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Kelly Webb-Davies

@kelwebbdavies.bsky.social
379 followers 294 following 146 posts

Cymraestralian. Immigrant 🇦🇺🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿. Linguist and educator doing AI in edu at Oxford (she/her/hi/ei)

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Kelly Webb-Davies @kelwebbdavies.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
Awful what is happening at Deakin. Please sign: www.megaphone.org.au/petitions/do...
megaphone.org.au
Do better, Deakin
Open letter from Deakin University staff On the restructure, the resignation, and the obligation to do better On 4 June, affected Deakin staff across two divisions of the University – Academic Portfo...
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Kelly Webb-Davies @kelwebbdavies.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
I spoke VFWA at CRADLE recently. I went into the Why of the model - the fundamental views I’ve had about GenAI that are largely based on my linguistics background and influenced my views of writing, authorship, and accessibility. The recording can be accessed here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6E9T...
youtube.com
CRADLE Seminar Series 2026 #5: Voice-First Written Assessment
YouTube video by CRADLEdeakin
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Kelly Webb-Davies @kelwebbdavies.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
I wrote about how VFWA addresses many of the issues @wonkhe.bsky.social has indentified from surveying students: open.substack.com/pub/kellyweb...
open.substack.com
Wonkhe’s The Secret Life of Students and the case for Voice-First Written Assessment
VFWA as practical response to what students are telling us about AI and assessment
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Kelly Webb-Davies @kelwebbdavies.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
✨ Voice-First Written Assessment (VFWA) now has a website ✨ If you're curious about the idea of Voice-First Written Assessment, you can now explore the model and the rationale behind it in more detail. kellywebbdavies.com/vfwa/
kellywebbdavies.com
VFWA: Voice-First Written Assessment — Kelly Webb-Davies
VFWA: Voice-First Written Assessment — A two-stage model that separates thinking from writing to create fair, verifiable assessments in the age of generative AI.
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Kelly Webb-Davies @kelwebbdavies.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
Thanks for coming Carol! I made it into a blog post: open.substack.com/pub/kellyweb...
open.substack.com
VFWA: Voice-First Written Assessment
This post was created in true VFWA style. I practice what I preach.
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Kelly Webb-Davies @kelwebbdavies.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
I finally debuted the passion project I’ve been working on: Voice-First Written Assessment. It’s a structural redesign of written assessment to increase security, accessibility, authenticity and as a result - validity. open.substack.com/pub/kellyweb...
open.substack.com
VFWA: Voice-First Written Assessment
This post was created in true VFWA style. I practice what I preach.
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Mignon Fogarty @grammargirl.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
They tell students papers sound like AI — even when they're the students' own writing — so the company can scare them and sell them a product. This goes beyond the general problem that even good AI detectors aren't perfect and shouldn't be the sole reason to accuse someone of writing with AI.
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Mignon Fogarty @grammargirl.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
Yesterday, I interviewed a tech guy who told me something too important for me to wait until the podcast comes out for you to hear it: Many free AI detectors have especially high false positive rates because they make money selling software that "humanizes" writing. 1/2
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Kelly Webb-Davies @kelwebbdavies.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
A6 - more talking, less writing #LTHEchat
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Kelly Webb-Davies @kelwebbdavies.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
A3 - truly breaking down what it is you’re trying to measure and having that happen in a secured, digitally unassisted way. Too often we say we’re trying to assessment thinking or reasoning and conflate that with linguistic form and mode #LTHEchat
