Jilly MacKay
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jillymackay.bsky.social
Jilly MacKay
@jillymackay.bsky.social
160 followers 150 following 230 posts
#Author, #researcher, academic #mum, really interested in #ResearchMethodology and #OpenScience #OpenEducation

Occasionally I'm more active on mastodon so follow my bridged account
@jillymackay.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy

https://jillymackay.com
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Jilly MacKay
msciawel.bsky.social
Hello Bluesky! We're the official Bsky account for the online part-time MSc International Animal Welfare Ethics and Law at the University of Edinburgh. We're just getting our account up and running, but you can find out more about us here: vet.ed.ac.uk/education/po...
International Animal Welfare, Ethics and Law | The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies | The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies
A fully flexible postgraduate programme designed to address the demand for online animal welfare education suitable for working professionals and others with an interest in studying a range of animal ...
vet.ed.ac.uk
November 10, 2025 at 3:11 PM
jillymackay.bsky.social
While I DO think dplyr 'across' makes a lot more sense, I am FOREVER having to look up how to mutate a bunch of data into factors and I don't know why I can't get this in my thick skull #tidyverse #rstats
October 16, 2025 at 2:16 PM
Reposted by Jilly MacKay
theeddesigner.bsky.social
When I first tried to generate images of health professionals they all came out male, white, in lab coats with stethoscopes around their necks. 😬 || theeddesigner.com/2024/12/19/t...
Choose educational images that are more representative of the actual humans around you.
October 15, 2025 at 2:51 AM
jillymackay.bsky.social
Did I miss the design memo that said all websites need to happen within frames now? Why can't I right click to open a link? Learn, and now OSF, two sites I use daily, who have now both decided I'll never need to open a new tab. Genuinely who is benefiting from this?
October 13, 2025 at 2:05 PM
jillymackay.bsky.social
Back at work! Frantically googling things like "git commands?", "email signature?" and "what is a job?"
October 13, 2025 at 10:57 AM
Reposted by Jilly MacKay
andrew.heiss.phd
Just discovered the {gm} package, which lets you programmatically create sheet music (and audio!) with #rstats (with MuseScore as the backend) flujoo.github.io/gm/index.html
library(dplyr) library(gm) golden <- tribble( ~pitches, ~duration, ~lyric, "E4", "q", "I’m", "G4", "q", "done", "C5", "q", "hid-", "B4", "q", "-ing", "D4", "q", "now", "G4", "q", "I’m", "E5", "q", "shin-", "D5", "q", "-ing", "G4", "q", "like", "B4", "q", "I’m", "A5", "q", "born", "F#5", "q/3*(q/8)", "to", "G5", "q/3", "be._", "G5", "h", "" ) music <- Music() + Key(1) + Tempo(125) + Meter(2, 4) + Line(pitches = golden$pitches, durations = golden$duration) + Tie(13) + Lyric(golden$lyric[1], 1) + Lyric(golden$lyric[2], 2) + Lyric(golden$lyric[3], 3) + Lyric(golden$lyric[4], 4) + Lyric(golden$lyric[5], 5) + Lyric(golden$lyric[6], 6) + Lyric(golden$lyric[7], 7) + Lyric(golden$lyric[8], 8) + Lyric(golden$lyric[9], 9) + Lyric(golden$lyric[10], 10) + Lyric(golden$lyric[11], 11) + Lyric(golden$lyric[12], 12) + Lyric(golden$lyric[13], 13) show(music) The first part of the bridge from "Golden" from KPop Demon Hunters
October 3, 2025 at 5:41 PM
Reposted by Jilly MacKay
nickharkaway.com
Counter-opinion: it’s a f***ing tragedy that corporate greed has broken the medium which facilitated Tahrir Square etc and is now doing its best to break the rest of the Internet.
financialtimes.com Financial Times @financialtimes.com · Oct 3
Opinion: It would be a hugely welcome development to discover that we have not merely reached social media saturation point, but that the experience has been degraded to such an extent that it has shocked people out of their stupor. on.ft.com/476Dcr8
October 3, 2025 at 8:03 AM
Reposted by Jilly MacKay
martinlewis.moneysavingexpert.com
Expect your mobile to go off 3pm Sunday! Be prepared for a test of the Govt's emergency alert system. Full info... www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2025/09...

LIVING WITH DOMESTIC ABUSE? If you've a hidden mobile, you the link above has details of how to opt out of the alert.

