Anastasia Salter

@anasalter.bsky.social

1.9K followers 1.1K following 380 posts

Professor of English and Director of Texts & Technology at UCF. Author most recently of Playful Pedagogy in the Pandemic & Twining. More at: https://anastasiasalter.net/

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Anastasia Salter @anasalter.bsky.social · Oct 9

My new book Undertale: Can a Game Give Hope? is out today from the @uchicagopress.bsky.social Replay series, which is dedicated to short, personal takes on games. I hope it invites readers to visit (or revisit) the Underground and befriend some fabulous monsters. press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...

Replay book: Undertale - Can a Game Give Hope? with some absolutely fantastic University of Chicago Press wrapping paper.

Reposted by Will Jennings, Peter Thorne, Brendan Nyhan , and 10 more Will Jennings, Peter Thorne, Brendan Nyhan, Cathy N. Davidson, Robert C. Richards, Michael W. Kraus, Aaron Sojourner, McKenzie Wark, Anastasia Salter, Kate Starbird, Mark Rice, Ann Bartow, Henry Jones

Bill Grueskin @bgrueskin.bsky.social · 1d

Kyle Kingsbury is not a journalist. He is not an op-ed writer.

He is a computer safety researcher.

And he has written one of the most compelling, comprehensive accounts of the ongoing hell in Chicago that you could possibly imagine.

In under 1600 words.

aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...

I Want You to Understand Chicago
Politics Chicago
2025-11-08

I want you to understand what it is like to live in Chicago during this time.

Every day my phone buzzes. It is a neighborhood group: four people were kidnapped at the corner drugstore. A friend a mile away sends a Slack message: she was at the scene when masked men assaulted and abducted two people on the street. A plumber working on my pipes is distraught, and I find out that two of his employees were kidnapped that morning. A week later it happens again.

An email arrives. Agents with guns have chased a teacher into the school where she works. They did not have a warrant. They dragged her away, ignoring her and her colleagues’ pleas to show proof of her documentation. That evening I stand a few feet from the parents of Rayito de Sol and listen to them describe, with anguish, how good Ms. Diana was to their children. What it is like to have strangers with guns traumatize your kids. For a teacher to hide a three-year-old child for fear they might be killed. How their relatives will no longer leave the house. I hear the pain and fury in their voices, and I wonder who will be next.

Understand what it is to pray in Chicago. On September 19th, Reverend David Black, lead pastor at First Presbyterian Church of Chicago, was praying outside the ICE detention center in Broadview when a DHS agent shot him in the head with pepper balls. Pepper balls are never supposed to be fired at the head because they can seriously injure, or even kill. “We could hear them laughing as they were shooting us from the roof,” Black recalled. He is not the only member of the clergy ICE has assaulted. Methodist pastor Hannah Kardon was violently arrested on October 17th, and Baptist pastor Michael Woolf was shot with pepper balls on November 1st.

Understand what it is to sleep in Chicago. On the night of September 30th, federal agents rappelled from a Black Hawk helicopter to execute a raid on an apartment building on the South Sho…

Reposted by Anastasia Salter, Aviel Roshwald

Matthew Kirschenbaum @mkirschenbaum.bsky.social · 4d

We Haven't Been Here Before
BY MATTHEW KIRSCHENBAUM
$ 2025 draws to a close, we know that generative artificial-intelligence models can furnish good-enough
which is expected or compelled of us either by way of a salary or a grade. To acknowledge this is not boosterism or credulous absorption of industry "hype": It is the baseline for how much the conditions of writing have changed in the three years since the public launch of ChatGPT.
For higher education this means that, where the classroom deliverable is a piece of student prose, the expectation has to be that Al is adequate to the task of creating a passable imitation; and that it can do so in ways that are all but impossible to prove to the standards of an academic-integrity violation. Now, with the emergence of so-called agentic-Al browsers,
capable of autonomously fulfilling tasks on the user's behalf, we are on the verge of a fully automated loop in which assignments are Al-generated with the help of a learning-management system; Al-generated content is submitted by an agentic browser on behalf of the student; and Al-driven metrics then evaluate the work on behalf of the instructor.
Moments of real rupture can be hard to reckon with, especially for those of us in the humanities where our training is
more given to prodiemanzine, contextualzne, and historicing, all utmately demadonary — and in that sense
conservative — critical postures. We have been here before, we like to say, nodding knowingly all the while. Similarly, there is much hope in some circles that Al will prove a mere "bubble," destined to burst like other ed-tech fads. At the very least | this betrays a curiously robust faith in markets to self-correct in the interest of collective salvation. It is also, I would
venture, a dangerous misreading of the current political landscape, where the very corporations at the forefront of Al have aligned themselves with the present administration's authoritarian excesses, including a fistful of executive orde…

Anastasia Salter @anasalter.bsky.social · 4d

I'm co-teaching a DHSI workshop next summer with @lucidbard.bsky.social on programming for the digital humanities in the context of agentic AI and rapidly changing interfaces for computational work. Watch our awkward promo video + consider joining us: dhsi.org/2025/09/30/d... #dhmakes

