Jessica Vitak
@vitak.bsky.social
She/her. Professor at University of Maryland's iSchool. Director of the HCIL. General Chair for CSCW 2025. Research: privacy, surveillance, data ethics. https://jessicavitak.com
Come for the academic expertise. Stay for the cookie content.
Come for the academic expertise. Stay for the cookie content.
Well, I utterly failed at documenting this year’s cookie weekend but I was just too busy baking! Final numbers:
32 kinds
4266 cookies
35 hours of oven time
1 tired Vitak
Here’s a picture of the two boxes I’m taking into work in an hour.
Happy colleagues = happy Vitak.
32 kinds
4266 cookies
35 hours of oven time
1 tired Vitak
Here’s a picture of the two boxes I’m taking into work in an hour.
Happy colleagues = happy Vitak.
December 16, 2025 at 1:19 PM
Well, I utterly failed at documenting this year’s cookie weekend but I was just too busy baking! Final numbers:
32 kinds
4266 cookies
35 hours of oven time
1 tired Vitak
Here’s a picture of the two boxes I’m taking into work in an hour.
Happy colleagues = happy Vitak.
32 kinds
4266 cookies
35 hours of oven time
1 tired Vitak
Here’s a picture of the two boxes I’m taking into work in an hour.
Happy colleagues = happy Vitak.
Cookies are now bagged and ready for cookie exchanges tomorrow and Friday. I put three of each in a self-sealing bag and attach a small note with cookie information.
cc @hcil-umd.bsky.social & @dmgreene.bsky.social
cc @hcil-umd.bsky.social & @dmgreene.bsky.social
December 10, 2025 at 8:05 PM
Cookies are now bagged and ready for cookie exchanges tomorrow and Friday. I put three of each in a self-sealing bag and attach a small note with cookie information.
cc @hcil-umd.bsky.social & @dmgreene.bsky.social
cc @hcil-umd.bsky.social & @dmgreene.bsky.social
Update: I made two batches of each cookie, which made way more than I needed. To my colleagues' delight, I was still baking away during some meetings.
*Gochujang -- 10/10, amazing
*Peppermint Choc -- 9/10, great if you love brownies
*Gochujang -- 10/10, amazing
*Peppermint Choc -- 9/10, great if you love brownies
December 10, 2025 at 8:02 PM
Update: I made two batches of each cookie, which made way more than I needed. To my colleagues' delight, I was still baking away during some meetings.
*Gochujang -- 10/10, amazing
*Peppermint Choc -- 9/10, great if you love brownies
*Gochujang -- 10/10, amazing
*Peppermint Choc -- 9/10, great if you love brownies
Little did these little beauties know that Vitak would quickly forget about them and less than an hour later, some of the sugar will have burned, making them inedible and requiring yet another trip to the store.
November 26, 2025 at 5:29 PM
Little did these little beauties know that Vitak would quickly forget about them and less than an hour later, some of the sugar will have burned, making them inedible and requiring yet another trip to the store.
Gina Neff @ginasue.bsky.social shares her research on the evolution of technology and how it is shaping AI and the future of work. #cscw2025
October 22, 2025 at 2:44 PM
Gina Neff @ginasue.bsky.social shares her research on the evolution of technology and how it is shaping AI and the future of work. #cscw2025
Michaelanne talks about joining this project before she even started grad school—she volunteered to get research experience and was immediately drawn to Jill’s research. This is what led her to get a human-centered computing PhD. #cscw2025
October 22, 2025 at 9:23 AM
Michaelanne talks about joining this project before she even started grad school—she volunteered to get research experience and was immediately drawn to Jill’s research. This is what led her to get a human-centered computing PhD. #cscw2025
Amy @asbruckman.bsky.social talks about the importance of partnering with people and orgs in the community of interest, and the need for humility in doing this research. #cscw2025
October 22, 2025 at 9:18 AM
Amy @asbruckman.bsky.social talks about the importance of partnering with people and orgs in the community of interest, and the need for humility in doing this research. #cscw2025
Big congrats to Jill Diamond, Michaelanne Thomas, Daphne LaRose, and @asbruckman.bsky.social for winning the Lasting Impact Award for their 2013 paper Hollaback on the power of narrative.
#cscw2025
#cscw2025
October 22, 2025 at 9:16 AM
Big congrats to Jill Diamond, Michaelanne Thomas, Daphne LaRose, and @asbruckman.bsky.social for winning the Lasting Impact Award for their 2013 paper Hollaback on the power of narrative.
#cscw2025
#cscw2025
There are so many sessions in this space that one of the main clusters I created when doing the scheduling was Community Engagement and Activism!
October 20, 2025 at 9:59 AM
There are so many sessions in this space that one of the main clusters I created when doing the scheduling was Community Engagement and Activism!
We’re getting a fun history of the “European” CSCW (not a place but a state of mind) from one of the original CSCW researchers, Dr. Kari Kuutti.
#cscw2025
#cscw2025
October 20, 2025 at 7:43 AM
We’re getting a fun history of the “European” CSCW (not a place but a state of mind) from one of the original CSCW researchers, Dr. Kari Kuutti.
#cscw2025
#cscw2025
Exciting news! Just in time for the start of #cscw2025, the new issue of PACM HCI is out, featuring 400+ articles accepted at CSCW. All should be free to view now and many are open access. dl.acm.org/toc/pacmhci/...
