Magdalena Donea | 🇷🇴 🇬🇷 🏳️🌈 ♿️
@maggy.kia.net
Former refugee. Abolitionist. Old-school net.person. UW MA Cultural Studies. UCSD PhD (in progress) Comm/STS. Surveillance, unbelonging & mediation of displacement. Unprecedentedness and crisis. Critical Data, AI, DH, maps, archives. She/They/Any
Pinned
Pinned 🧵 -- a Critical AI reading list I'm building in conjuction with a course I'm teaching this summer. I'll be adding to this during the summer, both scholarly works and non-academic public writings, beginning with the Brian Merchant article in the post below:
I'm building a list of sources, in the meantime. @bcmerchant.bsky.social's "Blood in the Machine" is in my Top 5. I'm happy to take other suggestions, and I'll be publishing the reading list. 4/4
Final reading list for my AI course follows, week by week. UC summer sessions are 5 weeks, compressed from the 10 week regular quarter (already short). So, teaching Comm/Media undergrads an upper division class on this, during the summer of the constantly moving AI needle was… a challenge. Still:
Reposted by Magdalena Donea | 🇷🇴 🇬🇷 🏳️🌈 ♿️
We have two dominant visions for digital tech: one from major corporations that maximizes profit at any cost, and another based on cyberlibertarian ideals that assumes you must code to participate in society.
We need another: where the public sector builds and funds tech for the broad public good.
We need another: where the public sector builds and funds tech for the broad public good.
February 16, 2026 at 6:35 PM
We have two dominant visions for digital tech: one from major corporations that maximizes profit at any cost, and another based on cyberlibertarian ideals that assumes you must code to participate in society.
We need another: where the public sector builds and funds tech for the broad public good.
We need another: where the public sector builds and funds tech for the broad public good.
Reposted by Magdalena Donea | 🇷🇴 🇬🇷 🏳️🌈 ♿️
Look, I'm going to be very clear as someone who does interviews every once in a blue moon. Putting people's "ums" in a quote is malicious.
Have you ever once seen the New York Times quote Trump like this?
February 16, 2026 at 10:48 PM
Look, I'm going to be very clear as someone who does interviews every once in a blue moon. Putting people's "ums" in a quote is malicious.
Reposted by Magdalena Donea | 🇷🇴 🇬🇷 🏳️🌈 ♿️
It’s actually fine that @penamerica.bsky.social didn’t put my book on their 100 most anticipated books of 2026 but it’s disappointing that there were no science books at all on it given that they give a science writing award and we are in the middle of a science literacy crisis 😞
February 16, 2026 at 10:18 PM
It’s actually fine that @penamerica.bsky.social didn’t put my book on their 100 most anticipated books of 2026 but it’s disappointing that there were no science books at all on it given that they give a science writing award and we are in the middle of a science literacy crisis 😞
The L'Orangerie, for all the enormous Monet waterlillies, just because I can't imagine how anyone would even extract them from the building, let alone steal them. It would be... a feat.
And then I'd put them back unscathed, of course.
And then I'd put them back unscathed, of course.
If you could do a successful heist of any museum or gallery which would you choose and what would you take
February 16, 2026 at 11:23 PM
The L'Orangerie, for all the enormous Monet waterlillies, just because I can't imagine how anyone would even extract them from the building, let alone steal them. It would be... a feat.
And then I'd put them back unscathed, of course.
And then I'd put them back unscathed, of course.
Reposted by Magdalena Donea | 🇷🇴 🇬🇷 🏳️🌈 ♿️
UCLA faculty stopped a $1.2 billion ransom payment to Trump while their bosses hid in the corner
Trump administration drops appeal of court order blocking $1.2-billion UCLA settlement
The Trump administration dropped its appeal of a major higher education case in which a federal judge blocked its $1.2-billion settlement proposal to UCLA over alleged civil rights violations. It will...
www.latimes.com
February 16, 2026 at 8:27 PM
UCLA faculty stopped a $1.2 billion ransom payment to Trump while their bosses hid in the corner
Reposted by Magdalena Donea | 🇷🇴 🇬🇷 🏳️🌈 ♿️
NEW: Denver appears to be breaking ties with Flock, asking other companies to come run the city's network of surveillance cameras
February 14, 2026 at 3:34 AM
NEW: Denver appears to be breaking ties with Flock, asking other companies to come run the city's network of surveillance cameras
Probably important to note also that most of these folks, when they give things away, do so toward their own non-profit vehicles, aiding their overall profile/portfolio.
