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prof-alistair.bsky.social

@prof-alistair.bsky.social
151 followers 78 following 778 posts
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
An important call from Thomas Ekman Jørgensen of the EUA for a response to the US policy paper 'Science - A New Golden Age' Unless we discuss, its in danger of becoming the elephant in the room. Blog & paper can be found here: #research #innovation #AI #higherEd #universities lnkd.in/d52EqXV7
lnkd.in
LinkedIn
This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
A chilling development in the US. Federal officials are drafting an executive order to place NIH grants under review by an outside panel, in Trump's latest effort to redirect billions of dollars in research spending & extend control over and pressure universities. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/20/s...
nytimes.com
White House Moves to Take Control of N.I.H. Grants (Gift Article)
Federal officials are drafting an executive order that would place grants under review by an outside panel, the latest effort to redirect billions of dollars in research spending.
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
At last. After 6 years, a collective response to a Trump outrage. Its been for too long coming. It denies him the one thing he's desperate for - attention. #USpolitics #Trump #Media www.nytimes.com/live/2026/09...
nytimes.com
Trump Live Updates: White House TV Pool Suspends Trump Coverage After CNN Ban (Gift Article)
CNN, MS NOW and Politico said they would sue to regain access to the White House. They argued in a joint statement that President Trump’s decision to block them violates the First Amendment.
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Please tell me its April Fools Day ... #eurovision www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
UK's 'dismal' Eurovision song choices to be examined by MPs
It comes after the UK's entry Look Mum No Computer came last in May's final, scoring just one point.
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
As someone who lived through the 1960s (and even remembers some of it) I'll believe that GenAI is having genuine hallucinations when every false citation it produces is followed by a long exhalation and the phrase, "like far out, man ...". Should also make fake citations easier to spot ... 😎
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Just what if all the "AI is going to destroy us all" apocalypse stories were simply to take our attention from the more pressing issues demanding our attention & that carry more risk .. like climate change, never-ending wars, genocide, rascism fueled by ethno-nationalism - you know the sort of thing
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Is GenAI making inroads into conferences? Talking about the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Johannes Schöning writes 2023 c. 9,000 submissions 2025 c. 13,000 2026 c. 29,000 Scary stuff for conference organisers! And a raft of questions about quality. interactions.acm.org/archive/view...
interactions.acm.org
What Happens When CHI Reaches 30,000 Submissions in 2030? Preparing for the Tsunami of AI-Accelerated Papers | IX Magazine Issue XXXIII.3 May - June 2026
An irony is unfolding in computer science. The AI communities that built large language models are now struggling to cope with what those models have unleashed: a rapid, accelerating...
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
A nice piece on publishers' changing approaches to GenAI. (Personal moan. I wish that folk would use GenAI rather than the generic term 'AI' to refer to the phenomenon. We've been using AI for decades [think search engines, Word, SPSS, etc] the new bit is GenAI.) www.linkedin.com/pulse/academ...
linkedin.com
Academic publishers have changed the question they ask about AI
When ChatGPT was released at the end of 2022, academic publishers had to establish rules for generative AI at remarkable speed. The immediate concerns centred on authorship and responsibility; publish...
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Oral exams (vivas) "require students to synthesize information, explain concepts in their own words, defend their reasoning, and engage in meaningful scientific dialogue". An interesting piece on the use of oral examinations as part of assessment. www.chronicle.com/article/the-...
chronicle.com
The Return of the Oral Exam
The defense against AI cheating is catching on as a better way to teach.
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
I've watched a lot of TV coverage of the AfD's performance in the Saxony-Anhalt elections and all reports have said something like 'it'll be the first time an extreme right-wing party has held power since WW2'. I wonder if the impact would be greater if it was 'the first time since Adolf Hitler'?
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
If you're looking for a genuine real world unpacking of the word, bittersweet, I can highly recommend this reflection on the university management class. culture-centered.blogspot.com/2026/09/the-...
culture-centered.blogspot.com
The Suit Walks the Corridor
Mohan Dutta, Culture-centered approach, CARE, Massey University, Mohan Jyoti Dutta, Prof Mohan Dutta, Mohan J. Dutta, Communication for social change
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
#sociology Help! This may seem like a daft question but, as someone who tends to work on an interdisciplinary basis, its been meandering round my brain for a while now. What is it that identifies a piece of work as sociology other than its being in a journal with sociology in the title?
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Apparently its a thing at the moment to introduce yourself with ten acts you’ve seen live. OK ... Incredible String Band Cream John Mayall Big Brother & the Holding Company Nice Tyrannosaurus Rex The Stranglers The Pirates Pentangle Gong All excellent. Now its your turn!
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Just so you know ... www.bbc.co.uk/future/artic...
bbc.co.uk
Trillions of miles of data: Your car is spying on you, and it's only just the beginning
From your weight and facial expressions to your destination, cars collect a startling amount of data about you. Some of it may even raise your insurance costs.
