Alisa Perren
@aperren.bsky.social
Media studies prof. Director of Industry Relations for the Radio-Television-Film Department at UT-Austin. Opinions are my own.
Reposted by Alisa Perren
USPS quietly changed its postmark rules — mail is no longer dated when you drop it off. The “official” date is when it hits automated sorting — sometimes days later
Which could have major implications for mail in voting — it’s a clever way to disenfranchise voters that’s going largely overlooked
Which could have major implications for mail in voting — it’s a clever way to disenfranchise voters that’s going largely overlooked
December 29, 2025 at 7:14 PM
USPS quietly changed its postmark rules — mail is no longer dated when you drop it off. The “official” date is when it hits automated sorting — sometimes days later
Which could have major implications for mail in voting — it’s a clever way to disenfranchise voters that’s going largely overlooked
Which could have major implications for mail in voting — it’s a clever way to disenfranchise voters that’s going largely overlooked
Reposted by Alisa Perren
Can’t see what could go wrong with the chatbot that tells people to kill themselves also pushing DraftKings
December 31, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Can’t see what could go wrong with the chatbot that tells people to kill themselves also pushing DraftKings
Just read this from @seanmcnulty.bsky.social in The Ankler:
NETFLIX will have live TV programming on Sunday, Monday (RAW), Tuesday & Wednesday (Star Search) every week as of mid-January, plus their new mobile daily game show.
The more things change…
NETFLIX will have live TV programming on Sunday, Monday (RAW), Tuesday & Wednesday (Star Search) every week as of mid-January, plus their new mobile daily game show.
The more things change…
December 29, 2025 at 9:58 PM
Just read this from @seanmcnulty.bsky.social in The Ankler:
NETFLIX will have live TV programming on Sunday, Monday (RAW), Tuesday & Wednesday (Star Search) every week as of mid-January, plus their new mobile daily game show.
The more things change…
NETFLIX will have live TV programming on Sunday, Monday (RAW), Tuesday & Wednesday (Star Search) every week as of mid-January, plus their new mobile daily game show.
The more things change…
👀
December 28, 2025 at 9:11 AM
👀
Reposted by Alisa Perren
Find me a piece of ed tech from the past thirty years that's genuinely more about student learning than it is about extracting more labor from fewer teachers. Can't be done!
Every pedagogical argument I see is essentially "You could use it to do something you already do but you will also have to do a lot of setup and double check everything it does."
December 27, 2025 at 9:29 PM
Find me a piece of ed tech from the past thirty years that's genuinely more about student learning than it is about extracting more labor from fewer teachers. Can't be done!
Reposted by Alisa Perren
will also add - yes, this is my personal crusade - that turning podcasts into videos implicitly asks women to once again make more effort than men, as the bar for "camera-ready" for one gender is obviously higher than for the other
‘Painful to hear!’ How podcasts’ rush to video is turning them into dreadful listens
‘Painful to hear!’ How podcasts’ rush to video is turning them into dreadful listens
From Joe Marler’s visual-only stunts to the incomprehensible shuffling sounds Steven Bartlett recently subjected headphone users to, dodgy audio experiences are on the rise
www.theguardian.com
December 27, 2025 at 10:20 AM
will also add - yes, this is my personal crusade - that turning podcasts into videos implicitly asks women to once again make more effort than men, as the bar for "camera-ready" for one gender is obviously higher than for the other
Reposted by Alisa Perren
I know it’s been widely remarked upon but Netflix releasing eight episodes of STRANGER THINGS in three installments is so funny to me
They’re so close to getting it
They’re so close to getting it
December 26, 2025 at 7:53 PM
I know it’s been widely remarked upon but Netflix releasing eight episodes of STRANGER THINGS in three installments is so funny to me
They’re so close to getting it
They’re so close to getting it
Reposted by Alisa Perren
All of this thread.
I understand the self interest that AI salesmen have to push their product, but the grasping way they’re doing it — the internet version of a traveling salesmen putting his foot in the door so you can’t close it — is only going to drive more people away.
I understand the self interest that AI salesmen have to push their product, but the grasping way they’re doing it — the internet version of a traveling salesmen putting his foot in the door so you can’t close it — is only going to drive more people away.
You absolutely will not convince a bunch of historians and sociologists and whoever else is in this thread that you know more than we do about this and we should use it. I wish you AI enthusiasts would stop wading into our conversations. You have nothing helpful to contribute and are snarky.
December 21, 2025 at 2:21 PM
All of this thread.
I understand the self interest that AI salesmen have to push their product, but the grasping way they’re doing it — the internet version of a traveling salesmen putting his foot in the door so you can’t close it — is only going to drive more people away.
