Notices by Janet Vertesi (cyberlyra@hachyderm.io), page 2

@glyph @grimalkina lol I am one of the very few humans on the internet that loved TLJ. All the rest of em, prequels, sequels, basically everything else I can’t stand, with exception of most of Rogue One and Andor.

(I realize them’s fighting words but I think I was just so, so mad about the squandered potential of literally everything released after ROTJ, that a movie that said, burn it all down, let the past die, don’t take any of this too seriously, made me feel seen ;)

@glyph @grimalkina oh cool we have found each other then! The two people on the internet who loved it!
RoS was the worst. Like a toddler having a tantrum with all his Star Wars toys. You didn’t miss anything, just the sad sad ending of a movie series that long deserved better.

Start here by deleting everything Google thinks it knows about you.

https://www.theverge.com/24141741/google-data-delete-how-to

Then pick up with my tips for Google free living.

https://www.optoutproject.net/the-best-non-google-search-engine/

It’s so much better out here without a data-sucking behemoth controlling everything you see, flooding your search results with spam and injecting the internet with LLM-generated sludge. Bonus, if you leave, your data stops contributing to serious ethical problems.

Thanks for @Em0nM4stodon for passing The Verge’s How To along.

@pettter @academicchatter not sure what to do about it now, though. I mean, other than tell everyone to mute? I’m sure my students will read this site and think they know what feminism is etc. Hm.

@pettter @academicchatter

“Symbolic interaction, a key concept within social constructionism, emphasizes the importance of symbols and gestures in social interactions. Through these symbolic exchanges, individuals negotiate shared meanings and construct their understanding of reality. For example, the meaning of a handshake may vary across different cultures, highlighting the subjective nature of cultural practices.”

Nope. Nope nope nope.

@pettter @academicchatter I am totally unfamiliar with this phenomenon but I am happy to look it over. What is the account or is there a way to look at their toots?

@jbigham @andresmh

ROFL @ntnsndr !!!!!

@josh @natematias @commscholar this is an interesting take, thanks! I’m no stranger to NAT, but I’d also point out that when all the services started consolidation of data streams for the purposes of selling ads (in the wake of the financial crisis), many of us told them it was a bad idea for all the reasons it has turned out to be, in fact, a bad idea— bubbles, bias, privacy, misinfo. That they did it anyway speaks less to “accidents” or systemic properties than higher regard for profit motive.

@josh @natematias @commscholar Yep, I just didn't want to let them off the hook. When the tech is black boxed it's easy to say, oh this risk is a property of the system and we can't avoid it, as opposed to we accepted this risk and built it in because we thought the profit outweighed the harms.

My new op Ed in @techpolicypress

AI is just today’s buzzword for “outsourcing,” and it comes with the same problems that have plagued outsourced companies and workforces for decades, writes Princeton University sociologist Janet Vertesi:

https://www.techpolicy.press/dont-be-fooled-much-ai-is-just-outsourcing-redux/

#hci peeps, who's written about the capture of #opensource systems by industry and for-profit companies? Asking for a grant application ...

@evan never used one.

Attendees of Princeton’s decentralized social media conference last week may enjoy this piece, by my colleague (and former grad schoolmate) the incomparable @inquiline

@andresmh @mako @ntnsndr @evan etc

https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/13367/11436

@Lehmanator I have used #SailfishOS as my daily driver for years. Easy to install on an open Sony Xperia handset. Not janky at all. Smooth and straightforward. All modern conveniences, no spyware.
I have used many other Linux phones and other alternatives too over the years and SFOS is hands down the best. Don’t waste your time. With Sailfish you don’t need to sacrifice quality or ease by switching to #MobileLinux and you own all your data.
I blogged about it here

https://www.optoutproject.net/sailfish-the-iphone-and-android-alternative/

@Lehmanator Literally I don’t know why we are all still having this conversation when Sailfish is so many miles ahead of every other option out there. No battery issues. APKs run but are sandboxed. You are root on your phone. The terminal is just a tap away. Community-built apps and repos. The Sony handsets are lightweight and powerful with great cameras. The OS has full functionality, even easily integrates with Exchange (for work). Just check it out, honestly, cos the future is already here.

Studying breakdowns in sci/tech institutions during #covid19 ? or how about systematic undermining of scientific institutions as democracies veer to extremes? We want to know what you're finding!

@zephoria and I are excited to host a wider conversation about institutional breakdown, organizational failure, crisis and collapse and implications for Science & Technology.

#sts #orgs & #scitech scholars warmly welcome! Check out P358 on this page of awesome panels:

https://www.easst4s2024.net/open-panels/#14442

Please tell me this is a joke! It is, right?

#labortech #capitalistdreams

@tomjennings @brewsterkahle @evan Mesh networking FTW!!!

Everyone is talking about Copilot on GitHub like this is new, but I figured it was pretty obvious from the beginning that’s why they acquired it. So what did people think of the acquisition if they didn’t think it was to use all the data to generate an assistive AI?is this honestly coming out of left field? Or is this just the moment where people are begrudgingly acknowledging the situation?

So here’s another one for you. Did people really think the new CEO of Reddit just “didn’t get it” when he was making all these rapid changes, like he didn’t understand how upset the communities would be? Instead of a specific decision for monetization by cashing in on an existing treasure trove, a repository of traces of people just chatting and exchanging ideas naturally online, to build naturalistic LLMs? Because that one also seemed desperately obvious—to me at least.