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Reposted by @prof-alistair.bsky.social
Dcmfox @dcmfox.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Great idea and practical Brazilian prisoners can earn 4 days off their sentence for every approved book they read and successfully review, up to 48 days a year.
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
If true it just demonstrates how bonkers Netanyahu is, but he joins quite a large group of self-advertising bonkers political leaders ... #politics #madmen #bonkers #nuclear
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Fortunate enough to be visiting Barcelona on sabbatical (someone has to do it! :-)) and on Sunday I was lucky enough to catch, entirely by accident, the giants of Castelldefells at the end of a 2.90Euro bus ride.
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
A quick refresher on the scandalous behaviours at the top on one of Australia's bigger universities, Wollongong - involving, of course, a management consultancy, Korda Mentha. #HigherEd michaelwest.com.au/uni-of-wollo...
michaelwest.com.au
Uni of Wollongong and KordaMentha: The tangled dollar-webs they weaved - Michael West
The NSW ICAC has uncovered a web of conflicting interests at the University of Wollongong, involving executives and consultants KordaMentha.
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Not many people know this but the last US president NOT to have been alive at the same time as Herbert Hoover (POTUS31 from 1929 to 1933) was Abraham Lincoln. #USpolitics #POTUS #gerontocracy
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
I'm a regular Inter-Library Loans user as the library's been hollowed out somewhat. I couldn't find the link to ILL on our new merged Library website and when I asked I was told it was now named, 'Fetch'. "Fetch" is what I say to the dog, not to librarians who I regard ever so highly!! :-)
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Interesting piece from @nytimes.com on AI companies employing philosophers. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/05/b...
nytimes.com
The Revenge of the Philosophy Majors (Gift Article)
A.I. labs are hiring contrarian, chin-stroking, finger-steepling sages. Who’s underemployed now?
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
To hard not to re-post ...
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
An interesting piece, drawing on evidence, on Work-from-Home policies and practices, bosses, productivity and some of the nuances involved. #employment #WFH #Remoteworking #narcissism www.nytimes.com/2026/06/22/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | The Secret Reason Bosses Want Everyone Back in the Office, Every Day of the Week (Gift Article)
It’s all about them.
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
I'm old enough to remember when science fiction was a genre you read for pleasure not something you try to bring into being for the benefit of an ultra-rich and amoral elite. www.bbc.com/news/article...
bbc.com
Meet the crypto billionaires building a world where money buys you a vote
They think democracy has run its course - so they're setting up their own nations instead.
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Some murky stuff going on in the Faculty of Divinity at #CambridgeUniversity. #Reform #HigherEducation
bylinetimes.com
Palantir Co-Founder Peter Thiel and Reform UK's Cambridge University Recruitment Pipeline Project Revealed
The world-renowned academic institution has nothing to say in response to a six-month investigation by Byline Times raising serious concerns about the safeguarding of students and foreign influence at...
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
I agree with South Australian Greens leader, Robert Simms, that this is positively obscene. #university #highereducation #salaries www.indailysa.com.au/news/just-in...
indailysa.com.au
'Obscene': Uni boss's extraordinary multimillion-dollar payday revealed - News | InDaily, Inside South Australia
The multimillion-dollar pay packet of a former university chief has been labelled “obscene” by a politician.
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
We've all heard of Marshall McLuhan's seminal book, 'The Medium is the Massage' but did you know there was a companion LP to accompany the book? Neither did I until this week. Here it is: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SU6... Very 1960s. Well worth a listen by all sociologists and cultural studies people
youtube.com
Marshall McLuhan - 2011 - Remastered version of Medium Is the Message LP
YouTube video by mywebcowtube
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Pottering through old copies of the BMJ for 1918 (as one does), I find in 'Medical News' this report on UK beer production in the previous year. Was it misfiled or just intended for a different journal (eg The British Journal of Advanced Arm Bending) the reviewers just not reading it properly? 😎
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
A quick take on my recent article on the development of PhD supervisor development in Australia and the UK. (The photo's of my local beach.) #PhD #PhDsupervision #universities #researchdegrees supervisingphds.wordpress.com/2026/06/29/w...
supervisingphds.wordpress.com
Why do we do supervisor development the way we do?
By Alistair McCulloch, Professor in Research Education at Adelaide University, Australia, and Convenor of the biennial Quality in Postgraduate Research conference (QPR) 2012-2026. As we look out ov…
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
Pleased to have quite a long (for me) review in the Journal of Learning Development in HE of a new book by Abegglen et al. Title-Stories of hope: Reimagining education. Open Book Publishers Hot off the press & free todownload! #SoTL #Universities #Hope #Optimism journal.aldinhe.ac.uk/index.php/jl...
journal.aldinhe.ac.uk
No. 40 (2026) | Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
As a Scot I feel obliged to share this repudiation of all the slurs that have ever been cast on my country's national musical instrument, the bagpipes. #Scotland #Jazz #bluesmusic
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
The world as we know it may not be ending! Employers are reversing many AI layoffs. "Studies find up to 50% of companies that replaced workers with AI are rehiring or expressing regret". Issues involve institutional knowledge, and disappointing productivity gains. www.techspot.com/news/112707-...
techspot.com
The AI boomerang effect: more data suggests employers are reversing AI layoffs
In some studies, roughly a third of companies that attempted to replace workers with AI have either rehired some of them or expressed regret over the decision....