I understand the self interest that AI salesmen have to push their product, but the grasping way they’re doing it — the internet version of a traveling salesmen putting his foot in the door so you can’t close it — is only going to drive more people away.
Also: Their vice provost is named Michael Scott!?!
Coming to a campus near you: goldengatexpress.org/114511/campu...
SFSU offers buyouts to all tenure-track and tenured faculty
The Voluntary Separation Incentive Program is a “balancing act,” where there is a stronger incentive for tenured and tenure-track faculty to retire and open up room to hire back lecturer faculty.
goldengatexpress.org
December 23, 2025 at 7:14 PM
Also: Their vice provost is named Michael Scott!?!
Reposted by Alisa Perren
it's an interesting conversation in media as well when you consider all the link rot and intentional destruction of journalistic history that occurs at the hands of corporate power
a narrow window of badly curated knowledge dictated by unreliable narrators forming the foundation of modern wisdom
a narrow window of badly curated knowledge dictated by unreliable narrators forming the foundation of modern wisdom
Wait until you hear that LLMs can only train on digitized/datafied info.
Most of the FACTS scholars use are in archives/libraries.
Less than 1% of archival colletions worldwide have been digitized.
Also: lots of facts are not even in archives, but in the attics.
Most of the FACTS scholars use are in archives/libraries.
Less than 1% of archival colletions worldwide have been digitized.
Also: lots of facts are not even in archives, but in the attics.
suspect a big reason why many academics and others who work in areas where getting facts RIGHT is key are disinterested in using LLMs for research:
they’ve tried it, they keep noticing major errors in output, and they conclude that having to verify all that doesn’t actually save them time.
they’ve tried it, they keep noticing major errors in output, and they conclude that having to verify all that doesn’t actually save them time.
December 22, 2025 at 5:08 PM
it's an interesting conversation in media as well when you consider all the link rot and intentional destruction of journalistic history that occurs at the hands of corporate power
a narrow window of badly curated knowledge dictated by unreliable narrators forming the foundation of modern wisdom
a narrow window of badly curated knowledge dictated by unreliable narrators forming the foundation of modern wisdom
Doing my part this holiday season to try to educate my parents about motion smoothing
December 22, 2025 at 3:24 AM
Doing my part this holiday season to try to educate my parents about motion smoothing
Reposted by Alisa Perren
Also good: @mattbelloni.bsky.social highlighting the wild amount of $ these WBD execs stand to make from a sale
December 19, 2025 at 8:25 PM
Also good: @mattbelloni.bsky.social highlighting the wild amount of $ these WBD execs stand to make from a sale
Reposted by Alisa Perren
The proliferation of fake citations in real scholarship reveals a critical flaw in how we “produce knowledge.” No matter how valid a claim is or not, once introduced into the literature, it can persists and spread like an invasive rhizome. This isn’t new, but the audacity of AI makes it apparent.
Academics and technologists are sounding the alarm about a growing crisis in scholarship as we know it: AI-generated citations of nonexistent papers that have infested real journals. Despite being fake, the sources are widely assumed to be authentic the more they appear in published literature.
AI Is Inventing Academic Papers That Don't Exist -- And They're Being Cited in Real Journals
Academic articles from authors using large language model are creating an ecosystem of fake research that threatens human knowledge itself.
www.rollingstone.com
December 17, 2025 at 7:54 PM
The proliferation of fake citations in real scholarship reveals a critical flaw in how we “produce knowledge.” No matter how valid a claim is or not, once introduced into the literature, it can persists and spread like an invasive rhizome. This isn’t new, but the audacity of AI makes it apparent.
Reposted by Alisa Perren
This whole 🧵.
It’s a delicate dance, and requires a lot of on-the-ground emotional intelligence on the institution’s side during the campus visit. But it’s critical to hire people who actually get your program, school, and city, and actually want to be there.
It’s a delicate dance, and requires a lot of on-the-ground emotional intelligence on the institution’s side during the campus visit. But it’s critical to hire people who actually get your program, school, and city, and actually want to be there.
For civilians: an academic dept typically has to out maneuver other depts to get a tenure line! I tell grad students applying to red state jobs to indicate that they are familiar with & would be happy spending a decade or more there. A single sentence has moved them to the top of a pile. 1/
December 17, 2025 at 5:53 PM
This whole 🧵.
It’s a delicate dance, and requires a lot of on-the-ground emotional intelligence on the institution’s side during the campus visit. But it’s critical to hire people who actually get your program, school, and city, and actually want to be there.
It’s a delicate dance, and requires a lot of on-the-ground emotional intelligence on the institution’s side during the campus visit. But it’s critical to hire people who actually get your program, school, and city, and actually want to be there.