Pls share
September 2, 2025 at 10:05 AM
Reposted by Jilly MacKay
mmasnick.bsky.social
To be clear: this is yet another reason why many of these laws are so problematic. If people want to run fediverse instances of any size, the fact that costly age verification requirements could put them in legal jeopardy, is very bad.

Regulators make laws as if every website is Facebook.
August 29, 2025 at 9:15 PM
Reposted by Jilly MacKay
vashetc.bsky.social
So my academic friends who run quant surveys… did we know that qualtrics included a section about using data to train genAI in their privacy statement? Are u including this in ur IRB? Cuz ppl I’m asking say they didn’t know and this is not my neck of the woods (I am a qual researcher lol)
July 2, 2025 at 9:46 PM
Reposted by Jilly MacKay
emilynordmann.bsky.social
Very pleased to have this out in the wild now, @jillymackay.bsky.social, Hronska and I looked at how HE staff understand the terms blended, hybrid, and hyflex learning and whilst there is relative consensus regarding blended and hyflex (when known), the use of hybrid is a bit of a mess #AcademicSky
How do higher education staff understand the terms hybrid, hyflex and blended learning? Choice, modality and uncertainty Emily Nordmanna*, Barbora Hronskaa and Jill R.D. MacKayb aSchool of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland; bRoyal (Dick) Veterinary School, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland Received: 19 September 2024; Revised: 13 February 2025; Accepted: 31 March 2025; Published: 15 May 2025 Many universities implemented blended and hybrid delivery for the first time during the COVID-19 pandemic, and as such, the use of terms that relate to various manifestations and implementations of blended learning has increased significantly by all higher education stakeholders. However, the meaning ascribed to these terms is often inconsistent and can lead to confusion, making it difficult to set expectations clearly for both staff and students. This study aimed to investigate how higher education staff understand and use these terms and to identify sources of confusion and barriers to adopting standardised definitions. We surveyed 152 higher education staff and asked them to provide definitions of each term as well as completing a categorisation task. An applied thematic analysis identified two factors that were present across definitions: choice (no choice, student choice and choice not specified) and modality (mixed but separate, dual delivery and mixed not otherwise specified). Our findings reveal significant discrepancies in understanding, particularly regarding hybrid learning, which was often conflated with other modalities and involved definitions where neither choice nor modality was clearly specified. Blended learning was most consistently defined and identified as involving separate online and in-person components with no student choice as to the modality in which they could engage with each component. Hyflex learning, despite being less familiar to many participants, was accurately associated with dual delivery and … Bar chart showing that you might as well be guessing when it comes to what people will say is hybrid
May 20, 2025 at 7:06 AM
jillymackay.bsky.social
What the absolute fuck
peterkwells.com peterkwells @peterkwells.com · May 18
"Police have been issued guidance on how to search women’s homes for abortion drugs and check their phones for menstrual cycle tracking apps after unexpected pregnancy loss"

"...police could bypass legal requirements for a court order to obtain medical records..."

observer.co.uk/news/nationa...
Police could search homes and phones after pregnancy loss | The Observer
New national guidance suggests officers look for menstrual tracking apps or abortion drugs
observer.co.uk
May 18, 2025 at 9:07 AM
Reposted by Jilly MacKay
statsepi.bsky.social
A related issue:

Make your higher ed system reliant on international students and the extortionate fees you charge them (how very colonial, Ireland)

Now your entire strategy, despite any window dressing, must be to maximize your university "ranking" to supposedly attract said students...
rostaylor.bsky.social Ros Taylor @rostaylor.bsky.social · May 5
Or to put it another way, overseas students now subsidise the cost of teaching each UK undergraduate by an average of £2,500 each. Take them away and you've got an absolutely existential crisis for universities.

www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/pol...
May 7, 2025 at 8:37 AM
Reposted by Jilly MacKay
dougmccrae.bsky.social
May 4, 2025 at 12:45 PM
Reposted by Jilly MacKay
franamery.bsky.social
If you are a feminist academic, you should sign this letter. forms.gle/oDYgnobrMiSc...
Not In Our Name: Feminist Academics and Educators Speak Out Against Transphobia
We call on all trans-inclusive feminist academics and educators to sign this statement: ‘Not In Our Name’ We are non-trans feminist academics and educators. We write in support of trans rights, tran...
forms.gle
April 30, 2025 at 7:12 AM
Reposted by Jilly MacKay
drntasler.bsky.social
New Note Making System Part 01: Keep track of reading

