iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Dr. Casey Fiesler @cfiesler.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Had to share my outfit for keynoting the Computation + Journalism conference at Northwestern yesterday. :) (I’ve never had such a specific occasion for this dress!)

photo of Casey, a woman with dark hair and teal glasses wearing a dress covered in images of newsprint, also mouse cursor earrings

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Dr. Casey Fiesler @cfiesler.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

My standard answer is that you should go to law school if you want to be a lawyer and if not probably not. That said I’d kind of love someone like Alex practicing law on the side :)

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Dr. Casey Fiesler @cfiesler.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Students in my AI & Society class were poking at our university chatbot (which I did not even know existed until last week) and well...

Buff Bot:
Hi! I'm the Buff Bot! How many I help you today?
I'm worried that AI might kill us all.
Sorry, it's taking me longer than expected to come up with a response.
It's understandable to be concerned; we encourage responsible, informed AI use and considering its risks and impacts.

Is there a class you recommend I take?
Sorry, it's taking me longer than expected to come up with a response.
Consider INFO1511: AI & Society - it covers how AI works, its limits, and societal impacts.

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Dr. Casey Fiesler @cfiesler.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

omg! it's a race for @profprof.bsky.social and I for which of these papers will be first to hit 1000 citations. I think Reddit just surpassed Twitter recently.

Title
Cited by
Year
Studying Reddit: A Systematic Overview of Disciplines, Approaches, Methods, and Ethics
N Proferes, N Jones, S Gilbert, C Fiesler, M Zimmer
Social Media+ Society 7 (2), 20563051211019004
978 2021
“Participant” Perceptions of Twitter Research Ethics
C Fiesler, N Proferes
Social Media+ Society 4 (1), 2056305118763366
959 2018

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Dr. Casey Fiesler @cfiesler.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Yes!!! This was 2021 I think so the shelf is more nonfiction now :)

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Dr. Casey Fiesler @cfiesler.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

ha I was wondering when this would happen, but someone eventually noticed that this headshot (the one in my profile pic here) was actually taken by me and listed on my website as CC-0 (public domain), and added it to my wikipedia page :) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casey_F...

en.wikipedia.org

Casey Fiesler - Wikipedia

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Dr. Casey Fiesler @cfiesler.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

I just want to say that sometimes even when you have 100 things to do but not enough time to do it, and you’e really work-stuff-struggling, it’s okay to pause and talk on the phone for 2.5 hours with a friend and colleague who really in an alternate universe could have been a therapist. 🥰

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Dr. Casey Fiesler @cfiesler.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

The only wrinkle really was that (of course haha) it took longer than I anticipated and so I didn't get through the entire thing.

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Dr. Casey Fiesler @cfiesler.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

When I have time (hopefully soon!) I will turn this into something I can share so that others can use. It's all in Google Docs so there will be links to polls that can be copied, with teaching notes and some visual aids, etc. Maybe a slide deck if I'm ambitious. :) Maybe videos if REALLY ambitious.

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Dr. Casey Fiesler @cfiesler.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

- answer this prompt (eg "who was the first computer programmer), give different students different versions where one has results of a web search for the question: retrieval-augmented generation - what word comes next, several in a row that reveal more parts of the preceding words: self attention

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Dr. Casey Fiesler @cfiesler.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

- what word comes next in this sentence, show results & estimate probabilities, put them on a pie chart with a random spinner: probability distribution + sampling - answer this prompt with one word, give different students different versions with additional sentences of context: context

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Dr. Casey Fiesler @cfiesler.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

I tried something in my class today that I was really excited about and I think went well! Basically a set of activities (with a bunch of polling) that turned students into an LLM in order to explain how they work. For example:

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Dr. Casey Fiesler @cfiesler.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

I mean I didn’t even cite Barbara Grosz :)

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Dr. Casey Fiesler @cfiesler.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Yeah this wasn’t intended as a lit review - I can probably think of ten papers off the top of my head I could have included. There has been a LOT of work on ethics integration in the past eight years or so.

