Sign in

Jovanna Rosen

@jovannarosen.bsky.social
182 followers 246 following 8 posts

Associate Prof at Rutgers. community development, urban inequality + social innovation. Book: Community Benefits

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Jovanna Rosen
Veena Dubal @veenadubal.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Today was a good law day for workers in CA! Not the best, but pretty good. Here's a summary of what AI & Labor related laws that Gov. Newsom signed...and what he vetoed. The Cal Labor Fed & aff unions deserve an enormous amount of credit for these world historic laws! 1/12
1174
Reposted by Jovanna Rosen
Tim Newman @tnewmsblues.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Really cool new commentary about the “scam” under digital capitalism @ctwittekind.bsky.social @desireefields.bsky.social @jmigozzi.bsky.social @jovannarosen.bsky.social @lfalvarezleon.bsky.social doi.org/10.1177/2053...
Scams all the way up: The scam as vernacular analytic of digital capitalism 

By Courtney T. Wittekind, Elizabeth Resor, Jovanna Rosen, Hilary Faxon, Kendra Kintzi, Julien Migozzi, Luis F. Alvarez León, and Desiree Fields
 
Abstract 
Scams have proliferated under digital capitalism; so too have stories of scams and allegations of scamming. In this commentary, we focus on the latter to situate the scam as a “vernacular analytic:” an everyday mode of critique invoked to question the normative systems and institutions that rule our lives, but are experienced as exploitative or rigged. While this vernacular analytic is a powerful and pervasive means to highlight inequality, we argue that it obscures what is unique about scams amid capitalism's digitalization. In response, we develop a systematic approach to study this vernacular analytic as it circulates under digital capitalism. We propose three features of the scam as a vernacular analytic: critique at scale, the fallout of digital mimicry, and the exploitation of affect. This threefold framework provides a common foundation for empowering us to counter inequitable and exploitative systems by reimagining and rebuilding institutions and our trust in them. We argue that recognizing the power and pervasiveness of the scam as a vernacular analytic, and interrogating how scams operate under digital capitalism, are essential steps toward a future less vulnerable to digitally mediated exploitation.
0137
Reposted by Jovanna Rosen
Kara Jorgensen @authorkaraj.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Reminder that wetlands 1) keep surrounding areas from flooding 2) are a carbon sink and help to fight global warming 3) often harbor species that aren't seen anywhere else 4) ARE REALLY GOOD FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
4214103
Reposted by Jovanna Rosen
Asher HELLbein @asherelbein.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
I think there's actually a useful difference we can draw here. Namely: there is incrementalism that comes from pushing wherever possible (and with whatever levels possible) to make progress toward a maximalist demand, versus incrementalism that's positioned as an excuse for setting minor goals
122824581
Reposted by Jovanna Rosen
Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 25/06/2026
“In a recent study looking at the use of AI in healthcare, researchers from Stanford and Harvard found even top-performing AI models from Anthropic and Google produced 12 to 15 severely harmful errors per 100 cases. The worst-performing models made mistakes in 40 out of 100 cases.”
marketplace.org
Why nurses' unions are fighting for AI guardrails
Nurses' unions in Michigan and New York City are winning contract language that gives them oversight of how AI tools are deployed in their hospitals.
11419264
Reposted by Jovanna Rosen
Dan "Mr. Bones and Me" Greene @dmgreene.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
This is bad bad bad and it's a point in favor of SAG-style fights over "digital likenesses" not just our usual terrain of "academic materials" or "intellectual property"
1246
Reposted by Jovanna Rosen
Maggie Harrison Dupré @mharrisondupre.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
NEW: A new pre-print study offers the first causal evidence that outsourcing reasoning tasks to AI can rapidly erode users' independent performance AND their will to persist despite difficulty. "People’s persistence drops... they’re also not willing to try without AI.” futurism.com/artificial-i...
futurism.com
AI Use Appears to Have a "Boiling Frog" Effect on Human Cognition, New Study Warns
A new study claims to offer the first causal link between AI dependency and cognitive erosion. Researchers warn of long-term implications.
4821641177
Reposted by Jovanna Rosen
UBC Centre for Migration Studies @migration.ubc.ca · 18/03/2026
How do platforms like Uber and DoorDash change protections for immigrant workers? New paper by María Esther Cervantes Macías shows how they both enable and constrain transnational mobility, deepening global inequalities through flexible digital labour. 🔗 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
112