February 16, 2026 at 7:38 PM
Probably important to note also that most of these folks, when they give things away, do so toward their own non-profit vehicles, aiding their overall profile/portfolio.
Dessa @ The Neptune in Seattle, April 2018. It's unconscionable that it's been that long. I came down to San Diego and just... stopped. I hate it.
i’m embarassed at how long it has been since i’ve seen live music.
February 16, 2026 at 7:34 PM
Dessa @ The Neptune in Seattle, April 2018. It's unconscionable that it's been that long. I came down to San Diego and just... stopped. I hate it.
Reposted by Magdalena Donea | 🇷🇴 🇬🇷 🏳️🌈 ♿️
Hey Benjamin, you're getting some suff wrong here, starting with framing me and my colleagues as "AI skeptics". It's true that we call BS on claims of AI, AGI, LLMs understanding etc. But "AI skeptic" is a term that resides within the AI booster's frame of view, not ours.
>>
>>
February 16, 2026 at 2:25 PM
Hey Benjamin, you're getting some suff wrong here, starting with framing me and my colleagues as "AI skeptics". It's true that we call BS on claims of AI, AGI, LLMs understanding etc. But "AI skeptic" is a term that resides within the AI booster's frame of view, not ours.
>>
>>
Reposted by Magdalena Donea | 🇷🇴 🇬🇷 🏳️🌈 ♿️
& it was all, like spring, / Irrevocable
Larry Levis
⸻ from Darkening Trapeze: Last Poems (2016)
Larry Levis
⸻ from Darkening Trapeze: Last Poems (2016)
March 14, 2025 at 3:55 PM
& it was all, like spring, / Irrevocable
Larry Levis
⸻ from Darkening Trapeze: Last Poems (2016)
Larry Levis
⸻ from Darkening Trapeze: Last Poems (2016)
THANK YOU.
See, big companies willingly turning over your info to the government is why
even if most of you practice GOOD security, good cybersecurity
you are not safe from your GOVERNMENT.
Keeping that level of 'safe' requires either an incredible amount of additional work, effort and actual sacrifice...
even if most of you practice GOOD security, good cybersecurity
you are not safe from your GOVERNMENT.
Keeping that level of 'safe' requires either an incredible amount of additional work, effort and actual sacrifice...
February 16, 2026 at 6:04 PM
THANK YOU.
I don't know that "in the public's best interests" is an achievable goal. Which public? Which interests? And why journalists, why not owners/publishers?
I'd settle for consistency and transparency. Adherence to published standards. Professional norms, please.
I'd settle for consistency and transparency. Adherence to published standards. Professional norms, please.
Who has a great deal of confidence in journalists to act in the best interests of the public?
2% of Republicans
9% of Democrats
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/02/11/majority-of-americans-express-low-confidence-in-journalists-to-act-in-publics-best-interests/
2% of Republicans
9% of Democrats
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/02/11/majority-of-americans-express-low-confidence-in-journalists-to-act-in-publics-best-interests/
February 16, 2026 at 5:39 AM
I don't know that "in the public's best interests" is an achievable goal. Which public? Which interests? And why journalists, why not owners/publishers?
I'd settle for consistency and transparency. Adherence to published standards. Professional norms, please.
I'd settle for consistency and transparency. Adherence to published standards. Professional norms, please.
Reposted by Magdalena Donea | 🇷🇴 🇬🇷 🏳️🌈 ♿️
"Active walking, looking around, being present... sharpens scrutiny and often unnerves. How does one put a name to something that defeats cellphone photograph-and-ask features? Older vocabularies matter because they sharpen present perception rather than merely explaining the past..."
In Brief: On etymology and lost vocabularies
mailchi.mp
February 16, 2026 at 5:06 AM
"Active walking, looking around, being present... sharpens scrutiny and often unnerves. How does one put a name to something that defeats cellphone photograph-and-ask features? Older vocabularies matter because they sharpen present perception rather than merely explaining the past..."
Reposted by Magdalena Donea | 🇷🇴 🇬🇷 🏳️🌈 ♿️
Kristina is a real one. If you can give, please do.
I helped mobilize a group of neighbors to provide direct aid to nearly 50 families who are in hiding from ICE.
These folks deserve fresh, familiar foods. So we're purchasing groceries direct from neighborhood Latino markets whenever we can.