Reposted by Alisa Perren
LOL. just hire people to do creative work.
December 13, 2025 at 5:27 PM
LOL. just hire people to do creative work.
Reposted by Alisa Perren
I guess it's fitting that it's a reimagined, worse version of someone else's artwork
December 12, 2025 at 4:00 AM
I guess it's fitting that it's a reimagined, worse version of someone else's artwork
Reposted by Alisa Perren
lol 😂 🤣🤣🤪(paywalled) www.status.news/p/washington...
December 12, 2025 at 4:22 AM
lol 😂 🤣🤣🤪(paywalled) www.status.news/p/washington...
Reposted by Alisa Perren
Study Finds 80% Of Americans Lack Social Connections To Pull Off Heist https://theonion.com/study-finds-80-of-americans-lack-social-connections-to-pull-off-heist/
December 11, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Study Finds 80% Of Americans Lack Social Connections To Pull Off Heist https://theonion.com/study-finds-80-of-americans-lack-social-connections-to-pull-off-heist/
Reposted by Alisa Perren
Disney and OpenAI sign a deal to bring 200+ Disney characters to Sora
Disney makes $1 billion investment in OpenAI and will become a "major" OpenAI customer
openai.com/index/disney...
Disney makes $1 billion investment in OpenAI and will become a "major" OpenAI customer
openai.com/index/disney...
December 11, 2025 at 2:19 PM
Disney and OpenAI sign a deal to bring 200+ Disney characters to Sora
Disney makes $1 billion investment in OpenAI and will become a "major" OpenAI customer
openai.com/index/disney...
Disney makes $1 billion investment in OpenAI and will become a "major" OpenAI customer
openai.com/index/disney...
Reposted by Alisa Perren
A good point people are bringing up — if they need to pretend that making this commercial was hard work to avoid getting yelled at, they are also undercutting the propaganda that A.I. will give you a ton more free time. Which fake story are you sticking to. bsky.app/profile/cult...
McDonald's has released an AI-generated Christmas ad
The studio behind it says they 'hardly slept' for several weeks while writing AI prompts and refining the shots — 'AI didn't make this film. We did'
Comments have been turned off on YouTube
The studio behind it says they 'hardly slept' for several weeks while writing AI prompts and refining the shots — 'AI didn't make this film. We did'
Comments have been turned off on YouTube
December 9, 2025 at 7:56 AM
A good point people are bringing up — if they need to pretend that making this commercial was hard work to avoid getting yelled at, they are also undercutting the propaganda that A.I. will give you a ton more free time. Which fake story are you sticking to. bsky.app/profile/cult...
Reposted by Alisa Perren
Quick take on potential Netflix takeover of Warner Bros. Discover vs Paramount SkyDance or Comcast NBCU. Key point: it's the least worse deal, especially wrt Trump loyalist Ellison family controlled Paramount SD. Here's what the US TV, film & online video market looks like premerger. 1/
December 5, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Quick take on potential Netflix takeover of Warner Bros. Discover vs Paramount SkyDance or Comcast NBCU. Key point: it's the least worse deal, especially wrt Trump loyalist Ellison family controlled Paramount SD. Here's what the US TV, film & online video market looks like premerger. 1/
Netflix’s acquisition of WB becomes my new exhibit A for teaching industry oriented grad students why you NEVER put predictions in scholarship (or assume anything as it is at a given historical moment means something like that will never happen)
December 5, 2025 at 12:57 PM
Netflix’s acquisition of WB becomes my new exhibit A for teaching industry oriented grad students why you NEVER put predictions in scholarship (or assume anything as it is at a given historical moment means something like that will never happen)
2013: "The goal is to become HBO faster than HBO can become us” — Ted Sarandos about Netflix
2025: Netflix buying HBO along with its parent company
The last decade (and change) in a nutshell
variety.com/2025/tv/news...
2025: Netflix buying HBO along with its parent company
The last decade (and change) in a nutshell
variety.com/2025/tv/news...
Netflix to Buy Warner Bros. and HBO Max in $82.7 Billion Deal
It's official: Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery announced an agreement under which Netflix will acquire Warner Bros., including its film and television studios, HBO Max and HBO.
variety.com
December 5, 2025 at 12:31 PM
2013: "The goal is to become HBO faster than HBO can become us” — Ted Sarandos about Netflix
2025: Netflix buying HBO along with its parent company
The last decade (and change) in a nutshell
variety.com/2025/tv/news...
2025: Netflix buying HBO along with its parent company
The last decade (and change) in a nutshell
variety.com/2025/tv/news...