Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Rebecca M. Bender @rebeccadactyl.bsky.social · 2d

Wishing Spain was a day-trip away :(
Insolentes, raras, genias: Margarita Ferreras y el campo cultural femenino en la Edad de Plata.
El 7 de noviembre de 2025 en la Casa-Museo Unamuno, Salamanca
unamuno.usal.es/evento/jorna...

Insolentes, raras, genias: Margarita Ferreras y el campo cultural femenino en la Edad de Plata - Casa Museo Unamuno

Jornadas sobre Margarita Ferreras y el campo cultural femenino en la Edad de Plata.

unamuno.usal.es

Reposted by Rebecca M. Bender

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

96 1.6K 3.1K

Reposted by Rebecca M. Bender

Liverpool University Press @livunipress.bsky.social · 19d

The latest JRS special issue explores multilingual & transcultural narratives of health and illness in European literatures (1870s–1960s+).
Read the introduction to the issue #OpenAccess.
➡️ bit.ly/JRS-Reading-Bodies
@ilcs.bsky.social @katharinemurphy.bsky.social @profstevenwilson.bsky.social

Cover image for the Journal of Romance Studies, Volume 25, Number 3, Autumn 2025. The left side shows the journal cover with a decorative tile motif. On the right, text reads: Reading Bodies: Narrating Illness in European Literatures and Cultures (1870s to 1960s and beyond), edited by Katharine Murphy and Olivia Glaze. Logos of the Institute of Languages, Cultures and Societies, the School of Advanced Study (University of London), and Liverpool University Press are also displayed, with a green banner at the bottom reading “Special Issue.”

6 7

Reposted by Rebecca M. Bender

Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 21d

And it won't stop with art. Instead, I expect that--without intervention--we'll find ourselves in a world where high-quality human services (education, healthcare, etc.) are available only to the wealthiest of the wealthy, while the rest of us get stuck with the shitty version made by AI. 1/🧵

Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 21d

We seem to be on the cusp of a new patronage era of art. Where the wealthiest of the wealthy can buy their own private artists. While the rest of us only get to enjoy whatever slop gets churned out by AI.

Brian Merchant @bcmerchant.bsky.social · 21d

Freelance illustration gigs drying up. Ad agencies using Midjourney instead of hiring human artists. Costume design turned over to AI wholesale. Good work vanishing.

These are the stories of working visual artists, who describe losing jobs, wages, and hope as their clients and bosses embrace AI.

5 47 160

Reposted by Rebecca M. Bender

Shannon Mattern @shannonmattern.bsky.social · 26d

It makes a bit more sense when you realize that execs from some of these tech platforms — tools that work at cross-purposes — sit on university boards!

I was on a high-level search cmte in my first semester @ my Elite Uni, which prompted me to google everyone on their expansive + plentiful boards!

A Jacobin post reading: "Universities' eagerness to fork over huge sums to private tech contractors has gotten out of control. Prime example: they're not paying for both institutional ChatGPT access and AI detection tools to catch students using it."

3 23 87

Reposted by Rebecca M. Bender

Annette Yoshiko Reed @annetteyreed.bsky.social · Sep 6

“It’s not tht traditional liberal learning is out of step w student demand. Instead, it’s out of step w priorities, values & desires of a powerful board of trustees… & an administrative class tht won’t fight for the liberal arts… even when it attracts major $$ gifts”
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/17/o...

Opinion | This Is Who’s Really Driving the Decline in Interest in Liberal Arts Education

Students want to study the humanities and liberal arts. But university administrators keep getting in the way.

www.nytimes.com

4 74 190

Reposted by Rebecca M. Bender

Andy Bell @bell.bz · Aug 29

oh

MIT Study Finds Artificial Intelligence Use Reprograms the Brain, Leading to Cognitive Decline - Science, Public Health Policy and the Law

By Nicolas Hulscher, MPH

publichealthpolicyjournal.com

62 490 1.3K

Rebecca M. Bender @rebeccadactyl.bsky.social · Aug 24

10000% agree; this semester i've gone back a single book and a printed packet (everything I used to put in Canvas); only $8... no more uploading, re-writing the syllabus 35 times, watching students read on a PDF knowing it's not conducive to analysis or better learning; i already feel "freer" lol

Seth Cotlar @sethcotlar.bsky.social · Aug 24

It's my experience (from 25 yrs of teaching) that "learning management" tools like Canvas do nothing to facilitate student learning & make my job MORE, not less, time consuming. That additional time I put in contributes zero to improving the student experience. But Canvas gets our money regardless.

