Nicki Clarkson
@nickiclarkson.bsky.social
Engagement Librarian at the University of Southampton, lover of cats, cake, coffee, knitting & Board Meeting Bingo, embarrassing parent. Please block me if you are a transphobe. Views: my own. She/her
Reposted by Nicki Clarkson
You are ABSOLUTELY NOT going to regret listening to this bird:
A male rock ptarmigan (Lagopus muta) in winter plumage.
Ptarmigan is from Gaelic 'tarmachan' meaning "croaker". The p- was added when people mistakenly assumed it was a Greek word.
A bird forever warning people: "A werewolf!" (just in case of werewolves).
Ptarmigan is from Gaelic 'tarmachan' meaning "croaker". The p- was added when people mistakenly assumed it was a Greek word.
A bird forever warning people: "A werewolf!" (just in case of werewolves).
December 6, 2025 at 5:10 PM
You are ABSOLUTELY NOT going to regret listening to this bird:
Reposted by Nicki Clarkson
Oh joy, another helpful AI infographic via LinkedIn. Off I go to my job as a liberaian, maybe to run some critical evaligane workshops and of course use New! Boulean! Logic!
December 2, 2025 at 8:15 AM
Oh joy, another helpful AI infographic via LinkedIn. Off I go to my job as a liberaian, maybe to run some critical evaligane workshops and of course use New! Boulean! Logic!
Dressed very formally for a networking event
December 3, 2025 at 8:30 AM
Dressed very formally for a networking event
Happy Gazpacho Soup Day to all who celebrate
a man in a lab coat with a stethoscope around his neck is screaming .
Alt: Arnold Rimmer from Red Dwarf putting his fist in his mouth in embarrassment
media.tenor.com
November 25, 2025 at 11:26 AM
Happy Gazpacho Soup Day to all who celebrate
Reposted by Nicki Clarkson
It’s widely known (and, I think, pretty uncontroversial) that learning requires effort — specifically, if you don’t have to work at getting the knowledge, it won’t stick.
Even if an LLM could be trusted to give you correct information 100% of the time, it would be an inferior method of learning it.
Even if an LLM could be trusted to give you correct information 100% of the time, it would be an inferior method of learning it.
Relying on ChatGPT to teach you about a topic leaves you with shallower knowledge than Googling and reading about it, according to new research that compared what more than 10,000 people knew after using one method or the other.
Shared by @gizmodo.com: buff.ly/yAAHtHq
Shared by @gizmodo.com: buff.ly/yAAHtHq
November 21, 2025 at 12:49 PM
It’s widely known (and, I think, pretty uncontroversial) that learning requires effort — specifically, if you don’t have to work at getting the knowledge, it won’t stick.
Even if an LLM could be trusted to give you correct information 100% of the time, it would be an inferior method of learning it.
Even if an LLM could be trusted to give you correct information 100% of the time, it would be an inferior method of learning it.
Reposted by Nicki Clarkson
Laughed then cried
In an ironic and possibly predictable turn of events, the conference has received “an unusually large proportion” of off-topic abstracts that show signs of being written by generative AI.
Research integrity conference hit with AI-generated abstracts
The first of three themes for next year’s World Conference on Research Integrity will be the risks and benefits of artificial intelligence for research integrity. In an ironic and possibly predicta…
retractionwatch.com
November 19, 2025 at 7:58 AM
Laughed then cried
Reposted by Nicki Clarkson
![[Scene is a kitchen - a middle aged woman called JANET is boiling peas at the stove. A younger more colourfully dressed woman named LIZ approached her.]
JANET:
Ugh...
LIZ:
What's up?
JANET:
I am so bored of cooking peas!
LIZ:
Have you tried...
AI peas?
JANET:
AI peas?
LIZ:
They're peas with AI!
[Liz holds up to us a packet of peas labelled: Pea-i AI - Peas with AI].
LIZ:
Al-powered peas harness the potential of your peas
JANET:
What
LIZ [Now a voiceover as we cut to a whizzy technology diagram of peas all connected by meaningless dotted lines]
Why not take your peas to the next level with Al Peas' new Al tools to power your peas?
[Show a techno diagram of a pea with a label reading 'AI' pointing to a random zone in it]
LIZ:
Each pea has Al in a way we haven't quite worked out yet but it's fine
[Show Janet and Liz now in a Matrix-style world of peas]
LIZ:
With Al peas you can supercharge productivity and make AI work for your peas!
JANET:
What
LIZ:
Shut up
LIZ:
Our game-changing Pea-Al gives you the freedom to unlock the potential of the power of the future of your peas workflow
From opening the bag of peas
to boiling the peas
to eating the peas
To spending millions on adding Al to the peas and then having to work out what that even means.
JANET:
Is it really necessary to-
LIZ [Grabbing Janet by the collar]:
THE PEAS HAVE GOT AI, JANET
[Cut to an advert ending screen, with the bag of peas and the slogan:
AI PEAS: Just 'Peas' for god's sake buy the AI peas.
