Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

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Digital Scholarship @ British Library @bldigischol.bsky.social · 1d

We're so grateful to Sak for his work with @britishlibrary.bsky.social playbills - not only does blplaybills.org make them findable online, but we learn from his experiments!

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KateW @kateweb.bsky.social · 8h

6Music is celebrating Ada Lovelace and women in STEM today - find out more about Ada Lovelace Day and some of the events being held this year: findingada.com/worldwide-ev... #ALD #AdaLovelaceDay

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Peter Butler @peter-butler.bsky.social · 15h

Bloomberg research found wholesale electricity up ~270% in areas near data centers

It doesn't seem like nearly enough people are taking it seriously

One A.I. image isn't too much energy, but 5 million videos? Per day/hour/minute whatever. It's not sustainable

www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...

AI Data Centers Are Sending Power Bills Soaring

Wholesale electricity costs as much as 267% more than it did five years ago in areas near data centers. That’s being passed on to customers.

www.bloomberg.com

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Katharine Hayhoe @katharinehayhoe.com · 2d

Two of the most common climate misconceptions I see, even among knowledgeable folks, are that (1) most people aren't worried about climate change, and (2) if they were, they'd act.

Not true! Data show (1) most people are worried, but (2) they won’t act if they don’t know what to do-and most don’t.

A map of the world showing how levels of worry in most countries are greater than 70%. Source: Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, International Public Opinion on Climate Change, 2023.

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Katharine Hayhoe @katharinehayhoe.com · 2d

Yale researchers didn't stop there. They also identified what people most need to know to catalyze action and support climate policy; and it's not about global temps, ice sheets, or ocean currents.

What people most need to know about climate change is that (1) others care, and (2) there is hope.

Understanding six “key truths” about climate change predicts policy support, discussion, and political advocacy

Social norms and collective efficacy are strong predictors

climatecommunication.yale.edu

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mia @miaout.bsky.social · 1d

In which Sak Supple shares his experiments with using LLMs to transcribe 18th and 19th century playbills from the British Library - manicules, long 's' and all! 'blplaybills.org: better search results using LLMs' www.bl.uk/stories/blog...

#OCR #TheaterHistory #LLMs #AI #ATR

blplaybills.org: better search results using LLMs

Search for, view and download 300 years of theatre posters from Great Britain and Ireland, 1600–1902.

www.bl.uk

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Louis Coiffait-Gunn @louiscoiffait-gunn.bsky.social · 2d

World Economic Forum's report on media & information literacy, with libraries featured throughout www.weforum.org/publications....

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mia @miaout.bsky.social · 1d

Why do LLMs freak out over the seahorse emoji? vgel.me/posts/seahor...

Why do LLMs freak out over the seahorse emoji?

Investigating the seahorse emoji doom loop using logitlens.

vgel.me

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Luke McKernan @lukemckernan.bsky.social · 2d

Thanking librarians, past and present lukemckernan.com/2025/10/05/t...

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Lorcan Dempsey @lorcand.bsky.social · 4d

"from hard experience, I and others working in scholarly communications have learned that the term “institutional repository” often elicits blank expressions from faculty. It is much more efficient to emphasize prestige, visibility, impact, legacy, flexibility—whatever resonates." buff.ly/UsQhdNA

When Focusing on Terminology Becomes a Hurdle to Open Access Outreach

Conversations about open access can be riddled with distracting language. But what if we treated these failures to communicate as opportunities to learn more?

katinamagazine.org

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 3d

‘175 years ago this year, Queen Victoria gave her assent to “an Act for enabling town councils to establish public libraries & museums”, that enabled local authorities… to levy a ha’penny on the rates to establish a free public library.’ @richove.bsky.social
observer.co.uk/news/opinion...

Libraries are palaces for the people. Their ramparts need...

The spirit of public improvement that led to the legislation that created free public libraries 175 years go needs to be rekindled

observer.co.uk

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Alex von Tunzelmann @alexvont.bsky.social · 4d

I’ve just added my voice to this consultation saying I don’t want a situation in which staff and fellow swimmers might scrutinise or judge my body, or anyone else’s, when I use the ponds. The current policy of trans inclusion works perfectly well. You can fill out the consultation linked below.

Bat Krown 🦇 @katbrownwrites.com · 4d

Those tedious and mysteriously funded transphobes want to limit access to the Ponds so I’ve had a pleasant 10 mins filling this out on why seeing a variety of women is magic and judging by what people look like or can do is very slippery territory hampstead-heath-bathing-ponds.commonplace.isn

Future access to the Hampstead Heath Bathing Ponds

Inviting feedback from pond users, the local community, and stakeholders on how the Kenwood Ladies’, and Highgate Men’s ponds should operate in the future.

hampstead-heath-bathing-ponds.commonplace.is

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 3d

This is so good from Cory Doctorow on all the tricks Amazon uses to get both consumers to pay more, and how businesses on the platform end up paying it 45-51 cents on every dollar.

