iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jenn Wilson @thatjennwilson.com · 13/10/2026

Dymocks, wildly enough, tells me that the Pam Arnold Centre was established in 1966, ran the first male modelling course in Australia, and the owner became a mystery and suspense author upon retirement.

010

Jenn Wilson @thatjennwilson.com · 13/10/2026

Advertisement in Dolly magazine, September 1993. Note you could apply to do a course in "modelling, charm, personality". I'm so curious as to the course structure and contents.

An advertisement from within the September issue of Dolly magazine. The advertiser is "Pam Arnold Centre" and it is offering lessons in 'nanny finishing', inlcuding 6 or 12 month professional courses, childcare, and a correspondence offering. The 'vocational courses' include an offering of 'modelling, charm, personality', 'tv, film, acting, radio' and correspondence options.

110

Jenn Wilson @thatjennwilson.com · 13/10/2026

A plant in the garden has been using the clothes line by putting out little tendrils and wrapping around the line as it progresses forward. Discovered now that it’s spring and warm enough to hang clothes outside again.

A vine from a plant in the garden has grown over winter and is now using our washing line to travel. Here you can see the tendrils wrapping around the clothes line.

000

Jenn Wilson @thatjennwilson.com · 10/10/2026

I think under normal conditions I would agree, but with the US deciding to livestream an execution later this year, I can see the speculative fiction element at play extending what is possible in the now in order to discuss it.

100

Jenn Wilson @thatjennwilson.com · 08/10/2026

(Thanks Dame, your website is amazing, and it made me interested to learn more)

030

Jenn Wilson @thatjennwilson.com · 08/10/2026

I did not; I joined because my research centre has an account and I knew I could follow their list of people to start. My curiosity in atproto started after clicking the info button on @dame.is ‘s website.

130

Jenn Wilson @thatjennwilson.com · 08/10/2026

I tend to be of the opinion that if you've the skill to communicate and explain things to people, there's at least a bit of an obligation to do so in the form of sheer kindness. Sure, people might figure it out on their own, but it's nicer to offer them some resources to make it easier if you can.

030

Reposted by Jenn Wilson

Eugene Vinitsky 🍒 @eugenevinitsky.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

I'm hiring for our interpretable world modeling effort at Percepta! The core question: how can we make an agent build a simulator, understand a company, and then design a policy, all from unstructured data? Come work with me and our amazing team. jobs.ashbyhq.com/percepta/909...

jobs.ashbyhq.com

Research Scientist – World Modeling

WHO WE ARE Percepta’s mission is to transform critical institutions with applied AI. We care that industries that power the world (e.g. healthcare, manufacturing, energy) benefit from frontier techno...

2575

Jenn Wilson @thatjennwilson.com · 07/10/2026

Current nighttime fiction read - there is no anti memetics division by qntm. Interesting world so far, easy to read prose, good chapter length and pacing.

The cover of “There is no anti memetics division” by qntm. The cover has a deer with too many eyes in the centre of the page standing on some water with a sunset on the horizon

010

Jenn Wilson @thatjennwilson.com · 07/10/2026

You could run that at both the start of year and mid year intake orientation weeks, and with proper design and little prizes it might go well. Nobody has homework yet, so learning still feels exciting and novel rather than like work.

020

Jenn Wilson @thatjennwilson.com · 07/10/2026

I would be surprised if the addition of compulsory modules does much; think of what the first day of a new job feels like with the overload of similar. Though I think you could build something fun for orientation week - a getting started "how do you learn best" session that teaches skills etc?

120

Jenn Wilson @thatjennwilson.com · 07/10/2026

I think a lot of the time it's also the first time that you're learning "on your own", and so you're working out how you learn at the same time as you're trying to apply it, which for me had very mixed results for a while ^_^. By final year it's a lot easier to see what works and what doesn't.

110

Jenn Wilson @thatjennwilson.com · 07/10/2026

Thinking more about the point in my undergrad when I became interested to know more rather than do the basics… This was the year that I was finally old enough to get “youth allowance” from the government. It was the first year I could study without working. I’m sure that’s not connected at all.

010

Jenn Wilson @thatjennwilson.com · 07/10/2026

But thinking on it, I didn't view most of my undergrad like this. It wasn't until my last year when I selected a few really interesting classes (including art history) that the option to choose depth became a genuinely interesting choice.

