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Reposted by xiaochang

Shannon Mattern @shannonmattern.bsky.social · Aug 14

"A living visual archive on cybernetics in the expanded field. Browse and contribute images of all kinds: diagrams, schematics, photos, graphic elements, and other visual fragments."

Cybernetics Image Library

A living visual archive on cybernetics in the expanded field.

cyberneticsimagelibrary.dev

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · Aug 25

It's already well-known in CS, but for those unfamiliar in humanities/social sciences doing historical/social critique of speech processing, NLP, and AI/ML, Dan and Jim's textbook + site is an incredible (and accessible) resource for gaining a foundational understanding of key techniques.

Dan Jurafsky @jurafsky.bsky.social · Aug 24

Now that school is starting for lots of folks, it's time for a new release of Speech and Language Processing! Jim and I added all sorts of material for the August 2025 release! With slides to match! Check it out here: web.stanford.edu/~jurafsky/sl...

Speech and Language Processing

web.stanford.edu

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · Jul 25

Hey, so it turns out I'll be in NYC next week. Who's around?

xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · Jul 21

I am increasingly convinced that the problem is not so much that people don't seem to understand how computers work than it is that they seem to have forgotten what *language* does.

Melanie Mitchell @melaniemitchell.bsky.social · Jul 21

In a stunning moment of self-delusion, the Wall Street Journal headline writers admitted that they don't know how LLM chatbots work.

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · Jul 20

Some really interesting [massive media conglomerate] vs. [data-churning tech juggernaut] lawsuits might start hitting court dockets in 3-5 years.

xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · Jul 20

See downthread re: v. cool forthcoming special issue on algorithms+occult, but as a tangent: is there a name for visual genre of merging vaguely late-antiquity/early-modern imagery w/digital/electronic iconography? Like sacred geometry+circuit schematic vibes. If not, can I propose glitch esoterica?

Tamara Kneese @tamigraph.bsky.social · Jul 20

Etsy witches = a form of occult gig work. It’s precarity all the way down, both for the young people who are using witchcraft to help them find job and for the witches who are using a platform like Etsy to sell their services

Etsy Witches Charge for Jobs, Sunshine and Knicks Wins. Business Is Booming.

Some spells promise love, success and revenge; $25 for a tax refund and a boyfriend

www.wsj.com

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · Jul 20

Illicitglory Lady GIF

ALT: Illicitglory Lady GIF

media.tenor.com

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · Jul 20

I am so. excited. for this.

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · Jul 19

So . . . what do we think is going to happen when they eventually incorporate all that text that people have been scraping from *fanfiction archives* into these datasets?

lauren @lauren.rotatingsandwiches.com · Jul 18

"SCPs that got hoovered up and regurgitated by chatbots end up giving tech executives schizophrenia" is perhaps fittingly a very SCP thing to happen

Social media users were quick to note that ChatGPT's answer to Lewis' queries takes a strikingly similar form to SCP Foundation articles, a Wikipedia-style database of fictional horror stories created by users online.

"Entry ID: #RZ-43.112-KAPPA, Access Level:
| (Sealed Classification Confirmed)," the chatbot nonsensically declares in one of his screenshots, in the typical writing style of SCP fiction. "Involved Actor Designation: 'Mirrorthread, Type: Non-institutional semantic actor (unbound linguistic process; non-physical entity)."

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Reposted by xiaochang

lauren @lauren.rotatingsandwiches.com · Jul 18

the curse of enjoying the early internet is having to watch all its silly little aspects get churned up and spat out in its final form as a civilization-eating demogorgon

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · Jul 14

I would say that only 95% of my writing problems are, in fact, thinking problems. The remaining 5% are the result of my doomed attempts to turn my point into a pun.

Ted Underwood @tedunderwood.com · Jul 14

This definitely goes for writing history. “Why is this paragraph so contorted and hard to phrase?” 1 day later: “oh, it’s because I didn’t know what I was talking about.”

Spencer Ackerman @attackerman.bsky.social · Jul 14

“Every writing problem in nonfiction is a reporting problem” is so punishingly true and every single time it hurts to relearn it

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · Jul 14

Damn, they can't even bother putting some effort into their soulless commercialism. I guess no one knows what it means to work anymore.