Reposted by Jovanna Rosen
s. e. smith @sesmith.lol · 22/03/2026
Squeezed by data centers' relentless demand for electricity, a Nevada energy company just said it's going to stop supplying energy to Tahoe. The city has a year to figure out how to meet 75% of its energy needs without it.
calmatters.org
Lake Tahoe isn’t sure where it’s power will come from after the next ski season
The area’s longtime power supplier, NV Energy, will cut off the region next year. It has said data centers are driving “unprecedented” demand.
2731981612
Reposted by Jovanna Rosen
Lindsay Naylor @lbnaylor.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
My new book—felt even better to grab this photo after an amazing, generative, and absolutely generous author meets critics panel this morning. Thank you to all the amazing panelists! #AAG2026
Happy author holding new book—all geographer should be feminist geographers on the AAG exhibition floor.
0253
Reposted by Jovanna Rosen
Julián Posada @posada.website · 16/03/2026
With the cover now finalized, I am pleased to announce my forthcoming book: 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦 𝐄𝐱𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐦: 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞. Available this October from @ucpress.bsky.social s. 🧵 1/4
Book cover for "Platform Extractivism: Data Work and the People Powering Artificial Intelligence" by Julián Posada. Set against a bright yellow background, three vertical photographic panels at the top depict a crowd with digital bounding boxes over faces, a person coding at a computer, and a dense rack of glowing server cables. The title is in large, bold black text, followed by the red subtitle and the author’s name in blue at the bottom.
79337
Reposted by Jovanna Rosen
Culture Crave 🍿 @culturecrave.co · 12/03/2026
ChatGPT boss Sam Altman on AI "We see a future where intelligence is a utility, like electricity or water, and people buy it from us on a meter"
20223764
Reposted by Jovanna Rosen
Dan Immergluck @danimmergluck.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
The ">30% income" definition of "cost-burdened" distorts the qualitatively & quantitatively different level of harm to very low-income folk from unaffordable housing. While more middle-income folks are cost-burdened now, very low-income folks are being left with increasingly impossible $ to live on.
22916
Reposted by Jovanna Rosen
Will B. Payne @willbpayne.bsky.social · 06/03/2026
I have a new open access article in Geoforum, looking at how abrasive online “finfluencers” promise riches through buying cheap properties to rent to Housing Choice Voucher (“Section 8”) holders, using outdated spatial arbitrage strategies and AI automation: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
The Section 8 (F)influencer economy
The Housing Choice Voucher (HCV, colloquially known as “Section 8” vouchers) program is one of the largest affordable housing programs in the United S…
1129
Reposted by Jovanna Rosen
WeRateDogs @weratedogs.com · 10/02/2026
we need to talk about that Ring Super Bowl ad
9623118713630
Reposted by Jovanna Rosen
Alondra Nelson @alondra.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
🧵 Trump administration AI policy is widely described as deregulatory. This description is misleading. What's happening is not the absence of governance but its rearrangement--intensive state intervention operating through mechanisms we don't typically call regulation. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
The mirage of AI deregulation
One of the most interventionist approaches to technology governance in the United States in a generation has cloaked itself in the language of deregulation. In early December 2025, President Donald Tr...
10684359
Reposted by Jovanna Rosen
Victor Ray @victorerikray.bsky.social · 07/01/2026
Abolishing ICE is the moderate position.
425660
Reposted by Jovanna Rosen
Nathan Kalman-Lamb @nkalamb.bsky.social · 02/01/2026
“I’m a developer for a major food delivery app. The 'Priority Fee' and 'Driver Benefit Fee' go 100% to the company. The driver sees $0 of it.” www.reddit.com/r/confession...
I’m a developer for a major food delivery app. The 'Priority Fee' and 'Driver Benefit Fee' go 100% to the company. The driver sees $0 of it.
I’m posting this from a library Wi-Fi on a burner laptop because I am technically under a massive NDA. I don’t care anymore. I put in my two weeks yesterday and honestly, I hope they sue me. I’ve been sitting on this for about eight months, just watching the code getting pushed to production, and I can’t sleep at night knowing I helped build this machine.

You guys always suspect the algorithms are rigged against you, but the reality is actually so much more depressing than the conspiracy theories. I’m a backend engineer. I sit in the weekly sprint planning meetings where Product Managers (PMs) discuss how to squeeze another 0.4% margin out of "human assets" (that’s literally what they call drivers in the database schemas). They talk about these people like they are resource nodes in a video game, not fathers and mothers trying to pay rent.