A journaling system for managing significant amounts of reading.
New Note Making System Part 01: Keep track of reading
A journaling system for managing significant amounts of reading.
nathalietasler.blog
April 29, 2025 at 6:49 PM
jillymackay.bsky.social
Overheard at the Mod:
"Don't touch that! It's art, it's thousands of pounds that mummy and daddy can't pay"
"How is it art? It's just a lump of metal!"
The front of the Modern 1 Gallery in Edinburgh, a large sandstone building with columns and the words,"everything will be alright" in blue neon above. The grass outside is green in the sun
April 27, 2025 at 11:57 AM
Reposted by Jilly MacKay
ohrobin.bsky.social
Young people SHOULD “have it easier” than you did. I’m sorry you got the strap up hill both ways and paid your debts with pounds of flesh, but the reason we work for progress is to make growing up and growing old gentler, easier, kinder, freer. Struggle isn’t necessary in a healthy society.
April 25, 2025 at 5:50 AM
Reposted by Jilly MacKay
strictlychristo.bsky.social
Two headlines in the New York Times today.
Two NYT headlines stating the WH wants to promote more childbearing and the EPA is ending testing for chemicals that hurt children.
April 22, 2025 at 3:25 AM
jillymackay.bsky.social
Gotta be honest, I feel much less safe now. A very poor show www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
Legal definition of woman is based on biological sex, UK supreme court rules
Judges say Equality Act definition excludes transgender women, after gender-critical campaigners’ challenge
www.theguardian.com
April 16, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Reposted by Jilly MacKay
wiringthebrain.bsky.social
A large study in Sweden found levels of autism *symptoms* were constant over time, even as autism *diagnoses* increased (implying broadening diagnostic criteria rather than real underlying increase) www.bmj.com/content/350/...
Autism phenotype versus registered diagnosis in Swedish children: prevalence trends over 10 years in general population samples
Objective To compare the annual prevalence of the autism symptom phenotype and of registered diagnoses for autism spectrum disorder during a 10 year period in children. Design Population based study....
www.bmj.com
April 11, 2025 at 1:14 PM
Reposted by Jilly MacKay
financialtimes.com
Breaking news: The European Commission is issuing burner phones and basic laptops to some US-bound staff to avoid the risk of espionage — a measure traditionally reserved for trips to China www.ft.com/content/20d0...
Old mobile phones and keyboards. Overlaid text reads: FT Exclusive: EU issues US-bound staff with burner phones to avoid espionage
April 14, 2025 at 12:13 PM
Reposted by Jilly MacKay
emilynordmann.bsky.social
New paper from Zayba Ghazali-Mohammed on student experiences of decolonised psychology curricula. They present data on how students view decolonisation efforts & present three key changes you can make to your teaching.

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

#AcademicSky
It has been long argued that academic programmes represent a distorted, Euro-American-centric view of the world, commonly presented as objective. Leading academic institutions have started attempts to redress this. Decolonising education in practice; however, has been difficult to do; educators are unsure about how to actively facilitate this or are concerned about making mistakes. The present study uses the School of Psychology and Neuroscience at University of Glasgow as a case study. The School has been actively engaging with the decolonising curriculum process, using a variety of methods since 2021. However, the impact these efforts have had are unknown. The present qualitative study asked students from the global majority their views on their teaching content. Nine students were recruited in two focus groups to uncover how the psychology curriculum at UofG is experienced. Reflexive Thematic Analysis resulted in two core themes: students’ awareness of systemic issues that have historically prevented change and lowered expectations for meaningful change, and second, students’ acknowledgement of staff efforts (positive or otherwise) to decolonise. We discuss the results in the context of teaching and learning strategies in relation to psychology and wider teaching practice, with guidance for next steps.
March 27, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Reposted by Jilly MacKay
duncanrobertson.bsky.social
Elon Musk remains a Fellow of the Royal Society.

Not taking action is in itself a political act. And a bad one.

www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Royal Society decides not to take disciplinary action against Elon Musk
Exclusive: Fellows argue Musk has violated code of conduct but council believes investigation ‘could do more harm than good’
www.theguardian.com
March 26, 2025 at 9:19 AM
Reposted by Jilly MacKay
kerron.bsky.social
Its Monday, Again. 🥱
March 24, 2025 at 9:58 AM