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Emma Wilson 🎃

@emmawilson.bsky.social

580 followers 460 following 130 posts

PhD student at University of Edinburgh working on evidence synthesis and research FAIR / open research; neurodivergent; she/they; views my own

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Emma Wilson 🎃 @emmawilson.bsky.social · Nov 10

Re-introduction time! I’m currently wrapping up my PhD thesis looking at evidence synthesis and open research in biomedical studies.

I’m also a speculative fiction writer (trying to get some short stories published 🤞), I love knitting, and I will like every cat picture I see.

#AcademicSky #writing

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Keith W. Dickinson @keithwdickinson.bsky.social · 19h

Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.

The Verge @theverge.com · May 26

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

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

buff.ly

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Megan All Hallows' Eve 🦇 @meganeve.bsky.social · 21h

📣OA event idea for December! ALN are looking for speakers and presentations focusing on Green OA (such as promoting, challenges, journals vs books and discoverability) Please let me know if you are interested or would like further information.💚

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Dr Beth @drbeth.bsky.social · 20h

As I move further into my working life I discover that every question I want answered is a sociology question.

As ever, politicians would just like it if everyday folks stopped learning to ask questions and just did what the ruling classes told them to do.

Tim Worthington @outonbluesix.bsky.social · 21h

How is this repeatedly made into a policy issue - by *all* parties - when the blunt fact of the matter is that grown adults who are obliged to pay for their own education, and relentlessly pursued to repay their loans, should be able to study whatever the fuck they want.

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Open Book Collective @openbookcollective.bsky.social · 2d

#NoOpenAccessWithoutOpenInfrastructure. OBC's @joedeville.bsky.social making the case for open, interoperable digital infrastructures for #OAbooks at the National Open Access Stakeholders
Summit in Nigeria. Presenting on 'Open access books: If not now, when'. Slides at doi.org/10.5281/zeno...

Joe Deville at a podium, in front of a slide with a banner reading 'No open access without open infrastructure'

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Ada Palmer @adapalmer.bsky.social · 2d

I see pieces like this a lot, often w/ a spin of lamenting cultural degeneration, but reading is a LABOR issue, it’s declined because so many people are working overtime or two jobs & employers expect after hours work. France has Earth’s highest reading rate b/c long lunch breaks & labor protections

After Dinner Conversation® @afterdinnerconversation.com · 2d

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Rhianna Pratchett @rhi.bsky.social · 1d

Dad’s books are full of empathy, common sense, and a healthy suspicion of the powerful. But at its heart his work is also about how systems keep people poor while pretending it’s their own fault. So I hope Kemi’s taking notes as well as reading the jokes.

Paul Haine @paulhaine.bsky.social · 1d

Kemi Badenoch claiming Terry Pratchett as her favourite author is wild

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Simon @simonxix.com · 3d

I was talking briefly to @kjsanders.bsky.social last night about how engaging with computer architecture and systems through e.g. installing Linux, reshapes to some extent the way that you think about your interaction with computers. It helps strip away the obfuscating layers of the GUI...

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Moti Black 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @motiblackart.bsky.social · 4d

I'm going to share two carves from previous years today. These are both of Pittenweem Pier, but in the right one, I added some details of the Scream by Munch to be funny... And I don't think anyone noticed it was Pittenweem Pier in the background.

#PumpkinCarving

A pumpkin carving of the small light house on Pittenweem Pier

A pumpkin carving of the Much Painting The Scream, but with the end of Pittenweem Pier in the background.

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Reposted by Emma Wilson 🎃

Iris van Rooij 💭 @irisvanrooij.bsky.social · 4d

🌟 New preprint 🌟, by @olivia.science and me:

📝 Guest, O., & van Rooij, I. (2025). *Critical Artificial Intelligence Literacy for Psychologists*. doi.org/10.31234/osf...

🧪

Table 1

Core reasoning issues (first column), which we name after the relevant numbered section, are characterised using a plausible quote. In the second column are responses per row; also see the named section for further reading, context, and explanations.

See paper for full details: ** Guest, O., & van Rooij, I. (2025, October 4). Critical Artificial Intelligence Literacy for Psychologists. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/dkrgj_v1

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Shiv Ramdas Mens Rice Activist @nameshiv.bsky.social · 4d

The Ig Nobel is incredible , one year an Indian guy won it for calculating the average surface area of an elephant and during his acceptance they had an elephant hold up a sign with the surface area of the scientist on it, they do showbiz better than the Oscars

Jeffrey J. Hall @mrjeffu.bsky.social · 19d

Video: a Japanese scientist was attacked by flies while giving the acceptance speech for his Ig Nobel Prize-winning research paper that proved painting Zebra-like stripes on cows led to a decrease in biting fly attacks.