[Ends]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4m3we4apbjayclzcnhwe3pfp/bafkreiayqa37f7kik7l7s7fbtfp2sir5ckb662ry2lylinyjrfa2rkvvka@jpeg)
Reposted by Nicki Clarkson
The UK Reproducibility Network: OER for Open Research oercommons.org/hubs/ukrn
@ukrepro.bsky.social @oercommons.bsky.social
@ukrepro.bsky.social @oercommons.bsky.social
The UK Reproducibility Network
oercommons.org
November 10, 2025 at 12:50 PM
The UK Reproducibility Network: OER for Open Research oercommons.org/hubs/ukrn
@ukrepro.bsky.social @oercommons.bsky.social
@ukrepro.bsky.social @oercommons.bsky.social
Reposted by Nicki Clarkson
A reminder that this anti-trans panic is 100% bullshit and exactly none of our country’s problems are related to someone expressing their gender identity and everyone who isn’t a hate-filled weirdo knows it.
November 10, 2025 at 1:16 PM
A reminder that this anti-trans panic is 100% bullshit and exactly none of our country’s problems are related to someone expressing their gender identity and everyone who isn’t a hate-filled weirdo knows it.
Reposted by Nicki Clarkson
"If Grokipedia is getting things about me wrong, what else is it getting wrong in other articles, where I do not have the same level of domain knowledge?" - @scalzi.com
A Review of Grokipedia, Using Myself as Test Subject
What? You didn’t know that Grokipedia exists? Well, it does, and it’s Elon Musk’s attempt to run Wikipedia out of town on a rail: An “AI”-generated compendium of infor…
whatever.scalzi.com
November 3, 2025 at 10:03 PM
"If Grokipedia is getting things about me wrong, what else is it getting wrong in other articles, where I do not have the same level of domain knowledge?" - @scalzi.com
Reposted by Nicki Clarkson
'New proposals by Elsevier, Springer Nature, Taylor & Francis, Wiley and Sage were sent to universities this week after their initial offers were decisively rejected by institutions in a sector-wide consultation run by Jisc,...negotiating jointly with Universities UK on behalf of universities.' 1/3
New offers from big five ‘still too costly’ for UK universities
‘Significant’ number of institutions predicted to drop deals with main scholarly imprints, leaving journal access much reduced
www.timeshighereducation.com
October 23, 2025 at 6:43 AM
'New proposals by Elsevier, Springer Nature, Taylor & Francis, Wiley and Sage were sent to universities this week after their initial offers were decisively rejected by institutions in a sector-wide consultation run by Jisc,...negotiating jointly with Universities UK on behalf of universities.' 1/3
This is my favourite laptop sticker and I have no idea why I like it so much (I paid £1 for it at Southampton Pride)
October 17, 2025 at 1:58 PM
This is my favourite laptop sticker and I have no idea why I like it so much (I paid £1 for it at Southampton Pride)
Where do I work? Oh, just a totally normal university library
October 14, 2025 at 8:46 AM
Where do I work? Oh, just a totally normal university library
Initial success in my quest for house plants that Snips won’t eat
October 12, 2025 at 11:00 AM
Initial success in my quest for house plants that Snips won’t eat
Reposted by Nicki Clarkson
Just to say that teachers do an incredibly difficult job, with all the right intentions, and can be the defining influence on a young person's life. They are the exact opposite of poisoners because good teaching provides the antidote to so many dangers
Nigel Farage says UK teachers are ‘poisoning our kids’ and predicts strikes as PM
Nigel Farage says UK teachers are ‘poisoning our kids’ and predicts strikes as PM
Exclusive: Reform UK leader, speaking at event for private US college, also claimed the ‘Marxist left’ controls education
Nigel Farage has predicted teachers would go on strike within weeks of a Reform UK government, and accused them of “poisoning our kids” by telling them that black children are victims and white children oppressors.
The Reform UK leader set out his view on British schools in an event for a private US Christian college in Michigan, claiming the “Marxist left” was “now in control of our education system”. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
October 9, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Just to say that teachers do an incredibly difficult job, with all the right intentions, and can be the defining influence on a young person's life. They are the exact opposite of poisoners because good teaching provides the antidote to so many dangers
Reposted by Nicki Clarkson
💥New: Open educational resources should be central to the public mission of universities
✍️ @niamhtumelty.bsky.social & @heroicendeavour.bsky.social
#OpenResearch #AcademicSky #HigherEducation (@lsepress.bsky.social)
✍️ @niamhtumelty.bsky.social & @heroicendeavour.bsky.social
#OpenResearch #AcademicSky #HigherEducation (@lsepress.bsky.social)
Open educational resources should be central to the public mission of universities - Impact of Social Sciences
Why open educational resources should form a central part of university strategies for public engagement.