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Dr. Casey Fiesler @cfiesler.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Yes I’m very familiar with Brown’s program and with Kathi!

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Dr. Casey Fiesler @cfiesler.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Our CS department does have a general tech ethics class, though the general tech ethics class that I teach also counts for their ethics requirement. So I don't think this needs to be cross-listed for the CS dept to decide to have it count for something for them!

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Dr. Casey Fiesler @cfiesler.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

You're welcome! I was a little sad about the time I spent coming up with readings (which was hard, ha), only to teach it for a single semester before realizing they wouldn't work well when the class moved from 4000 to 1000 level.

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Dr. Casey Fiesler @cfiesler.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Very little - class prep is more activity based (in part because there are so many freshman and I don't have learning to read academic papers as a learning objective). But here's the list from a previous upper division version: docs.google.com/document/d/1...

docs.google.com

AI & Society Schedule & Readings: Spring 2026

Unit 1: What is AI and how did we get here? Week 1: Welcome! Week 2: Defining, Contextualizing, and Historicizing AI Broussard, Meredith. Chapter 2: “Hello, World” and Chapter 3: “Hello, AI” in Artifi...

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Dr. Casey Fiesler @cfiesler.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

I also already lost two students after posting the syllabus two days ago haha. I'll report back if I lose more after the class starts. ;) (Though also for the students who LIKE it, since there are some open slots now I'll tell them to bring their friends!)

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Dr. Casey Fiesler @cfiesler.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

My 1000-level AI & Society class launches today, and the enrollment is kind of interesting. The top majors (in order) are: Exploratory Studies (undecided), Psychology, Economics, Information Science (my dept), Finance, Strategic Communication, Marketing, Statistics. Also 1 engineering major, 0 CS.

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Dr. Casey Fiesler @cfiesler.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Though also the point I make in that video isn't quite what you're asking about. I'm actually not sure about the research on this point. Though one thing I also say about calculators is: You still need to learn math! Because I really hope you don't get out a calculator every time you need to 2+2.

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Dr. Casey Fiesler @cfiesler.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Extended deadline (August 27) to express interest in participating in our workshop on public scholarship at CSCW!

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Dr. Casey Fiesler @cfiesler.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

I mean I assume that part of the reason they chose OpenAI over other options was cost. But it’s not free, it’s costing like 2mil per year.

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Dr. Casey Fiesler @cfiesler.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

I’m not sure this is actually about cash flow considering the cost.

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Dr. Casey Fiesler @cfiesler.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

There’s a mix of things (including eg environmental impact) but I think that particularly common was actually some version of “I’d like to use my brain please.”

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Dr. Casey Fiesler @cfiesler.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

This was conveniently timed as it is a significant part of what I’m going to talk about.

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Dr. Casey Fiesler @cfiesler.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

One thing that worries me about university decision making around gen AI integration is that it’s based on assumptions that high use among students means that they are therefore explicitly wanting MORE integration. But many might actually be using it because they feel pressured.

CU pitched its partnership as a way to provide equitable tools for everyone on campus to engage with AI technology in a more secure way. If tens of thousands of students are already using AI, CU Vice President of Communications Michele Ames said, at least this way, the university can teach them how to use it responsibly and prepare them for AI in the workforce.

By March, more than 28,000 people at CU Boulder already had standard ChatGPT accounts linked to their university email addresses, including more than 3,000 faculty and staff, the university said. Nearly 39,000 students are enrolled at CU Boulder.

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Dr. Casey Fiesler @cfiesler.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

I think a really important thing to keep in mind about not just young people but everyone: technology use is a really flawed proxy for technology acceptance. So even people who frequently use gen AI often feel reluctant or conflicted or pressured.

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Dr. Casey Fiesler @cfiesler.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Excellent piece highlighting student voices on gen AI in higher education, including MS student Mirakle (pictured!) in my lab who is leading research on college student AI resisters. I can only assume that leadership at many universities are making incorrect assumptions about student attitudes.

