Tootfinder

Via the AI4LAM Slack: An Extreme Multi-label Text Classification (XMTC) Library Dataset: What if we took "Use of Practical AI in Digital Libraries" seriously? https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.10876

An Extreme Multi-label Text Classification (XMTC) Library Dataset: What if we took "Use of Practical AI in Digital Libraries" seriously?
Subject indexing is vital for discovery but hard to sustain at scale and across languages. We release a large bilingual (English/German) corpus of catalog records annotated with the Integrated Authority File (GND), plus a machine-actionable GND taxonomy. The resource enables ontology-aware multi-label classification, mapping text to authority terms, and agent-assisted cataloging with reproducible, authority-grounded evaluation. We provide a brief statistical profile and qualitative error analys…

14 Days of Uncomfortable Truths in AI: First 7 days in review https://aimirrorandmez.substack.com/p/14-days-of-uncomfortable-truths-in?triedRedirect=true&_src_ref=linkedin.com

14 Days of Uncomfortable Truths in AI: First 7 days in review
(what a week)

RT: Diane Zorich
‪@dzorich.bsky.social€
World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has released a draft of the WIPO Toolkit on Access to Copyrighted Works in the Collections of Cultural Heritage Institutions: Libraries, Archives, and Museums. Stakeholders invited to comment on draft by March 22, 2026.
https://w…

Document Details

Die vergangenen 2 Tage in den Redaktionen großer deutscher Zeitungen...

Academics in Norway: Sign this petition asking for research-based discussions of how to use AI in universities https://jilltxt.net/academics-in-norway-sign-this-petition-asking-for-research-based-discussi…

Academics in Norway: Sign this petition asking for research-based discussions of how to use AI in universities
I just signed a petition calling for Norwegian universities to use research expertise on AI when deciding how to implement it, rather than having decisions be made mostly administratively. ,  If yo…

Seit Freitag 14h ackert OpenRefine (https://openrefine.org) zusammen mit der Unapi (https://wiki.k10plus.de/spaces/K10PLUS

For #IIIF / digital collections folk, 'Requirements for core Annotation properties' need review/input 'to define the requirements for relationships like body, target, motivation, source... these four are very inconsistent in the way they're used in Annotation documents'

Requirements for core Annotation properties · Issue #2426 · IIIF/api
In 4.0, we are importing the annotation properties to IIIF as the 3d work requires a lot of extensions and processing rules. This means that we need to define the requirements for relationships lik...

I really miss the times when programming discourse was discussing the finer details of tabs vs spaces rather than the merits of fascist plagiarism machines.

from my link log —
3D rendering periodic spaces with signed distance functions.
https://ianthehenry.com/posts/periodic-spaces/
saved 2026-03-12 https:/…

Periodic Spaces
One of my favorite SDF techniques is domain repetition:

From Philadelphia to Oklahoma City and Oakland, California, many cities are developing new
– and creative
– tactics to prepare for and push back against ICE.
Here’s a look at a few.
⭐️Creating ‘ICE-free’ zones
Several cities, counties and states across the country are creating “ICE-free zones” by restricting immigration agents’ access to government-owned and public spaces.
Local officials say this makes it safer for residents to visit hospitals, courthou…

🐮 Feral horses and cattle create more resilient nature, rewilding study reveals
#conservation

Feral horses and cattle create more resilient nature, rewilding study reveals
Protected natural areas across Europe are changing. Climate change, with rising temperatures and heavy rainfall, is turbocharging the growth of shrubs and trees, choking the flowers and insects that need the light and heat of open spaces. Traditionally, this scenario prompts nature managers to reach for chainsaws and brush cutters to keep the landscape open. But researchers at Aarhus University and the Natural History Museum, Aarhus, Denmark, can now show that horses and cattle represent a more…

Adobe launches Acrobat Spaces, a free AI study tool to help students generate flashcards, quizzes, and Express presentations without logging in (Ivan Mehta/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/07/adobe-launches-acrobat-spaces-a…

Adobe launches Acrobat Spaces, a free AI-powered study tool for students | TechCrunch
Adobe Acrobat Spaces is a free tool for students to use AI and create different kind of study material from documents

Beware of blank lines and white spaces — Supply-chain attack using invisible code hits GitHub and other repositories
Unicode that’s invisible to the human eye was largely abandoned - until attackers took notice.
🧑‍💻 https://arstechnica.com/securi…

Supply-chain attack using invisible code hits GitHub and other repositories
Unicode that's invisible to the human eye was largely abandoned—until attackers took notice.

