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Melissa Gregg

@melgregg.bsky.social
351 followers 204 following 192 posts

Professor of Digital Futures at the University of Bristol. On loan from lutruwita/Tasmania. melgregg.com

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Melissa Gregg @melgregg.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
“We cannot dig up coal, ship it overseas, watch it drive climate change, and then pretend the consequences have nothing to do with us and won’t be felt by us,” she said. “The droughts, the bushfires, the floods are directly connected to greenhouse gases.” giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
giftarticle.ft.com
Australian court ruling on climate impact of coal mining a ‘blow’, says industry
Verdict is latest in a series of legal cases to examine the relationship between fossil fuel producers and global warming
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Melissa Gregg @melgregg.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
After years of working together, today I finally meet Josh Lepawsky in 3D for the very last session of 4S Toronto 🤩
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Melissa Gregg @melgregg.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
What a wonderful project www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/2026/tr...
birmingham.ac.uk
Unpublished Professor Stuart Hall writings made accessible - University of Birmingham
Notes, papers, recordings, and videos from the father of modern cultural studies, who coined Thatcherism, made internationally available.
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Melissa Gregg @melgregg.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Yah! We can share what we have so far. I have another thing on Saturday too. I enjoyed the panel of yours I caught yesterday!
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Melissa Gregg @melgregg.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Day one of 4S Toronto and the first of two talks, this one with @blueskychris.bsky.social introducing our new project, “A Cultural History of Workplace Fatigue”
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Melissa Gregg @melgregg.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Life after carbon. How does the soil rate for contaminants? giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
giftarticle.ft.com
Breathing new life into Britain’s gas holders
Their ghostly industrial forms have largely disappeared from the UK’s urban landscape, but some canny architects and developers have spotted their potential for residential reinvention
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Melissa Gregg @melgregg.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
The first of our nature listening workshops at Bristol's Knowle West Media Centre is this Thursday. All welcome! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/nature-lis...
eventbrite.co.uk
Nature Listening in Your Backyard
Do you enjoy nature and want to discover more about the birds and wildlife visiting your garden?
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Melissa Gregg @melgregg.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
'A bit like taking out a 30 year mortgage on an iPhone' youtu.be/T-oXyXwD6sE?...
youtu.be
Is the AI Bubble About to Be Tested?
YouTube video by Patrick Boyle
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Melissa Gregg @melgregg.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Investors and business leaders are consistent in one way about both climate change and AI... At the end of conversations, especially ones in which they treat climate change as intractable and AI as irresistible, many of them remark, “I feel bad for kids, though.” probablefutures.org/perspective/...
probablefutures.org
Equinox greetings: accuracy vs. precision · Probable Futures
Spencer Glendon argues that what’s more important than how precisely you hit a target is what targets, goals, values you choose to aim for.
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Melissa Gregg @melgregg.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
I've been focusing most of my attention on the Oregon situation this year, but will start keeping a list of local things here nodevondatacentre.co.uk
nodevondatacentre.co.uk
No Devon Data Centre - Protect Great Torrington farmland
850 acres of working farmland beside Great Torrington would be handed to a hyper-scale AI data centre and BESS. Join the action group.
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Melissa Gregg @melgregg.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Excellent to see @friends-earth.bsky.social’s petition calling for a pause on new data centres in the UK. An issue that is global and local. Every voice counts! action.friendsoftheearth.uk/petition/put...
action.friendsoftheearth.uk
Stop data centres draining our precious resources
Add my name Data centres are springing up all over the UK – using massive amounts of electricity and, in many cases, huge amounts of water. The UK is already facing water shortages, high energy demand...
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Melissa Gregg @melgregg.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
"Tracking the true planetary impact of the AI supply chain" with Alistair Alexander is the next (online!) GreenTech SW event, Sep 23. RSVP here: www.meetup.com/greentech-so...
meetup.com
Tracking the true planetary impact of the AI supply chain, Wed, Sep 23, 2026, 12:30 PM | Meetup
By popular demand from our community to understand more about the environmental impacts of AI, Green Tech South West presents an online event featuring guest speaker Alista
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Melissa Gregg @melgregg.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Disappointing. Unsurprising. A month out from International Repair Day, is it time to consider other approaches to scale repair? repair.eu/news/one-yea...
repair.eu
One Year Into EU Ecodesign Rules, 80% of Smartphones Still Lack Required Repair Information
Written by Thomas Opsomer, iFixit’s EU policy spokesperson. Mandatory repair information for smartphones Since June 20th, 2025, smartphones and tablets sold in the EU are subject to repairability requ...
