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Michèle Champagne @michhham.bsky.social · 1d

Ottawa rocks old libraries.

Alex Bozikovic @alexbozikovic.bsky.social · 1d

Today in Ottawa: Library Archives Canada, Mathers Haldenby, 1967.

This is just the lobby. What a feast of details.

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Reposted by Michèle Champagne

Simon Lewsen @simonlewsen.bsky.social · 2d

This piece is still the one I'm most proud of in my career. (And @chloeellingson.bsky.social's photos are gorgeous.)

The Local Magazine @thelocal.to · 4d

From the #LocalArchives: The Annex is shrinking. The towers of Crescent Town are exploding. @simonlewsen.bsky.social on a tale of two cities, and how the uneven, illogical densification pattern of the last 50 years created today’s Toronto. thelocal.to/density-the-...

In the Annex and Crescent Town, Two Sides to a Density Dilemma | The Local

The Annex had fewer residents in 2021 than 1971. The towers of Crescent Town had far more. How the uneven, illogical densification pattern of the last 50 years created today’s Toronto.

thelocal.to

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Michèle Champagne @michhham.bsky.social · 1d

Excellent conflation of art and entertainment.

Lux "Nightmare" Alptraum @luxalptraum.com · 2d

TFW you paid $1400 to see Beckett’s most famous work without knowing anything about it

One Star Review of Waiting for Godot on Broadway
I recently attended Waiting for Godot on Broadway and spent over $1,400 for two Row C seats (103 and 104). I'm a longtime admirer of Broadway productions and even hold a season pass for Shea's Performing Arts Theatre, so I came in with genuine enthusiasm and high expectations. Unfortunately, this show was unlike anything ! have ever experienced —and not in a good way.
What I encountered was not the artistry, music, or emotional storytelling I usually associate with Broadway, but instead what felt like an endless cycle of nonsensical conversation between characters who seemed trapped in their own madness. I tried-truly tried-to find meaning, symbolism, or even a thread of emotional resonance. I stayed through the first half hoping the second would offer clarity. But by intermission, it was clear: this was a waste of both time and money.
Keanu Reeves is an actor I respect greatly, but I cannot fathom why he would agree to participate in such a disjointed, inaccessible production. His talent was lost in a performance that defied reason rather than provoked insight.
To anyone considering attending: unless you are drawn to highly abstract, nearly incomprehensible theater, I strongly caution you against this show. For the average, educated, thoughtful theatergoer, it is far more frustrating than fulfilling. In my opinion, this was the single most disappointing Broadway experience I've ever had - an unfortunate waste of money and, more importantly, of time.

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Michèle Champagne @michhham.bsky.social · 1d

Dr. @lisafeldmanbarrett.com is right. The short answer is: No.

Can Machines Perceive Emotion? | Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett | Talks at Google

YouTube video by Talks at Google

m.youtube.com

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Michèle Champagne @michhham.bsky.social · 1d

It cannot “sneak into your mind” because it’s emotion “AI” misrecognition. It’s a pseudoscience. You cannot infer emotion from facial expressions.

Tech Policy Press @techpolicypress.bsky.social · 3d

The increasing use of AI to surveil people’s emotions endangers not only privacy but also personal autonomy—the bedrock of democracy, writes Oznur Uguz. Newly emerging AI laws fail to provide adequate safeguards, she says.

How AI-Powered Emotional Surveillance Can Threaten Personal Autonomy and Democracy | TechPolicy.Press

If we do not regulate emotional AI surveillance now, we might soon have to fake how we feel to protect our privacy, writes Oznur Uguz.

buff.ly

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Michèle Champagne @michhham.bsky.social · 1d

Digital regulation does exist. And it can be implemented without the sky falling.

Tech Policy Press @techpolicypress.bsky.social · 1d

Last week, a Dutch court ordered Meta to let Facebook and Instagram users set a chronological feed by default, a first test of the EU’s Digital Services Act in civil court. Tech Policy Press spoke with Bits of Freedom’s Rejo Zenger on the ruling’s significance.

What a Dutch Court Ruling Against Meta Signals for Private DSA Enforcement | TechPolicy.Press

Tech Policy Press spoke with Rejo Zenger, Policy and Advocacy Lead at Bits of Freedom, to better understand the significance of the ruling.

buff.ly

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Michèle Champagne @michhham.bsky.social · 2d

This @bloomberg.com piece shows that @vassb.bsky.social poses important questions about economic pain.