DH Programming Pedagogy in the Age of AI (DHSI 2026)

Allow functionality cookies for video to play Description In this team-taught workshop, we invite scholars to join us in exploring the relationship between generative AI and the future of programming pedagogy in the digital humanities and a frontline of what the MLA-CCCC Joint Task Force on Writing and AI called “critical AI literacy.” Generative AI […]

dhsi.org

Reposted by Kevin J. Anchukaitis, Robert C. Richards, Anastasia Salter , and 1 more Kevin J. Anchukaitis, Robert C. Richards, Anastasia Salter, Anne Hilborn

Tessa Hill @tessahill.bsky.social · 5d

A devastating set of decisions on the part of UC leadership to withdraw support from our nationally recognized postdoc program that prioritizes research excellence combined with addressing our university public service mission. www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...

UC to Stop Funding Systemwide Postdoc Program

Established in 1984 to encourage women and minority Ph.D.s to pursue academia, the program has attracted right-wing criticism for prioritizing diverse candidates.

www.insidehighered.com

Anastasia Salter @anasalter.bsky.social · 5d

Just added this excellent MLA statement to the workshop I'm running contextualizing agentic AI for faculty and graduate students tomorrow - we need conversations around this new iteration of the tech urgently. Here's my materials if anyone is interested: anastasiasalter.net/AgentWorkshop/

Reposted by Anastasia Salter

Noah Wardrip-Fruin @n-w-f.bsky.social · 15d

ICYMI, my new book on Animal Crossing: New Horizons is 30% off (w/ free shipping)

It's a scholarly book, looking at ACNH through lenses like craft, compulsion, and community. It's also a personal book, about playing with my kids during the pandemic

More details: press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/vi...

Anastasia Salter @anasalter.bsky.social · 19d

This is just taunting those among us still grading...🤣

Mel Stanfill @melstanfill.bsky.social · 19d

I have finished
the grading
that was planned
for Monday

and which
the AWS outage
thwarted
so thoroughly

Forgive me
I am drowning
so late
and so behind

Reposted by Anastasia Salter

Mel Stanfill @melstanfill.bsky.social · 19d

I have finished
the grading
that was planned
for Monday

and which
the AWS outage
thwarted
so thoroughly

Forgive me
I am drowning
so late
and so behind

Anastasia Salter @anasalter.bsky.social · 21d

I mean, what else are we supposed to do today but complain on the working platform about all the platforms that are down? Our writing? 😆

Anastasia Salter @anasalter.bsky.social · 21d

Getting really tired of this robots in space maintenance screen today. Maybe concentrating our infrastructure to rely heavily on a single cloud computing provider was not a great plan...

Two robots repairing a space ship would like us to know that there will be no grading today, as "Canvas is experiencing issues due to an ongoing AWS incident."

Anastasia Salter @anasalter.bsky.social · 24d

😍

The Video Game Library 📚 @thevideogamelibrary.org · 24d

THANK YOU @uchicagopress.bsky.social and @anasalter.bsky.social for this morning’s coffee shop reading 💙 ☕️ 📕

Absolutely loving this REPLAY series!

#Undertale

The book cover for Undertale: Can A Game Give Us Hope?

Reposted by Noah Wardrip‐Fruin, Anastasia Salter

The Video Game Library 📚 @thevideogamelibrary.org · 24d

THANK YOU @uchicagopress.bsky.social and @anasalter.bsky.social for this morning’s coffee shop reading 💙 ☕️ 📕

Absolutely loving this REPLAY series!

#Undertale

Reposted by Anastasia Salter, Stuart Dunn

Martin Paul Eve @eve.gd · 25d

"The protocol taught us that technology can be based on human values like ethics and morality. It showed that voluntary compliance works when all parties benefit."

On robots.txt.

www.heise.de/en/backgroun...

Obituary: Farewell to robots.txt (1994-2025)

The voluntary compliance protocol that civilized the internet has departed, bids Henning Fries farewell.

www.heise.de

Reposted by Anastasia Salter

Dan Cox @videlais.bsky.social · 27d

I am thrilled to announce the opening of the Call for Submissions for Electronic Literature Volume 5.

eliterature.github.io/elc5-info/

I am serving along with @zachwhalen.bsky.social, @elikaortega.bsky.social, and Dani Spinosa.

This call launches with translations in 12+ languages!

Call for Submissions

The Electronic Literature Organization (ELO) seeks submissions for Volume 5 of the Electronic Literature Collection.

eliterature.github.io

Reposted by Anastasia Salter

Maria Antoniak @mariaa.bsky.social · Oct 9

Keynote at #COLM2025: Nicholas Carlini from Anthropic

"Are language models worth it?"

Explains that the prior decade of his work on adversarial images, while it taught us a lot, isn't very applied; it's unlikely anyone is actually altering images of cats in scary ways.

Reposted by Anna O. Law, Gerry Canavan, Anastasia Salter , and 3 more Anna O. Law, Gerry Canavan, Anastasia Salter, Lisa Diedrich, Kathleen Kennedy, Farah Mendlesohn

Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · Oct 5

If you are a supporter and reader of @contingent-mag.bsky.social one of the biggest things you can do to help us at the moment is get this CFP to the NTT folks in your life. The fracturing of social media has made it very difficult to get the word out esp. to adjuncts and VAPs.