October 18, 2025 at 8:46 AM
Exciting news! Just in time for the start of #cscw2025, the new issue of PACM HCI is out, featuring 400+ articles accepted at CSCW. All should be free to view now and many are open access. dl.acm.org/toc/pacmhci/...
Did someone say cake? I’m in.
July 15, 2025 at 8:23 PM
Did someone say cake? I’m in.
At #ica25? Interested in data research ethics? Head over to the Grand Hyatt this morning at 10:30am for a Blue Sky hosted by myself, @michaelzimmer.bsky.social & @cfiesler.bsky.social. We'll be in the Grand Hyatt Mt Yale (Grand 3).
June 13, 2025 at 3:50 PM
At #ica25? Interested in data research ethics? Head over to the Grand Hyatt this morning at 10:30am for a Blue Sky hosted by myself, @michaelzimmer.bsky.social & @cfiesler.bsky.social. We'll be in the Grand Hyatt Mt Yale (Grand 3).
Top of my hit list? This cute little birb: the tufted titmouse. Great name but it has a call that makes me want to gouge my eyes out.
May 10, 2025 at 3:34 PM
Top of my hit list? This cute little birb: the tufted titmouse. Great name but it has a call that makes me want to gouge my eyes out.
Some levity:
I got very excited walking to teach this morning when I saw a student with a bedazzled pizza slice purse.
I was also tired and dragging my feet a bit, and fell flat on my face outside the building I teach in.
Fun times. But adorable purse!
I got very excited walking to teach this morning when I saw a student with a bedazzled pizza slice purse.
I was also tired and dragging my feet a bit, and fell flat on my face outside the building I teach in.
Fun times. But adorable purse!
March 6, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Some levity:
I got very excited walking to teach this morning when I saw a student with a bedazzled pizza slice purse.
I was also tired and dragging my feet a bit, and fell flat on my face outside the building I teach in.
Fun times. But adorable purse!
I got very excited walking to teach this morning when I saw a student with a bedazzled pizza slice purse.
I was also tired and dragging my feet a bit, and fell flat on my face outside the building I teach in.
Fun times. But adorable purse!
Saw this on Reddit last night. Have any US academics heard of problems with CITI training (human-subjects ethics training required at universities) being inaccessible?
February 19, 2025 at 3:41 PM
Saw this on Reddit last night. Have any US academics heard of problems with CITI training (human-subjects ethics training required at universities) being inaccessible?
Running an unpublished paper through AI is also a violation of most publishers' policies. For example, here is part of ACM's policy on peer review: www.acm.org/publications...
Using GenAI to produce a review violates the confidentiality of submissions.
Using GenAI to produce a review violates the confidentiality of submissions.
February 13, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Running an unpublished paper through AI is also a violation of most publishers' policies. For example, here is part of ACM's policy on peer review: www.acm.org/publications...
Using GenAI to produce a review violates the confidentiality of submissions.
Using GenAI to produce a review violates the confidentiality of submissions.
Speed puzzle practice update (because I'm trying to avoid engaging in the dumpster fire that is current events): I managed to get under two hours on 5/6 puzzles I did this weekend. That's progress!
Here are some highlights.
Here are some highlights.
January 27, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Speed puzzle practice update (because I'm trying to avoid engaging in the dumpster fire that is current events): I managed to get under two hours on 5/6 puzzles I did this weekend. That's progress!
Here are some highlights.
Here are some highlights.
It's very easy for grad students to think everyone around them has it easy while they are struggling. This was a motivator for me to create my CV of Failures a decade ago. But I think we need to remind them more often, like of this post from the start of my 2nd semester of my PhD. It's a journey!
January 26, 2025 at 1:58 PM
It's very easy for grad students to think everyone around them has it easy while they are struggling. This was a motivator for me to create my CV of Failures a decade ago. But I think we need to remind them more often, like of this post from the start of my 2nd semester of my PhD. It's a journey!
I have done one puzzle in under 2hr in the last eight days -- on my second try with this one, I finished in 1:40 (first time was 2:18).
January 19, 2025 at 7:34 PM
I have done one puzzle in under 2hr in the last eight days -- on my second try with this one, I finished in 1:40 (first time was 2:18).
The fastest puzzlers do 500pc in 30-60 minutes. It's amazing. This puzzle was in one of the preliminary rounds of the World Championships in 2023. The winner did it in 37min and 34 people did it in under an hour. This was the first puzzle I did for speed. How fast do you think you could do it?
January 19, 2025 at 7:34 PM
The fastest puzzlers do 500pc in 30-60 minutes. It's amazing. This puzzle was in one of the preliminary rounds of the World Championships in 2023. The winner did it in 37min and 34 people did it in under an hour. This was the first puzzle I did for speed. How fast do you think you could do it?
Happy holidays from my father’s house. If you’ve ever wondered where I got my weirdness from, he is suspect #1.
December 25, 2024 at 10:58 PM
Happy holidays from my father’s house. If you’ve ever wondered where I got my weirdness from, he is suspect #1.
Because I excel at avoiding "real" work, I just made a graphic in the style of Spotify Wrapped to commemorate cookie weekend. Thanks to whoever suggested I do this -- it was fun to dive into the data!
December 24, 2024 at 6:10 PM
Because I excel at avoiding "real" work, I just made a graphic in the style of Spotify Wrapped to commemorate cookie weekend. Thanks to whoever suggested I do this -- it was fun to dive into the data!