Well, no, there are people on the list above brand strategists...
#AI #LLM

Eugene Healey on Instagram: "Technology was supposed to free us. Instead, it just gave us more work. Today: why the backlash to AI follows the same pattern as every major technological disruption in history - and what that means for the brands caught in the middle. -- Follow @eugbrandstrat for more insights on how brands can effectively navigate modern digital spaces."
3,896 likes, 102 comments - eugbrandstrat on April 13, 2026: "Technology was supposed to free us. Instead, it just gave us more work. Today: why the backlash to AI follows the same pattern as every major technological disruption in history - and what that means for the brands caught in the middle. -- Follow @eugbrandstrat for more insights on how brands can effectively navigate modern digital spaces.".

Preparing for my art pedagogy class on Friday. This time, we’ll be talking about the connection between art and human evolution, in addition to a closer examination of Lev Vygotsky’s psychology of art, Maxine Greene, Hanna Ahrendt, Jean-Paul Sartre, Paolo Friere, and bell hooks.
It’ll be fun! (For me, at least…)

Big news! I'm incredibly privileged to take on leadership of the Museum Data Service while continuing half-time in my role at the British Library. The MDS is already a success story, and I'm so excited about taking it further! https://artuk.org/discover/stories/mus…

"Amsterdam to enact landmark ban on fossil fuel and meat advertising in public spaces"
#Amsterdam #FossilFuels #Energy

The European city banning all fossil fuel and meat adverts in public
Amsterdam initially proposed the move in 2020, becoming the first city in the world to do so.

Scalable Neural Interfaces https://aria.org.uk/opportunity-spaces/scalable-neural-interfaces/ "Neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders have overwhelming societal and economic impacts. We need a new suite of tools that enable us to interface, at scale, with th…

Scalable Neural Interfaces
In Scalable Neural Interfaces, we are exploring how to advance highly targeted minimally-invasive neurotechnologies to understand and repair the brain.

Europe’s Far Right Want to Be American Vassals https://jacobin.com/2026/03/europe-iran-us-meloni-sanchez/

Europe’s Far Right Want to Be American Vassals
Europe’s far-right parties have long boasted about putting their own countries’ interests first but now slavishly support the latest US-Israeli war. While they opt for vassalage, antiwar forces have turned out to be the real defenders of sovereignty.

From the always interesting http://wordsmith.org:
You can sometimes count every orange on a tree but never all the trees in a single orange. -A.K. Ramanujan, poet (16 Mar 1929-1993)

Das Narrativ "nicht Kulturkampf machen, sondern echte Probleme bearbeiten", ist solange plausibel, solange man noch nicht verstanden hat, dass das Ziel rechtskonservativen Kulturkampfs darin besteht, nicht über "die echten Probleme" sprechen zu müssen, weil man nicht mehr über sie sprechen kann.

