of the American settler colonial project.
Reposted by Ian G. Williams
Call them "organized gangs of wine moms" if you want but the Minnesota moms I spoke to today said they aren't going to stop talking about what's happening with ICE in their communities.
"The world doesn’t want mothers paying attention, because when we do, we notice, we act, and we demand change.”
"The world doesn’t want mothers paying attention, because when we do, we notice, we act, and we demand change.”
Minneapolis Moms On TikTok Want You To Know How Bad It Is
Maligned as “wine moms,” Minnesota mothers speaking out on TikTok say they've seen ICE at school drop-offs and grocery stores.
www.huffpost.com
January 14, 2026 at 11:54 PM
Call them "organized gangs of wine moms" if you want but the Minnesota moms I spoke to today said they aren't going to stop talking about what's happening with ICE in their communities.
"The world doesn’t want mothers paying attention, because when we do, we notice, we act, and we demand change.”
"The world doesn’t want mothers paying attention, because when we do, we notice, we act, and we demand change.”
Friday morning at #SSWR2026: a roundtable on philosophy of science perspectives w/ Beth Counselman-Carpenter, Melissa Thompson, & @jbsinger.bsky.social. This will to be a fun jam of ideas & viewpoints. @sswrorg.bsky.social sswr.confex.com/sswr/2026/we... #SWTech #CriticalAI
January 14, 2026 at 9:46 PM
Friday morning at #SSWR2026: a roundtable on philosophy of science perspectives w/ Beth Counselman-Carpenter, Melissa Thompson, & @jbsinger.bsky.social. This will to be a fun jam of ideas & viewpoints. @sswrorg.bsky.social sswr.confex.com/sswr/2026/we... #SWTech #CriticalAI
Bridging this feed of viewpoints & critical inquiries about technology into #SSWR2026 and aiming to translate more of this work into #socialwork & #humanservices. It's an epistemic community I find refuge in. @sswrorg.bsky.social @gcsocialwelfare.bsky.social
#CriticalAI #STS #DigitalHumanties
#CriticalAI #STS #DigitalHumanties
If you’re new to BlueSky or know people who are, you can pin this feed to follow the best people thinking about the ethics and politics of technology — the type of folks who would be deprioritized on your X feed. :) bsky.app/profile/did:... #welcome #newsky
January 14, 2026 at 8:24 PM
Bridging this feed of viewpoints & critical inquiries about technology into #SSWR2026 and aiming to translate more of this work into #socialwork & #humanservices. It's an epistemic community I find refuge in. @sswrorg.bsky.social @gcsocialwelfare.bsky.social
#CriticalAI #STS #DigitalHumanties
#CriticalAI #STS #DigitalHumanties
Enjoying a day of discussion & reflection at @howard.edu's Blackburn Center. Many familiar faces & good questions about science & social impact scholarship in the first panel, what constitutes "progress" towards ambitious goals & how to measure it.
@jbsinger.bsky.social @njsmyth.bsky.social
@jbsinger.bsky.social @njsmyth.bsky.social
Who's going to the Grand Challenges for Social Work 10th anniversary event, the GCSW Festival of Ideas, on 1/14/26? It's right before the start of #SSWR2026 @sswrorg.bsky.social
grandchallengesforsocialwork.org/join-the-202...
grandchallengesforsocialwork.org/join-the-202...
January 14, 2026 at 5:33 PM
Enjoying a day of discussion & reflection at @howard.edu's Blackburn Center. Many familiar faces & good questions about science & social impact scholarship in the first panel, what constitutes "progress" towards ambitious goals & how to measure it.
@jbsinger.bsky.social @njsmyth.bsky.social
@jbsinger.bsky.social @njsmyth.bsky.social
Reposted by Ian G. Williams
If there's one empirical insight I'd want everyone to understand about American politics, it's this:
America's problems are solved problems. Just not here.
What would change if the US simply matched the average of 31 peer democracies? Not Denmark or Norway. Just the middle of the pack. 🧵
America's problems are solved problems. Just not here.
What would change if the US simply matched the average of 31 peer democracies? Not Denmark or Norway. Just the middle of the pack. 🧵
January 12, 2026 at 9:36 PM
If there's one empirical insight I'd want everyone to understand about American politics, it's this:
America's problems are solved problems. Just not here.
What would change if the US simply matched the average of 31 peer democracies? Not Denmark or Norway. Just the middle of the pack. 🧵
America's problems are solved problems. Just not here.
What would change if the US simply matched the average of 31 peer democracies? Not Denmark or Norway. Just the middle of the pack. 🧵
Reposted by Ian G. Williams
This kind of shit is the rare combination of repugnant from a secular perspective and thoroughly sacrilegious from a Christian perspective. It's an affront to pretty much everyone except the most deluded Christian nationalist weirdos.
January 13, 2026 at 11:48 PM
This kind of shit is the rare combination of repugnant from a secular perspective and thoroughly sacrilegious from a Christian perspective. It's an affront to pretty much everyone except the most deluded Christian nationalist weirdos.
Re-upping this so it's in @sswrorg.bsky.social' data stream. If you're attending #SSWR2026 this week &/or SW Grand Challenges' 10th anniversary event & want to chat about SWIN, social economy (innovation, enterprise, enterprise, design, solidarity, social biz, etc), #orgtheory, & #swtech, reach out!
Neat! The full collection of the Social Work Innovation Network special issue of Human Service Organizations that I was a guest editor for is now out: www.tandfonline.com/toc/wasw21/4...
Going to enjoy chatting about this over the next few days at #10EMESConf.
@thegraduatecenter.bsky.social
Going to enjoy chatting about this over the next few days at #10EMESConf.