020

Jenn Wilson @thatjennwilson.com · 07/10/2026

This differs from everyday communication because of the depth of the literature available to you to draw upon to make your points. Each of those authors has a slightly different perspective, offering you a window to their viewpoint that you can look at and from and decide if you agree.

110

Jenn Wilson @thatjennwilson.com · 07/10/2026

I would like to suggest that you have the option to choose to view every writing assignment in this way. You don't have to. But you can choose to reach for more interesting sources, or find points that you can disagree with or challenge. You get to decide the meaning of your effort.

120

Jenn Wilson @thatjennwilson.com · 07/10/2026

True, but you could release it as a week long conference with multiple tracks and model presenters, with lots of dramatic fanfare. That could be fun. Dumping it all in a giant folder is dramatic in a less fun way :(.

110

Jenn Wilson @thatjennwilson.com · 07/10/2026

Yeah I've got a strong interest in staying here (I have two cats, they would not do well in quarantine, and I can't justify that for any opportunity, frankly). Aus gov has a Joint Select Committee on AI reporting at the end of Nov. Maybe something will come of that? www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentar...

110

Jenn Wilson @thatjennwilson.com · 06/10/2026

(This is a genuine question btw; I have to worry about this next year)

110

Jenn Wilson @thatjennwilson.com · 06/10/2026

Do you think it might just be that the field needs more time? There’s a real downside unfortunately to being slightly too early :(

110

Jenn Wilson @thatjennwilson.com · 06/10/2026

I don’t know how you’d get better transfer of research into practice at the uni; there definitely seems to be a barrier. I imagine the same could be said about design & comms regarding the awful state of every uni online learning platform.

130

Jenn Wilson @thatjennwilson.com · 06/10/2026

This isn’t going to be clear to a lot of students if the learning objectives of the class and the degree aren’t explained. I went to uni to learn things; I didn’t know how I was going to learn it, nor why particular things mattered. You can’t just say not to cheat. You have to explain the loss.

010

Jenn Wilson @thatjennwilson.com · 06/10/2026

But if you didn’t write it, I’m still going to give the feedback. And get paid. You just don’t get to grow, because the feedback is not going to help you. So you stay stagnant despite the opportunity to grow, and you pay money, and get nowhere. It’s not a good deal.

100

Jenn Wilson @thatjennwilson.com · 06/10/2026

The time allocated for marking isn’t a lot, but it’s enough for me to look at your work, determine the key thing you need to work on, and give you feedback. And that means you can look at that, be annoyed at me for a while, and then try something new.

100

Jenn Wilson @thatjennwilson.com · 06/10/2026

I think about this when my friends tell me about students turning in essays at uni that reek of models. The marker gets paid regardless. The person who loses is the one who is paying for an education they’re not getting. I have to assume the kids just aren’t aware of what is being traded.

120

Jenn Wilson @thatjennwilson.com · 06/10/2026

I do find it interesting how badly learning objectives are communicated, even at uni/college level where they list them in the unit introduction. There’s no explanation or discussion about what it means and how it’s to be achieved.

3260

Jenn Wilson @thatjennwilson.com · 06/10/2026

Wait, I just realised I may have misunderstood. Sorry. By “it’s unworkable bullshit” did you mean that they realise the complaints are not good faith criticism?

000

Jenn Wilson @thatjennwilson.com · 06/10/2026

Sorry this was very long. I have just been thinking through your point and now I’m five posts deep. Sigh.

000

Jenn Wilson @thatjennwilson.com · 06/10/2026

I think you’re right about the anger though. It’s right there, so easy to choose as a response. And it’s not critique or careful criticism either, it’s just blasting anger at someone. And I guess if you’re angry then you don’t have to ask whether you could assist.

100

Jenn Wilson @thatjennwilson.com · 06/10/2026

Turns out that if you have time, self-efficacy, and a good teacher, you can make good and recognisable art in an hour. Would not have expected that. Programming took months, rather than an hour, but I wouldn’t have expected that either.

100

Jenn Wilson @thatjennwilson.com · 06/10/2026

Speaking of ‘pick up a pencil’, my husband and I took a drawing class earlier this year. We were given a photo of two pears to look at and draw. It was not easy, but we were given time and shown how to think about it. This is my work after an hour. Everyone in the class could do this or better.

A pencil drawing of two pears. The one on the left is upright, the one on the right is laying down. They have a gradient showing the light that comes from the left hand side, and shadow across them including underneath. It’s obvious that they are pears.