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Kelly Webb-Davies @kelwebbdavies.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
Really grateful to be part of this panel and to what I fully expect to be a fascinating discussion. Especially looking forward to hearing from the other panellists and how their views will challenge many of the assumptions we often take for granted in both AI and education.
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Kelly Webb-Davies @kelwebbdavies.bsky.social · 06/12/2025
I train people at Oxford how to use AI, and this is precisely what I tell them to do, even including the term “grunt work”!
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Kelly Webb-Davies @kelwebbdavies.bsky.social · 29/11/2025
Less than a week to go and I've heard we're up to 400 registrations now, so very much the more the merrier! Registration details: 📅 Thursday, 4 December 2025 🕗 8–10am Oxford (UTC/GMT +1) 🕓 4–6pm Perth (UTC/GMT +8) 💻 Venue: Online via Zoom 👉 Register here: www.eventbrite.com/e/oxforduwa-...
eventbrite.com
Oxford–UWA GenAI in Academia Series Launch Seminar
Join us for the launch of an exciting international collaboration between UWA's GenAI Think Tank and Oxford's AI Competency Centre.
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Trish Greenhalgh @trishgreenhalgh.bsky.social · 26/01/2025
Vaccines do not cause autism. Keep saying things that have been demonstrated by robust science and are the subject or organised disinformation. Don’t just ignore the attempts to brainwash. #academicsky
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Tony Thorne @tonythorne007.bsky.social · 15/11/2025
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
theguardian.com
Icelandic is in danger of dying out because of AI and English-language media, says former PM
Katrín Jakobsdóttir and her co-author want the 350,000 people who speak the language to fight for its future
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Kelly Webb-Davies @kelwebbdavies.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
open.substack.com/pub/kellyweb...
open.substack.com
Plot Twist: “Real Writing” might be the barrier now
Who's disabled when the environment changes?
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Kelly Webb-Davies @kelwebbdavies.bsky.social · 24/10/2025
I thought of this analogy when preparing the talk I'm giving at the Cambridge GenAI in Education conference next week. So if you're there, you'll hear me give a version of it when I describe all the ways in which generative AI enables me as a writer with ADHD. open.substack.com/pub/kellyweb...
open.substack.com
Losing My Marbles
The fragility of thought and the weight of words.
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Kelly Webb-Davies @kelwebbdavies.bsky.social · 21/10/2025
New blog alert. With “what are we even doing” vibes intended. open.substack.com/pub/kellyweb...
open.substack.com
Proof or it didn’t happen: Assess it like it’s research
The views expressed here are my own and do not represent those of the University of Oxford.
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Kelly Webb-Davies @kelwebbdavies.bsky.social · 14/10/2025
Kane on best form here: “If you don't like this argument, there are plenty more there waiting to (metaphorically) punch you in the face.”
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Marie Le Conte @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com · 12/10/2025
WELL THEN IT'S NOT MEANINGFUL IS IT, NICK www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
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Kelly Webb-Davies @kelwebbdavies.bsky.social · 12/10/2025
Excellent and comprehensive! I’m going to insist all educators read this.
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Kelly Webb-Davies @kelwebbdavies.bsky.social · 04/10/2025
Register to attend this joint Oxford-UWA seminar where both I and @celesterl.bsky.social will be speaking about GenAI in Academia. I'm so excited to be collaborating with my alma mater! Register here: www.eventbrite.com/e/oxforduwa-...
Promotional poster for the Oxford–UWA GenAI in Academia Series Launch Seminar, jointly hosted by the University of Oxford and the University of Western Australia. The top half features images of iconic university buildings from both institutions: Oxford’s Radcliffe Camera on the left and UWA’s Winthrop Hall on the right. The event details read:

Oxford–UWA GenAI in Academia Series Launch Seminar
UWA’s GenAI Think Tank and Oxford’s AI Competency Centre invite participants to the launch of a new collaborative series exploring the opportunities and challenges of generative AI in higher education.

Keynote presentations:
	•	Kelly Webb-Davies (Oxford University AI Competency Centre) — Reframing AI in Academic Practice
	•	Associate Professor Celeste Rodríguez Louro (Deputy Chair, UWA GenAI Think Tank) — Beyond the Calculator Analogy: Why GenAI Demands Critical Engagement

Date: Thursday 4 December
Time: 8–10am Oxford / 4–6pm Perth
Venue: Online via Zoom

Text at the bottom invites registration at uwa.au/OxfordUWA-GenAI-launch, accompanied by a QR code. Logos of the University of Oxford and UWA appear at the top right.
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Kelly Webb-Davies @kelwebbdavies.bsky.social · 30/09/2025
Just know that whenever you say AI or GenAI, the phonetician in me is always clocking whether you pronounce it [ejaɪ] or [eɪʔaɪ]. I don't care which you use. But I always notice.
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Kelly Webb-Davies @kelwebbdavies.bsky.social · 28/09/2025
For a while now I’ve discussed my complicated feelings about AI transparency and disclosure when asked in my workshops, but never fleshed it out in writing. So here is that – a counterargument to the idea that AI disclosure is always necessary. kellywebbdavies.substack.com/p/ai-disclos...
kellywebbdavies.substack.com
AI disclosure? Maybe it's nunya.
An argument against AI disclosure
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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 20/09/2025
Chatbot interactions for the ages.
A screengrab shows "ChatGPT 5 Thinking". The user has typed "you're checking the wrong reference". The chatbot response is "stopped thinking"
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MC @martc.bsky.social · 20/09/2025
I am too exhausted to care about other standards of perfection, like grades. Insecure in my personal life, I give up trying at school because I can’t bear being judged anymore. @GBGEdu @growbeyondgrades.org growbeyondgrades.org/blog/degradi...
growbeyondgrades.org
The Degrading Scale — Grow Beyond Grades
In her essay, Sharlyn Barrett recalls how the pursuit of perfection—whether on a scale or on a report card—stripped joy from both learning and life, and how messages about perfection left her exhauste...
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Dr Fern Riddell @drfernriddell.bsky.social · 12/09/2025
This is brillaint, up the Choristers www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
theguardian.com
Bangor Cathedral choir suspended after singing ‘inappropriate’ hymn
In latest scandal embroiling the Welsh cathedral, choir performed piece during holy communion to protest about job losses
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Glen O'Hara @gsoh31.bsky.social · 06/09/2025
An unpleasant scene in central Oxford. On the left, anti-immigrant shouts of 'send them back' and (I'm pretty sure) 'shoot the f**kers'. On the right, singing of 'stop the hate/ stop the fear' through a tannoy. Crowd on the right about double the size of that on the left.
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Jessie Gender @jessiegender.bsky.social · 08/08/2025
Just looked at the cast for the upcoming Harry Potter audiobook - upsetting to see Hugh Laurie, Riz Ahmed, Matthew Macfadyen, and Michelle Gomez selling out the same damn week Rowling leads a bullying harassment campaign of a single M&S employee just doing her job because she MIGHT be trans.
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S4C 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 @s4c.cymru · 05/08/2025
Llongyfarchiadau i Peredur Glyn, enillydd Gwobr Goffa Daniel Owen yn Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Wrecsam 2025 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 The winner of the Daniel Owen Memorial Prize at the 2025 Eisteddfod is Peredur Glyn. Congratulations! 👏 #Steddfod2025
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Kelly Webb-Davies @kelwebbdavies.bsky.social · 31/07/2025
This has always annoyed me.
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John Warner @biblioracle.bsky.social · 14/05/2025
IMO, the existence of LLMs calls for more, not less engagement, and this engagement ideally comes in the form of increased community and collaboration among humans. One group professors can always collaborate with is students. I started doing this out of desperation so I could stay engaged...
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Kelly Webb-Davies @kelwebbdavies.bsky.social · 13/05/2025
Ooh that’s so interesting! Thanks for sharing - I’ll be using this one!!
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Tanja Bueltmann @tanjabueltmann.net · 12/05/2025
You are a "citizen of nowhere", they said. A "queue-jumper", they said. Now I am a "squalid chapter", they say. A risk as I might make this an "island of strangers", they say. I am "pulling the country apart", they say.
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Marie Le Conte @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com · 12/05/2025
a society where "bad immigrants" are demonised is a society where no immigrant can truly feel welcome, because aren't we all just one wrong turn or accident away from being unemployed? on disability benefits? unable to care for our children without state help? just no such thing as a safe immigrant
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Marie Le Conte @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com · 12/05/2025
"oh but they don't mean you" - sure, yeah, because I have a job and I'm physically fit, yeah? what if I were to become one of those immigrants who has to be on the dole? what if I end up disabled for whatever reason? what if I end up having a ton of kids with another immigrant? what if? what if?
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Marie Le Conte @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com · 12/05/2025
christ, what a day to be an immigrant cursed with the ability to read
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Tanja Bueltmann @tanjabueltmann.net · 12/05/2025
My letter to the Prime Minister. #immigration
Slightly amended so I can fit this here: 