1

Reposted by Rebecca M. Bender

NightMar on Hicks Street, Part 4: The Rabbit’s Revenge @histoftech.bsky.social · Aug 22

Steve Shirley escaped the Holocaust as a child & went on to found one of the earliest software startups. The really impressive part? She employed women programmers who had been pushed out of the workforce after having kids, & allowed them flexible, family friendly, work from home jobs—in the 1960s!

Lisa Hirsch @lisairontongue.bsky.social · Aug 22

@histoftech.bsky.social Am obit of interest that you might have seen already. Gift link:

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/20/b...

Stephanie Shirley, Who Created a Tech World for Women, Dies at 91

www.nytimes.com

21 590 1.5K

Reposted by Rebecca M. Bender

Sonja Drimmer @sonjadrimmer.bsky.social · Aug 20

Tech boosters like to use a set of terms to thwart any kind of pushback against their proposals to insert "AI" into any and every organization. Here's a dictionary of their language and what these terms mean.

sonja-drimmer.squarespace.com/blog-1/2025/...

A Dictionary of "AI" — Sonja Drimmer

Even if you spend just a small amount of time listening to people who believe that any kind of digital technology (whether that’s “artificial intelligence” or not) is an unquestioned good, you’ll hear...

sonja-drimmer.squarespace.com

2 40 79

Reposted by Rebecca M. Bender

Business Bullshit @businessbullshit.bsky.social · Aug 21

"democratise" = *privatise* (a public asset), *deskill" and *defund* (a rewarding creative process) and/or/then *monetise* something for private reward

Sonja Drimmer @sonjadrimmer.bsky.social · Aug 20

Tech boosters like to use a set of terms to thwart any kind of pushback against their proposals to insert "AI" into any and every organization. Here's a dictionary of their language and what these terms mean.

sonja-drimmer.squarespace.com/blog-1/2025/...

A Dictionary of "AI" — Sonja Drimmer

Even if you spend just a small amount of time listening to people who believe that any kind of digital technology (whether that’s “artificial intelligence” or not) is an unquestioned good, you’ll hear...

sonja-drimmer.squarespace.com

7 9

Reposted by Rebecca M. Bender

John Warner @biblioracle.bsky.social · Aug 12

This from @tressiemcphd.bsky.social hit me over the head like a mallet of truth. This is the thing. This is what I’ve been trying to warn people about perfectly crystallized. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/12/o...

15 420 1.2K

Reposted by Rebecca M. Bender

John Warner @biblioracle.bsky.social · Aug 5

This is not outright horrible, but it's not great either. It makes the same error a lot of these guidance documents do in that it puts the presence of AI at the center, rather than the foundations of the experiences of learning. There's a lot of examples to illustrate, but I'll stick with two...

American Historical Association @historians.org · Aug 5

The AHA has published Guiding Principles for Artificial Intelligence in History Education, offering a disciplinary approach to AI that focuses on the specific needs and challenges of history educators. 🗃️

Guiding Principles for Artificial Intelligence in History Education

These 14 foundational principles are meant to assist educators and administrators in crafting AI policies suited to local circumstances and the specific needs of students.

www.historians.org

5 54 170

Reposted by Rebecca M. Bender

Katrina Navickas @katrinanavickas.bsky.social · Jul 30

Someone on here compared AI produced material as "digital asbestos " which in a few decades' time we will have to work out how to eradicate from the fabric of research.

Ned Richardson-Little @historyned.bsky.social · Jul 30

From my own academic research, even pre LLMs there was a huge danger of zombie factoids that begin in a respectable publication by mistake and then get reprinted for decades because no one is backtracing to the original source. Once bad info gets into the system it can take years to clear it out.

BeijingPalmer @beijingpalmer.bsky.social · Jul 29

I've seen numerous examples of this in recent days - we're at a point where some reporters are using LLMs as a source and not even remotely properly factchecking, but also where LLM generated material is making its way into other material and being unknowingly reproduced by others.