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Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ @olivia.science · 5d

New preprint 🌟 Psychology is core to cognitive science, and so it is vital we preserve it from harmful frames. @irisvanrooij.bsky.social & I use our psych and computer science expertise to analyse and craft:

Critical Artificial Intelligence Literacy for Psychologists. doi.org/10.31234/osf...

🧵 1/

Cover page of Guest, O., & van Rooij, I. (2025, October 4). Critical Artificial Intelligence Literacy for Psychologists. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/dkrgj_v1

Table 1 Guest, O., & van Rooij, I. (2025, October 4). Critical Artificial Intelligence Literacy for Psychologists. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/dkrgj_v1

Table 2 Guest, O., & van Rooij, I. (2025, October 4). Critical Artificial Intelligence Literacy for Psychologists. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/dkrgj_v1

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Sachaaaargh Coward 👻 @sachacoward.bsky.social · 4d

Hey... You, yeah you.
Psst, over here.

*Opens grimy trench coat*

Gay aliens, want some gay aliens?!
Some trans pirates for ya missus?
Lesbian witches? Yeah, check out these beauties!

✨Preorder Queer As Folklore from @manchesterup.bsky.social!✨

manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781807070397/

Manchester University Press - Queer as folklore

Queer as folklore - Browse and buy the Paperback edition of Queer as folklore by Sacha Coward

manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk

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The Ass is the father of the legs @internethippo.bsky.social · 5d

"We're going to create superintelligence" How about making outlook search work first. How about that

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Kerry C. Byrne @kercoby.bsky.social · 6d

Reminder: anyone can found and edit a SFF magazine.

There’s no regulatory body or hoops. You create the position for yourself.

Many of these people are amazing—

But mag Editors are just guys who decided to spend a lot of time on something they love.

Just people.

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Premee Mohamed @premeemohamed.com · 6d

Ah yes, because if there's one thing the youths on BookTok love, it's

*checks notes*

garlic aioli

Emily C. Hughes @emilyhughes.bsky.social · 6d

no no the publishing industry is doing fine, why do you ask

A screenshot from Publisher's Lunch:
Jennifer L. Armentrout and Hellmann's
In a promotion designed for BookTok enjoyment, Jennifer L. Armentrout’s just-published THE PRIMAL OF BLOOD AND BONE is available in a special, limited-edition "garlic-scented copy, infused with Hellmann’s Garlic Aioli to create a one-of-a-kind, Craven-proof book." They explain: "This exclusive edition is printed with garlic-infused ink, designed to ward off Armentrout’s bloodthirsty monsters, the Craven. While humans may dread garlic breath, Hellmann’s has cleverly transformed this social faux pas into an unexpected – and delicious – form of supernatural protection."

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Emma Wilson 🎃 @emmawilson.bsky.social · 6d

Just gave my first proper lecture, teaching about systematic reviews and meta-analysis, to MSc students today and it was so lovely ⭐️

Really want to do more teaching now

Reposted by Emma Wilson 🎃

Crystal Lewis @cghlewis.bsky.social · 6d

If you want to be a good data manager, you have to get really comfortable with asking a lot of questions. When something is unclear or doesn't seem right, you can't settle or make assumptions. That's how you end up with bad data. Stay curious.

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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 7d

'Fellows and Foreign Members shall not engage in any form of discrimination, harassment, or bullying.' Royal Society Code of Conduct, Section 2, point 11: royalsociety.org/-/media/abou...

See also Section 5, point 21.

Hmmm.

The Royal Society @royalsociety.org · 7d

"I am increasingly concerned over threats to the values that allow science to flourish." Read the full statement from the President of the Royal Society Sir Adrian Smith: royalsociety.org/news/2025/10...

A statement from the President of the Royal Society | Royal Society

A statement from the President of the Royal Society regarding threats to the values that allow science to flourish.

royalsociety.org

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Open Education at The University of Edinburgh @openededinburgh.bsky.social · 7d

Digging for dinosaurs, unearthing the impact of Women in Archaeology, Building equity in Engineering, showing resilience & determination in Comp Science after fleeing a war-torn home & more!
Come celebrate the amazing achievements of Women in STEM this Ada Lovelace Day
blogs.ed.ac.uk/ada-lovelace...