Venmo @kristina-halvorson to help, and please repost.
These folks deserve fresh, familiar foods. So we're purchasing groceries direct from neighborhood Latino markets whenever we can.
Venmo @kristina-halvorson to help, and please repost.
February 15, 2026 at 6:13 AM
Kristina is a real one. If you can give, please do.
Reposted by Magdalena Donea | 🇷🇴 🇬🇷 🏳️🌈 ♿️
Bluesky was literally meant to be a cryptobro social network for grifters, LinkedIn sludge, and libertarians who know way too much about age of consent laws.
Jack Dorsey *left* when instead of weird and off-putting cryptonerds, trans people started hanging out here.
Jack Dorsey *left* when instead of weird and off-putting cryptonerds, trans people started hanging out here.
Can you think of examples where people use technologies differently from what the developers intended, whether unintentionally or as an act of resistance?
February 15, 2026 at 10:50 PM
Bluesky was literally meant to be a cryptobro social network for grifters, LinkedIn sludge, and libertarians who know way too much about age of consent laws.
Jack Dorsey *left* when instead of weird and off-putting cryptonerds, trans people started hanging out here.
Jack Dorsey *left* when instead of weird and off-putting cryptonerds, trans people started hanging out here.
Reposted by Magdalena Donea | 🇷🇴 🇬🇷 🏳️🌈 ♿️
douglas adams was our most accurate futurist
We are at an airport restaurant. A robot just drove up to us with our food, said, "Hi! Here I am!" and then drove away with our food.
February 15, 2026 at 10:10 PM
douglas adams was our most accurate futurist
Reposted by Magdalena Donea | 🇷🇴 🇬🇷 🏳️🌈 ♿️
"OpenAI researchers reveal that large language models will always produce plausible but false outputs, even with perfect data, due to fundamental statistical and computational limits."
This isn't a dead canary in the coal mine, it's a miner. AI doesn't work.
www.computerworld.com/article/4059...
This isn't a dead canary in the coal mine, it's a miner. AI doesn't work.
www.computerworld.com/article/4059...
OpenAI admits AI hallucinations are mathematically inevitable, not just engineering flaws
In a landmark study, OpenAI researchers reveal that large language models will always produce plausible but false outputs, even with perfect data, due to fundamental statistical and computational limi...
www.computerworld.com
February 15, 2026 at 9:33 PM
"OpenAI researchers reveal that large language models will always produce plausible but false outputs, even with perfect data, due to fundamental statistical and computational limits."
This isn't a dead canary in the coal mine, it's a miner. AI doesn't work.
www.computerworld.com/article/4059...
This isn't a dead canary in the coal mine, it's a miner. AI doesn't work.
www.computerworld.com/article/4059...
John Brockman was the elephant in the room for anyone trying to do anything interesting on the Internet in the 1990s. Here's a story on him from 2005 that's basically a rolodex of everyone he wanted to be known for knowing. www.theguardian.com/books/2005/a...
February 15, 2026 at 9:38 PM
John Brockman was the elephant in the room for anyone trying to do anything interesting on the Internet in the 1990s. Here's a story on him from 2005 that's basically a rolodex of everyone he wanted to be known for knowing. www.theguardian.com/books/2005/a...
Reposted by Magdalena Donea | 🇷🇴 🇬🇷 🏳️🌈 ♿️
While MLPS was a victory, moral and tangibly, for ICE resisters, don't call it 'a retreat.' The dystopia is just getting started
Thousands of new agents. 150 new offices in every state. And the nationwide gulag archipelago. The fight has just begun
My new column www.inquirer.com/opinion/ice-...
Thousands of new agents. 150 new offices in every state. And the nationwide gulag archipelago. The fight has just begun
My new column www.inquirer.com/opinion/ice-...
No, ICE isn’t ‘retreating.’ It’s loading up to invade your town. | Will Bunch
A much-hyped ICE pullback from Minneapolis is a blip in a looming nationwide surge of arrests, concentration camps.
www.inquirer.com
February 15, 2026 at 6:25 PM
While MLPS was a victory, moral and tangibly, for ICE resisters, don't call it 'a retreat.' The dystopia is just getting started
Thousands of new agents. 150 new offices in every state. And the nationwide gulag archipelago. The fight has just begun
My new column www.inquirer.com/opinion/ice-...
Thousands of new agents. 150 new offices in every state. And the nationwide gulag archipelago. The fight has just begun
My new column www.inquirer.com/opinion/ice-...