First off, the "Priority Delivery" is a total scam. It was pitched to us as a "psychological value add." Like I said in the title, when you pay that extra $2.99, it changes a boolean flag in the order JSON, but the dispatch logic literally ignores it. It does nothing to speed you up.

We actually ran an A/B test last year where we didn't speed up the priority orders, we just purposefully delayed non-priority orders by 5 to 10 minutes to make the Priority ones "feel" faster by comparison. Management loved the results. We generated millions in pure profit just by making the standard service worse, not by making the premium service better.

But the thing that actually makes me sick—and the main reason I’m quitting—is the "Desperation Score." We have a hidden metric for drivers that tracks how desperate they are for cash based on their acceptance behavior.

If a driver usually logs on at 10 PM and accepts every garbage $3 order instantly without hesitation, the algo tags them as "High Desperati…
21411180
Reposted by Jovanna Rosen
Matt Gannon @mattygannon.bsky.social · 26/12/2025
Housing First is a housing-focused intervention, and it works. Critics cherry-pick evidence to highlight where programs fall short in health outcomes. That’s important — and access to/funding for services should be increased — but the fact remains that housing outcomes improve, and that’s a start.
0133
Jovanna Rosen @jovannarosen.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
New article with @lfalvarezleon.bsky.social on the different geographies created by digital capitalism, urbanization, and global production networks
052
Reposted by Jovanna Rosen
John Skiles Skinner @skiles.blue · 07/12/2025
I'll say again: we are oddly selective about the government services about which we will say, they operate at a loss. We say Amtrak and the post office "lose money" but we never say highways, the court system, the Pentagon, etc lose money
381687495
Reposted by Jovanna Rosen
Sarah T Roberts, PhD @ubiquity75.xyz · 05/12/2025
You may have heard that Trump’s extortion of University of California was defeated in court. But do you know who won this historic case? Spoiler: not a single UC administrator participated. It was all faculty members of the UC Faculty Associations and @aaup.org! Cc: @veenadubal.bsky.social
youtu.be
Behind the Scenes: How UC Faculty Beat Back Trump's Attacks
YouTube video by UC Faculty
8671214
Reposted by Jovanna Rosen
Miriam Posner @miriamposner.com · 15/11/2025
WE WON. I am *begging* you to take note of who did this. *Not* UCLA admin—they’re still scuttling around behind closed doors, attempting to appease—but FACULTY AND STAFF, led by AAUP.
2238931069
Reposted by Jovanna Rosen
Veena Dubal @veenadubal.bsky.social · 12/11/2025
This really struck me. If Uber were legally acknowledged as an employer, then it would be the biggest employer in the world, with over 9,000,000 employees globally. Think about how many taxes, wages, and protections are being lost b/c of their intransigence.
2501160
Reposted by Jovanna Rosen
The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 06/11/2025
One analytical model shows that, as of November 5th, the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D. has already caused the deaths of 600,000 people, two-thirds of them children. newyorkermag.visitlink.me/jUzNSc
newyorkermag.visitlink.me
The Shutdown of U.S.A.I.D. Has Already Killed Hundreds of Thousands
The short documentary “Rovina’s Choice” tells the story of what goes when aid goes.
42792145980
Reposted by Jovanna Rosen
Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 31/10/2025
Everyone deserves joy. And it's pretty ironic for the capitalist class to complain that Gen-Z is finding what joy they can afford--given how little they're paid and how much debt they've been forced to carry--in a store-bought pastry or coffee cup.
1229453
Reposted by Jovanna Rosen
AAUP @aaup.org · 16/09/2025
BREAKING: A historic coalition of national & California labor unions led by the AAUP filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration challenging the illegal & coercive use of civil rights laws to attack the University of California system & the rights of their members.
latimes.com
UC employees, not waiting on leaders, sue Trump for 'financial coercion' over UCLA cuts
University of California faculty, students and staff on Tuesday sued President Trump over a $1.2-million penalty against UCLA and federal demands over campus changes. They argued that the actions camp...
8744287
Reposted by Jovanna Rosen
Clare Kelly @clarekelly.bsky.social · 04/09/2025
Academics are under unrelenting pressure to accept the narrative of the inevitability of #generativeAI & to embrace it in teaching & learning. We resist - because it is ecologically destructive, ethically corrupt, & because it undermines the thinking abilities that make us both human & intelligent.