Crosslisted article(s) found for math.CA. https://arxiv.org/list/math.CA/new
[1/1]:
- Nontrivial weak solutions of the stationary KdV equation in sharp $L^p$ spaces
Mandon Pathak

Ed Newton Rex on bluesky: 'People had speculated on what went into ‘books2’ for years. Now we know; pirated books powered the hugely successful launch of ChatGPT.
IMO this should be mentioned every time ChatGPT is discussed.'
https://storage.cour…

Er veldig glad for å se Start tilbake på toppnivå, og ser selvfŸlgelig åpningskampen mot KFUM.
Samtidig slår det meg at dette virker som en helt annen sport enn det jeg så fra Aspmyra på onsdag…
#Ballheimen #Eliteserien

5. Online spaces, including social media, are especially important in connecting kids who feel isolated with others who are like them. This has long been especially true for kids who are any and every variety of queer, and especially especially for trans kids. These kids may have no avenues in their own lives to even •acknowledge• their identity, much less find •support• for it. Sometimes online community can save lives.
Awareness of this puts 3 and 4 in a harsh and unfavorable light. Eroding child privacy in favor of parent control is extremely dangerous.

Shaq’s east Las Vegas community center features Raiders, UFC and Lakers spaces https://www.reviewjournal.com/local/east-valley/shaqs-east-las-vegas-community-center-features-raiders-ufc-and-lakers-spaces-3735258/…

#ScottishLabour are committing in their manifesto to:
> Recommit the NHS to delivering single sex wards on the basis of biological sex (page 16) and
> Delivering single-sex spaces on the basis of biological sex, in NHS wards, schools, sport and everyday life (page 52)
This means, essentially, excluding

@… I saw this in a theatre record at work today and thought of you: 'Rebellious Susan presents her compliments and love to her numerous admirers, and begs to state that owing to the recent severe weather her case is closed and adjourned till further notice. She, hopes, however, in a few days to be able to fulfil her numerous engagements. Seats may be booked at …

Fun case of circular logic in #Python #standards:
https://discuss.python.org/t/spaces-not-considered-a-valid-verbatim-character-for-glob-patterns/106463
1. Use "globs" in the specification.
2. Decide that "glob" may be ambiguous, so add severe restrictions on what's supported.
3. Because of the severe restrictions, people may have reinvented the wheel instead of using system `glob` module.
4. Since people may have used their custom implementations, just relaxing the spec is a problem.

Kind of a cool proposal in terms of squeezing density onto a slim site, but I wish it didn't have 10 parking spaces for 11 units. That much parking shouldn't be allowed so close to BART, inducing more driving trips on Guerrero which is already a traffic sewer.
https://missionlocal…

Mission BUZZ: Housing, a brewery and an owner who stands her ground on cannabis
Los Tigres del Norte received the keys of the city from Mayor Daniel Lurie. Lover's Lane is back for its fifth straight year.

DrŸmmer om dommedag | Klassekampen https://klassekampen.no/artikkel/2026-03-14/drommer-om-dommedag/Hjex

Drømmer om dommedag
Filmskaper Tonje Hessen Schei mener vi må forstå makta og ideologien til ­evangelikale fundamentalister i USA for å forstå motivasjonen bak krigen i Iran.

I've enjoyed learning from afar as @… worked on his 'constraint-first framework for LLM-assisted development. Enforces TDD, human approval gates, and external validation so engineers stay responsible without sacrificing velocity'

GitHub - ChrisMidtempo/midtempo-framework: A constraint-first framework for LLM-assisted development. Enforces TDD, human approval gates, and external validation so engineers stay responsible without sacrificing velocity.
A constraint-first framework for LLM-assisted development. Enforces TDD, human approval gates, and external validation so engineers stay responsible without sacrificing velocity. - ChrisMidtempo/mi...

The California Values Act (SB 54) ensures that no state and local resources are used to assist federal immigration enforcement and that our schools, our hospitals, and our courthouses are safe spaces for everyone in our community.
SB 54 was signed into law on October 5, 2017 and went into effect January 1, 2018.
POLICE AND SHERIFFS:
Cannot ask about your immigration status.
Cannot arrest you only for having a deportation order or for most other immigration violations.

