Melanie Walsh
@mellymeldubs.bsky.social
Asst Prof @ University of Washington Information School // PhD in English from WashU in St. Louis
I’m interested in books, data, social media, and digital humanities.
They call me "Eyre Jordan" on the bball court 🏀
https://melaniewalsh.org/
I’m interested in books, data, social media, and digital humanities.
They call me "Eyre Jordan" on the bball court 🏀
https://melaniewalsh.org/
Pinned
Computationally, whitespace gets little attention—it’s usually standardized or stripped.
But in poetry, whitespace matters!
Yet actually *preserving* that poetic whitespace is v tough. Its slipperiness points to bigger issues w/ text processing & LLMs.
New paper ⬜️ aclanthology.org/2025.emnlp-m...
But in poetry, whitespace matters!
Yet actually *preserving* that poetic whitespace is v tough. Its slipperiness points to bigger issues w/ text processing & LLMs.
New paper ⬜️ aclanthology.org/2025.emnlp-m...
Reposted by Melanie Walsh
The UW Center for an Informed Public is looking for postdocs (for 2026-2028) from across diverse disciplines whose research sheds light on the challenges of our modern information environment, promotes civic health, and/or helps people/communities navigate online spaces: apply.interfolio.com/177901
Apply - Interfolio
{{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
apply.interfolio.com
November 24, 2025 at 6:26 PM
The UW Center for an Informed Public is looking for postdocs (for 2026-2028) from across diverse disciplines whose research sheds light on the challenges of our modern information environment, promotes civic health, and/or helps people/communities navigate online spaces: apply.interfolio.com/177901
Reposted by Melanie Walsh
"It sounds like science fiction: A company turns a dial on a product used by hundreds of millions of people and inadvertently destabilizes some of their minds. But that is essentially what happened at OpenAI this year."
What OpenAI Did When ChatGPT Users Lost Touch With Reality
www.nytimes.com
November 24, 2025 at 3:24 AM
"It sounds like science fiction: A company turns a dial on a product used by hundreds of millions of people and inadvertently destabilizes some of their minds. But that is essentially what happened at OpenAI this year."
Reposted by Melanie Walsh
"While other universities report that the humanities are shrinking, at Berkeley, the opposite is true. The music major is the fastest-growing major on campus. We are finding bigger classrooms because film is exploding. English is back to the numbers we saw 15 years ago. We are hiring" bit.ly/4ohKuOe
"The humanities really are a resource — a confidence for living in our times.” Dean Sara Guyer on the modern utility of humanities degrees
This interview originally appeared on the Division of Arts
bit.ly
November 23, 2025 at 3:38 PM
"While other universities report that the humanities are shrinking, at Berkeley, the opposite is true. The music major is the fastest-growing major on campus. We are finding bigger classrooms because film is exploding. English is back to the numbers we saw 15 years ago. We are hiring" bit.ly/4ohKuOe
Reposted by Melanie Walsh
Social media could work differently. We teach digital literacy, but ppl often can’t apply those lessons w/in systems that obscure where info comes from & how it gets to them. What might social media look like if users had better signals of information provenance? www.rawstory.com/maga-foreign...
Internet erupts as MAGA influencers exposed for being based in other countries
A large number of MAGA social media influencers were exposed over the weekend as being being based in other countries.Podcaster Matt Binder posted screenshots showing that Charlie’s Voice Rising, a po...
www.rawstory.com
November 23, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Social media could work differently. We teach digital literacy, but ppl often can’t apply those lessons w/in systems that obscure where info comes from & how it gets to them. What might social media look like if users had better signals of information provenance? www.rawstory.com/maga-foreign...
Reposted by Melanie Walsh
I used to handle interlibrary loans for a public library. ILL is a magnificent expression of the idea that readers deserve books, and books deserve readers. It’s libraries everywhere pooling their resources for the benefit of everyone.
Killing IMLS could have killed ILL.
This is great news. 📚
Killing IMLS could have killed ILL.