100

Jenn Wilson @thatjennwilson.com · 06/10/2026

I don’t mean expertise here - that’s a long and hard journey, often of many years, requiring strong dedication and drive. But it’s interesting how good you can get at something in a few months of consistent effort. I wonder if people don’t know how to start.

100

Jenn Wilson @thatjennwilson.com · 06/10/2026

I suspect poor self efficacy. I’ve been thinking about it recently, and that’s what I keep landing on. I wonder if people don’t know how to learn on their own, and don’t know how to get started on a new skill. It turns out the barrier is often lower than expected, but it’s hard to know that.

100

Jenn Wilson @thatjennwilson.com · 06/10/2026

REFERENCE van Dijk, Jan A.G.M, (2006), "Digital divide research, achievements and shortcomings", Poetics 34, 221-235, doi.org/10.1016/j.po...

000

Jenn Wilson @thatjennwilson.com · 06/10/2026

I'm a huge fan of open models, and I use them in my work. I'm not going to pretend that they are equivalent to the frontier models. You have to do more to get similar value. For instance: I always build a database on the front and I'm playing around with verifiers for the back. You can too!

100

Jenn Wilson @thatjennwilson.com · 06/10/2026

Many of these issues can be worked on or overcome, slowly, depending on your circumstances. They're not insurmountable challenges. But they do exist, and they do limit people's ability to engage with this technology as an alternative. It's important to remember that.

100

Jenn Wilson @thatjennwilson.com · 06/10/2026

Lastly there is usage access: you gotta have the time to dedicate to learning to use the technology and applying it. This access issue will impact the others, as learning basic programming and what your computer can do requires time and practice.

100

Jenn Wilson @thatjennwilson.com · 06/10/2026

van Dijk discusses the 'skill access' issue as having three components: information skills, such as finding and choosing resources to use; instrumental, the underlying skill to get things set up and built how you like; and strategic skills, to use the technology for a specific goal.

100

Jenn Wilson @thatjennwilson.com · 06/10/2026

Skill access will impact you: if you can't program yet, if you're nervous about using the terminal, if you haven't built a database before, then your options will be a bit more limited. Good news: these are learnable skills, and python has a lot of good learning resources on the web.

100

Jenn Wilson @thatjennwilson.com · 06/10/2026

Then there is material access: your computer will be limited in the tech you can run, so you might need to choose smaller open models. That's a limitation. On the plus side, there's a lot of infrastructure you can build around the models to make smaller ones work much better.

100

Jenn Wilson @thatjennwilson.com · 06/10/2026

Motivational access is your interest in the technology: your willingness to engage and learn. If you don't want to learn, or don't feel like you can, then that's a barrier all on its own. I feel like this is the spot that a good portion of people are getting stuck.

100

Jenn Wilson @thatjennwilson.com · 06/10/2026

Using open models means you have more choice but more responsibility. The digital divide also comes into play. I know term from Jan van Dijk's work (reference below for those interested). van Dijk talks about four types of access problems: motivational, material, skills, and usage.

100

Jenn Wilson @thatjennwilson.com · 06/10/2026

This is a good point. Often people talk about language models as if only frontier models exist because that's what they hear and talk about. If you don't want to financially support the frontier labs, you can choose to use open models instead. Let's talk about the digital divide though.

120

Jenn Wilson @thatjennwilson.com · 05/10/2026

I believe in you, angry anti-ai person. Use that rage, fuel it into first terrible code that will haunt your github repository commit history, and then slightly better code that you can feel proud of.

080

Jenn Wilson @thatjennwilson.com · 05/10/2026

Standard reminder: you can fork the repository and learn to code. It is an option. C++ is not easy, but it's doable. Get started today! www.ppsspp.org/docs/develop...

190

Jenn Wilson @thatjennwilson.com · 05/10/2026

I find it really interesting that there aren't more anti-ai people who have decided to learn to program. It seems the obvious thing to do. If you don't want to use AI tech, learn how to build and adjust stuff yourself. Instead it's just weird complaining about how people don't do free stuff now.

3313

Jenn Wilson @thatjennwilson.com · 05/10/2026

I think that's a great idea; learning new skills are excellent and a lot of the time it helps to have a project in mind to work toward, to push you to do the hard thing :) I do research with language models, yeah. I'm just going through the reposts to mute anyone who is being unproductively unkind.

210