6414196
Reposted by Jovanna Rosen
Louise Seamster @louiseseamster.bsky.social · 30/08/2025
have been also learning lately that data centers primarily draw water from public drinking water systems with huge implications for access, infrastructure quality, cost of buildout, and water rates for residential customers who already usually subsidize industrial use, in addition to capex
619096
Reposted by Jovanna Rosen
More Perfect Union @moreperfectunion.bsky.social · 29/08/2025
BREAKING: California lawmakers have reached an agreement with Uber and Lyft that will open the door for app drivers to form unions and organize for increased pay and better benefits. www.politico.com/news/2025/08...
politico.com
California reaches deal with Uber, Lyft to allow driver unions
The deal brings Uber and Lyft on board with a pathway to unionization for ride-hailing workers after the companies spent years fighting against the idea.
152226557
Reposted by Jovanna Rosen
Brian Merchant @bcmerchant.bsky.social · 26/08/2025
LAPD choppers are a malignant nuisance. They're harbingers of surveillance, operated *continuously*—yet the city's own data show they raise stress, impair cognition and burn 100,000s of gallons of gas. The best part? there's no evidence they deter or reduce crime at all. It's time to ground them.
bloodinthemachine.com
Ground the choppers
The LAPD's helicopter mania is both a policy disaster and a symbol of our malignant, badly functioning surveillance state.
441777388
Jovanna Rosen @jovannarosen.bsky.social · 25/08/2025
As you’re developing syllabi and thinking about AI statements and talking to students, consider using or adapting this resource on social and environmental harms, from our work in the climate justice and media committees. rutgersaaup.org/ai-syllabus-...
rutgersaaup.org
AI Syllabus Statement and Additional Resources - Rutgers AAUP-AFT
Our unions’ Joint Media and Narrative Committee and Climate Justice Committee collaborated in writing this recommended statement about artificial intelligence to include in syllabi and compiling addit...
020
Reposted by Jovanna Rosen
AAUP @aaup.org · 22/07/2025
Today, the AAUP released a new report, "Artificial Intelligence & Academic Professions." The report calls for policies that prioritize economic security, faculty working & student learning conditions as AI tech accelerates. www.aaup.org/news/new-rep... 🧵1/9
aaup.org
New Report Calls for Faculty Control in AI Decisions
Today, the AAUP released a new report, Artificial Intelligence and the Academic Professions, sharing survey findings and calling for the establishment of policies in colleges and universities that pri...
5210119
Reposted by Jovanna Rosen
Seth Cotlar @sethcotlar.bsky.social · 21/07/2025
One of the more notable things about our present political moment is that former Republicans like Joe Walsh or the folks at the Bulwark have a more clear eyed understanding of political strategy than a significant number of long-time, moderate Democrats.
722813509
Reposted by Jovanna Rosen
David Roberts @volts.wtf · 02/07/2025
Elon Musk casually, and illegally, dismantled USAID. According to a new study in the Lancet, that action will lead to *14 million* premature deaths between 2025 and 2030. Again: Elon Musk is directly responsible for 14 million coming deaths. 4.5 million will be children.
thelancet.com
Evaluating the impact of two decades of USAID interventions and projecting the effects of defunding on mortality up to 2030: a retrospective impact evaluation and forecasting analysis
USAID funding has significantly contributed to the reduction in adult and child mortality across low-income and middle-income countries over the past two decades. Our estimates show that, unless the a...
13045152315
Reposted by Jovanna Rosen
Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 28/06/2025
We are dismantling American higher education & scientific research & health care & all the other things to fund concentration camps
10751732301
Reposted by Jovanna Rosen
Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 11/06/2025
Elon Musk regrets tweets about Donald Trump. He does not regret cutting off food and medicine for millions of the poorest people around the world, killing untold numbers of them.
835672
Reposted by Jovanna Rosen
Ras J. Baraka @rasjbaraka.bsky.social · 09/06/2025
I said it before and I’ll say it again. We are in a fight for the integrity of our constitution and protection of our democracy. theguardian.com/us-n...
theguardian.com
‘History will judge us as cowards or heroes’: Ras Baraka, the mayor arrested by Ice, won’t be intimidated | New Jersey | The Guardian
The politician, who’s been labeled ‘too progressive, too Black’ in the race for New Jersey governor, reflects on Trump, immigration and the power of poetry
37522