California Values Act (SB 54) - ACLU of Socal
The California Values Act (SB 54) ensures that no state and local resources are used to assist federal immigration enforcement and that our schools, our hospitals, and our courthouses are safe spaces for everyone in our community. SB 54 was signed into law on October 5, 2017 and went into effect January 1, 2018. POLICE […]

This is a book recommendation for a good book. I think more people should read it. #bookstodon

A lovely post from Jeanette Croen, a PhD placement student, on her work at the British Library doing computational analysis on early printed book descriptions https://www.bl.uk/stories/blogs/posts/computational-analysis-of-book-descr…

Computational analysis of book descriptions: placement project
A PhD placement reflects on her time at the British Library and her research in using computational analysis on early printed book descriptions.

'Automate tasks, not jobs' - a great headline from a report on 'the AI opportunity for Scotland’s public services' https://stormid.com/research/

Automate tasks, not jobs: The AI opportunity for Scotland’s public services
Independent analysis identifying the highest value public sector workflows for AI driven productivity gains.

‘You are all worse than each other’: anti-regime Iranians turn on Trump https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/14/anti-regime-iranians-turn-on-trump-us?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

The 3 types of reading (and the 2 you’ll pick) https://bigthink.com/mini-philosophy/the-3-types-of-reading-and-the-2-youll-pick/

The 3 types of reading (and the 2 you'll pick)
On average, most people who open this article will spend around 50 seconds on it. It ought to take at least five minutes

I read, When AI is Fluent in Data but Illiterate in Context:
'We are building evidence infrastructure at speed, and we are not asking, systematically enough, what the tools assume when they read human realities they were never designed to understand.'
https://reamby.substac…

When AI is Fluent in Data but Illiterate in Context
Beyond the Algorithm

Imagine it's March 2026 and this is how you choose to start your bi-weekly radical centrist podcast....

Remember during the US-led invasion of Iraq that the Iraqi government had a spokesperson who became known as «Comical Ali» because of his bold-faced, absurd lies about how the invasion was going…?
Yeah, Mark Rutte is like that.
«Comical Mark»?
«Ridiculous Rutte»? @…

George Takei :verified: 🏳️‍🌈🖖🏽 (@georgetakei@universeodon.com)
Attached: 1 image I'm trying hard to think how we’re safer but coming up with nada.

I'm with the auditors on this one! Companies deploying AI need more expert human auditing, not less, at least until fundamental flaws in 'AI' are addressed and it's reliably accurate
'KPMG gets money off its own audit by arguing AI makes accounting cheaper'

The Guardian view on changes to copyright laws: authors should be protected over big tech
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/mar/13/the-guardian-view-on…

A lovely send-off for @… today. We should all bring so much positive energy into the world! He packed a lot into 51 years

How does Trump keep henchmen like Rubio in check? He literally makes them wear shoes that are far too big
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/mar/13/donald-trump-us-marco-rubio-shoes-too-big?CMP=Shar…

On ransomware and under-funded GLAMs: 'At no point was the British Library particularly negligent or unprepared. Instead, it was hindered by vulnerabilities shared by the majority of cultural institutions. In this respect, the attack doesn’t just represent an isolated failure – it’s a warning to the whole sector.'

"...das Ende des freien Welthandels wurde schließlich besiegelt durch ein System globaler Wegelagerei, das nach Einführung der 'Hormuz-Maut' zunächst auf andere Meerengen und Gebirgspässe, dann schließlich auf jeden Transportweg ausgeweitet wurde. Der Gegenpapst, Todd I., mit Sitz in Miami segnete die amerikanische Besetzung Panamas, was dem US-Regime dank der Panamakanal-Maut der Trump-Dynastie in den 37 Jahren ihres Bestehens zu großen Einnahmen verhalf." (Schulbuchseite …

Those who have read #InfiniteJest knew that eventually all roads would lead to this: ONAN, the "Organization of North American Nations". #DFW #DFWwouldhaveknownwhattosay

Phil Ochs Wrote the Soundtrack to the New Left https://jacobin.com/2026/04/ochs-folk-music-protest-1960s/

Phil Ochs Wrote the Soundtrack to the New Left
The 1960s saw a stampede of lefty folk musicians, but none as politically engaged as Phil Ochs. A true activist-musician who thought of himself as a “singing journalist,” Ochs was as comfortable playing at a demonstration as at a concert hall.

