Notices by Dorothea Salo (dsalo@digipres.club)

AIs flunk language test that takes grammar out of the equation https://theconversation.com/ais-flunk-language-test-that-takes-grammar-out-of-the-equation-247177

I said some stuff about Meta and mis/disinfo. https://badgerherald.com/news/campus/2025/02/04/community-notes-or-chaos-examining-how-uw-students-navigate-news-on-social-media/

Yeah, put a fork in Creative Commons, it's done.

Its new strategic plan is a milquetoast pile of useless bromides.

@lavaeolus Yep.

@eff N.b. I'm a librarian. Libraries have totally pulled the same "we're neutral" and "the fix for bad speech is MOAR SPEECH" bullshit you've been pulling all this time.

I teach soon-to-be librarians now why this is not okay and how to move beyond it. The profession hasn't caught up with what I'm teaching yet, but I teach the way I do so that it will, someday.

You can change. You should change. Free speech absolutism is no longer acceptable. Grow up.

@eff Y'all will do or say anything to avoid OWNING YOUR SHIT, won't you?

Own. Your. Shit.

You've been simping for hate for a long time. Figure out how you're going to NOT DO THAT ANY MORE, apologize for doing it at all, and then don't do it again.

You get not one penny and not one word of praise from me until you fix your hearts and your practices.

In fairness to Elsevier, I was talking to a colleague just yesterday on how stigmatized it obviously is in many circles to call gen-AI the con job it is.

These circles emphatically include way too much of academe. I read my colleague the bit from the introduction to AI Snake Oil about how its authors called out AI papers for arrant bullshit but their critique was deemed unpublishable.

I've also run into that tone-policey bullshit (not about gen AI yet). Fuck. That. Sideways.

Infosec folks! Read any good books lately?

Looking for novella-or-longer fiction from the last couple-three years with some kind of infosec slant. Does NOT have to be realistic in any way (sff is fine!). Does not have to be amazing literature (pulp is fine!). Graphic novels fine (I have The Private Eye on my list already)!

Asking for a me-and-my-syllabus. For context, you can find the assignment under "Learn (?) from a book" in https://dsalo.info/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/510syllf2023.pdf

@ashley nah they're all gonna say "ugh, better you than me"

@ashley more seriously though: AMIA is not really my crowd, I am an amateur, so it was great to have you there as a friendly face

@ashley I definitely learned "do NOT fuck with George Blood; if he calls you ANSWER THE DAMN PHONE"

@inthehands I mean, I even try to be nice and give un-earmarked funds, because I know earmarks are a PITA...

... and this is what I get? Ugh.

There's a special level of hell for higher-ed marketers who think it's appropriate to put me on All The Marketing Spamlists when I make a one-time contribution in memoriam.

Fuck you, Brandeis. Yes, I'm calling you out. You cheapened my uncle's death with this 💩 and it's not okay.

("Travel the World with Brandeis! Conspicuous Consumption with Brandeis!" Fuuuuuuuuuck yoooooooooou, marketing scum.)

@inthehands Some of this year's batch are less ridiculous than formerly. I hope that trend spreads!

I mean, I honestly don't mind grad-school-rec-writing season, but wtf kind of question is "how many students have you taught or advised [in your career]?"

I've been doing this for seventeen years. Hell if I know. One (1) crapton? Possibly metric crapton?

(I haven't taught large-lecture courses, but I have taught a few mid-sizers -- 75-150 -- in my time. So the answer, given that I have a fair few "repeat offenders," is probably somewhere in the low-to-mid thousands.)

I'm sad and exhausted and afraid. And feeling very lonely tonight. That's all I got.

GDocs's spellcheck is a pile of steaming 💩 . At least it's easy to turn TF off.

@futzle WHAT? Unpossible. It's always DNS.

How Black Parents Are Fighting Against Growing Book Bans | Essence https://www.essence.com/lifestyle/book-bans-2024/

THIS IS WHY YOU HIRE LIBRARIANS AND ARCHIVISTS TO DO DIGITAL PRESERVATION.

IDEALLY ONES TRAINED BY SOMEONE LIKE ME, WHO DAMN WELL KNOWS BETTER THAN THIS.

DON'T HIRE IT PEOPLE TO DO THIS. STANDARD-ISSUE IT PEOPLE DO NOT KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DAMN WELL DOING. (ASK THE STATE OF MAINE.)

LIBRARIANS. AND. ARCHIVISTS. KNOW.