Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

bryan newbold @bnewbold.net · 3d

for atproto devs and protocol watchers, I published an overview of the network moderation architecture.

it tries to cover all the mod actions possible for each service type. this design has been around a while, but not well documented.

this doc is not very polished, but could clarify some details

AT Moderation Architecture | bryan newbold

The AT network is becoming more heterogeneous in practice, with independent PDS hosts, apps, and alternative bsky AppViews establishing themselves. This means that more complex inter-service moderatio...

whtwnd.com

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Amy Zhang @axz.bsky.social · 3d

My takeaway from that convo is that AI usage has signal but is not a good proxy for paper mills, and we should be careful not to conflate it w/ legitimate usage of AI. Authors need nuanced guidance before AI attribution mandates, or there'll be low uptake due to stigma in some fields.

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Amy Zhang @axz.bsky.social · 3d

I also briefly discussed this work for a news article from Science on AI attribution in scientific publishing: www.science.org/content/arti...

Far more authors use AI to write science papers than admit it, publisher reports

Finding highlights promise, questions about detectors of AI-generated text

www.science.org

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Amy Zhang @axz.bsky.social · 3d

This work will appear at #colm2025! Please go and check out the poster. I will not be there sadly but several coauthors from Ai2 will be there!

Amy Zhang @axz.bsky.social · Dec 3

In collab w/ Semantic Scholar, we conducted a large scale (800+) survey of researcher usage and perceptions of LLMs for science.

Major findings:
+Most are using LLMs already, mostly for writing
+LLMs seem to be a win for research equity
+But some groups, like women, have more ethical concerns too

Simona Liao @simonaliao.bsky.social · Dec 2

Hi everyone, I am excited to share our large-scale survey study with 800+ researchers, which reveals researchers’ usage and perceptions of LLMs as research tools, and how the usage and perceptions differ based on demographics.

See results in comments!

🔗 Arxiv link: arxiv.org/abs/2411.05025

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Theia Henderson @theias.place · 12d

I'm headed to #UIST2025 🇰🇷 to present our 🏆 Best Paper (!!!), "Graffiti: Enabling an Ecosystem of Personalized and Interoperable Social Applications"
@karger.bsky.social and David Clark
doi.org/10.1145/3746...

Graffiti: Enabling an Ecosystem of Personalized and Interoperable Social Applications | Proceedings of the 38th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology

doi.org

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chenhaotan.bsky.social @chenhaotan.bsky.social · 14d

🚀 We’re thrilled to announce the upcoming AI & Scientific Discovery online seminar! We have an amazing lineup of speakers.

This series will dive into how AI is accelerating research, enabling breakthroughs, and shaping the future of research across disciplines.

ai-scientific-discovery.github.io

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ACM CSCW @acm-cscw.bsky.social · 21d

We are excited to announce CSCW's 2025's Lasting Impact Award winners. Congrats to Jill Dimond, Michaelanne Thomas, Daphne LaRose, and Amy Bruckman who will receive the award for their 2013 paper "Hollaback!: The Role of Collective Storytelling Online in a Social Movement Organization." #csccw2025

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Amy Zhang @axz.bsky.social · 26d

It’s true, iSchools have been way ahead in terms of embracing multidisciplinarity!

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Amy Zhang @axz.bsky.social · 26d

"Perhaps over the longer term, we will need some hybrid of computer science and social science that is the equivalent of economics, political science and sociology."

Yes, I agree!

Kristen Collins @kristenrosec.bsky.social · 27d

@himself.bsky.social’s must-read on LLMs/AI as a social technologyand—my favorite part—how the Industrial Revolution has been a slow-moving singularity that shows the importance of the social sciences for grappling with today’s technologies (and we do with them)

open.substack.com/pub/programm...

