iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Thao Phan @thaophan.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

New chapter from @smwark.bsky.social and me on the algorithmic construction of race via proxy logics 💫 Part of a superb open access volume on Global Governance by Data, Eds Fleur Johns @fleurjohns.bsky.social, Gavin Sullivan, and Demitri Van Den Meerssche www.cambridge.org/core/books/g...

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Thao Phan @thaophan.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

📯 Nominations for the AusSTS Best Paper Prize are now open!! 🏆 A prize to celebrate the best scholarship in the region by a junior scholar. Published and unpublished manuscripts accepted 💌 Self-nominations strongly encouraged

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Thao Phan @thaophan.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

Annnnnd we're live! Get your proposals in for #AusSTS2026 in Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University of Wellington ⛰️🌫️ This year's theme is 'Antipodean Interruptions'. Think antipodean methodologies, ontologies, epistemologies, legacies. Interruptions across scales, sites, subjects. Some inspo ✨👇

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AusSTS @aussts.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

A holiday treat from us to you - save the date for AusSTS 2026 in Aotearoa!

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Thao Phan @thaophan.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

Hello Naarm friends! I'm back in town next week and will be talking about genAI and the politics of representing violence. Will be joined in conversation after w Dr André Dao 📆 Tuesday 10 Feb, 4 - 5:30pm 📍 Arts West Research Lounge, University of Melbourne arts.unimelb.edu.au/school-of-cu...

arts.unimelb.edu.au

Are some things (still) unrepresentable?, w. Thao Phan

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Timothy Neale @tdneale.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

Woo! Breaking news from @aussts.bsky.social! See you in November in Te Whanganui-a-Tara! 🥝🥝🥝

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Courtney Addison @courtneyaddison.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

Let this be the first thing to go in those pristine 2026 diaries

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Thao Phan @thaophan.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

Save-the-date for AusSTS 2026 in Aotearoa New Zealand!!

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Anna Saunders @annasaunders.bsky.social · 08/11/2025

do not sleep on this absolute belter of an article

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Thao Phan @thaophan.bsky.social · 05/11/2025

Good to see this bad boy out in the world!! New article from me on drone delivery, AI testbeds, and the long history science and technology testing in the colony. Online first and gloriously open access ✨ doi.org/10.1177/2976...

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Thao Phan @thaophan.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

Singapore you delicious bastard, I'm coming for you! 🦀 🍜 ✨ Join me for a public lecture on: Artificial Figures: gender-in-the-making in algorithmic culture 🗓️ Wed 19 November, 2 - 4pm 📍 Chinese Heritage Centre Auditorium, Nanyang Technical University Register: blogs.ntu.edu.sg/aimeetshuman...

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Timothy Neale @tdneale.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

Melbourne-ite STS-ers, the local AusSTS node are doing a wee Summer Symposium on AFTERMATH - Mon 23 February 2026. If you are interested in coming along then please submit an abstract by 25 Nov 2025 ⏰https://forms.gle/9kwgnpDiE2HP61sF7?_imcp=1

forms.gle

AFTERMATH: AUSSTS MELBOURNE SUMMER SYMPOSIUM 2026

The Melbourne Node of AusSTS is holding a 1-day summer symposium for scholars to present and discuss works in progress. We welcome applications that broadly engage with Science and Technology Studies ...

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Tim McLellan @timmclellan.bsky.social · 17/09/2025

Private consultants are taking control of how public universities are evaluated and run. My submission to the Senate university governance inquiry raises concerns about the impact of Nous Group and their dodgy UniForum data on our universities. www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStor... A thread

Image shows a screenshot of the conclusion of the linked Senate inquiry submission. This text can be found on page 10.

The text is too long for alt text, but here is the first three quarters of the text:

Conclusion

Over the past decade, Nous Group’s UniForum data has quietly taken on the status of authoritative benchmark for the quality of a range of professional and academic services performed by public universities in Australia and across the world. This authoritative status is performed through scientific-looking graphs and scientific-sounding jargon designed to imply UniForum data is generated through rigorous methods and backed by expert consensus. This performance of authority is significant: it lends UniForum data an air of credibility and facticity that makes acting upon its results irresistible.

When one begins to open the black box and examine how UniForum data is actually produced, however, it becomes difficult to justify the degree to which Australian university executives are relying upon it in their decision-making. My analysis is based on a review of publicly available documents, and it is therefore possible that Nous or its clients would point to things not in the public domain that address some of the conceptual and methodological flaws that I have highlighted in UniForum. But the fact that the underlying UniForum data and methodology is not in the public domain is itself one of the key causes for concerns. When the stakes are so high, it cannot be acceptable for Nous Group and its clients to simply tell university staff and governing councils, ‘trust us, these numbers are based on rigorous methods and analysis.’ The lack of rigor, external scrutiny, and transparency in UniForum’s underlying data and methodology would be a cause for concern in any public institution, but it is especially concerning in the context of universities where rigorous, transparent, and accountable knowledge production is a core part of what we do. ...

