Jane Cowell
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janecowell.bsky.social
Jane Cowell
@janecowell.bsky.social
Library Industry Speaker, Librarian, Innovator, Digital Disruption, Democracy, views are my own, reposts are not endorsements.
#Libraries open their archives to train AI chatbots with books spanning centuries of human knowledge www.milwaukeeindependent.com/newswire/lib...
Libraries open their archives to train AI chatbots with books spanning centuries of human knowledge | Milwaukee Independent
www.milwaukeeindependent.com
November 10, 2025 at 12:29 AM
#AI Is Supercharging the War on #Libraries, Education, and Human Knowledge www.404media.co/ai-is-superc...
AI Is Supercharging the War on Libraries, Education, and Human Knowledge
"Fascism and AI, whether or not they have the same goals, they sure are working to accelerate one another."
www.404media.co
November 10, 2025 at 12:24 AM
Why Wikipedia Is Losing Traffic to AI Overviews on Google
The beloved online encyclopedia has been dropping in pageviews over the last few months. www.cnet.com/tech/service...
Why Wikipedia Is Losing Traffic to AI Overviews on Google
The beloved online encyclopedia has been dropping in pageviews over the last few months.
www.cnet.com
November 2, 2025 at 11:27 PM
Grokipedia Is the Antithesis of Everything That Makes Wikipedia Good, Useful, and Human www.404media.co/grokipedia-i...
Grokipedia Is the Antithesis of Everything That Makes Wikipedia Good, Useful, and Human
Grokipedia is not a 'Wikipedia competitor.' It is a fully robotic regurgitation machine designed to protect the ego of the world’s wealthiest man.
www.404media.co
November 2, 2025 at 11:17 PM
Libraries Scramble for Books After Giant Distributor Shuts Down
www.404media.co/libraries-sc...
Libraries Scramble for Books After Giant Distributor Shuts Down
Why it might have been and may continue to be harder to get new releases from your local library.
www.404media.co
October 31, 2025 at 1:08 AM
Even before they can read, young children are visualizing letters and other objects with the same strategies adults use #Literacy theconversation.com/even-before-...
Even before they can read, young children are visualizing letters and other objects with the same strategies adults use
Recent research shows that young children typically manipulate and rotate entire objects in their minds to understand challenges such as puzzles.
theconversation.com
October 28, 2025 at 11:56 PM
The ABC’s Top 100 books poll lacks diversity. Here are my 10 First Nations ‘books of the 21st century’ theconversation.com/the-abcs-top...
The ABC’s Top 100 books poll lacks diversity. Here are my 10 First Nations ‘books of the 21st century’
Just three Aboriginal writers appeared in Radio National’s poll. There was little sense of the breadth and creativity of our First Nations writing scene.
theconversation.com
October 27, 2025 at 11:50 PM
Wyoming library director fired amid book dispute reaches $700,000 settlement www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...
Wyoming library director fired amid book dispute reaches $700,000 settlement
"It's been a rough road, but I will never regret standing up for the First Amendment," Terri Lesley said.
www.nbcnews.com
October 27, 2025 at 11:02 PM
The Case for Whole Books: You can’t get better at reading until you care about a text. #Literacy slate.com/life/2025/10...
October 27, 2025 at 10:11 PM
Cities looking to revive downtowns are increasingly leveraging the ability of public libraries to draw crowds and encourage economic development. www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
With Roles as Civic Hubs, Libraries Turn Over a New Page
Cities looking to revive downtowns are increasingly leveraging the ability of public libraries to draw crowds and encourage economic development.
www.bloomberg.com
October 27, 2025 at 4:27 AM
Reposted by Jane Cowell
One of the reasons I love retro-SF futures is because they speak to this increasing trend of turning shit off and disconnecting devices. When AWS goes down and bricks your bed, fridge, and thermostat, the appeal of analog is keenly felt.

www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/th...
The return of dumb things: Why young people are ditching their smartphones for MP3 players and digital cameras
Young people are using dumb phones, MP3 players and digital cameras in lieu of iPhones. Experts explain why.
www.yahoo.com
October 26, 2025 at 10:57 AM
Why this library e-book app is turning to #AI OverDrive CEO Steve Potash thinks the tech can promote reading amid threats to #libraries. www.techbrew.com/stories/2025...
Why this library e-book app is turning to AI
OverDrive CEO Steve Potash thinks the tech can promote reading amid threats to libraries.
www.techbrew.com
October 27, 2025 at 4:13 AM
Loneliness in the Digital Age: Why Libraries Are A Key Social Connector medium.com/@janecowell8...
Loneliness in the Digital Age:
Why Libraries Are A Key Social Connector
medium.com
October 25, 2025 at 3:32 AM
A Better Way to Give Feedback at Work: Using the SBI Model
How the Situation–Behavior–Impact model can make feedback less awkward and more effective janecowell8.medium.com/a-better-way...
Medium
janecowell8.medium.com
October 24, 2025 at 12:54 AM
How Silicon Valley Became a Center of Reactionary, Anti-Democratic Politics lithub.com/how-silicon-...
How Silicon Valley Became a Center of Reactionary, Anti-Democratic Politics
With 881,000 people living in less than 47 square miles, San Francisco packs a tremendous amount of wealth and cultural influence into a fiercely unequal city. San Francisco is far smaller than Los…
lithub.com
October 16, 2025 at 12:13 AM
The speech wars come for Wikipedia www.politico.com/newsletters/...
The speech wars come for Wikipedia
www.politico.com
October 8, 2025 at 9:41 PM
Chatbot Assessment: Best Practices for #ArtificialIntelligence in the #Library preprint.press.jhu.edu/portal/sites...
preprint.press.jhu.edu
October 1, 2025 at 5:39 AM
#AI is making reading books feel obsolete – and students have a lot to lose theconversation.com/ai-is-making...
AI is making reading books feel obsolete – and students have a lot to lose
Even before generative AI went mainstream, fewer people were reading books.
theconversation.com
September 19, 2025 at 6:06 AM
How thousands of ‘overworked, underpaid’ humans train Google’s #AI to seem smart www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
How thousands of ‘overworked, underpaid’ humans train Google’s AI to seem smart
Contracted AI raters describe grueling deadlines, poor pay and opacity around work to make chatbots intelligent
www.theguardian.com
September 19, 2025 at 6:03 AM