Reposted by Jovanna Rosen
Daniel Swain @weatherwest.bsky.social · 07/06/2025
For some perspective, the federal government funds *over half* of all scientific research and development conducted by the @uofcalifornia.bsky.social -- and UC is collectively responsible, in turn, for over 8% of all academic research conducted in the United States.
Factsheet (from April 2025) detailing various statistics regarding the partnership between the University of California and the federal government.
16638284
Reposted by Jovanna Rosen
Mina Kimes @minakimes.bsky.social · 30/05/2025
Musk should be asked about this in every interview he does now and forever. To ignore it is a dereliction of duty. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/30/o...
There is one place, however, where Musk, with the help of his minions, achieved his goals. He did indeed shred U.S.A.I.D. Though a rump operation is now operating inside the State Department, the administration says that it has terminated more than 80 percent of U.S.A.I.D. grants. Brooke Nichols, an associate professor of global health at Boston University, has estimated that these cuts have already resulted in about 300,000 deaths, most of them of children, and will most likely lead to significantly more by the end of the year. That is what Musk’s foray into politics accomplished.
12553960113766
Reposted by Jovanna Rosen
Urban Studies Journal @urbanstudiesjournal.com · 29/05/2025
Using #Google as a case study, this new special issue paper by Burcu Baykurt calls for a broader theorisation of tech power in cities buff.ly/Pmn3iH2 #SmartCities #PlatformUrbanism
Article information including DOI, title, author, abstract and keywords.
011
Reposted by Jovanna Rosen
RutgersAAUP-AFT @ruaaup-aft.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
We stand with Mayor Baraka, a leader willing to put himself on the line for our communities.
092
Jovanna Rosen @jovannarosen.bsky.social · 30/04/2025
Always inspired by the organizing at Rutgers and, in particular, my brilliant and scrappy colleagues. Thanks for your leadership—for showing us another way forward 💫
nytimes.com
This State University Has a Plan to Take on Trump
Two professors from Rutgers University in New Jersey went out on a limb to write a “mutual defense compact” for Big Ten schools. Their effort is gaining steam.
061
Reposted by Jovanna Rosen
Rob Scott @robscottanthro.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
Senator Anna Haley pointing to historic moment and focus on resolution as defense of academic freedom, the world is waiting for Rutgers, disappointed with Holloway’s response and failure to have a vision, further vision of the original resolution Thanks BoG Chair Towers for being here.
122
Reposted by Jovanna Rosen
Michael Yarbrough (he/him) @mwyarbrough.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
The resolution is on the desk of Rutgers President Jonathan Holloway as we speak. If you think he should move forward with it, drop him a note at president at rutgers dot edu to say so. Anyone with an interest should write! And that goes double for Rutgers alums + affiliates!!
1279105
Reposted by Jovanna Rosen
Michael Yarbrough (he/him) @mwyarbrough.bsky.social · 30/03/2025
This exciting resolution from Rutgers University Senate is exactly the kind of model I think higher ed needs: a mutual defense pact of, in this case, Big 10 schools. They call for member institutions to create a joint defense fund and make resources available to any member institution under attack.
Excerpt from Rutgers University Senate resolution calling for a Mutual Academic Defense Compact. The excerpt reads:

"BE IT RESOLVED THAT, the Rutgers University Senate urges the President of Rutgers University to formally propose and help establish a Mutual Academic Defense Compact (MADC) among all members of the Big Ten Academic Alliance;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT, under this compact, all participating institutions shall commit meaningful funding to a shared or distributed defense fund. This fund shall be used to provide immediate and strategic support to any member institution under direct political or legal infringement;"
6646971527
Reposted by Jovanna Rosen
Urban Studies Journal @urbanstudiesjournal.com · 30/03/2025
Sims examines Mountain View city in #SiliconValley to help make sense of how #DigitalGrowth machines and the restructuring schemes that they pursue arise from and vary in accordance with local contexts, and introduces the notion of growth genres buff.ly/HEIQI37
Screenshot of article info including DOI, title, authors, abstract and keywords
021
Reposted by Jovanna Rosen
Asheesh Kapur Siddique @asheeshks.org · 22/03/2025
Tenure didn’t protect anyone at Columbia. Let this be a lesson in the need for labor solidarity across all ranks in higher ed.
11850207