@thegraduatecenter.bsky.social
Human Service Organizations: Management, Leadership & Governance
Social Innovation, Social Enterprise, and Social Entrepreneurship in Social Work and Human Services. Volume 49, Issue 5 of Human Service Organizations: Management, Leadership & Governance
www.tandfonline.com
January 13, 2026 at 10:38 PM
Re-upping this so it's in @sswrorg.bsky.social' data stream. If you're attending #SSWR2026 this week &/or SW Grand Challenges' 10th anniversary event & want to chat about SWIN, social economy (innovation, enterprise, enterprise, design, solidarity, social biz, etc), #orgtheory, & #swtech, reach out!
Re: participatory democracy, I'm hosting a @metagov.bsky.social seminar on @thegraduatecenter.bsky.social's @celinasu.bsky.social's excellent book "Budget Justice: On Building Grassroots Politics and Solidarities" (@princetonupress.bsky.social) on 3/4/26. RSVP here: luma.com/vpdlu9py?tk=...
January 13, 2026 at 8:02 PM
Re: participatory democracy, I'm hosting a @metagov.bsky.social seminar on @thegraduatecenter.bsky.social's @celinasu.bsky.social's excellent book "Budget Justice: On Building Grassroots Politics and Solidarities" (@princetonupress.bsky.social) on 3/4/26. RSVP here: luma.com/vpdlu9py?tk=...
Something else rather exciting & hopeful going on at home in NYC, @mayor.nyc.gov's Office of Mass Engagement, aimed at large-scale participatory democracy. This is a good post that situates it in larger political histories, laying out possibilities & risks. futurepolis.substack.com/p/can-mamdan...
Mamdani's bold experiment
NYC's mayor seems to be trying to achieve what Barack Obama never could: turning his campaign movement into a de facto arm of his government.
futurepolis.substack.com
January 13, 2026 at 7:57 PM
Something else rather exciting & hopeful going on at home in NYC, @mayor.nyc.gov's Office of Mass Engagement, aimed at large-scale participatory democracy. This is a good post that situates it in larger political histories, laying out possibilities & risks. futurepolis.substack.com/p/can-mamdan...
A slice of joy and hope from 1/9/26: scenes from the @cunypitlab.bsky.social x @beta.nyc NYC Public Interest Tech Pop-up Open House and Relaunch. I had so many conversations with people of very different backgrounds in a relatively short amount of time. Grateful to be in its orbit nycpitpopup.org
January 13, 2026 at 6:19 PM
A slice of joy and hope from 1/9/26: scenes from the @cunypitlab.bsky.social x @beta.nyc NYC Public Interest Tech Pop-up Open House and Relaunch. I had so many conversations with people of very different backgrounds in a relatively short amount of time. Grateful to be in its orbit nycpitpopup.org
Reposted by Ian G. Williams
This is Minneapolis:
Walk into my neighborhood ACE last night & see the signage on their door notifying fed agents that it’s private property and cannot be used for immigration enforcement. These signs are all over the city.
Walk in & the nearest shelf has goggles & whistles.
Walk into my neighborhood ACE last night & see the signage on their door notifying fed agents that it’s private property and cannot be used for immigration enforcement. These signs are all over the city.
Walk in & the nearest shelf has goggles & whistles.
January 13, 2026 at 4:38 PM
This is Minneapolis:
Walk into my neighborhood ACE last night & see the signage on their door notifying fed agents that it’s private property and cannot be used for immigration enforcement. These signs are all over the city.
Walk in & the nearest shelf has goggles & whistles.
Walk into my neighborhood ACE last night & see the signage on their door notifying fed agents that it’s private property and cannot be used for immigration enforcement. These signs are all over the city.
Walk in & the nearest shelf has goggles & whistles.
This is online life in early 2026, in a nutshell.
i had eight hours of sleep and stayed off twitter and my depression went away
January 13, 2026 at 5:16 AM
This is online life in early 2026, in a nutshell.
Reposted by Ian G. Williams
So technocrat cryptobro former mayor Eric Adams just apparently (allegedly) rugpull defrauded his cryptocurrency memecoin investors, and genuinely the only surprising part is that he didn't do it while he was still in office.
Eric Adams, former NYC mayor, launched a memecoin (cryptocurrency) today. He marketed it as an “NYC Token” and used media appearances and his social media to promote it.
Within hours, Adams then drained its liquidity, apparently having scammed investors out of $3.4 million—a move called a rug pull.
Within hours, Adams then drained its liquidity, apparently having scammed investors out of $3.4 million—a move called a rug pull.
January 13, 2026 at 5:02 AM
So technocrat cryptobro former mayor Eric Adams just apparently (allegedly) rugpull defrauded his cryptocurrency memecoin investors, and genuinely the only surprising part is that he didn't do it while he was still in office.
Budgets are moral documents, as MLK famously said, and the current administration's moral priorities (cruelty, austerity, deregulation, war, nationalism, cultural regression, and stupidity) seem pretty clear.
AOC: I want everybody to understand that the cuts to your health care are what’s paying for this. You get screwed over to pay a bunch of thugs in the street that are shooting mothers in the face.
January 13, 2026 at 4:54 AM
Budgets are moral documents, as MLK famously said, and the current administration's moral priorities (cruelty, austerity, deregulation, war, nationalism, cultural regression, and stupidity) seem pretty clear.
Wondering what parallel media ecosystems are springing up in this time of consolidation & its manufactured consent/passive complicity. Indepymedia centers are one historical example; today is much more online. I think of Sandra Jepson's book Transformative Media: press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...
January 13, 2026 at 4:28 AM
Wondering what parallel media ecosystems are springing up in this time of consolidation & its manufactured consent/passive complicity. Indepymedia centers are one historical example; today is much more online. I think of Sandra Jepson's book Transformative Media: press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...