Jim McGrath
@jimmcgrath.bsky.social
Instructional Designer and college educator. PhD in English. Interested in course design, digital pedagogy, and digital literacy. also digital humanities, public humanities/history, poetry, horror, comics, aesthetics.
https://linktr.ee/jimmc_grath
https://linktr.ee/jimmc_grath
i feel like we could be making a bigger deal out of this, fellow Celtics fans
November 13, 2025 at 6:02 PM
i feel like we could be making a bigger deal out of this, fellow Celtics fans
Reposted by Jim McGrath
“The Post has a content partnership with OpenAI.”
Check our article instead, which uses conversations not individually chosen for public sharing, actually describes our methods and data, and finds quite different distributions for how people use ChatGPT and personal info disclosed in their chats.
Check our article instead, which uses conversations not individually chosen for public sharing, actually describes our methods and data, and finds quite different distributions for how people use ChatGPT and personal info disclosed in their chats.
November 12, 2025 at 2:44 PM
“The Post has a content partnership with OpenAI.”
Check our article instead, which uses conversations not individually chosen for public sharing, actually describes our methods and data, and finds quite different distributions for how people use ChatGPT and personal info disclosed in their chats.
Check our article instead, which uses conversations not individually chosen for public sharing, actually describes our methods and data, and finds quite different distributions for how people use ChatGPT and personal info disclosed in their chats.
another new Frankenstein adaptation has dropped this year, courtesy of The Onion
November 12, 2025 at 2:26 PM
another new Frankenstein adaptation has dropped this year, courtesy of The Onion
Reposted by Jim McGrath
Huge thanks to @mattseybold.bsky.social for writing this great post, which highlights CUNY's transformative potential to build open educational infrastructure
theamericanvandal.substack.com/p/mamdani-wi...
theamericanvandal.substack.com/p/mamdani-wi...
November 6, 2025 at 1:50 AM
Huge thanks to @mattseybold.bsky.social for writing this great post, which highlights CUNY's transformative potential to build open educational infrastructure
theamericanvandal.substack.com/p/mamdani-wi...
theamericanvandal.substack.com/p/mamdani-wi...
Reposted by Jim McGrath
The long-running ideological war on libraries, education, and government workers is not separate from AI boosterism. It is the same ideological war on human knowledge and expertise. In some cases AI is being used to directly supercharge this effort:
www.404media.co/ai-is-superc...
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 6, 2025 at 4:21 PM
The long-running ideological war on libraries, education, and government workers is not separate from AI boosterism. It is the same ideological war on human knowledge and expertise. In some cases AI is being used to directly supercharge this effort:
www.404media.co/ai-is-superc...
www.404media.co/ai-is-superc...
Reposted by Jim McGrath
@davidbessis.bsky.social 's recent episode on Russ Roberts' EconTalk is extraordinary. www.econtalk.org/a-mind-blowi... . I highly recommend it to anyone in *any* field of study.
I cannot wait to read his book _Mathematica_, especially since I already see so much of Borges baked in there.
I cannot wait to read his book _Mathematica_, especially since I already see so much of Borges baked in there.
A Mind-Blowing Way of Looking at Math (with David Bessis) - Econlib
What if math isn’t about grinding through equations, but about training your intuition and changing how your brain works? Mathematician and author David Bessis tells EconTalk’s Russ Roberts that the s...
www.econtalk.org
November 6, 2025 at 2:41 PM
@davidbessis.bsky.social 's recent episode on Russ Roberts' EconTalk is extraordinary. www.econtalk.org/a-mind-blowi... . I highly recommend it to anyone in *any* field of study.
I cannot wait to read his book _Mathematica_, especially since I already see so much of Borges baked in there.
I cannot wait to read his book _Mathematica_, especially since I already see so much of Borges baked in there.
Reposted by Jim McGrath
Great to see a new issue of Current Research in Digital History!
CRDH Vol. 8: New research from Fabio Gigone, Natacha Klein Käfer, Natália da Silva Perez, Nadav Borenstein, Miara Fraikin, Sanne Maekelberg, and Anna McGee explores topics from royal iconography to AI-powered print analysis, midwifery education to palace networks.
Read here: https://crdh.rrchnm.org
Read here: https://crdh.rrchnm.org
Current Research in Digital History
Hosted by the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media, Current Research in Digital History is an open-access, peer-reviewed, online publication. Its primary aim is to encourage and publish scholarship in digital history that offers discipline-specific arguments and interpretations.
crdh.rrchnm.org
November 5, 2025 at 3:06 PM
Great to see a new issue of Current Research in Digital History!
the use of the word "crime" in this piece about AI and academic integrity is telling. I think the author could benefit from reimagining faculty-student dynamics and perceptions of students: www.chronicle.com/article/the-...