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 14/06/2026
Just watch my first Scotland World Cup match for 28 years and find, half way through the first half, a hydration break. I've never heard of this before. I can only think this is to allow the TV networks to have another advert break to the normal one that comes at half time.
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
Permanent suspicion? Recursion? Increased valuing of pre-GenAI artefacts? "Maybe poets will resort to composing their verse in glass boxes in the public square"? A fascinating essay on unanticipated consequences in an AI world. lareviewofbooks.org/article/fake...
lareviewofbooks.org
Fakes of the Future | Los Angeles Review of Books
Literary credibility in the age of AI.
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
#USpolitics Not so fun fact. The US has had more presidents who were born in summer of 1946 (three: Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Donald Trump) than presidents who were born in all the years between 1947 & 1991 (one: Barack Obama, born 1961). (1991 because 35 is the minimum age to run for POTUS)
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
"For the first time in human history, we have a technology that can generate words separately from the thoughts they represent." An interesting article on #GenAI and #creativity using evidence from 370,000 College Essays. The comments are also worth reading. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/27/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | What 370,000 College Essays Tell Us About A.I.’s Effects on Creativity
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
Just thinking ... What a strangely inefficient world we've built for ourselves all in the interests of increasing efficiency, isn't it?
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
Amidst all the noise about AI & how it is going to completely change the way we work, learn etc, I found myself thinking of two other game-changers, Second Life [the future of Higher Education as I remember], & Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) [the future of art]. Whatever happened to them, I wonder?
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
An interesting NYT article which includes a good idea for student assessment in a GenAI world. If students use AI, they submit 2 versions of the assignment — one completed without AI and one done with it, with a written explanation of how the chatbot was used. www.nytimes.com/2026/06/01/m...
nytimes.com
A University System Went All In on A.I. Now It’s Tearing Itself Apart.
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Reposted by @prof-alistair.bsky.social
Internet Archive @archive.org · 06/06/2026
Preventing the Wayback Machine from saving the news puts today’s journalism at risk of disappearing from history. 📝 Help push back. Sign the open letter calling on publishers to stop blocking web archiving 👉 www.savethearchive.com/NewsLeaders
Logo for the Internet Archive Wayback Machine in black and red letters.
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
@robertsheppard.bsky.social Thought this would interest. www.counterpunch.org/2026/06/03/m...
counterpunch.org
My Discovery of Howl!
In the fall of 1957, I began visiting the student bookstore at the University of Missouri where the table with books of the Beat Generation, buoyed by the
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
Higher Ed curricula, etc have all been steered heavily towards preparing students for work with a focus on employability etc. Given everyone thinks AI is going to take all the jobs and leave everyone un-employed, perhaps we should re-orientate HE towards preparing students for a world of leisure?
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
GenAI is the future? Here are some saluatory tales. A short weekend read from a very good commentator on contemporary culture. #literature #journalism #reputation #AIslop www.honest-broker.com/p/how-to-des...
honest-broker.com
How to Destroy a Literary Reputation in One Move
Media companies invent a new kind of stupid
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
Fun!!!
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
#GenAi or #humans? Research suggests human-written essays offered up to eight times more new ideas than those produced by A.I.' Another that after ChatGPT became available, their essays suddenly used diverse and colorful language, but lacked truly creative ideas.' www.nytimes.com/2026/05/27/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | What 370,000 College Essays Tell Us About A.I.’s Effects on Creativity
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
I just got an email from ChatGPT asking for the names of my favorite coffee shops to get a personalized list of recommendations. Is this: #ChatGPT trying to pretend its my new best friend, or #ChatGPT owners thinking about bringing advertising into what the platform does? Small talk or advertising?
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 23/05/2026
Is there any universe in which this makes sense? #Research #authorship
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
As colleagues who know me will realise, this is further evidence of the reason why I refuse to publish with, cite articles from, or review for any journals published by MDPI. If not actually predatory, they're very close to that end of the spectrum. #publishing #journals #research
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
Interesting piece on the English local elections. #UKpolitics Reform took many votes from previous non-voters (DNV). Cons shifted almost exclusively to Reform, to no one else. Greens took from Lab and (to a lesser degree) DNV. Nice table in the article. www.uglypolitix.com/p/former-non...
uglypolitix.com
Former Non-Voters Turned Out Big for Reform UK in 2026
They're not just cannibalising the traditional parties. They're bringing out the people that our political system abandoned.
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
Sound familiar to any of my academic colleagues? www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/cla...
mcsweeneys.net
Class Is Canceled Until Further Notice While I Do My Job
4/29/26 Our most-read piece of 2024.
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