blogs.lse.ac.uk
October 3, 2025 at 8:15 AM
💥New: Open educational resources should be central to the public mission of universities
✍️ @niamhtumelty.bsky.social & @heroicendeavour.bsky.social
#OpenResearch #AcademicSky #HigherEducation (@lsepress.bsky.social)
✍️ @niamhtumelty.bsky.social & @heroicendeavour.bsky.social
#OpenResearch #AcademicSky #HigherEducation (@lsepress.bsky.social)
This beautiful little menace (who featured in my comedy set at the uni Open Day this afternoon) has found a new way to get to my houseplants which does not bode well for them
October 5, 2025 at 4:22 PM
This beautiful little menace (who featured in my comedy set at the uni Open Day this afternoon) has found a new way to get to my houseplants which does not bode well for them
Reposted by Nicki Clarkson
Hwæt! 🐉
Ever wondered what the epic poem Beowulf sounds like spoken in Old English?
#NationalPoetryDay
Ever wondered what the epic poem Beowulf sounds like spoken in Old English?
#NationalPoetryDay
October 2, 2025 at 12:23 PM
Hwæt! 🐉
Ever wondered what the epic poem Beowulf sounds like spoken in Old English?
#NationalPoetryDay
Ever wondered what the epic poem Beowulf sounds like spoken in Old English?
#NationalPoetryDay
Reposted by Nicki Clarkson
Every few months now I re-read this "Who Goes Nazi?" piece from 1941 and am blown away by how it captures the people we are dealing with 80 years later.
harpers.org/archive/1941...
harpers.org/archive/1941...
Who Goes Nazi?, by Dorothy Thompson
harpers.org
October 1, 2025 at 11:59 PM
Every few months now I re-read this "Who Goes Nazi?" piece from 1941 and am blown away by how it captures the people we are dealing with 80 years later.
harpers.org/archive/1941...
harpers.org/archive/1941...
Reposted by Nicki Clarkson
Yep yep yep. I teach courses that are based on my expertise as a researcher and my work in the archives. Why on earth would I add a conservative pundit to one of those courses? What would they add?
Inviting pundits to give "talks" is just not what professors/departments do. Some schools have "institutes of politics" that do this, like @gupolitics.bsky.social at Georgetown, which invites conservatives regularly. Departments invite scholars for talks, and I rarely know their personal politics.
More than anything, they want to be patted on the head and told they're a good boy by the liberal elites
September 28, 2025 at 8:05 PM
Yep yep yep. I teach courses that are based on my expertise as a researcher and my work in the archives. Why on earth would I add a conservative pundit to one of those courses? What would they add?
Reposted by Nicki Clarkson
Mordor on the Orient Express
September 27, 2025 at 9:51 AM
Mordor on the Orient Express
Reposted by Nicki Clarkson
OMG Peter @nickiclarkson.bsky.social you are genius
Introducing the Southampton Digital Scholarship team mascot:
Just who is Peter the Penguin?
library.soton.ac.uk/digital-scho...
Just who is Peter the Penguin?
library.soton.ac.uk/digital-scho...
Inside Digital Scholarship - Digital Scholarship - LibGuides@Southampton at University of Southampton Library
library.soton.ac.uk
September 25, 2025 at 2:33 PM
OMG Peter @nickiclarkson.bsky.social you are genius
The whole series of #AHistoryOfEnglandIn25Poems is incredible. I was unfamiliar with most of the poems so it was a delight to discover them, and hear Catherine unwrap and explain the words and their context. The absolute best of audacious empathy
Just finished listening to the first episode of #AHistoryOfEnglandIn25Poems. Did they play me out with Elgar's Nimrod? Of course they did! Broadcast every day this week at 11.45 (repeated at half past midnight) + on BBC Sounds: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand...
September 24, 2025 at 5:18 PM
The whole series of #AHistoryOfEnglandIn25Poems is incredible. I was unfamiliar with most of the poems so it was a delight to discover them, and hear Catherine unwrap and explain the words and their context. The absolute best of audacious empathy
Reposted by Nicki Clarkson
Discworld QOTD, from Eric
“‘Multiple exclamation marks,’ he went on, shaking his head, ‘are a sure sign of a diseased mind.’”
“‘Multiple exclamation marks,’ he went on, shaking his head, ‘are a sure sign of a diseased mind.’”
Discworld QOTD, from The Last Hero
September 18, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Discworld QOTD, from Eric
“‘Multiple exclamation marks,’ he went on, shaking his head, ‘are a sure sign of a diseased mind.’”
“‘Multiple exclamation marks,’ he went on, shaking his head, ‘are a sure sign of a diseased mind.’”
Reposted by Nicki Clarkson
A Labour government that does not fight back against the far right, racism and extremism fundamentally misunderstands the nature of its electoral support.
September 13, 2025 at 8:37 PM
A Labour government that does not fight back against the far right, racism and extremism fundamentally misunderstands the nature of its electoral support.