Opinion | The Post-Plagiarism University
Professors have tried to fit AI into old categories of academic misconduct. Students aren’t buying it.
www.chronicle.com
November 5, 2025 at 3:09 PM
the use of the word "crime" in this piece about AI and academic integrity is telling. I think the author could benefit from reimagining faculty-student dynamics and perceptions of students: www.chronicle.com/article/the-...
Reposted by Jim McGrath
so @matteowong.bsky.social & I wrote on data centers: arguably the most important buildings in the world & are, in a way, holding the economy hostage. Byzantine financial instruments, private equity, depreciating tech, hype, $trillion valuations. it’s all there. an ai crash prob starts here.
Here’s How the AI Crash Happens
The U.S. is becoming an Nvidia-state.
www.theatlantic.com
October 30, 2025 at 10:25 PM
so @matteowong.bsky.social & I wrote on data centers: arguably the most important buildings in the world & are, in a way, holding the economy hostage. Byzantine financial instruments, private equity, depreciating tech, hype, $trillion valuations. it’s all there. an ai crash prob starts here.
Reposted by Jim McGrath
Empirics which support the argument of Shah and Bender -- dl.acm.org/doi/fullHtml...
When people learn with ChatGPT instead of following their own searches, they end up knowing less, caring less, and producing worse advice, even when the facts are the same.
Friction is an essential ingredient for learning! Convenience makes us shallow.
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
Friction is an essential ingredient for learning! Convenience makes us shallow.
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
Experimental evidence of the effects of large language models versus web search on depth of learning
Abstract. The effects of using large language models (LLMs) versus traditional web search on depth of learning are explored. A theory is proposed that when
academic.oup.com
October 28, 2025 at 8:21 PM
Empirics which support the argument of Shah and Bender -- dl.acm.org/doi/fullHtml...
went inside a bookstore today and didn’t buy anything, please clap
October 28, 2025 at 10:22 PM
went inside a bookstore today and didn’t buy anything, please clap
Reposted by Jim McGrath
Friends choose your so-called "critics" carefully.
Its not a binary.
If people do circular citations and happen to never cite the women who laid the groundwork for decades and pay the price, there's a problem.
Its not a binary.
If people do circular citations and happen to never cite the women who laid the groundwork for decades and pay the price, there's a problem.
Who the fuck is this dude who rolled in saying what women researchers have been saying for years? He came on my thread here once to tell me I was wrong about something — I wasn’t. I responded, he said nothing, and disappeared. @alexhanna.bsky.social @safiyanoble.bsky.social
Ed Zitron Gets Paid to Love AI. He Also Gets Paid to Hate AI
He’s one of the loudest voices of the AI haters—even as he does PR for AI companies. Either way, Ed Zitron has your attention.
www.wired.com
October 27, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Friends choose your so-called "critics" carefully.
Its not a binary.
If people do circular citations and happen to never cite the women who laid the groundwork for decades and pay the price, there's a problem.
Its not a binary.
If people do circular citations and happen to never cite the women who laid the groundwork for decades and pay the price, there's a problem.
Reposted by Jim McGrath
📣THREAD: It’s surprising to me that so many people were surprised to learn that Signal runs partly on AWS (something we can do because we use encryption to make sure no one but you–not AWS, not Signal, not anyone–can access your comms).
It’s also concerning. 1/
It’s also concerning. 1/
PSA: we're aware that Signal is down for some people. This appears to be related to a major AWS outage. Stand by.
October 27, 2025 at 10:38 AM
📣THREAD: It’s surprising to me that so many people were surprised to learn that Signal runs partly on AWS (something we can do because we use encryption to make sure no one but you–not AWS, not Signal, not anyone–can access your comms).
It’s also concerning. 1/
It’s also concerning. 1/
Reposted by Jim McGrath
I have to apologize every time I touch AI in a bid to educate people (for free) about its failures and social harms but y’all will buy bumper stickers from a guy who is literally working as a hype man to get AI startups funded as he bullies other critical tech folks, it’s honestly wild
October 27, 2025 at 5:45 PM
I have to apologize every time I touch AI in a bid to educate people (for free) about its failures and social harms but y’all will buy bumper stickers from a guy who is literally working as a hype man to get AI startups funded as he bullies other critical tech folks, it’s honestly wild
“Brown decided not to allow other publishers to acquire Choices lesson plans […] It also declined to maintain the Choices archives on the university’s website, and refused […] to distribute over $200,000 worth of lesson plans that had already been printed.” www.nytimes.com/2025/10/27/u...
How Politics Is Changing the Way History Is Taught
www.nytimes.com
October 27, 2025 at 2:52 PM
“Brown decided not to allow other publishers to acquire Choices lesson plans […] It also declined to maintain the Choices archives on the university’s website, and refused […] to distribute over $200,000 worth of lesson plans that had already been printed.” www.nytimes.com/2025/10/27/u...