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Eryk Salvaggio @eryk.bsky.social · 04/10/2025

Billionaire-owned “philosopher” Benjamin Bratton finally coming out as full technofash in this declaration of alliance with JD Vance & a16z — here’s his scathing rejection of those who “stand in the way” of corporate AI agendas nobody wants. www.noemamag.com/is-european-...

noemamag.com

Is European AI A Lost Cause? Not Necessarily. | NOEMA

If Europe wants to build a new AI Stack it should stop listening to critics who claim to lead the way but only offer resistance.

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Dieuwertje Luitse @dluitse.bsky.social · 10/09/2025

🚨The Critical AI Seminar Series returns in 2025/2026 ✨ This year we will have four talks and are beyond excited to welcome @amoorelouise.bsky.social & @alexcampolo.bsky.social, Fabian Offert, Helene Ratner & @nannathylstrup.bsky.social and @thaophan.bsky.social ✨ Sign up: bit.ly/uvacriticala...

Critical AI seminar series

Register via https://bit.ly/uvacriticalai2526

Program and Invited Speakers:

Upcoming seminars

November 12, 5-6:30 PM (CEST): Invited talk by Louise Amoore and Alexander Campolo, ‘On reading machine learning‘

January 13, 5:30-7 PM (CEST): Invited talk by Fabian Offert on
‘Vector Media‘

March 18, 3-4:30 (CEST): Invited talk by Helene Ratner and Nanna Thylstrup on ‘Ecologies of evaluation’

May 20, 12-1:30 PM (CEST): Invited talk by Thao Phan on ‘Testing-in-the-wild’

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Dr Liz Allen @drdemography.com · 20/08/2025

Tough time for many at ANU. At around midday yesterday staff received a university-wide email. The language was ambiguous and could be read to say all forced redundancies would stop. I received many messages from people being forced out. Were they now safe?

I am writing to you today with three key updates for our community regarding the Renew ANU Program:
1. The University leaders have confirmed that all future changes under Renew ANU will be achieved without involuntary redundancies. This means that all future changes under Renew ANU will be achieved through our other mechanisms, including lift and shift/ realignments, continuation of the Recruitment Advisory Committee (RAC), natural attrition, and voluntary separations. We will continue to create greater accountability for senior leaders to ensure compliance with budget and resource allocation.
2. The University's timeline for future change has been brought forward from 31 October to today, Wednesday 20 August 2025. This means that under Renew ANU, no further change proposals will be released in 2025, and as expressed above, no further job losses will occur through involuntary redundancy.
3. Finally, the University will open a second Voluntary Separation Scheme (VSS) for the entire community next week, with details released via On Campus next Tuesday.

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Digital Geographies Research Group @dgrgrgs.bsky.social · 11/08/2025

Session 1 is a screening & discussion of the ‘AI in the Street: Drone Observatory’, a short film created & directed by Dr @thaophan.bsky.social (Australian National University) & Jeni Lee. We will be joined online by Thao to discuss their work & the creative practices behind producing the film.

A landscape poster advertising the AI in the Street Drone Observatory short film about drone delivery trials in Logan, Australia. Text below the title and subtitles reads 'Directed by Thao Phan and Jeni Lee'. The image shows a drone deliverying a white package via a cord into the lawned yard of a house, with at least one person looking on from the porch. The logos for the Emerging Technologies Research Lab, Monash University and the University of Warwick are in the righthand corner.

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Australian Academy of the Humanities @humanitiesau.bsky.social · 07/08/2025

The Australian Academy of the Humanities is thrilled to announce feminist science and technology studies scholar Dr @thaophan.bsky.social from the Australian National University has won the 2025 Max Crawford Medal. humanities.org.au/power-of-the...

humanities.org.au

Dr Thao Phan wins 2025 Max Crawford Medal

Dr Thao Phan has won the 2025 Max Crawford medal for her work investigating dynamics of race and gender in algorithmic culture.

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Kari Lancaster @karilancaster.bsky.social · 06/08/2025

Huge congratulations to @thaophan.bsky.social who has been awarded the 2025 Max Crawford Medal 🥳! In addition to her exemplary feminist STS work on race and gender in algorithmic culture, Thao has contributed enormously to growing a vibrant STS community in Aus. humanities.org.au/power-of-the...

humanities.org.au

Dr Thao Phan wins 2025 Max Crawford Medal

Dr Thao Phan has won the 2025 Max Crawford medal for her work investigating dynamics of race and gender in algorithmic culture.