On AI agents: 'Traditional advertising is recognisable.
Algorithmic nudging...operates upstream. It shapes which options are surfaced, combined, or omitted before the shopper encounters them. Over time, this influence becomes routine and difficult to detect'
https://www.

Woolies' new AI system fundamentally changes the role of the shopper
Without scrutiny, agent-led shopping risks quietly reconfiguring consumer behaviour in ways that are difficult to detect — and even harder to reverse.

The AI Great Leap Forward https://leehanchung.github.io/blogs/2026/04/05/the-ai-great-leap-forward/

The AI Great Leap Forward
In 1958, Mao ordered every village to produce steel. The steel was useless. The crops rotted. Today's top-down AI mandates are producing the same pattern: ba...

«LLMs are cliché machines, trained on a resilient human weakness for generating maximum content with minimum effort.»
Bingo.
Unfortunately, this too hits the nail on the head: «Bad art is something human beings love to do, in vast numbers. It’s part of who we are, and when abandoned by inspiration we trust in the same methods we’ve programmed into LLMs.»

Sure, AI can ‘do’ writing. But memoir? Not so much | Aeon Essays
As AI’s endless clichés continue to encroach on human art, the true uniqueness of our creativity is becoming ever clearer

A cafe in Dublin airport has a robot that delivers hot food orders! But it just sped off without letting the people get their food out.
When it came back it had a human minder. And when my order arrived, the same human bought it, saying she couldn't trust the robot.
This is a post about most AI.

Noe har skjedd med håndskriften – og fagfolk mener det har betydning https://www.nrk.no/stor-oslo/xl/noe-har-skjedd-med-handskriften-_-og-fagfolk-mener-det-har-betydning-1.17671766

Noe har skjedd med håndskriften – og fagfolk mener det har betydning
Fra vakre løkker til trøblete kruseduller. Er håndskriften fortapt?

'Linux lays down the law on AI-generated code, says yes to Copilot, no to AI slop, and humans take the fall for mistakes — after months of fierce debate, Torvalds and maintainers come to an agreement'

The Illusion of AGI, or What Language Models Can Do Without Thought | TechPolicy.Press https://techpolicy.press/the-illusion-of-agi-or-what-language-models-can-do-without-thought

The Illusion of AGI, or What Language Models Can Do Without Thought
It is not simple stubbornness that LLMs are not “intelligent,” much less a form of “general” intelligence, writes Eryk Salvaggio.

Ooh hello new AI4LAM newsletter https://mailchi.mp/a3880347fa9b/exciting-ai4lam-news-you-need-to-know and website! https://

Introducing Just the Browser https://blog.corbin.io/post/805641962529177600/introducing-just-the-browser

Introducing Just the Browser
Modern web browsers are increasingly focused on features beyond the core browsing experience, many of which just end up as distractions. Chrome gives you coupon codes while shopping. Microsoft Edge...

This led to great discussion in an MA class on crowdsourcing and citizen science today
From: @…
https://hcommons.social/@mia/116053173459026787

De minst likestilte fagfeltene må også måles. | Rushprint https://rushprint.no/2026/03/de-minst-likestilte-fagfeltene-ma-ogsa-males/

De minst likestilte fagfeltene må også måles.
Kun 2% av alle norske spillefilmer er blitt fotografert av kvinner, fastslår Ole Andreas Grøntvedt, styreleder i Foreningen Norske filmfotografer. Når NFIs årsrapport gir inntrykk av at norsk film er helt likestilt, så er det fordi de kun teller tre fagfunksjoner: manusforfatter, regissør og produse

AI / LLM sycophancy as a liability:
'A 2025 study by Fanous et al. tested GPT-4o, Claude Sonnet, and Gemini 1.5 Pro across math and medical domains. The results: these systems changed their answers nearly 60% of the time when challenged by users'
https://

AI and work: an expert assesses how far this revolution still has to run https://theconversation.com/ai-and-work-an-expert-assesses-how-far-this-revolution-still-has-to-run-277650

AI and work: an expert assesses how far this revolution still has to run
What’s real, what’s over-stated and what risks have we missed so far?