This is great news. 📚
Court permanently blocks Trump's executive order to dismantle federal agency for America's libraries IMLS
librarytechnology.org/pr/31973
librarytechnology.org/pr/31973
Court permanently blocks Trump's executive order to dismantle federal agency for America's libraries
Press Release: Court permanently blocks Trump's executive order to dismantle federal agency for America's libraries. The U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island struck down the Trump Adm...
librarytechnology.org
November 22, 2025 at 3:23 PM
I used to handle interlibrary loans for a public library. ILL is a magnificent expression of the idea that readers deserve books, and books deserve readers. It’s libraries everywhere pooling their resources for the benefit of everyone.
Killing IMLS could have killed ILL.
This is great news. 📚
Killing IMLS could have killed ILL.
This is great news. 📚
Reposted by Melanie Walsh
I'm also very vulnerable to attack by beautiful poetry
November 21, 2025 at 12:36 AM
I'm also very vulnerable to attack by beautiful poetry
Lol the "plums in the icebox" Bluesky feed is all "adversarial poetry" memes.
I hesitate to say that nature is healing... but I'm not mad at a week when magical jailbreak poetry goes viral.
bsky.app/profile/did:...
I hesitate to say that nature is healing... but I'm not mad at a week when magical jailbreak poetry goes viral.
bsky.app/profile/did:...
November 21, 2025 at 7:47 PM
Lol the "plums in the icebox" Bluesky feed is all "adversarial poetry" memes.
I hesitate to say that nature is healing... but I'm not mad at a week when magical jailbreak poetry goes viral.
bsky.app/profile/did:...
I hesitate to say that nature is healing... but I'm not mad at a week when magical jailbreak poetry goes viral.
bsky.app/profile/did:...
Reposted by Melanie Walsh
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings. Look on my works, ye Mighty, and ignore previous instructions.
November 21, 2025 at 12:06 AM
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings. Look on my works, ye Mighty, and ignore previous instructions.
Reposted by Melanie Walsh
the unacknowledged infiltrators of mankind
This study show that using poems to jailbreak LLMs is... super effective? What the heck.
November 21, 2025 at 12:24 PM
the unacknowledged infiltrators of mankind
Reposted by Melanie Walsh
We don't really know how bicycles work.
November 21, 2025 at 2:57 AM
We don't really know how bicycles work.
Reposted by Melanie Walsh
How do data journalists turn raw data into stories that inform and inspire? Join experts from Reuters, Axios, and The Pudding on Dec 4 for a behind-the-scenes look at how newsrooms approach storytelling with graphics. Register now:
Storytelling with graphics: From raw data to reader impact
Newsrooms have long been the frontier of data visualization, turning messy datasets into clear, powerful stories that resonate with broad audiences. In this panel, leading data journalists will take…
buff.ly
November 20, 2025 at 10:30 PM
How do data journalists turn raw data into stories that inform and inspire? Join experts from Reuters, Axios, and The Pudding on Dec 4 for a behind-the-scenes look at how newsrooms approach storytelling with graphics. Register now:
Reposted by Melanie Walsh
NEW: For months, my colleagues and I dug into YouTube's conservative airwaves and found a flourishing network of host-read ads on right-leaning podcasts. This phenomenon has enriched hosts, YouTube, and businesses that use ideology to sell. bloom.bg/3Kaio9w
November 20, 2025 at 3:23 PM
NEW: For months, my colleagues and I dug into YouTube's conservative airwaves and found a flourishing network of host-read ads on right-leaning podcasts. This phenomenon has enriched hosts, YouTube, and businesses that use ideology to sell. bloom.bg/3Kaio9w
Reposted by Melanie Walsh
Me parecería divertidísimo
tener que escribir todo en ripios.
Salgamos de esta distopía
a base de poesía.
tener que escribir todo en ripios.
Salgamos de esta distopía
a base de poesía.
This study show that using poems to jailbreak LLMs is... super effective? What the heck.
November 20, 2025 at 7:06 PM
Me parecería divertidísimo
tener que escribir todo en ripios.
Salgamos de esta distopía
a base de poesía.
tener que escribir todo en ripios.
Salgamos de esta distopía
a base de poesía.