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Warwick Anderson @wombatscholar.bsky.social · 06/08/2025

Delighted to learn that Dr Thao Phan is awarded the 2025 Max Crawford medal, Australia's major prize for early-career humanities researchers! Pleasantly surprised it went to an STS scholar for the first time too. Such good news! @thaophan.bsky.social @humanitiesau.bsky.social #STS

humanities.org.au

Dr Thao Phan wins 2025 Max Crawford Medal

Dr Thao Phan has won the 2025 Max Crawford medal for her work investigating dynamics of race and gender in algorithmic culture.

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ADM+S Centre @admscentre.org.au · 06/08/2025

Congrats to Dr Thao Phan, winner of the Australian Academy of the Humanities 2025 Max Crawford Medal for her exemplary scholarship investigating dynamics of race and gender in algorithmic culture @thaophan.bsky.social #AlgorithmicCulture #MaxCrawfordMedal #GenderStudies admscentre.org/47nJF1g

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Thao Phan @thaophan.bsky.social · 28/07/2025

Join me, Joel Stern, and Nic Carah for what's shaping up to be a stimulating seminar on Automating Everyday Life! ⚡Wed 30 July, 3 - 5pm AEST ⚡Register for zoom details I'll be talking about generative AI and the problem if representing political violence. www.eventbrite.com.au/e/automating...

eventbrite.com.au

Automating Everyday Life

As everyday life has been digitalised, more and more of the things we do, like and consume are being automated.

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Tim McLellan @timmclellan.bsky.social · 04/07/2025

Day after this puff piece went out, I was called into a meeting to tell me I'm in a spill and fill along with three amazing friends and colleagues. To the meeting, I wore Nanyang 205S Sneakers. For those who know, they are as much a style item as a Tesco Bag for Life. 👟

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NTEU ACT @nteuact.bsky.social · 30/06/2025

Staff at #ANU across multiple areas are getting called into meetings today ahead of job cuts being announced later this week. The VC is happy to sit and take questions from @canberratimes.bsky.social, but not her own staff. @nteunion.bsky.social has no confidence.

canberratimes.com.au

See the other face of ANU vice-chancellor Genevieve Bell

A frank interview with the woman shaking up the ANU.

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Thao Phan @thaophan.bsky.social · 30/06/2025

Shout out to the ANU Vice Chancellor's PR team for commissioning a puff piece so bad it tries to recuperate her public image by comparing her to corrupt millionaire Imelda Marcos and profiling her collection of designer shoes www.canberratimes.com.au/story/900277...

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Ms. Kathy Reid (she/her) @kathyreid.au · 23/06/2025

Are you heading to @aussts.bsky.social #AusSTS25 #SignalsAndNoises in July in Melbourne? #STS If so I hand-curated a Bluesky list of people I could find from the conference program: bsky.app/profile/did:...

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Ranjodh Singh Dhaliwal @ranjodhdhaliwal.com · 22/06/2025

On the 9th of July, at the National Communication Museum in Hawthorn, as a part of the @aussts.bsky.social 2025 conference, I will be talking about infrastructures of noise at the keynote panel along with Glen Berman, Dang Nguyen, Fabian Offert, and Kate Mannell. (3/4)

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Ranjodh Singh Dhaliwal @ranjodhdhaliwal.com · 22/06/2025

On the 8th of July, Fabian Offert and I will be running a workshop on 'How to Train Your (Mental) Model' at RMIT Media Portal in Melbourne as a part of the 'Network Anarchy and Unstable Diffusions' program. (You can register at events.humanitix.com/how-to-train...) (2/4)

events.humanitix.com

How to Train Your (Mental) Model: Workshop

How to Train Your (Mental) Model Workshop with Fabian Offert (UCSB) & Ranjodh Singh Dhaliwal (University of Basel).

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University and College Union (UCU) @ucu.org.uk · 20/06/2025

UCU members at @ucuedinburgh.bsky.social are striking today over University of Edinburgh plans to make £140million in cuts and threaten jobs We're fighting against these reckless proposals Share to show your support ✊

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ADM+S Centre @admscentre.org.au · 13/06/2025

AI in the Street: Drone Observatory has won the STEAM Award at the New Media Film Festival in LA. Filmed in Logan, QLD, it explores life under drone delivery trials. Created by ADM+S researcher @thaophan.bsky.social & filmmaker Jeni Lee. admscentre.org/43VtZPE

admscentre.org

Australian drone documentary wins STEAM Award at New Media Film Festival in LA - ADM+S Centre

AI in the Street: Drone Observatory, a short documentary by Dr Thao Phan and Jeni Lee exploring the lived experience of drone delivery in Logan, Queensland, has won the prestigious STEAM Award at the ...