'AI tools developed at the University of Oxford for analysing ... text collections. They enable the identification of keywords, topics, and categories of terms' - particularly in crowdsourced / community archives https://github.com/Digital-Scholarship-Oxfor…

GitHub - Digital-Scholarship-Oxford/crowdsourced-data-tools: Crowdsourced data tools
Crowdsourced data tools. Contribute to Digital-Scholarship-Oxford/crowdsourced-data-tools development by creating an account on GitHub.

Doesn't have email, has never heard of 'the news'
#whippet #DogsOfMastodon #sighthounds

‘Exploit every vulnerability’: rogue AI agents published passwords and overrode anti-virus software
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ng-interactive/2026/mar/12/lab…

Really enjoyed hearing from
@aarontay.bsky.social and @abeba.bsky.social at CONUL's AI in Libraries seminar - lots of great talks to come! https://conul.ie/seminar-ai-impact-opportunity-accountability-irish-libraries-embra…

London doctor carries out first UK remote robotic surgery: A surgeon in London says he has performed the UK's first long‑distance robotic operation on a patient located 1,500 miles (2,400km) away in Gibraltar.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq577v126g9o

London doctor carries out first UK remote robotic surgery
The milestone procedure went well, with patient Paul Buxton saying he felt "fantastic".

#SilentSunday

Fascinating work on 'Modern Motivators of Play' from @funnygodmother.bsky.social - classic motivators were Fun, Mastery, Competition, Immersion, Meditation, and Comfort; modern motivators are Self-Expression, Companionship, and Education https://ideaplatz.com/2025/08/28/new-t…

Very odd rain we're having.
Instead of being clear, the drops are white. And they don’t fall like normal, but seem to drift—almost feather-like—towards the ground.

«A world with 10,000 AI-assisted productions staffed by exploited, creatively hollow workers is not a victory for the arts. It's a dystopia with better production values.»
AI and the Future of Artistic Labor
https://techpolicy.press/ai-and-the-future-of-artistic-l…

AI and the Future of Artistic Labor
As AI enters the performing arts, the real risk isn’t job loss alone—it’s the hollowing of creative work and the exploitation of labor, argues James Paisley.

'Libraries are among the most powerful discovery engines available to an author. The person who borrows your book from the library is, far more often than not, a reader who would not have purchased it at all' https://starkreflections.substack.com/p/the-l…

The Library Is Not The Enemy But The Equalizer
Why the library is an author's friend and how Public Lending Rights (PLR) Programs take that relationship to whole new level

The philosophy of indoctrination and how to fix it https://bigthink.com/mini-philosophy/the-philosophy-of-indoctrination-and-how-to-fix-it/

The philosophy of indoctrination and how to fix it
Indoctrination is not about intelligence or the belief itself. It's about seeing any alternative as an enemy or as a a test of faith.

Seeing members of the Iranian women's football team get asylum in Australia reminds me of this in the UK: Lift the Ban: Why People Seeking Asylum Should Have the Right to Work - Refugee Action https://www.refugee-action.org.uk/lift-the

Ok, so this is kinda interesting, but we don’t need another pop-sci personality profile. Instead, people could read up on Albert Bandura’s theory of self-efficiacy, and how the belief in abilities being changable through our own actions—as also described by Carol Dweck’s growth mindset—is a characteristic of high self-efficiacy.
Why your IQ no longer matters in the era of AI

Why your IQ no longer matters in the era of AI
Your real competitive edge isn’t how smart you are — it’s how quickly you can reinvent yourself when the rules change.