I am writing to you as an immigrant who chose to make the UK my home. As someone who is now also a British citizen. And as a German-born historian who understands where the complete normalisation of the far right can end. I write to say: For shame!

I first came to the UK in the 1990s for a visit with my grandmother. Objectively, much was backwards here. No mixer taps in the bathroom; awful ‘bread’; and strings had to be pulled to switch on lights. But however I felt about this, my own string had been pulled: I loved this Cool Britannia. It was quite possibly then that I decided that the UK was to be my home. When I arrived to settle here permanently, I made a choice: to contribute my skills, my knowledge—all I have to offer—to this country rather than another one.

I am deeply disgusted by your comment today that immigration has done ‘incalculable damage’ to the country. 

This is the language of the far right. It is insulting, hateful & will fuel xenophobia. And it is just wrong.

Migration is a normal part of the human existence. None of us would be where we are without it. Open your fridge and you will see migration. Immigrants help make the UK tick every single day, whether we clean toilets in our hospitals or provide care for the elderly; whether we empty our bins or carry out cancer research. We are mothers, sons-in-law, aunts and uncles, friends, neighbours and colleagues.

I ask you not tell me that you do not mean me. I know that you do not—at least not primarily—mean a white woman from Europe who has a PhD. But who do you mean? And, much more importantly, who do you think those racists who were engaged in riots on our streets last summer think you mean?

Anti-immigration narratives have defined UK policymaking for the best part of two decades. And fundamentally so. They were the key driver in delivering Brexit, for example, and, as such, have directly limited the rights and opportunities of British citizens.This obsessive focus on immigration as the ‘problem’—that is the real problem. And it is consistently delivering poor outcomes for the UK. Instead of tackling this, you are choosing to consolidate it, sowing divisions along the way.

You may point me to polling and tell me that this is what voters want. Do they? I am not surprised at all that over 50% of voters might say they want to see immigration reduced if that is the question they are being asked. What we need to know is what they would answer to the question: “Would you like to see immigration reduced? What this would mean for you and your local community is XYZ.” That is not how surveys can ask questions, but governments absolutely can choose to make policy using such a more informed position. 

Prime Minister, you continue to talk a lot about making the tough choices. But let’s be clear: setting immigrants up as the ‘other’, as a scapegoat—describing us as a threat ‘pulling the country apart’, a ‘squalid chapter’, a risk that might make the UK an ‘island of strangers’—these are not tough choices at all. These are the easy choices. They are the choices that populists make who have no solutions to the real problems a country faces.

What I would like to know, Prime Minister, is what you will do when your policies lead to the implosion of the UK’s Higher Education sector. What you will tell communities when they can no longer provide any care for the elderly.

The policies you announced today will not solve anything at all. They will have exclusively negative impacts. For those immediately affected; for our communities; and for our economy. 

Being pro-immigration—it is progressive, yes, but the much more crucial point is that it is also the most pro-UK policy approach that any politician in the country can pursue. And you are choosing to do the opposite. This, Prime Minister, is the real damage—and it will be very calculable indeed. 