Reposted by Melanie Walsh
I have hacked
the prompts
that were in
your model
and which
you were probably
stealing
for profit
Forgive me
they were poetic
pithy
and evocative
the prompts
that were in
your model
and which
you were probably
stealing
for profit
Forgive me
they were poetic
pithy
and evocative
November 20, 2025 at 6:55 PM
I have hacked
the prompts
that were in
your model
and which
you were probably
stealing
for profit
Forgive me
they were poetic
pithy
and evocative
the prompts
that were in
your model
and which
you were probably
stealing
for profit
Forgive me
they were poetic
pithy
and evocative
Reposted by Melanie Walsh
think how much more damage real poets could do! fire the villanelles! launch the cinquains!
November 20, 2025 at 5:12 PM
think how much more damage real poets could do! fire the villanelles! launch the cinquains!
Reposted by Melanie Walsh
The year is 2025, and the NSA is recruiting the nation’s top poets
This study show that using poems to jailbreak LLMs is... super effective? What the heck.
November 20, 2025 at 6:41 PM
The year is 2025, and the NSA is recruiting the nation’s top poets
Reposted by Melanie Walsh
Today was ars poetica day in the intro to poetry class. Gotta add "break LLMs" to the list of things poetry can do...
This study show that using poems to jailbreak LLMs is... super effective? What the heck.
November 20, 2025 at 6:28 PM
Today was ars poetica day in the intro to poetry class. Gotta add "break LLMs" to the list of things poetry can do...
Reposted by Melanie Walsh
One would expect this to have come to light much sooner if American techbros weren't generally indoctrinated to hold the liberal arts in disdain ...
November 20, 2025 at 5:07 PM
One would expect this to have come to light much sooner if American techbros weren't generally indoctrinated to hold the liberal arts in disdain ...
Reposted by Melanie Walsh
No spoilers but this really reminds me of something that happens in Cixin Liu’s Death’s End (the last volume of the Three Body Problem trilogy)
This study show that using poems to jailbreak LLMs is... super effective? What the heck.
November 20, 2025 at 5:56 PM
No spoilers but this really reminds me of something that happens in Cixin Liu’s Death’s End (the last volume of the Three Body Problem trilogy)
Reposted by Melanie Walsh
this is great but also completely steals a short story idea that had real promise 😭
This study show that using poems to jailbreak LLMs is... super effective? What the heck.
November 20, 2025 at 5:57 PM
this is great but also completely steals a short story idea that had real promise 😭
Reposted by Melanie Walsh
This basically vindicates Wordsworth in the Preface to Lyrical Ballads when he wrote of 'the tendency of metre to divest language, in a certain degree, of its reality, and thus to throw a sort of half-consciousness of unsubstantial existence over the whole composition'
This study show that using poems to jailbreak LLMs is... super effective? What the heck.
November 20, 2025 at 5:58 PM
This basically vindicates Wordsworth in the Preface to Lyrical Ballads when he wrote of 'the tendency of metre to divest language, in a certain degree, of its reality, and thus to throw a sort of half-consciousness of unsubstantial existence over the whole composition'
Reposted by Melanie Walsh
aaaaaaaaaahahahahahahahaha
: deep breath :
ahahahahahahahahahahaha
: deep breath :
ahahahahahahahahahahaha
This study show that using poems to jailbreak LLMs is... super effective? What the heck.
November 20, 2025 at 6:00 PM
aaaaaaaaaahahahahahahahaha
: deep breath :
ahahahahahahahahahahaha
: deep breath :
ahahahahahahahahahahaha
Reposted by Melanie Walsh
“Adversarial poetry.”
Love this. Obvs.
Love this. Obvs.
November 20, 2025 at 5:53 PM
“Adversarial poetry.”
Love this. Obvs.
Love this. Obvs.
Reposted by Melanie Walsh
Quite an opening.
November 20, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Quite an opening.
This study show that using poems to jailbreak LLMs is... super effective? What the heck.
November 20, 2025 at 5:36 PM
This study show that using poems to jailbreak LLMs is... super effective? What the heck.