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Melissa Gregg @melgregg.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
The voyage “is a first South Korean commercial test of the Northern Sea Route (NSR), an Arctic shipping highway that governments, shipping lines and exporters hope will reshape global trade as polar ice melts” giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
giftarticle.ft.com
South Korea challenges China for Arctic sea route to Europe
Seoul hopes polar sea highway will reduce reliance on chokepoints such as Hormuz and revive ailing city of Busan
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Melissa Gregg @melgregg.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
What a fantastic resource documenting Bev Skeggs’ foundational work for feminist cultural studies and the sociology of class bevskeggs.com
bevskeggs.com
Bev Skeggs – Bev Skegg's archive of research, writing and institutional labour
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Melissa Gregg @melgregg.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
These persistently embarrassing headlines are such an own goal for a company that ignored or laid off some of the best UX talent ever available. A light was never the right solution. www.tomsguide.com/ai/less-perv...
tomsguide.com
Less pervert-y? Meta AI glasses will now stop recording if you cover the warning light
Meta is strengthening the tamper detection on its AI glasses and blocking terms including “rizz” as part of a wider crackdown on harassment and covert recording
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Melissa Gregg @melgregg.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
“If we want to design profound technological futures, we must stop acting like engineers following an industry specification and start acting like avant-garde directors staging a revolution.” interactions.acm.org/archive/view...
interactions.acm.org
Mechanics of Disruption: What Can HCI Learn from Avant-Garde Art? | IX Magazine Issue XXXIII.4 July - August 2026
Welcome to the latest issue of Interactions. Since CHI 2026 ended, we have been reflecting on the provocations that Pep Gatell, artistic director of the Catalan theater group La Fura...
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Melissa Gregg @melgregg.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Some new work on the topic of water use in high tech: melgregg.com/2026/08/19/w...
melgregg.com
What is Volumetric Water Benefit Accounting?
Josh Lepawsky and I recently presented new research from our ongoing project investigating the ecological legacies of Silicon Forest. The topic – Volumetric Water Benefit Accounting – e…
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Melissa Gregg @melgregg.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
A lot of hats to decode here @melhogan.bsky.social www.youtube.com/live/3tKgRav...
youtube.com
Danielle Smith announces deal with Meta to build new AI data centre in Alberta
YouTube video by Global News
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Melissa Gregg @melgregg.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Shifting baselines explained in birds www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
Listen to Britain’s dawn chorus of 1976: the dramatic loss of birdsong in 50 years
Guardian recreates audio landscape of past filled by loud morning symphony before 73m wild birds were lost
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Melissa Gregg @melgregg.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
This new piece on smart glasses and 'egocentric computing' is an intro to Meta's AI research program supporting the build out of robotics and so-called superintelligence. interactions.acm.org/archive/view...
interactions.acm.org
Banality in Egocentric AI | IX Magazine Issue XXXIII.4 July - August 2026
In the lead-up to Meta's earnings call in July 2025, CEO Mark Zuckerberg gave an interview to Jessica Lessin, CEO of the news outlet The Information [1]. While much of the discussion...
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Melissa Gregg @melgregg.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Microsoft Solara trying to show how agents will be different to every other UI tech companies have designed. They *created* the noise, yet somehow that qualifies them to fix it? videopress.com/embed/FvCeWjjg
videopress.com
Project Solara
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Melissa Gregg @melgregg.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
ccct.uchicago.edu/news/call-fo...
ccct.uchicago.edu
Call for Papers: 2026 Lauren Berlant 3CT Graduate Student Conference
The Chicago Center for Contemporary Theory (3CT) is an interdisciplinary space for sustained, comparative discussion of social and political processes in the contemporary world. 3CT is a part of Divis...
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Melissa Gregg @melgregg.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
“It really is very convenient” youtu.be/JqJ159pngY8?... @msteinbrg.bsky.social @joshua-neves.bsky.social
youtu.be
1986: Email - the Perfect Tech for the Jet Set? | Micro Live | BBC Archive
YouTube video by BBC Archive
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Melissa Gregg @melgregg.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
We are hosting a mini summer school @bdfi.bsky.social July 8-10! Three days of talks, workshops and a datathon exploring Ecocentric AI. Join for all or just parts! www.bristol.ac.uk/bristol-digi...
bristol.ac.uk
Ecocentric AI Summer School | Bristol Digital Futures Institute | University of Bristol
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Melissa Gregg @melgregg.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
Did they have to call it the Cowboy Project? www.esgdive.com/news/enbridg...
esgdive.com
Meta, Enbridge to build solar, storage for Wyoming data centers
Enbridge expects to invest $1.2 billion into the project's construction, with 365 megawatts of solar and 200 MW of battery capacity it anticipates will enter service by the end of 2027.