43 1.4K 3.8K

Reposted by Rebecca M. Bender

Nick Lloyd @spaincivilwartours.bsky.social · Jul 21

Another great bit of rephotography by Barcelonan maestro Ricard Martinez. Marina Ginestà from the top of the old Colon Hotel, looking down on today's Plaça Catalunya taken #OnThisDay 21 June 1936, by Hans Gutmann, perfectly encapsulating the spirit of those revolutionary times

1 18 55

Reposted by Rebecca M. Bender

Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · Jul 18

You mean learn how to interpret texts and form probing questions? In college?? Wow, we never thought of that, AI brain genius guy.

5 38 450

Reposted by Rebecca M. Bender

Lorraine Ryan @ryanlor.bsky.social · May 5

The Centre for the Study of Women´s Writing will host this fantastic New Seminar Series on Female-authored science fiction in Spain. Book now.

ilcs.sas.ac.uk/news-events/...

Convergencias literarias: género, narrativa y fandom en la literatura española contemporánea | Literary convergences: Gender, genre and fandom in contemporary Spanish literature

ilcs.sas.ac.uk

4 5

Rebecca M. Bender @rebeccadactyl.bsky.social · May 2

Great event in Madrid this May! Mark your calendar for Tues, 5/20, 11am, Ateneo de Madrid, for a presentation of the new volume "Food Studies en Español", edited by @rebeccaingram.bsky.social and @yanetacosta.bsky.social. Info and access to volume here: fragua.es/producto/foo...

1

Rebecca M. Bender @rebeccadactyl.bsky.social · Apr 29

La Asociación para la Recuperación de la Memoria Histórica solicita la retirada del concurso para resignificar el Valle de los Caídos --> Reclaman que se instale sólo una exposición permanente que explique la historia y los significados del espacio www.tercerainformacion.es/articulo/mem...

La Asociación para la Recuperación de la Memoria Histórica solicita al presidente del Gobierno la retirada del concurso para resignificar el Valle de los Caídos - Tercera Información

La Asociación para la Recuperación de la Memoria Histórica (ARMH) ha presentado por registro una carta dirigida al presidente del Gobierno, Pedro Sánchez, en la que exige la retirada del concurso inte...

www.tercerainformacion.es

Reposted by Rebecca M. Bender

Rebecca Ingram @rebeccaingram.bsky.social · Apr 22

Colegas y amigues, tenemos la gran ilusión de anunciar la presentación de “Food Studies en español” el martes 20 de mayo a las 11h en el Ateneo.

Save the date!

¡Y nos vemos pronto en Madrid!

@yanetacosta.bsky.social #foodstudies #elateneo #presentaciondelibro #gastronomia

Póster con una imagen de la sala Emlia Pardo Bazán (el Ateneo de Madrid) detrás, anunciando la presentación del libro "Food Studies en español" (Fragua, 2024). La fecha: el 20 de mayo, a las 11h. Lugar: el Ateneo de Madrid.

1 4

Rebecca M. Bender @rebeccadactyl.bsky.social · Apr 14

Enjoyed learning about Lorca's archives & this exhibition at today's Iberian Modernist Studies Forum organized by @nicolasfmedina.bsky.social via @bostonu.bsky.social. The website has a nice bilingual brochure/folleto that would be great for classes: www.centrofedericogarcialorca.es/en/actividad...

Rebecca M. Bender @rebeccadactyl.bsky.social · Apr 9

Join us this Friday for a great discussion of late 19th- early 20th century Spanish literature - Two 20-minute book presentations, each followed by a 10-minute Q&A... 3pm eastern time; register here to receive the zoom link: dartmouth.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

2

Rebecca M. Bender @rebeccadactyl.bsky.social · Apr 9

Finally finished 2 books I started "for fun" back in Feb... I appreciated La bajamar's diff narrative voices & impact of the closing narrative😢; Las desdichadas (a monologue) reminded me of San Manuel Bueno, mártir, but focused on gendered/classed nature of doubt via a 1912 rural midwife👩‍🍼

1

Rebecca M. Bender @rebeccadactyl.bsky.social · Apr 8

Re: AI and EdTech --> The field is littered with previous predictions of technology-mediated efficiency gains that only turned into more work for teachers...

Education Requires Human Connection 🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌 by @biblioracle.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/engagede...

Education Requires Human Connection

Why is this even controversial?

open.substack.com

1

Reposted by Rebecca M. Bender

Kayla B @queenofthesouth.bsky.social · Apr 6

ChatGPT as a search engine alternative is melting brains faster than global warming is melting the ice caps

6 36 170