Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Shannon Sauro @shansauro.bsky.social · 4h

The deadline to submit abstracts to the UNICollaboration conference (4-5 June in Cyprus) is 5 weeks away (15 November). Research and practice reports on virtual exchange, telecollaboration, COIL projects across all ages and disciplines are welcome.
unicollaborationconference2026.org

Unicollaboration Conference 2026, June 4-5, Limassol Cyprus. Virtual Exchange in a changing world: Innovation and inclusion.
Graphic of a buildings and city on the sea. Buildings include corporate looking structures. The sea includes a beach and boats.

Hosted by Cyprus University of Technology.

QR code to the bottom right hand corner of graphic

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Kari Dru @karidru.bsky.social · 5d

I now have people explaining to me how to get your documents again and y'all... I realize this is a problem because I've had to do it.

When you don't have ANY of them, it's not that straightforward even when the government isn't hunting you for sport.

Kari Dru @karidru.bsky.social · 6d

Thinking about that Chicago apartment building. Everyone got their apartments tossed as well, and this is how you can become functionally undocumented.

How does somebody who lost their paperwork this time prove they're who they say next time?

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Fan Studies Network @fanstudies.bsky.social · 6d

New book ⬇️⬇️⬇️

The Routledge Handbook of Fan Video and Digital Authorship

Edited By Louisa Ellen Stein, Samantha Close

#FanStudies

www.routledge.com/The-Routledg...

The Routledge Handbook of Fan Video and Digital Authorship

This cutting-edge collection explores the histories, aesthetics, and cultural work of fan video across a wide variety of manifestations and genres. Editors Louisa Ellen Stein and Samantha Close have a...

www.routledge.com

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Shannon Sauro @shansauro.bsky.social · 6d

A good reason to wait until the last minute to do onerous, boring tasks and to spend as little time as possible on them: In the past 24 hours, I learned that two such tasks were suddenly cancelled or not used.

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Shannon Sauro @shansauro.bsky.social · 9d

Returning to the US after two weeks in Germany and Belgium with a full heart, tired legs, a marathon medal (the Berlin Marathon was a warm but epic 42.2km party), and lots of thoughts on language learning in the digital wilds and what this means for the classroom.

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Jane Rosenzweig @janerosenzweig.bsky.social · 9d

A lot of things are being said every day about AI and education by everyone from teachers to pundits to people who are marketing AI. Over at The Important Work, we've got teachers--and occasionally students--writing about their own experiences in actual classrooms. Our latest: what AI misses when/1

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CALICO - Computer Assisted Language Instruction Consortium @caliconsortium.bsky.social · 24d

📅 The deadline for submitting your abstract proposal will be November 2, 2025.

Learn about the beautiful Miami University campus and more details about the conference:

CALICO - Computer Assisted Language Instruction Consortium (@caliconsortium.bsky.social)

calico.org

bsky.app

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Shannon Sauro @shansauro.bsky.social · 24d

This is a first. One of my publications on fan practices for language learning was cited in a study on the adverse effects of true crime media on those close to the victims.

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The Onion @theonion.com · 26d

From ‘The Onion’ Editorial Board: It Is Journalism’s Sacred Duty To Endanger The Lives Of As Many Trans People As Possible https://theonion.com/it-is-journalism-s-sacred-duty-to-endanger-the-lives-of-1850126997/

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Witch’s Black Kat Marchán 🐈‍⬛🧙🏼 @zkat.tech · 29d

I’m sorry but let me unbury this lede: *the genAI industry is literally the financial engine that is powering the fascist regime in the United States*

I hadn’t even made this connection and now I’m even more horrified by this tech than I have ever been.

Boosterism == fascism, literally

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Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.bsky.social · Sep 9

Talked to 23 people who suddenly have to pay huge tariffs or otherwise cannot get chainmail from Pakistan, yarn from France, retro computers from Japan, metal music from the Netherlands, DVDs from Germany, cosplay supplies, sunscreen, etc.

www.404media.co/its-just-a-m...

‘It's Just a Mess:' 23 People Explain How Tariffs Have Suddenly Ruined Their Hobby

"The real kick in the teeth is no matter how much manufacturing is brought back to the US these items will never be made in the USA. There is no upside."

www.404media.co

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Aram Zucker-Scharff @chronotope.aramzs.xyz · Sep 7

The lack of mainstream coverage of regular huge protests reminds me of a talk from a Twitter employees who explained that they had to drop BLM off the Trending Tags section because otherwise it would have been there permanently. The modern media environment has no appetite for sustained movements.

Laura Jedeed @laurajedeed.bsky.social · Sep 6

The crowd has no beginning and no end as it begins its march to the White House

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Ryan Boyd @ryanboyd.bsky.social · Sep 1

Present company excluded but I wish more people realized that good teachers are the product of *years* of training and education and professional development and mentorship and practice, not magicians who go into the classroom and just wing it on Charisma.