CFP: A Time of Monsters

The monster has been here all along. It is a historical constant that manifests in wildly different ways across time, place, and culture. Whatever form it takes, the monster claws at categories; it un...

contingentmagazine.org

Anastasia Salter @anasalter.bsky.social · Oct 5

😍

The Video Game Library 📚 @thevideogamelibrary.org · Oct 5

Kicking things off with this exciting new REPLAY series

Thank you so much to @uchicagopress.bsky.social for this one 🙏

“ANIMAL CROSSING: NEW HORIZONS - CAN A GAME TAKE CARE OF US?”

Excited to see @n-w-f.bsky.social and @anasalter.bsky.social headline this launch!

The book cover for animal Crossing New Horizon‘s can a game take care of us. It is sitting on a wooden table with a blurred background. The cover is a series of 4 o’clock’s with one of the hands being a heart shape.

Reposted by Noah Wardrip‐Fruin, Anastasia Salter

The Video Game Library 📚 @thevideogamelibrary.org · Oct 5

Reposted by Anastasia Salter

Scholars' Lab @scholarslab.bsky.social · Oct 3

Anouk Lang's talk on literary+critical making scholarship will also explore how making-as-research opens questions about bodies, labor, & accessibility; intellectual process vs product. Virtual event, open to all! cal.lib.virginia.edu/event/15242444

Tuesday Forum: Anouk Lang on Poetry in the Makerspace

Please join us for the next in our digital humanities series, the Tuesday Forums, brought to you by the Scholars' Lab, of the Library's DH Center. These presentations invite...

cal.lib.virginia.edu

Reposted by Anastasia Salter

Edmond Chang @edmondchang.bsky.social · Oct 1

Roll with Advantage: Creative, Collaborative, and Critical Responses to Dungeons & Dragons (Play Story Press 2025) edited by Suzanne Richardson & Edmond Y. Chang: playstorypress.org/books/roll-w... - in print or open access PDF! #analoggamestudies #creativewriting #dungeonsanddragons #dnd

Anastasia Salter @anasalter.bsky.social · Sep 25

I just saw One Battle After Another, and wow. If you are on the fence, see it, this is Anderson at his best and most relevant. Also, my fellow geriatric millennials will enjoy DiCaprio at his most Oscar worthy.

Reposted by John R. Hutchinson, Mark D. White, Alan J. Singer , and 3 more John R. Hutchinson, Mark D. White, Alan J. Singer, Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham, Anastasia Salter, S. J. Holmes

Dave Itzkoff @ditzkoff.bsky.social · Sep 16

Robert Redford playing a gentle incarnation of death, coming for a frightened old woman in The Twilight Zone episode "Nothing in the Dark" (1962). An extraordinary performance then, terribly bittersweet today

Reposted by Anastasia Salter

Mel Stanfill @melstanfill.bsky.social · Sep 10

well, apropos of recent news stories about how professors are objects of interpretation and negative feels . . . Professor Superstar now has a cover. press.umich.edu/Books/P/Prof...

Hollywood Walk of Fame style star, but colored blue like a photo negative from a scandal, with book title Professor Superstar: Fandom and Anti-fandom of Academia and author
Mel Stanfill

Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Fans of Aca- Fans: FanStudies Scholars as Celebrities
Chapter 2 From Lecture Notes to Likes: Academics as Social Media Microcelebrities
Chapter 3 Haters Gonna Tweet: Academia as an Object of (Anti- )Fandom on Social Media
Chapter 4 Make the Ivory Tower Exclusive Again: Frustrated Fandom
of Academia at the University of Austin
Chapter 5 Red, White, and Antischool: The University as Conservative Anti- Fan Object

Anastasia Salter @anasalter.bsky.social · Sep 9

ooof I bet, and there's no grant money out there anymore, but a textile sabbatical someday would be amazing! 😍

Anastasia Salter @anasalter.bsky.social · Sep 9

omg that is the coolest thing, I need it!

Anastasia Salter @anasalter.bsky.social · Sep 9

It's still one of my favorite games to teach, feels like there's always more to find when different players explore!

Reposted by Noah Wardrip‐Fruin

Anastasia Salter @anasalter.bsky.social · Sep 9

The first copies of my next book, a short reflection on the lasting impact of indie game Undertale, have arrived at @uchicagopress.bsky.social and are in good company with @n-w-f.bsky.social's upcoming book on Animal Crossing. Find both at: press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/se...

First books upcoming in University of Chicago Press's Replay series: Undertale: Can a Game Give Hope? and Animal Crossing: New Horizons: Can a Game Take Care of Us?

Anastasia Salter @anasalter.bsky.social · Sep 3

Even knowing the consequences, I did want to select it...

Anastasia Salter @anasalter.bsky.social · Sep 2

Great moments in interface design. Why do we even have that button?

In Kuali: Propose Changes - Create a New Version (Please select this option.) Create a New Revision (Do NOT use this option.)

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