But for some reason @franciswilkinson.bsky.social in Toronto characterises TIFF as mere spectacle and “high-gloss culture on the side”.

Notez bien: Culture in Canada is a billion dollar industry.

Can Canada Survive Donald Trump?

Under assault from an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian United States, the country’s future looks less secure than at any time in postwar history.

www.bloomberg.com

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Michèle Champagne @michhham.bsky.social · 2d

Great. “AI” and Big Tech waste billions to rip societies apart (a good investment apparently, as nearly 40 percent of US GDP growth in 2025 comes from AI, which can’t possibly go on forever, or can it) so people buy gold as a “hedge against destruction”.

— via @glindsay.bsky.social

Why Tech Stocks Are Booming While Gold Is Dooming

Welcome to the age of cognitive dissonance investing.

www.bloomberg.com

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Michèle Champagne @michhham.bsky.social · 2d

Des gains importants.

Le prix de l’or dépasse les 4000$ US l’once pour la première fois

Les investisseurs se rabattent sur cette valeur refuge face à la quasi-paralysie du gouvernement américain.

www.ledevoir.com

Michèle Champagne @michhham.bsky.social · 2d

Those roots are clear to me. With the rise in popularity of “behind the scenes” as a cultural genre, I’m surprised we don’t see more backstage photographs, clips, and teasers for prototyping or studio work—in animation, film, visual art, design, and architecture. Even city works.

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Michèle Champagne @michhham.bsky.social · 2d

Arts degrees are worthless, yet what they produce is so valuable to the “AI” industry that if it had to pay for that value, it would go under. Got it.

Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry

Paul McCartne, Elton John and others signed an open letter.

www.theverge.com

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Michèle Champagne @michhham.bsky.social · 2d

I noticed this with Build Canada Homes’ adoption of the Buy Canadian policy. It emphasizes domestic lumber, mass timber, steel and aluminium, but ignores the 21st century.

It doesn’t mention domestic architecture services or IP like mass timber patents, energy software or photography copyrights.

Blayne Haggart @bhaggart.bsky.social · 2d

Carney’s approach to AI policy tells me that he has an overinflated sense of his own skills and a limited understanding of the 21st century knowledge-driven economy. We see this in his 19th century approach to infrastructure/resource development and his 90s-era embrace of austerity government.

Michèle Champagne @michhham.bsky.social · 2d

“The more regulation-minded types on the task force are perplexed as to why a government allegedly obsessed with keeping things Canadian would fork over $240 million for Toronto-based Cohere to buy AI compute space from CoreWeave, a New Jersey-based cloud computing firm.”

Michèle Champagne @michhham.bsky.social · 2d

Prime Minister Carney’s and Minister Solomon’s own “AI” task force members have their doubts about the “30-day sprint” they were given to produce wisdom reports.

They also question the government’s provision of hundreds of millions to Canadian firms to purchase the services of American firms.

Blayne Haggart @bhaggart.bsky.social · 2d

Carney’s reckless approach to AI policy should raise serious questions about his infrastructure & US policies as well. In all three, he seems to be relying on his own (non-expert) judgment, ignoring complexity & others’ expertise in favour of speed. But decisiveness isn’t the same as good judgment.

Carney’s haste may make bad AI policy - The Logic

The Liberals’ AI task force has just 30 days to do their job. Some members say it isn’t enough time.

thelogic.co

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Michèle Champagne @michhham.bsky.social · 3d

“The flat roofs, plain regular fenestration and pyramidal form give the building a curiously Twentieth Century, even proto-Soviet aspect, despite its Imperial patron.”

— Philip Steadman @ucl.ac.uk's Bartlett School, “Samuel Bentham’s Panopticon”, published in the Journal of Bentham Studies, 2012

journals.uclpress.co.uk

Michèle Champagne @michhham.bsky.social · 3d

Jeremy Bentham himself, in his letters, insisted the idea and plan came from his younger brother, Samuel.

And it was Samuel who designed and built a panopticon as a naval “School of the Arts” in Saint Petersburg. Look at Samuel’s pre-proto-modernism. A plan, elevation, and sections circa 1807.

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Michèle Champagne @michhham.bsky.social · 3d

And to be clear:

The panopticon as a social “inspection principle” was not conceived by English philosopher Jeremy Bentham in the 18th century. And it wasn’t first given architectural form as a proposal for a prison, one that never came to be.