Bravo, @realgdt.bsky.social and Company. Frankenstein is absolutely stunning. So glad I got to see this on the big screen @thecoolidge.bsky.social.
October 24, 2025 at 2:19 AM
Bravo, @realgdt.bsky.social and Company. Frankenstein is absolutely stunning. So glad I got to see this on the big screen @thecoolidge.bsky.social.
"Mitigating Aggressive Crawler Traffic in the Age of Generative AI: A Collaborative Approach from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Libraries": journal.code4lib.org/articles/18489
The Code4Lib Journal – Mitigating Aggressive Crawler Traffic in the Age of Generative AI: A Collaborative Approach from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Libraries
journal.code4lib.org
October 23, 2025 at 3:42 PM
"Mitigating Aggressive Crawler Traffic in the Age of Generative AI: A Collaborative Approach from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Libraries": journal.code4lib.org/articles/18489
Reposted by Jim McGrath
it does not necessarily mean this though, because the dominant way people end up on Wikipedia is through Google, and Google has loaded the top of all of its search results with AI-mediated info taken from Wikipedia. This does not mean consumers prefer it this way, the choice has been made for them
AI is separating the production and consumption of information. If direct access to Wikipedia is dropping that suggests information consumers find AI mediated consumption more useful. This will impact the production of information; including the economic model
So for-profit AI companies have trained on the world's largest collaborative volunteer project and a precious free resource, to make money for their for-profit enterprises. They have crushed traffic to the volunteer project, starving it of donors and volunteers
www.404media.co/wikipedia-sa...
www.404media.co/wikipedia-sa...
October 17, 2025 at 4:03 PM
it does not necessarily mean this though, because the dominant way people end up on Wikipedia is through Google, and Google has loaded the top of all of its search results with AI-mediated info taken from Wikipedia. This does not mean consumers prefer it this way, the choice has been made for them
Reposted by Jim McGrath
"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...
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
October 16, 2025 at 8:16 PM
"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...
On robots.txt.
www.heise.de/en/backgroun...
if Chrome keeps tinkering with AI and its interface they might accidentally reinvent the early 90s version of Yahoo
October 17, 2025 at 1:34 PM
if Chrome keeps tinkering with AI and its interface they might accidentally reinvent the early 90s version of Yahoo
I definitely agree that some concerns overlap: engagement with course materials, student writing, and de-centering of instructor authority. But LLMs create new/more challenging problems related to citationality by obscuring (even disavowing) networked dimensions of knowledge production and labor.
In ways that we haven't fully internalized, LLM discourse is reanimating key features of 2004ish Wikipedia discourse.
Wow. Just wow.
"Students pay premium prices for information that AI now delivers instantly and for free. A business student can ask ChatGPT to explain supply chain optimization or generate market analysis in seconds. The traditional lecture-and-test model faces its Blockbuster moment."
"Students pay premium prices for information that AI now delivers instantly and for free. A business student can ask ChatGPT to explain supply chain optimization or generate market analysis in seconds. The traditional lecture-and-test model faces its Blockbuster moment."
October 16, 2025 at 1:42 PM
I definitely agree that some concerns overlap: engagement with course materials, student writing, and de-centering of instructor authority. But LLMs create new/more challenging problems related to citationality by obscuring (even disavowing) networked dimensions of knowledge production and labor.
Reposted by Jim McGrath
Northeastern University Library has developed a server and plugin that work with any LLM or chatbot to improve search results and answer the question “What if we could combine the LLM’s better understanding of a student’s aims with the rigorous index and robust collection of a research library?”
New issue of my newsletter: “The Library’s New Entryway” — An interface that combines the advantages of the traditional index with the power of LLMs is the path forward newsletter.dancohen.org/archive/the-...
The Library’s New Entryway
An interface that combines the advantages of the traditional index with the power of LLMs is the path forward
newsletter.dancohen.org
October 14, 2025 at 12:24 PM
Northeastern University Library has developed a server and plugin that work with any LLM or chatbot to improve search results and answer the question “What if we could combine the LLM’s better understanding of a student’s aims with the rigorous index and robust collection of a research library?”
new collage I worked on this weekend
October 13, 2025 at 9:34 PM
new collage I worked on this weekend
Folks doing AI support in higher ed: I know that Comet has triggered several alarms, but are folks seeing an uptick in student adoption? We are going to keep an eye out but the learning curve of the tool and its current desktop-only availability, combined with AI backlash, have me curious about use.
October 8, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Folks doing AI support in higher ed: I know that Comet has triggered several alarms, but are folks seeing an uptick in student adoption? We are going to keep an eye out but the learning curve of the tool and its current desktop-only availability, combined with AI backlash, have me curious about use.