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Melissa Gregg @melgregg.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
Hillsboro city council meetings RN 👀 youtu.be/bQqrqm_W0kc?...
youtu.be
Jacob Roloff Calls Out Hillsboro Data Center Giveaways, Mayor, and City Staff
YouTube video by HillsboroHerald
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Melissa Gregg @melgregg.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
(To my mind, digital hell is the example later in this essay when the writer loses a book manuscript going through airport security)
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Melissa Gregg @melgregg.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
“They say you ‘save’ a file, like it’s going to Heaven—the idea of salvation is woven into it. I don’t know what digital Hell would be. I’m just saying that digital Heaven is where all the files are.” www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
newyorker.com
When Your Digital Life Vanishes
A broken phone or corrupted drive can mean the loss of work, evidence, art, or the last traces of the dead. But sometimes data-recovery experts can summon lost files from the void.
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Melissa Gregg @melgregg.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
"He is not yet sure about how exactly the company will calculate the costs, but is relying on people to buy the glasses so the company can figure out how to charge them based on user behavior." www.wired.com/story/latitu...
wired.com
These New Smart Glasses From Ex-OnePlus Engineers Have a Hidden Cost
The Kickstarter-funded glasses from L'Atitude 52°N have AI features bundled for one year, but the company doesn't know yet how much it will charge for access after that.
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Reposted by Melissa Gregg
Elizabeth A. Wilson @elizwilsonemory.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
CFP: The Society for The Study of Affect conference in Vancouver in October 2026 @affectsociety.bsky.social Paper abstracts due May 29. affectsociety.com/make/#about
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Melissa Gregg @melgregg.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
Fair warning: I will keep starting my talks with this slide until the data starts going in the right direction
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Melissa Gregg @melgregg.bsky.social · 21/03/2026
Spencer Glendon’s calm corrective to Bill Gates: “The lens of the company is a terrible way to understand society or nature.” probablefutures.org/perspective/...
probablefutures.org
Equinox greetings: greedy for “the new” · Probable Futures
Spencer Glendon’s reflection on our drive for constant growth—challenging “greedy for the new” thinking in a world shaped by limits.
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Reposted by Melissa Gregg
British Cinematographer @bcmag.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
"The whole idea behind Sound of Falling was to create a film that feels close to how memories are." #filmsky
britishcinematographer.co.uk
Fabian Gamper / Sound of Falling
Fabian Gamper explains how he wanted Mascha Schilinski's Sound of Falling to feel like a visualisation of memory.
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Melissa Gregg @melgregg.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
Enabling reuser experience. You don't even need to buy the stick. Use one you already have. www.wired.com/story/back-m...
wired.com
These Official ChromeOS Flex USB Sticks Can Give Your Old Mac or Windows PC a Second Life
Google is partnering with Back Market to sell USB sticks that let you install ChromeOS Flex on older Windows and Intel-powered Macs collecting dust.
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Reposted by Melissa Gregg
Andy McKay @korimakoecology.bsky.social · 01/03/2026
Click-baity title but this gives a good overview of how AI tools are benefiting ecology & our understanding of the natural world. www.irishtimes.com/environment/... 🌏🧪
irishtimes.com
Ecologists are leaving the field as AI moves in
Technology is revolutionising how we gather and assess data on nature, presenting huge benefits and no little irony
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Reposted by Melissa Gregg
Lyn Heideman @heidelyn.bsky.social · 01/03/2026
On Tuesday morning, a total lunar eclipse will be visible over all 50 US states. For 58 minutes, the moon will turn a rusty red as it slips into the Earth’s shadow. The East Coast will also see a rare selenelion, when both the sun & eclipsed moon are simultaneously visible: wapo.st/4u3iJgo (gift). 🌎
wapo.st
This Tuesday, a ‘blood moon’ will be followed by a rare sky spectacle
The moon will turn red for 58 minutes as it’s plunged into the Earth’s shadow
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Melissa Gregg @melgregg.bsky.social · 21/02/2026
Love the visuals in this piece. What is advertising after carbon? www.bbc.com/future/artic...
bbc.com
'The new tobacco': The cities banning fossil fuel adverts
Cities across the world are clearing their billboards of flight ads, SUVs, cruise ships and petrol cars in an attempt to cut emissions.