Understanding AI as a social technology

Speed, shoggoths, social science

open.substack.com

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Kristen Collins @kristenrosec.bsky.social · 27d

@himself.bsky.social’s must-read on LLMs/AI as a social technologyand—my favorite part—how the Industrial Revolution has been a slow-moving singularity that shows the importance of the social sciences for grappling with today’s technologies (and we do with them)

open.substack.com/pub/programm...

Understanding AI as a social technology

Speed, shoggoths, social science

open.substack.com

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Johan Ugander @jugander.bsky.social · 27d

📣 Yale workshop, Oct 16-17! 📣 How could/should content ranking work? What's new in content moderation? How can platforms promote civility? Hosted by Yale's Institute for Foundations of Data Science (FDS). Great speakers! Submit posters by 9/22! Spread the word! yalefds.swoogo.com/socialalgori...

New Directions in Social Algorithms Research on October 16-17, 2025 at Yale University

As social media algorithms increasingly mediate social experiences, there has been a rapid increase in research on the effects of how these algorithms are configured, alternatives to engagement-centri...

yalefds.swoogo.com

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Jeremy Foote @jeremydfoote.com · 28d

I am recruiting PhD students this year!

Our research group is holding an info session in a few weeks - details are at blog.communitydata.science/prospective-... , including a sign-up link.

Prospective PhD Student Q&A – September 26th

Thinking about applying to graduate school? Wonder what it’s like to pursue a PhD or M.S.? Interested in understanding relationships between technology and society? Curious about how to do research…

blog.communitydata.science

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Amy Zhang @axz.bsky.social · 28d

- when the process of using AI was so complex and varied as we saw, it suggests representing process as a potentially interesting component of "art" and not just the final output. when output is cheap, could there be creativity, intrigue, & beauty in the *process*? More to come!

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Amy Zhang @axz.bsky.social · 28d

- rather than cognitive/time offloading, we saw workflows that were quite effortful and involved lots of decisions. biggest benefit was eradicating writers' block; even seeing bad text repeatedly was helpful for not getting stuck. pointing to AI as more of a mental safety net?

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Amy Zhang @axz.bsky.social · 28d

- using AI let writers explore genres and ideas they would have never had time to write, & this let them do more of what they love about writing. so AI for them was not replacing their craft but enhancing it. it can be just fun experimentation, not always serious "art"

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Amy Zhang @axz.bsky.social · 28d

Some notes on what I found interesting about this study + reflections: - writers set boundaries on how they used AI to maintain their values; however, these changed over time as they saw how good models could be, or they'd pull back frm overuse. boundary erosion or renegotiation?

Alicia Guo @aliciaguo.com · Sep 9

earlier this summer I published my first paper of my phd! ✨ a qualitative study on how creative writers are using AI in their writing and what their strategies were in order to align with their personal writing values

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Ed Lazowska @edlazowska.bsky.social · 29d

Allen School researchers receive ICWSM Best Paper Award for analyzing how Reddit rules influence online community outcomes news.cs.washington.edu/2025/09/10/a...

Allen School researchers receive ICWSM Best Paper Award for analyzing how Reddit rules influence online community outcomes - Allen School News

Rules are vital for building a safe and healthy functioning online community, and Reddit is no exception. For community moderators, however, it can be difficult to make data-driven decisions on what r...

news.cs.washington.edu

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Dr. Julie Kientz @juliekientz.bsky.social · 29d

At @hcde.uw.edu, we will be hiring an Assistant or Associate Teaching Professor this coming year! Timing wise, we are hiring for a Sept. 2026 start date, but could be sooner.

We are looking forward to welcoming a new colleague!

Learn more and apply at apply.interfolio.com/171881

Apply - Interfolio {{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio

apply.interfolio.com

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Alicia Guo @aliciaguo.com · Sep 9

earlier this summer I published my first paper of my phd! ✨ a qualitative study on how creative writers are using AI in their writing and what their strategies were in order to align with their personal writing values

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Amy Zhang @axz.bsky.social · Sep 9

I traded in my title from asst. to asst. (aka I have tenure!) 😜 The last 5 years have been a roller coaster, and I have so many mentors, students, collaborators to thank ❤️ I hope our work at the @socialfutureslab.bsky.social has at some point been interesting, inspiring, informative, etc. for you.