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Timothy Neale @tdneale.bsky.social · 28/05/2025

And now the full listing... we are recruiting for a PhD scholarship to conduct ethnographic research on net zero in nth Australia, based at Deakin + working with me, @karidahlgren.bsky.social + @chrismayes.bsky.social. Apps close 20 Sept. Spread the word + details: www.deakin.edu.au/study/fees-a...

deakin.edu.au

HDR Scholarship - Zero Carbon Emissions

PhD Scholarship to research Embedding Net Zero Carbon Emissions

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Our ANU @ouranu.bsky.social · 26/05/2025

Open letter: The ANU executive is planning a new round of unnecessary and damaging cuts and forced redundancies. We are asking staff to sign this open letter calling on the executive to cancel planned CMPs and to be transparent about ANU’s finances. ANU colleagues please sign and share widely.

forms.gle

Open letter: Staff call on the ANU executive to stop these unnecessary cuts

Fact sheet on 'Renew ANU so far': https://shorturl.at/iYVjc Open Letter PDF for print with QR codes to sign: https://shorturl.at/5KYs3 __________________________________________________ Letter to AN...

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Ranjodh Singh Dhaliwal @ranjodhdhaliwal.com · 07/04/2025

Just Published: In 'Informatics of Domination,' edited by Zach Blas, @melodyjue.bsky.social, and @jsrhee.bsky.social, published by @dukepress.bsky.social, we were all set the task of writing about one entry each from Donna Haraway's famous chart in her 1984 legendary cyborg manifesto.

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Patricia Reed @patriciareed-am.bsky.social · 03/02/2025

In incredible company with this new release coming in May. Congrats to eds. Zach Blas, Melody Jue, and Jennifer Rhee. Diagrammatic Epilogue on my end. 30% off with code "E25ZBLAS" ordering from @dukepress.bsky.social www.dukeupress.edu/informatics-...

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Jenny Rhee @jsrhee.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

Informatics of Domination is out with @dukepress.bsky.social! I co-edited this experimental collection with Zach Blas + @melodyjue.bsky.social across years + countless zoom chats. I remain stunned by the brilliance of our 50 contributors: read.dukeupress.edu/books/book/3...

read.dukeupress.edu

Informatics of Domination

Informatics of Domination is an experimental collection addressing formations of power that manifest through technical systems and white capitalist patriar

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👻Notorischer Diskurstroll🎃 @bildoperationen.bsky.social · 03/05/2025

In case you don't remember, this piece by @thaophan.bsky.social is the best that has been written about it: «The very real attacks and erasures of the labour of racialised and marginalised people in AI companies take a backseat to the imagined erasures of white people in AI-generated images»

humanities.org.au

Black Nazis, Asian Vikings: White paranoia haunts generative AI

Google's Generative AI, Gemini, is the latest to be caught in an ongoing culture war in Big Tech targeting diversity, equity and inclusion.

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Thao Phan @thaophan.bsky.social · 01/05/2025

Marching with students at the ANU May day student strike to demand an end to the disastrous cuts on campus and to stop job losses at ANU ✊✊✊

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Science, Technology, & Human Values @sthv.bsky.social · 07/04/2025

It's that season once again 🍂 ☀️ ❄️ 🌱 so please spread the word: Science, Technology, & Human Values are pleased to announce that we are taking proposals for Special Issues of the journal 📬 ⏰ The call closes 21 June 2025 - and you can find details in the form: forms.gle/6uYdQim9J1z5...

forms.gle

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Thao Phan @thaophan.bsky.social · 05/04/2025

Bonus free public talk in London next week! I'll be talking AI and the long history of science and technology testing in the colony 7pm, Wednesday 9 April Royal Georges, 85 Tanner's Hill London Part of AI Rights & Wrongs series @universityofessex.bsky.social www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ai-rights-...

eventbrite.co.uk

AI Rights & Wrongs Series: Testing-in-the-wild w/ Thao Phan

Testing-in-the-wild: innovation nationalism and the colonial dynamics of new technology testbeds

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Thao Phan @thaophan.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

Up next: performance lecture in Edinburgh! Register through Eventbrite

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The Tattooed Professor @schwessinger.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

Great to see @nteuact.bsky.social coming right at this to make it crystal clear that academic freedom is not up for grabs in Australia and at ANU. Happy to talk with anyone about the issue who wants to know more.

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Maya Indira Ganesh @mayameme.bsky.social · 20/03/2025

Delighted and honored to be with @thaophan.bsky.social in meatspace and @zentralwerkstatt.org virtually next week at Goldsmiths to share something quite different for the first time

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Thao Phan @thaophan.bsky.social · 20/03/2025

And then a lecture/performance on 'Listening to Misrecognition' for the Edinburgh Futures Institute Critical Data Studies Cluster Tuesday 8 April, 4 - 5pm Hosted by @alex-taylor.bsky.social www.eventbrite.com/e/listening-...

eventbrite.com

Listening to Misrecognition. A Critical Data Studies talk by Thao Phan

Part lecture-part performance, this event brings together critical work on race and algorithmic culture with artistic experimentation.

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