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · Jul 14

"to solve DoD use cases"--I've read decades-worth of documentation from NLP-related DoD projects since 1940s & seen proposed use cases from run-of-the-mill mass surveillance to "idk, we try telepathy yet?" I can't think of one for this that isn't just to watch the world burn.

Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · Jul 14

The Department of Defense will begin using Grok, the AI chatbot built by Elon Musk’s start-up xAI, the company announced www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · Jul 14

Me, an absolute monster, with curiosity borne from deepest void of late capitalist despair: "what kind of ads were they?"

Haunted Nick Seaver @nickseaver.website · Jul 14

this is a wild set of options for printing your boarding pass from an airline website

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · Jul 14

No idea why Mariners are trending since I don't follow baseball and never have, but this 3.5+ hour documentary that @secretbase.bsky.social put out some years ago might be one of my favorite pieces of media of all time. Fully serious. It's this and vol. 3 of Proust. www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIgK...

The History of the Seattle Mariners: Supercut Edition

YouTube video by Secret Base

www.youtube.com

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · Jul 14

Okay, while I'm here, something sound studies and media tech history folks may find of interest: the Ray Dolby papers were recently processed and are now available for research at Stanford's Silicon Valley Archives. A bunch of stuff has been digitized too: exhibits.stanford.edu/dolby

"Copy of series of graphs showing the 'guitar' spike alone and with various Dolby SR adjustments."

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · Jul 14

Ah, so it's like a list, but "list" didn't project enough multi-level marketing scam energy.

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · Jul 14

That was written specifically for the target audience of me, the person who is very relieved not to have to haul myself to Luxembourg this year.

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · Jul 14

What the hell is a starter pack.

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · Jul 14

I also can't take any credit for that CFP--all that goes to my brilliant co-organizers. I think the only thing my book-frazzled brain managed to contribute when we were putting it together this year was positive vibes. 😅

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · Jul 14

I've been a complete hermit while finishing up the book. I'm torn between "wow, has it been that long?" and "how has it only been two years, it feels like 86."

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · Jul 14

Wow, I couldn't even remember to put a link to the actual @sigcisconf.bsky.social account in my repost. It's social media amateur hour over here. (Don't worry, I'm not going to be the one actually running the SIGCIS bsky account.)

xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · Jul 14

I should probably be making my own "go follow the new SIGCIS account" post, but instead I'm just going to repost Laine's:

Laine Nooney @ 🔥🗑️🔥 @lainenooney.bsky.social · Jul 10

also, SIGCIS (the special interest group in computing, information, and society AKA the computer history people) finally got over here on Bluesky

can we give @sigcisconf.bsky.social a big welcome and an even bigger follow????

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · Jul 14

Reminder that the extended deadline for SIGCIS proposals is tomorrow 7/14!

We're on our all-virtual rotation this year, which means registration will be Pay-What-You-Can and you don't have to travel to Luxembourg.

💾 SIGCIS Conference @sigcisconf.bsky.social · Jul 10

Deadline EXTENDED to Mon, 7/14! SIGCIS 2025: Power Surge with keynote speaker Lily Geismer. Find more details and full CFP here: docs.google.com/document/d/1...

SIGCIS 2025 CFP: Power Surge

The Special Interest Group for Computing, Information, and Society (SIGCIS) welcomes submissions to their 16th Annual Conference SIGCIS 2025: power surge ⚡🔌🔋💥 September 25-27 2025 | Online via Zoom K...

docs.google.com

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · Jul 14

Hello! Nice to see a familiar face on my twice-yearly peak onto social media!

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · Jul 14

I should probably be making my own "go follow the new SIGCIS account" post, but instead I'm just going to repost Laine's:

Laine Nooney @ 🔥🗑️🔥 @lainenooney.bsky.social · Jul 10

also, SIGCIS (the special interest group in computing, information, and society AKA the computer history people) finally got over here on Bluesky

can we give @sigcisconf.bsky.social a big welcome and an even bigger follow????

a basketball game between minnesota and new york is being played

ALT: a basketball game between minnesota and new york is being played

media.tenor.com

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