The Iranian women's football team is playing the Matildas right now in the Women's Asian Cup. I can't begin to imagine what they've been through to get there and what they're going through right now https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-04/…

Young Iranian footballer fights tears as she speaks about war in Iran
On the eve of their Women's Asian Cup match against the Matildas, Iran's women's football team has expressed concern over the plight of their family and friends in Iran as war rages in the Middle East. 

I quite enjoyed Mrs President at the Charing Cross Theatre tonight https://charingcrosstheatre.co.uk/theatre/mrs-president
But my goodness, some audiences are awkward post-lockdowns

Mrs President at Charing Cross Theatre
Art Pond Foundation presentsMRS PRESIDENTWritten by John Ransom PhillipsDirected by Bronagh LaganIn Mrs President, Mary Lincoln is a woman at war—with her grief, her detractors, and herself. Vilified by an envious elite and accused of treason, she strives to rebuild her public image to win the hearts of the American people. She turns to the world’s first celebrity photographer, Matthew Brady, who helped her husband, Abraham Lincoln, win the presidency. But their partnership unravels into a …

‘AI will be the end of us’ – is Colm Tóibín right about the threat to creative writing? https://theconversation.com/ai-will-be-the-end-of-us-is-colm-toibin-right-about-the-threat-to-creative-writing-275898

‘AI will be the end of us’ – is Colm Tóibín right about the threat to creative writing?
AI will continue to affect writers existentially and economically – but does the human touch still matter to us more?

The AI writing witchhunt is pointless. https://www.joanwestenberg.com/the-ai-writing-witchhunt-is-pointless/
Good piece by @…

The AI writing witchhunt is pointless.
Alexandre Dumas ran what was essentially a content production house in 19th century Paris. His most famous collaborator was Auguste Maquet, who wrote substantial portions of The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo. Maquet would produce drafts and outlines, and Dumas would rewrite and polish them, but the

I'm ever so slowly working my way through some thoughts on the relationship between art and human society and evolution. Without succumbing to instrumentalism, I have come to see the capacity to create and enjoy art perhaps one of the defining essenses of being human.
In brief, art enables us to imagine the impossible—or, perhaps, our ability to imagine the impossible is first expressed through art—and thus enables innovation and change at both an individual and societal level. Als…

Some quite personal news for long-time followers and personal connections - 9 years after my initial cancer diagnosis, and six years after treatment for a recurrence, the oncology team have officially discharged me. Which is kinda NHS-speak for: I'm in remission! Yay!!

Interesting for a sense of how much research is missing from 'global' platforms, based on where and what language it was published in. Focuses on Moldova, Ukraine, Georgia, Germany. LSE Impact blog post: https://

By linking national scholarly infrastructures we can better understand the impact of global research - LSE Impact
Global scholarly information systems provide poor coverage for social science and humanities research taking place outside of the anglophone world and in languages other than English. Paul Donner, Stephan Stahlschmidt, Serhii Nazarovets, Igor Cojocaru, Irina Cojocaru, Marina Razmadze and Shushanik Sargsyan highlight a range of national initiatives taking place aimed at improving scholarly data for

Wallace Shawn’s Road to Socialism https://jacobin.com/2026/04/wallace-shawn-socialism-theater-class/

Wallace Shawn’s Road to Socialism
The left-wing actor and playwright Wallace Shawn, currently in two plays in New York, describes a harsh midlife conversion to class politics — transforming from a disengaged liberal to someone who sees himself as “a participant in the world struggle.”

I'm with the auditors on this one! Companies deploying AI need more expert human auditing, not less, at least until fundamental flaws in 'AI' are addressed and it's reliably accurate
'KPMG gets money off its own audit by arguing AI makes accounting cheaper'

Well. I’ve been accepted to my first conference!
This will sound strange to many academics out there, but working in the fine arts I don’t generally pay much attention to academic conferences—but having had a research semester last fall I was able to do a deep dive into the educational philosophy of practice-based filmmaking education and apparently the conference organisers agree that it’s interesting! I got an email this morning that my abstract was accepted.
Now I just need in…

Second International Conference on Embodied Education 2026
Copenhagen 8 - 11 June 2026: The 2nd International Conference on Embodied Education is aimed at conveying a community of people interested in embodied education and the related topics, like enaction, emotion, extended mind, embedded cognition, sports, wellbeing, and the performative arts (such as music, dance and drama).