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Melanie Walsh @mellymeldubs.bsky.social · Sep 9

Job alert! 🌸🏔️ The UW iSchool is hiring for *two* TT faculty positions, with a focus on Artificial Intelligence, broadly defined. It's pretty here!

Applications due November 15th 2025 (priority deadline).

Link: apply.interfolio.com/171020

Aerial photo of UW campus with Mt. Rainier in the background

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Sanjay Kairam @skairam.bsky.social · Sep 8

Crunching away on a paper for #CHI2026 about online communities, moderation, or sociolinguistics?

You may be want to check out recent work led by
@galenweld.bsky.social on predicting SOVC within subreddits based on the style and structure of conversations.

arxiv.org/abs/2508.08596

How Conversational Structure and Style Shape Online Community Experiences

Sense of Community (SOC) is vital to individual and collective well-being. Although social interactions have moved increasingly online, still little is known about the specific relationships between t...

arxiv.org

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Peter Henderson @peterhenderson.bsky.social · Sep 5

Wonder why Claude decided to report users to the authorities? It might be because its constitution says Claude should choose responses in the long-term interest of humanity!

But what if we could leverage computational and legal tools to "debug" or "lint" AI rules/laws for ambiguity?

🧵!

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Mark Riedl @markriedl.bsky.social · Aug 19

academic.oup.com/icb/advance-...

Scientists no Longer Find Twitter Professionally Useful, and have Switched to Bluesky

Synopsis. Social media has become widely used by the scientific community for a variety of professional uses, including networking and public outreach. For

academic.oup.com

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Amy Zhang @axz.bsky.social · Aug 15

Thanks! I’ll have to save these for our next trip, and maybe plan for that trip to be in the winter time. It is very hot and humid, very hard to be in nature in the middle of the day so we’ve decided to stay in the city mostly.

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Amy Zhang @axz.bsky.social · Aug 15

Yeah it is our base but we are thinking of doing day trips out of town!

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Amy Zhang @axz.bsky.social · Aug 15

I am in (for the very first time) Taiwan!!! I've been wanting to come here ever since CSCW 2022 was supposed to be here and then went remote last-minute due to COVID restrictions at the time. Let me know if you have any unusual/random/out-of-the-way recommendations!

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Allen School @uwcse.bsky.social · Aug 11

#UWAllen’s @edlazowska.bsky.social ‬has been a fixture on the WA innovation scene longer than Microsoft. After nearly half a century as UW educator, researcher & local tech champion, he’s logging off from official duties—but not shutting it down just yet. #UWserves www.geekwire.com/2025/after-4...

After 48 years at UW, Ed Lazowska reflects on computer science, education, AI, and what’s next

After nearly a half-century at the University of Washington, Ed Lazowska reflects on his career, the future of AI and computer science education, and his plans beyond retirement.

www.geekwire.com

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Kevin Feng @kjfeng.me · Aug 1

📢 New paper, published by @knightcolumbia.org

We often talk about AI agents augmenting vs. automating work, but how exactly can different configurations of human-agent interaction look like? We introduce a 5-level framework for AI agent autonomy to unpack this.

🧵👇

Screenshot of a paper on a webpage, with a figure showing 5 levels of autonomy for AI agents and the tradeoff between user involvement and agent autonomy as the levels increase.

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Knight First Amendment Institute @knightcolumbia.org · Jul 28

In an essay for our AI & Democratic Freedoms series,
@kjfeng.me, @axz.bsky.social (both of @socialfutureslab.bsky.social), & David W. McDonald outline a framework for levels of #AI agent autonomy that can be used to support the responsible deployment of AI agents. knightcolumbia.org/content/leve...

Levels of Autonomy for AI Agents

knightcolumbia.org

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