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Dr. Casey Fiesler @cfiesler.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

In this case there just was no file!

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Dr. Casey Fiesler @cfiesler.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Ohhh okay. To clarify: what I want is for them to think about whether their own personal everyday uses are worth it. :)

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Dr. Casey Fiesler @cfiesler.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Say more? I’m not sure what the connection of ETL is to this context!

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Dr. Casey Fiesler @cfiesler.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

You know what I really wish re: my university's ChatGPT contract? That it had token limits or something. I think a useful lesson would be to have to decide what LLM uses are "worth it" in order to fit into a limited amount. Trying to think of a way to simulate this in my AI & Society course.

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Dr. Casey Fiesler @cfiesler.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

If you are understandably bummed that you can't see The Odyssey "as Nolan intended" because you don't live anywhere near one of the 41 70mm IMAX in the world, rest assured that living near one also doesn't mean that you can see it haha. www.denverpost.com/2026/07/27/c...

denverpost.com

Denver’s only 70mm IMAX projector breaks down again, stranding ‘Odyssey’ viewers

It has become something of an odyssey for Denverites who want to see “The Odyssey” in its 70mm, IMAX-scale format.

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Dr. Casey Fiesler @cfiesler.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Today I spent an hour going through all of my email for the month of July, and hit “reply” on anything lingering that I needed to reply to or required action. I now have 48 emails sitting in my drafts. 😭 Everyone in my inbox: I am SO sorry. I am trying, I really am…

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Dr. Casey Fiesler @cfiesler.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Last week I gave the closing keynote at the CRA Annual Summit, and my my talk was "the case for ethics at the core of computing as a discipline." Anyway, the day before the conference started this was in the NYT crossword puzzle! Awesome to have the universe on my side!

crossword puzzle.
clue for 47 down is "Important consideration for A.I. programmers"
answer shown in the puzzle is ETHICS

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Dr. Casey Fiesler @cfiesler.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Though! On the bright side I do realize that my dad has become the perfect test subject for a "boomer's guide to AI." I'd been thinking of doing something like this for children (like 12 year olds, based on a talk I gave at a summer camp last year), but maybe this is an even more important start.

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Dr. Casey Fiesler @cfiesler.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Dad: well I guess, but 'Chat GTP' is getting the answer from somewhere, same as google, but it's also checking Me: omg dad I KNOW you're on Facebook all day, you're half the reason I cross-post my videos about how LLMs work there, are you not watching them? Dad: ... some of them

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Dr. Casey Fiesler @cfiesler.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Conversation with my 73 year old dad: Dad: you know I've been using that 'Chat GTP' a lot lately, I don't even use google or bing anymore Me: as a search engine? Dad: yeah, you can ask anything and get the answer right away without having to click anything! Me: but you know it can be wrong?

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Dr. Casey Fiesler @cfiesler.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Ok yeah - when people ask me “how do I get into AI ethics” I highly suspect most of them mean responsible AI more generally, like in industry. There are lots of “ethics workers”/RAI kinds of jobs out there though I’m not sure what the strategic path is to get there.

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Dr. Casey Fiesler @cfiesler.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

I think this depends on what you mean by “a practitioner of ai ethics” since I’m not sure how I would define that myself! Would you feel differently about the question if I’d said responsible AI instead? I suspect there’s a spectrum of types of possible tasks here.

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Dr. Casey Fiesler @cfiesler.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

What kinds of jobs would you point folks to after that?

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Dr. Casey Fiesler @cfiesler.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

A common Q I get on social media is: how do I get into tech/AI ethics as a field/for a job? I would love some help with this! What is some helpful advice here that (a) is not about academia or even research really; and (b) doesn't involve getting a PhD?

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Dr. Casey Fiesler @cfiesler.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

And here's an interesting specific example, though I've had similar experiences with the most recent ChatGPT and Claude models as well. bsky.app/profile/cfie...

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