Plus he rightly calls for regulatory change, not just individual consumer action
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Way past its prime: how did Amazon get so rubbish?

Sick of scrolling through junk results, AI-generated ads and links to lookalike products? The author and activist behind the term ‘enshittification’ explains what’s gone wrong with the internet – and ...

www.theguardian.com

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Scholars' Lab @scholarslab.bsky.social · 5d

Anouk Lang's talk on literary+critical making scholarship will also explore how making-as-research opens questions about bodies, labor, & accessibility; intellectual process vs product. Virtual event, open to all! cal.lib.virginia.edu/event/15242444

Tuesday Forum: Anouk Lang on Poetry in the Makerspace

Please join us for the next in our digital humanities series, the Tuesday Forums, brought to you by the Scholars' Lab, of the Library's DH Center. These presentations invite...

cal.lib.virginia.edu

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Mylee Joseph @mylee.bsky.social · 4d

Murdoch University evaluation rubric for publisher and vendor #AI tools in academic settings and a new guide on the Library's approach to assessing #GenAI tools. researchportal.murdoch.edu.au/esploro/outp...

Research Portal

researchportal.murdoch.edu.au

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Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 4d

🫡

How to Turn Off AI Tools Like Gemini, Apple Intelligence, Copilot, and More - Consumer Reports

AI features are crowding into Google search, Gmail, iPhones, Windows laptops, and other products. If you're suffering from AI overload, these settings can help.

www.consumerreports.org

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Dr. Jens Foell @jensfoell.de · 4d

People are running stats on LLM-generated participants and think they’re being social scientists when in fact they’re technically just playing a very strange video game. This is like saying you’re doing math research because you’re playing sudoku.

www.science.org/content/arti...

AI-generated ‘participants’ can lead social science experiments astray, study finds

Data produced by “silicon samples” depends on researchers’ exact choice of models, prompts, and settings

www.science.org

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mia @miaout.bsky.social · 5d

Excellent work, congratulations Matthew!

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Matthew Stephens - 19th-century Newshound @c19thnewshound.bsky.social · 5d

It has been a momentous week for me. Four years on from starting my PhD, my thesis has been submitted for examination. What a journey it has been! To mark the occasion I chose this newspaper, printed 200 yrs prior to my submission date, from Newcastle where academic life began for me some time ago.

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Shannon Vallor @shannonvallor.bsky.social · 5d

Asking what would be an improved ‘Turing Test’ for AGI is like asking for a better test for phlogiston. Asking when we will get AGI is like asking ‘when will we synthesize phlogiston?’ It’s a badly formed question. The object of the test is an ill-defined concept with no referent in nature. 2/2

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mia @miaout.bsky.social · 5d

I never want any of these options enabled, so why are they consistently re-enabled?
Autoplay videos and GIFs
Enable trending topics
Enable trending videos in your Discover feed

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British Library @britishlibrary.bsky.social · 6d

Hwæt! 🐉

Ever wondered what the epic poem Beowulf sounds like spoken in Old English?

#NationalPoetryDay

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James Neal @james3neal.bsky.social · 5d

"A $765,000 grant from the Mellon Foundation will support three case studies using AI to improve access to materials related to groups historically underrepresented in institutional collections" library.unc.edu/news/with-ne...

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mia @miaout.bsky.social · 5d

'Archivist fired by Trump launches a national effort to strengthen democracy': 'On Constitution Day, Shogan launched a national bipartisan effort called "More Perfect" to work on strengthening democracy' www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...

Archivist fired by Trump launches a national effort to strengthen democracy

Colleen Shogan made history when she became the first woman to serve as Archivist of the United States in 2023. In February, President Trump fired her with no reason given. On Constitution Day,…

www.pbs.org

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Henry Scowcroft @oh-henry.bsky.social · 6d

Absolutely cracking article about AI, and how so far it has failed to replace radiologists. Despite consistent predictions that it will.

Melanie Mitchell @melaniemitchell.bsky.social · 7d

In 2016 Hinton predicted that AI would replace all radiologists in five years. Ten years later, why hasn't it happened? This post is a great explainer.

www.understandingai.org/p/ai-isnt-re...

AI isn't replacing radiologists

Radiology combines digital images, clear benchmarks, and repeatable tasks. But demand for human radiologists is at an all-time high.

www.understandingai.org

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