Reposted by Magdalena Donea | 🇷🇴 🇬🇷 🏳️🌈 ♿️
Chicago UP is running a HUGE sale, and you can get extremely well-researched hard-bound books about all sorts of topics and all sorts of places for a price of a cheap paperback press.uchicago.edu/resource/Sal...
press.uchicago.edu
February 15, 2026 at 7:19 PM
Chicago UP is running a HUGE sale, and you can get extremely well-researched hard-bound books about all sorts of topics and all sorts of places for a price of a cheap paperback press.uchicago.edu/resource/Sal...
Reposted by Magdalena Donea | 🇷🇴 🇬🇷 🏳️🌈 ♿️
In case you ever wondered how edtech companies, academic publishers, and big AI corporations, as well as HE institutions, make money out of your academic work, here's our new paper starting to unpack the assetization of academic content
New OA article just out on "assetizing academic content" led by @jkom.bsky.social with me, @keanbirch.bsky.social & Klaus Beiter, exploring how academic materials are turned into value-generating digital assets by HE institutions, edtech platforms, and AI companies link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Assetizing academic content and the emergence of the ‘assetizen’: education platforms, publisher databases, and AI model training - Higher Education
Higher Education - Academic content, such as teaching materials and academic publications, has become an economic resource. This has occurred through assetization as the key economic regime in...
link.springer.com
February 13, 2026 at 8:28 PM
In case you ever wondered how edtech companies, academic publishers, and big AI corporations, as well as HE institutions, make money out of your academic work, here's our new paper starting to unpack the assetization of academic content
Reposted by Magdalena Donea | 🇷🇴 🇬🇷 🏳️🌈 ♿️
OH HELL YES
This is a genuinely huge, sweeping victory today for the University of California—or rather, for us, its faculty, acting through our faculty associations, while the UC itself maintained a strict policy of deer-in-headlights silence.
The Trump admin has given up its appeal of a powerful injunction:
The Trump admin has given up its appeal of a powerful injunction:
Trump administration drops appeal of court order blocking $1.2-billion UCLA settlement
The Trump administration dropped its appeal of a major higher education case in which a federal judge blocked its $1.2-billion settlement proposal to UCLA over alleged civil rights violations. It will...
www.latimes.com
February 14, 2026 at 6:08 AM
OH HELL YES
Reposted by Magdalena Donea | 🇷🇴 🇬🇷 🏳️🌈 ♿️
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Myself and @sesmith.lol and others were interviewed for the Lancet’s obituary of our friend Alice. <3
Myself and @sesmith.lol and others were interviewed for the Lancet’s obituary of our friend Alice. <3
Alice Wong
Writer, editor, and disability justice activist. Born on March 27, 1974 in Indianapolis,
IN, USA, she died from an infection on Nov 14, 2025 in San Francisco, CA, USA, aged
51 years.
www.thelancet.com
February 14, 2026 at 7:08 AM
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Myself and @sesmith.lol and others were interviewed for the Lancet’s obituary of our friend Alice. <3
Myself and @sesmith.lol and others were interviewed for the Lancet’s obituary of our friend Alice. <3
Compulsory "exercises remembering the life of Ronald Reagan, recognizing his accomplishments..."
Reagan's accomplishments: youtu.be/vnZ8WaiXnBY?... (start at 24:03, but I highly recommend the entire thing, a doc called "Herbert's Hippopotamus: Marcus and Revolution in Paradise" from the late 1990s)
Reagan's accomplishments: youtu.be/vnZ8WaiXnBY?... (start at 24:03, but I highly recommend the entire thing, a doc called "Herbert's Hippopotamus: Marcus and Revolution in Paradise" from the late 1990s)
February 14, 2026 at 9:32 AM
Compulsory "exercises remembering the life of Ronald Reagan, recognizing his accomplishments..."
Reagan's accomplishments: youtu.be/vnZ8WaiXnBY?... (start at 24:03, but I highly recommend the entire thing, a doc called "Herbert's Hippopotamus: Marcus and Revolution in Paradise" from the late 1990s)
Reagan's accomplishments: youtu.be/vnZ8WaiXnBY?... (start at 24:03, but I highly recommend the entire thing, a doc called "Herbert's Hippopotamus: Marcus and Revolution in Paradise" from the late 1990s)
Reposted by Magdalena Donea | 🇷🇴 🇬🇷 🏳️🌈 ♿️