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Melissa Gregg @melgregg.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
Early sketch of Tektronix Sunset plant location, c1951, with a timeless description of Beaverton: “If you land here you are lost”
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Reposted by Melissa Gregg
Tommaso Jucker @tommaso-jucker.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
🚨3 Lectureships in Biology 🚨 Come join us in Bristol @bristolbiosci.bsky.social! We are looking for new collegues working across a broad spectum of topics in biology, including ecology & environmental change. Get in touch if you have Qs! Apply here by 8 March: www.bristol.ac.uk/jobs/find/de...
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Melissa Gregg @melgregg.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
By focusing on Washington County in Hillsboro, OR, we observe changes to land, waterways and air quality that semiconductor manufacturing has brought since the 1970s. Josh explains one of the methods here: electronicplanet.xyz/2026/01/21/a...
electronicplanet.xyz
A recipe for finding and mapping data centres
Geographers like me are really interested in understanding landscape changes. I’ve been doing some research on how the infrastructure of digital life (e.g., data centers or semiconductor fabs…
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Melissa Gregg @melgregg.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
Speaking at Goldsmiths today on my current collaboration with Prof Josh Lepawsky, What Grows in a Silicon Forest? We chart the waves of environmental impact high tech industries bring, many of which appear unsolvable (PFAS) and irreversible (farmland erasure). www.gold.ac.uk/calendar/?id...
gold.ac.uk
What Grows in a Silicon Forest?: Environmental Amnesia in High Tech Expansion
A lecture by Melissa Gregg, Professor of Digital Futures in the Bristol Digital Futures Institute & University of Bristol Business School.
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Melissa Gregg @melgregg.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
@devikanarayan.bsky.social We need to talk about "cookie licking" some time
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Melissa Gregg @melgregg.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
"If you have a strictly online or SaaS software presence, with no atoms in your product whatsoever, just electrons, then you are, candidly, pretty screwed if you don’t pivot." steve-yegge.medium.com/the-anthropi...
steve-yegge.medium.com
The Anthropic Hive Mind
As you’ve probably noticed, something is happening over at Anthropic. They are a spaceship that is beginning to take off.
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Melissa Gregg @melgregg.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
The infrastructure “required to maintain the illusion of a reliable winter . . . contributes to the very climate deterioration that is making traditional mountain environments a scarce resource” giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
giftarticle.ft.com
Climate change is reshaping the Winter Olympic Games
Cortina d’Ampezzo records almost one-fifth fewer freezing days annually compared with those in decade after 1956 Games
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Melissa Gregg @melgregg.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
Excellent headline www.opb.org/article/2025...
opb.org
Bale out: How a huge Northwest hay exporter got into trouble
If you’ve ever traveled east to west in Washington, hay trucks are a consistent sight, tracing the mountain pass over Interstate 90, funneling into Puget Sound ports where the hay is loaded on ships a...
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Melissa Gregg @melgregg.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
Lauren Berlant wrote the book on this and it has nothing to do with AI. It’s the eternal human dilemma - the inconvenience of other people. giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
giftarticle.ft.com
Workers are ‘friction-maxxing’ to resist AI
Real-life meetings, in-person hiring and learning skills from scratch: the future may be intentionally inconvenient
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Melissa Gregg @melgregg.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
“In a caustic twist of history, while the first Colossus was built to decode and disrupt Nazi messages, the second seems inclined to recast and amplify them.” www.e-flux.com/architecture...
e-flux.com
Technoecologies - Daniel Cardoso Llach - The Mississippi Colossus
Boxtown is a neighborhood in South Memphis established in 1863 by emancipated former slaves. Since 2024, it is also the home to one of the world’s largest supercomputers, property of Elon Musk’s artif...
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Melissa Gregg @melgregg.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
Consumers should not have to subsidise a specific industry's energy needs, especially when its products have been purposefully designed to grow demand for energy. What happens in this case is going to set precedents for every other DC build out. 👀 oregoncapitalchronicle.com/2025/12/15/u...
oregoncapitalchronicle.com
Utility watchdogs accuse PGE of skirting new law meant to make data centers pay for rising demand • Oregon Capital Chronicle
PGE doesn't plan to simply assign the costs of energy investments needed to support data centers, to data centers.
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Melissa Gregg @melgregg.bsky.social · 10/01/2026
Part of The Carnival of Alive and Extinct Animals at Cygnet Folk Festival this weekend. As Bob Brown said, the wilful acceleration of species extinction has to stop! youtu.be/_aqD4nGsfHw?...
youtu.be
Pilitika / Robbins Island at risk
YouTube video by Bob Brown Foundation
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