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Michèle Champagne @michhham.bsky.social · 3d

Both Halloween and Christmas decorations are out at the Provigo here in Montreal. Which is a reminder:

In preparation for nutmeg and cookie season, where can I acquire this kind of ginger kit?

Sasha Darling PHD, MD, DSL @sashadarling.bsky.social · Dec 24

I made a gingerbread panopticon

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Michèle Champagne @michhham.bsky.social · 4d

Paul Wells’ latest blog taunt: “(Quick, quote your favourite speech by a Canadian official at the UN General Assembly.)”

That’s easy. @bobbyrae48.bsky.social:

“We don’t go to war, we go to the negotiating table. We go to court ... That’s how we resolve disputes. The other way: lies madness.”

Bob Rae addresses United Nations

YouTube video by CTV News

www.youtube.com

Michèle Champagne @michhham.bsky.social · 4d

This piece is great.

Noema Magazine @noemamag.com · 8d

“Whoever controls AI infrastructure—compute, models, data, & cloud—will shape the economic & political order of the 21st century. The U.S. & China understand this & are mobilizing every instrument of statecraft to secure supremacy. Europe must understand it too.”

— @francescabria.bsky.social

#ai

Reclaiming Europe’s Digital Sovereignty | NOEMA

Europe can accept permanent technological dependency, or it can build democratic digital systems rooted in climate commitments, labor protections and social diversity.

www.noemamag.com

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Michèle Champagne @michhham.bsky.social · 4d

Excellent art criticism.

Dr Kat Day (she/her) @chronicleflask.katday.com · 4d

Daughter of Robin Williams, Zelda Williams 💔

zeldawilliams
20m
From Create Mode
••
Please, just stop sending me AI videos of Dad. Stop believing I wanna see it or that I'll understand, I don't and I won't. If you're just trying to troll me, I've seen way worse, i'll restrict and move on. But please, if you've got any decency, just stop doing this to him and to me, to everyone even, full stop. It's dumb, it's a waste of time and energy, and believe me, it's NOT what he'd want.
To watch the legacies of real people be condensed down to 'this vaguely looks and sounds like them so that's enough,
, just so
other people can churn out horrible TikTok slop puppeteering them is maddening. You're not making art, you're making disgusting, over-processed hotdogs out of the lives of human beings, out of the history of art and music, and then shoving them down someone else's throat hoping they'll give you a little thumbs up and like it.
Gross.

And for the love of EVERYTHING, stop calling it 'the future. Al is just badly recycling and regurgitating the past to be reconsumed. You are taking in the Human Centipede of content, and from the very very end of the line, all while the folks at the front laugh and laugh, consume and consume.

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Reposted by Michèle Champagne

Luke Stark @lukestark.bsky.social · 4d

No longer a festive handbell choir

Dale Smith @journodale.bsky.social · 4d

New ceremonial robes vs old ceremonial robes. #SCC

2026 photo of the Supreme Court of Canada, where the new robes are black with red piping.

2025 photo of the Supreme Court of Canada, with the red velvet and ermine robes.

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Reposted by Michèle Champagne

Greg Lindsay @glindsay.bsky.social · 5d

"You can see the workslop everywhere, except in productivity statistics" — Robert Solow, probably

Michèle Champagne @michhham.bsky.social · 5d

Forget competency. Consider pursuing a career as an AI “Workslop” Course-Corrector.

— via @glindsay.bsky.social

Upwork Monthly Hiring Report: Increasing Demand for Skills That Combat AI “Workslop”

Discover key insights from the Upwork Monthly Hiring Report for September 2025. Understand hiring trends, top skills in demand, and which roles are seeing growing demand.

www.upwork.com

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Reposted by Michèle Champagne

UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose @iipp-ucl.bsky.social · 5d

🇪🇺 “Those who control digital infrastructure control the conditions of possibility for democracy itself.”

IIPP Honorary Professor @francescabria.bsky.social writes about the need for Europe to reclaim its digital sovereignty in her latest article for @noemamag.com.

✍️ Read more here: buff.ly/SzWevBN

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Michèle Champagne @michhham.bsky.social · 4d

Further proof that critics, debates and public programmes at cultural events are important and productive.

Like this one organised by Bria at Biennale Architettura di Venezia. Her rebuttal to Benjamin Bratton on digital sovereignty is spot on.

— via @glindsay.bsky.social
— cc @vassb.bsky.social

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