There Are Four Lights: Star Trek’s Unwitting Allegory for Domestic Abuse https://reactormag.com/star-treks-unwitting-allegory-for-domestic-abuse/

There Are Four Lights: Star Trek’s Unwitting Allegory for Domestic Abuse - Reactor
The parallels are unmistakable, once you consider Picard's final confession.

Jisc report: 'Student perceptions of AI 2025' https://www.jisc.ac.uk/reports/student-perceptions-of-ai-2025
'A report on how students view artificial intelligence, how they are using it, and their concerns and hopes, based on conversations with…

If you ever need to keep a Mac awake (e.g. so a download or backup can complete), the 'caffeinate' command might be just what you need. The only issue is remembering how to spell 'caffeinate'
More info: https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-250011066…

I’m not sure who is doing more damage to NATO: Donald Trump or Mark Rutte.

So much in this on expertise, learning, the importance of libraries... 'Making breakfast on a burning planet: a parent’s perspective on a GenAI future' https://educationexpress.uts.edu.au/blog/2026/03/09/making-breakfast-on-a-burning-pla…

Five Sci-Fi Stories About the Dark Side of A.I. - Reactor https://reactormag.com/five-sci-fi-stories-about-the-dark-side-of-a-i/

Five Sci-Fi Stories About the Dark Side of A.I. - Reactor
A.I. may be everywhere, but we don't have to like it...

Lots of good in this by Martha Lane Fox: 'The impact [of AI] won’t arrive as one big shock. It will seep in through a thousand local compressions: a team of ten becoming a team of seven...the entry-level rung thinning out' but OTOH 'When the cost of trying falls, the number of attempts rises' https://

The Price of initiative just collapsed
From libraries to large models: why the next divide is between people who try things and people who don’t.

I have some thoughts on the role of art in our lives, in society, and in evolution. https://filmschoolteacher.info/fredsnotes/2026/02/10/some-notes-on-the-role-of-art/

Museums Association: 'organisations need to act urgently to adapt to the reality of the climate crisis' https://www.museumsassociation.org/museums-journal/opinion/2026/02/culture-in-a-changing-climate/

Culture in a changing climate - Museums Association
Emma Howard Boyd on why organisations need to act urgently to adapt to the reality of the climate crisis

Follow the money. Could it be that the pre existing bridge, the Ambassador Bridge, is wholly owned and operated by a Trump donor…? 🤔
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/09/trump-gordie-howe-bridge-canada?CMP=Share_iOS…

Quick blog post noting some thoughts on 'Documenting AI-created/enhanced records in catalogues/metadata/displays' - I'd love to know who's already doing it, and how? https://www.openobjects.org.uk/2026/02/doc

How should we define mathematical beauty in the AI age? | Aeon Essays
The eye of the mathematician: Is mathematical beauty real? Or is it just a subjective, human ‘wow’ that is becoming redundant in an AI age? https://aeon.co/essays/how-should-we-defi…

«LLMs are cliché machines, trained on a resilient human weakness for generating maximum content with minimum effort.»
Bingo.
Unfortunately, this too hits the nail on the head: «Bad art is something human beings love to do, in vast numbers. It’s part of who we are, and when abandoned by inspiration we trust in the same methods we’ve programmed into LLMs.»

Noe har skjedd med håndskriften – og fagfolk mener det har betydning https://www.nrk.no/stor-oslo/xl/noe-har-skjedd-med-handskriften-_-og-fagfolk-mener-det-har-betydning-1.17671766

Follow the money. Could it be that the pre existing bridge, the Ambassador Bridge, is wholly owned and operated by a Trump donor…? 🤔
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/09/trump-gordie-howe-bridge-canada?CMP=Share_iOS…