iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

I guess this tech passes the Turing test 48% of the time for an ai character in "conversation" with a person. www.tavus.io/griffin Putting aside whether that is true and or good, why is it always like this - human man with flirty female robot, and they have nothing to actually talk about?

tavus.io

Griffin: The First Human Interaction Model | Tavus

Griffin is the first Human Interaction Model (HIM). On live video calls, 48% of people who talked to it thought it was a real person.

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Bess W @besswww.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

My mental a state is my stomach dropping seeing something on my calendar tomorrow because I don't know what day it is and I think I've missed it

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Malice Walker @humblecore.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

MORE WHEELCHAIRS AND WHEELCHAIR USERS AND DISABLED PEOPLE AT EVENTS AND IN PUBLIC IN GENERAL how to do this: 1) start by seeing disabled people as people 2) make things accessible

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Bess W @besswww.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Sad news for American museums today. Lonnie Bunch's legacy is significant. And I fear for who will replace him.

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Bess W @besswww.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Please join us for an online seminar with Dagmar Herzog, author of prize-winning _The Question of Unworthy Life: Eugenics and Germany’s Twentieth Century_.

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Bess W @besswww.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

A+ fellow faculty interaction today when someone i don't know tipped me off that the cookies at the teaching center event were "solid" (complimentary).

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Bess W @besswww.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

I am mostly below these scammers' radar but I have received a few "we want your book for our book club" emails. TBH have to hand it to scammers knowing that ego will trump reason when it comes to very micro doses of fame in academia. TLDR watch out for new type of scam

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Bess W @besswww.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

I feel naive about this but why does a journal database (wiley) want to push AI summaries? There is a window asking me to ask a chatbot that I cannot close. If they make $ from univ. subscriptions, is this in demand? & how much does it cost them vs, say, lowering rates to boost sales?

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Bess W @besswww.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

update: www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/fac... I wish this were more academia-specific though, like Name 3 scholars who should have cited you (fastest icebreaker ever)

mcsweeneys.net

Faculty Meeting Icebreakers

“Share the longest period of time you’ve ever wept. Then, as a group, seat yourselves in order from shortest cry to longest cry.” 8/26/25 8/27/26

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Bess W @besswww.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Makes sense that the @cpsc.gov is really good at ASMR

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Bess W @besswww.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

start of school gossip: college students telling me about orientations, RA training, etc where the presentations were blatant AI and everyone in the room audibly groaned. & about their service industry jobs that have bad AI images representing the actual food and drinks that they serve.

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Bess W @besswww.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

hot tip - do not use this icebreaker in a meeting of research academics: "what is a common misconception about your field?"

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Bess W @besswww.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Congrats @elleryefoutch.bsky.social. Come for a deep dive into the Blaschka glass flowers, stay for 19th century bodybuilding history steamy enough to be censored by the internet.

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Bess W @besswww.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Any disability-aware faculty want to share how they are approaching "return to paper" and more device restrictions from an inclusive perspective? Feels like I'm back in 2005 with "you will fail this class if you use a phone."

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Bess W @besswww.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Realizing I never really thought about how people board a zeppelin. This never happened - it is a composite photo - but it's definitely on the top of my list of ways to board a vehicle.

Photo that appears to show a blimp kissing the spire of the Empire State Building as a port for the airship. 1930s low skyscrapers below.

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Bess W @besswww.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

seriously academics can we come up with another name for a day or multi-day faculty meeting that is not "retreat"?

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Bess W @besswww.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

Follow-up: the end of conference plenary with a chat g summary of reflections that people put into the conference app. Sigh

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Bess W @besswww.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

Ever since I've been in academia (almost 20 yrs) people have been talking about the end of the traditional academic conference yet they largely persist. What changes have you seen in conferences that you think make a difference? I'll start

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Bess W @besswww.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

0 days since I have heard "I asked [AI tool] about this and.." in a keynote/commencement speech, etc

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Bess W @besswww.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

Coming soon! Reissue of Design for Independent Living, an exceptional document of disabled expertise in collab with architecture students in the 1970s, by Raymond Lifchez and Barbara Winslow. New intro by me, Aimi Hamraie & Ignacio Galán. www.upress.umn.edu/978151792140...

upress.umn.edu

Design for Independent Living

A new edition of the classic and innovative resource that relies on personal lived experience to guide accessible designIn 1979, University of California arc...