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Emma Wilson 🎃 @emmawilson.bsky.social · 7d

This looks so cool! I’m jealous, we need this at Edinburgh 🎃

(Not that I can carve a pumpkin to save my life)

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Moti Black 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @motiblackart.bsky.social · 7d

Happy Halloween Month to you all!

I'm Moti and I'm a pumpkin carver, so I'll be posting lots of photos of my carved pumpkins this month.

Below is my favourite ever carve: 'Low Light' on The Isle of May.

Please check out my pumpkin images on my RedBubble shop!

www.redbubble.com/people/MotiB...

A pumpkin carving with a lighthouse carved into it

A photo of a lighthouse carved into a pumpkin with brighter lighting

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Emma Wilson 🎃 @emmawilson.bsky.social · 8d

This piece by @olivia.science et al is a fantastic read for anyone navigating AI in academia — I’ve included it in the reading for the lecture I’m giving to MSc students later this week

Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ @olivia.science · Sep 6

Finally! 🤩 Our position piece: Against the Uncritical Adoption of 'AI' Technologies in Academia:
doi.org/10.5281/zeno...

We unpick the tech industry’s marketing, hype, & harm; and we argue for safeguarding higher education, critical
thinking, expertise, academic freedom, & scientific integrity.
1/n

Abstract: Under the banner of progress, products have been uncritically adopted or
even imposed on users — in past centuries with tobacco and combustion engines, and in
the 21st with social media. For these collective blunders, we now regret our involvement or
apathy as scientists, and society struggles to put the genie back in the bottle. Currently, we
are similarly entangled with artificial intelligence (AI) technology. For example, software updates are rolled out seamlessly and non-consensually, Microsoft Office is bundled with chatbots, and we, our students, and our employers have had no say, as it is not
considered a valid position to reject AI technologies in our teaching and research. This
is why in June 2025, we co-authored an Open Letter calling on our employers to reverse
and rethink their stance on uncritically adopting AI technologies. In this position piece,
we expound on why universities must take their role seriously toa) counter the technology
industry’s marketing, hype, and harm; and to b) safeguard higher education, critical
thinking, expertise, academic freedom, and scientific integrity. We include pointers to
relevant work to further inform our colleagues.

Figure 1. A cartoon set theoretic view on various terms (see Table 1) used when discussing the superset AI
(black outline, hatched background): LLMs are in orange; ANNs are in magenta; generative models are
in blue; and finally, chatbots are in green. Where these intersect, the colours reflect that, e.g. generative adversarial network (GAN) and Boltzmann machine (BM) models are in the purple subset because they are
both generative and ANNs. In the case of proprietary closed source models, e.g. OpenAI’s ChatGPT and
Apple’s Siri, we cannot verify their implementation and so academics can only make educated guesses (cf.
Dingemanse 2025). Undefined terms used above: BERT (Devlin et al. 2019); AlexNet (Krizhevsky et al.
2017); A.L.I.C.E. (Wallace 2009); ELIZA (Weizenbaum 1966); Jabberwacky (Twist 2003); linear discriminant analysis (LDA); quadratic discriminant analysis (QDA).

Table 1. Below some of the typical terminological disarray is untangled. Importantly, none of these terms
are orthogonal nor do they exclusively pick out the types of products we may wish to critique or proscribe.

Protecting the Ecosystem of Human Knowledge: Five Principles

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Emma Wilson 🎃 @emmawilson.bsky.social · 9d

Aww thank you, it was lovely talking to you too!

Reposted by Emma Wilson 🎃

Saloni @scientificdiscovery.dev · 10d

It seems unbelievable that some journals still keep digitized versions of journal articles from over a hundred years ago *paywalled*!

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Melissa Terras @melissaterras.bsky.social · 11d

Add to this worrying list “Library Washing” - persuading very prestigious university institutions to contribute their digital library collections to OpenAI’s model, to lend legitimacy, in exchange for a handful of (reduced cost!) magic AI beans.

Ben Williamson @benpatrickwill.bsky.social · 12d

OpenAI's VP for education recently said the company wanted to become "core infrastructure" for schools and universities. Any infrastructure, though, always depends on habituating users to its technical affordances - so I've been trying to track how it's doing that 🧵 www.nytimes.com/2025/06/07/t...

Welcome to Campus. Here’s Your ChatGPT.

www.nytimes.com

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