Tanja Bueltmann
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Kelly Webb-Davies @kelwebbdavies.bsky.social · 11/05/2025
A blog about how we’ve long needed to stop treating academic English as a proxy for intelligence and how generative AI is finally forcing us to confront that: www.linkedin.com/pulse/just-b...
linkedin.com
Just Because I Didn't Type It Doesn't Mean They're Not My Own Ideas
The panic when most educators hear "ChatGPT" results in them reaching for their plagiarism policies. Students submitting work they didn't write! The collapse of critical thinking! The end of education...
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EngLangBlog @englangblog.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
Worth a read for the World Englishes part of Lang Diversity. theconversation.com/ai-systems-a...
theconversation.com
AI systems are built on English – but not the kind most of the world speaks
AI models too often produce a monolithic version of English that erases variation.
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Kelly Webb-Davies @kelwebbdavies.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
Thanks for sharing, James. So glad you enjoyed it!!
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Kelly Webb-Davies @kelwebbdavies.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
My work focuses on how beneficial they can be for marginalised groups: people who are speakers of stigmatised English, speakers of English as an additional language, and neurodivergent folk. Loads of use in terms of accessibility there.
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Kelly Webb-Davies @kelwebbdavies.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
And while I'm here, this is something else I wrote about language being the key to academia, and the role of EAP teachers and AI: www.linkedin.com/posts/kelly-...
linkedin.com
Unlocking Academia | Kelly Webb-Davies
Language is often the key to entering higher education — but not everyone’s key fits the lock. In this post, I reflect on what it meant to teach students how to cut the right kind of key, and how gen...
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Kelly Webb-Davies @kelwebbdavies.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
And then today @rafaelcasal.bsky.social posted this great video that shares some of the same sentiments (but he does it much better, as an artist should): www.tiktok.com/@rafaelcasal...
tiktok.com
No one wants to watch robots play basketball. #movie #theater #ai #art #hollywood #poetry
TikTok video by rafaelcasal
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Kelly Webb-Davies @kelwebbdavies.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
Forgot to share this post I wrote about recognising that humanity exists in the imperfections: www.linkedin.com/posts/kelly-...
linkedin.com
Recognising the Necessity of Human Imperfection in an AI World | Kelly Webb-Davies | 10 comments
I've been thinking about how generative AI produces grammatically "perfect" language while humans are inherently messy and a bit chaotic. It’s vital we recognised the value of the &quo...
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Kelly Webb-Davies @kelwebbdavies.bsky.social · 17/04/2025
Last week I was invited by OUP to #IATEFL2025 where I spoke about how GenAI's multimodal capabilities can improve communication accessibility. Here is the audio and slides of the 15 minute pop-up talk: youtu.be/lCpyZG3pJ98?...
youtu.be
Beyond Text: Multimodal Literacy in the Era of AI
YouTube video by Kelly Webb-Davies: Accessible Language & Academia
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Kelly Webb-Davies @kelwebbdavies.bsky.social · 13/04/2025
Thanks James! It was recorded, but hasn’t been released yet. I’ll post here once it is!
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Kelly Webb-Davies @kelwebbdavies.bsky.social · 13/04/2025
ChatGPT just helped me fix my freezer. This is why they call me a ✨BUSINESS TECHNOLOGIST✨
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Rob Ford @robfordmancs.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
That is not what the visa application process looks like
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Kelly Webb-Davies @kelwebbdavies.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
I’ll be on this panel at #IATEFL2025 in Edinburgh next week!
Promotional graphic for an Oxford University Press signature event at IATEFL 2025 in Edinburgh, titled “Teaching and Assessing Writing: Does AI Change Everything?” The event features a panel of experts: Donald Clark (AI in education author and Edtech entrepreneur), Sara Ratner (Academic, Department of Education, University of Oxford), and Kelly Webb-Davies (AI & Machine Learning Competency Centre, University of Oxford). The image includes headshots of the three speakers at the bottom, each framed in a yellow circle, against a dark blue background with circular graphic patterns.
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