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Bess W @besswww.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

TIL that the term "tarmac" is a shortening of "tarmacadam" referring to tar + a technique of layering crushed stones for hard surfaces (named for engineer McAdam who invented it in 19th c). Basically a precursor to asphalt - but oddly seems mainly to refer to airport paved areas today - right?

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Bess W @besswww.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

This post has great alt text that helped me realize that even when names are provided IDK who 80% of these people are. But pretty clothes! Very bad sponsors! (But let's be honest the met & it's sponsors have never been great)

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Bess W @besswww.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

me: oh my next book is going to be way more succinct and won't go down every rabbit hole like my dissertation-to-book also me: reading entire books to inform 1 to 2 sentences of current hodgepodge of partial drafts

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Bess W @besswww.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

I need a punch card for how many times I've been at a disability-focused event where someone claims they don't need a microphone.

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Anna Holmes @annabookwriter.bsky.social · 14/02/2026

Yeah, hi, I’m a person with “mobility challenges” (excuse me while I hurl). What we want, by and large, are not expensive, heavy devices that will “help us walk again”, but ramps. I know, it’s not sexy, as technology invented before Christ, but it is overlooked in favor of…this. Repeatedly.

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Bess W @besswww.bsky.social · 07/01/2026

it seems like a fair number of people I know from students to colleagues are starting to write in this way where parts of paragraphs are bolded. I am not a fan. Where does this come from and is it preferred by anyone?

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Bess W @besswww.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

love to hear that my university hired a consulting firm to assess our research support - probably spending more than I would earn in research funds in 5 careers. Forgive me for not feeling that marginalized topics, non STEM, and smaller-scale funding are going to be hot topics for them.

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Bess W @besswww.bsky.social · 11/12/2025

I realize this isn't the main thing here but isn't Times New Roman no longer even packaged with Microsoft Word? (while Calibri is the default there) Maybe worth saying there isn't really a single font that is considered most accessible.. but TNR is very poor for readability.

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Bess W @besswww.bsky.social · 09/12/2025

I'm sorry, but it's just too funny that medical leave is called FML

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Bess W @besswww.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

LOL @ this romantic post about the least romantic first date location you could possibly imagine.

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Society for Disability Studies @disstudies.bsky.social · 16/11/2025

Or come for a book talk from David Serlin on his most recent title, "Window Shopping with Helen Keller: Architecture and Disability in Modern Culture: us06web.zoom.us/meeting/regi... 5/5

A white event poster with burgundy red accents. Reads "Join David Serlin, author of 'Window Shopping with Helen Keller: Architecture and Disability in Modern Culture (University of Chicago Press, 2025)' for a discussion of his new book, which explores the sensorial and experiential worlds of disabled people like Keller and through the medium of architecture, decades before the disability rights movement of the late 1960s standardized now-familiar terms like 'access' and 'accommodation.'" The event will take place December 9, 2025 from 12:00 - 1:15 PM Eastern. It will include a 30-minute presentation about the book, a 10-15 minute reader response, a short response to readers, and a Q&A. Please email access requests to admin@disstudies.org

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Brandy Schillace @bschillace.brandyschillace.com · 15/11/2025

I am gutted to learn of @sfdirewolf.bsky.social (Alice Wong’s) passing. She was always a warm friend, a wonderful spirit, and someone who fostered my own growth. She helped me see that, as a #disabled person with chronic illness, I matter—I am whole. I’ll be posting some of Alice’s work. ❤️ forever

A photo of a woman in pink in a wheelchair. She has an intubation for oxygen. She looks up at the viewer. Words:

This is Alice's friend Sandy Ho, posting. Per Alice's wishes, this message is being shared at the time of her passing
Hi everyone, it looks like I ran out of time. I have so many dreams that I wanted to fulfill and plans to create new stories for you. There are a few in progress that might come to fruition in a few years if things work out. I did not ever imagine ! would live to this age and end up a writer, editor, activist, and more. As a kid riddled with insecurity and internalized ableism, I could not see a path forward. It was thanks to friendships and some great teachers who believed in me that I was able to fight my way out of miserable situations into a place where I finally felt comfortable in my skin.
We need more stories about us and our culture.
You all, we all, deserve the everything and more in such a hostile, ableist environment. Our wisdom is incisive and unflinching. I'm honored to be your ancestor and believe disabled oracles like us will light the way to the future. Don't let the bastards grind you down. I love you all.
may her memory

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David Turner @profdavidturner.bsky.social · 08/11/2025

30 years ago today the Disability Discrimination Act became law in the UK. We're at Insole Court, Cardiff today for #BeingHumanFestival25 reflecting on it's legacy

Silver balloons spelling out Happy Birthday next to photos showing disability activism campaigns from the 1990s

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Bess W @besswww.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

just wild how still, almost 20 years into researching what I've been researching, a friend is like "have you seen this masters thesis from 1985" and i click 2 links and have it on my computer, and I've never seen it before. I am thinking AI cannot do this but I do appreciate that regular search can.

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Gail Drakes @gaildrakes.bsky.social · 18/10/2025

I just wanna point out that this online No Kings protest organized by disabled folks is offering more opportunities for follow-up and additional action than I’ve seen for any of the in-person events. Not hatin’- just sayin’ 💁🏽‍♀️

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Bess W @besswww.bsky.social · 15/10/2025

Wow a bracing interview on NPR 's Here & now about birth control misinfo on Tiktok, particularly aligned with claims from the likes of Charlie Kirk that birth control has a detrimental effect on women's patches/personalities so they need to get off it to know their true selves

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Bess W @besswww.bsky.social · 14/10/2025

Great to see this new bio of Ed Roberts, one of the key figures in the US Disability Rights Mvmt. Looks like great detail on the legislative and politics work he did beyond what he's best known for in Berkeley. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

motherjones.com

The radical life of the father of independent living

A new book explores disabled activist Ed Roberts' revolutionary career.

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Bess W @besswww.bsky.social · 10/10/2025

Am a fan of the Vibe Check podcast just to get to listen to these 3 great friends who are super smart, caring, knowledgeable, and love dogs and music and poetry. And if you need a super cathartic, absolute takedown of Bari Weiss today, go to about 35 min pca.st/episode/daa5...

pca.st

An Abundance of White Mediocrity

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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 23/09/2025

I think…people’s obsession with “a cause”…is precisely because autism’s genetic randomness is hard to stratify by social class……………..

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Bess W @besswww.bsky.social · 02/10/2025

fascinated by the fine print of this

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Bess W @besswww.bsky.social · 24/09/2025

People will say the younger generations aren't tough but I'm at an outdoor concert where it's upward of 80 F and people are wearing sweatshirts and tweed jackets. Horrors for my perimenopausal eyes.

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Dr Zara Bain @zaranosaur.bsky.social · 21/09/2025

I'm thinking of this piece I wrote way back in June 2014, about the problematic assumption that when you're a starting PhD student or PGR who is disabled, you'll know what access support you'll need, even though you've never done a research degree before phdisabled.wordpress.com/2014/06/11/t...

phdisabled.wordpress.com

The Adjusted PhD: What Accommodations Work(ed) For You?

Today I initiated conversations with my new institutional home’s Disability Support Services. As a disabled postgraduate researcher returning to PhD study after a previous unsuccessful attem…

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Bess W @besswww.bsky.social · 17/09/2025

I've gotten so many spam calls lately I've started answering them to see what kind of calls they are. Scary thing is not knowing if this corny sounding dude is just really skilled at trying to turn this conversation around to get my personal info, or if that dude is a bot that is very good at that.

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