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Jane Rosenzweig @janerosenzweig.bsky.social · Aug 28

In The Important Work, we publish pieces by high school and college instructors about how they're thinking about/using/not using AI int he classroom. Today, as students head back to school, we're sharing the perspective of a high school student. theimportantwork.substack.com/p/at-my-high...

At my high school no one is talking about AI

But everyone is using it

theimportantwork.substack.com

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Teresa MacKinnon @warwicklanguage.bsky.social · Aug 27

EUROCALL25 is open. #eurocall President Mirjam Hauck and Vice President Kate Borthwick flying the flag with our conference liaison Valentina Morgana

eurocall flag fies in Milan with 3 very important people.

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Shannon Sauro @shansauro.bsky.social · Aug 26

Happy pumpkin spice day to all who love autumn as much as me 🎃

Brown haired woman smiling and holding a starbucks paper coffee cup while wearing a sweatshirt that reads Pumpkin Spice Girl

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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · Aug 24

A middle school I interact with is in a state with a school cellphone ban and y’all everybody in there is relieved. EVERYBODY. The kids, the teachers, the janitors. They are so relieved. Nobody is really uptight about it…except some parents.

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Shannon Sauro @shansauro.bsky.social · Aug 26

Lots of happy Swifties on my timeline. I’m heading off to get a PSL to toast the couple. 🎃

Shannon Sauro @shansauro.bsky.social · Aug 23

This chaos is also affecting scholarship in that books sent via interlibrary loan to US universities are also affected by tariffs - even though the books are only on temporary loan.

The Associated Press @apnews.com · Aug 23

Multiple postal services around Europe say they are suspending the shipment of many packages to the United States amid a lack of clarity over new import duties.

European postal services suspend shipment of packages to US over import tariffs

Multiple postal services around Europe say they are suspending the shipment of many packages to the United States amid a lack of clarity over new import duties.

bit.ly

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amy brown @amybrown.xyz · Aug 22

this iconic advertising copywriter named Kathy Hepinstall Parks died over the weekend and I wanted to share something from her website I thought Bluesky would like

Why should I write better when a machine can do it for me?
Because actually no one can do it for you, because your voice is unique among all the people on earth. Siri never petted a horse's neck. Alexa has never been ghosted by the captain of the football team. But you have lived, your heart is beating, you have suffered, and you have something important to say. It's a human's job, to use words, and whatever job you give to a machine, that part of your brain goes dark. Maybe it's worth it when it comes to remembering phone numbers and directions, but when that part of your brain that uses words goes dark, that's a vast area that's very close to your soul. Don't let some internet platform convince you that what you have to say and create isn't worthwhile. Words are the echo of your soul. Honing that echo matters.

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Shannon Sauro @shansauro.bsky.social · Aug 22

11 years ago, I went to my first Eurocall and had my first ever experience dancing at a conference dinner. I hope all those attending #EUROCALL2025 next week in Milan have as much fun as I did at #EUROCALL2014 in Groningen! ☺️

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Shannon Sauro @shansauro.bsky.social · Aug 22

It’s not just in Sweden where we see schools moving away from so much technology use in public schools. Several local school districts in Maryland are emphasizing handwriting and limiting smartphone use. Some of this is in direct response to AI being used in ways that undermines learning.

Shannon Sauro @shansauro.bsky.social · Aug 14

Several of my articles are here (from ELT Journal, ReCALL and Applied Linguistics) along with the entire Handbook Carol Chapelle and I edited. I have searched for a number of other colleagues' publications and they are there as well. I AM PISSED! I have added my name to this list.

Ruth EJ Booth (she/they) @ruthejbooth.bsky.social · Aug 14

"If your books were uploaded to LibGen/fed into the LLMs, add your name to the potential class action lawsuit by tomorrow." Details:

LibDem database: www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

Attorney form: www.lieffcabraser.com/anthropic-au...

(This information comes via a reliable Discord source.)

Search LibGen, the Pirated-Books Database That Meta Used to Train AI

Millions of books and scientific papers are captured in the collection’s current iteration.

www.theatlantic.com

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Charles Logan @charleswlogan.bsky.social · Aug 10

One key finding from my dissertation is the importance of teaching youth about the political economy of AI technologies.

With the school year approaching (yipes), I think it'd be helpful to gather teaching resources for use with younger students. Here're a few; what would you add? 🧵

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Neil Selwyn @neilselwyn.bsky.social · Aug 8

We are now seeing the rise of AI-obfuscation apps ... such as this 'Don't Record Me' plug-in that injects your voice with random sounds to sabotage any AI-recording software that people might be using in the background ... who needs decent regulation, laws and public oversight! dontrecord.me

dontrecord.me

We don't like having our conversations recorded either. Here's a simple app to use during voice chat to stop recording and transcribing

dontrecord.me

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