Stefanie Sirén-Heikel
@mssiren.bsky.social
Doctoral/Project Researcher 🕊️@helsinkiuni.bsky.social
Inter(dis)secting #journalism #AI #sociomateriality
Big picture, middle ground, grey area. Rev2. Views mine.
Inter(dis)secting #journalism #AI #sociomateriality
Big picture, middle ground, grey area. Rev2. Views mine.
Pinned
📚Libraries are just the best. Quite thrilled that the books by @bcmerchant.bsky.social, @emilymbender.bsky.social & @alexhanna.bsky.social, and @karenhao.bsky.social are available at the Helsinki city library, all three with a wait list! 👏🏻🙌🏼 @hel.fi @kirjastoseura.bsky.social
Sci-fi writers are going out of business.
A small group of volunteers will receive multiple injections of the experimental treatments next month, says Unlimited Bio.
This company is developing gene therapies for muscle growth, erectile dysfunction, and “radical longevity”
A small group of volunteers will receive multiple injections of the experimental treatments next month, says Unlimited Bio.
www.technologyreview.com
December 22, 2025 at 2:37 PM
Sci-fi writers are going out of business.
Jolly times! Holiday music turns into (most likely) right wing AI-slop after a few songs on Spotify. You can imagine the lyrics. Have to pull out the vinyls.
December 22, 2025 at 7:56 AM
Jolly times! Holiday music turns into (most likely) right wing AI-slop after a few songs on Spotify. You can imagine the lyrics. Have to pull out the vinyls.
Erinomainen 🎅🧵
Eilen juteltiin lapsen kanssa siitä, miksi lasten näkemyksiä ja tarpeita pitää huomioida—ja miksi aikuiset unohtavat lapset päätöksenteossa.
Esim Helsingin päiväkotipolitiikka viesti vahvasti, että lapsia ei tarvitse huomioida eikä arvostaa.
Eilen juteltiin lapsen kanssa siitä, miksi lasten näkemyksiä ja tarpeita pitää huomioida—ja miksi aikuiset unohtavat lapset päätöksenteossa.
Esim Helsingin päiväkotipolitiikka viesti vahvasti, että lapsia ei tarvitse huomioida eikä arvostaa.
On tärkeää huomata, että lapsuus on nyt eriarvoistumassa Suomessa, ja sillä on laaja-alaisia ja pitkäaikaisia vaikutuksia.
Meillä on sivuutettu se, että sosiaalinen kestävyys ja sosiaalinen hyvinvointi rakentavat myös taloudellista hyvinvointia ja taloudellista kestävyyttä.
Meillä on sivuutettu se, että sosiaalinen kestävyys ja sosiaalinen hyvinvointi rakentavat myös taloudellista hyvinvointia ja taloudellista kestävyyttä.
December 21, 2025 at 8:45 AM
Erinomainen 🎅🧵
Eilen juteltiin lapsen kanssa siitä, miksi lasten näkemyksiä ja tarpeita pitää huomioida—ja miksi aikuiset unohtavat lapset päätöksenteossa.
Esim Helsingin päiväkotipolitiikka viesti vahvasti, että lapsia ei tarvitse huomioida eikä arvostaa.
Eilen juteltiin lapsen kanssa siitä, miksi lasten näkemyksiä ja tarpeita pitää huomioida—ja miksi aikuiset unohtavat lapset päätöksenteossa.
Esim Helsingin päiväkotipolitiikka viesti vahvasti, että lapsia ei tarvitse huomioida eikä arvostaa.
The weakening of the FCC will have global ramifications. “… if I could persuade the leaders of the EU of anything is that this is the time to be fierce.”
“AI is simply surveillance capitalism continuing to evolve and expand with some new methodologies, but still based on theft”
english.elpais.com/technology/2...
english.elpais.com/technology/2...
Shoshana Zuboff, philosopher: ‘AI is surveillance capitalism continuing to evolve and expand’
The author of ‘The Age of Surveillance Capitalism’ applauds the EU’s initiatives to curb big tech and calls on the bloc not to bow to pressure from Trump
english.elpais.com
December 19, 2025 at 9:19 AM
The weakening of the FCC will have global ramifications. “… if I could persuade the leaders of the EU of anything is that this is the time to be fierce.”
I’ll start using this term and @rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social you should pin it down in an article 👇🏼
Meanwhile the risk of what I'm going to call "AI leakage" (for want of a better term) is significant: lack of transparency makes it very difficult to understand whether LLMs are involved in complex systems development, so effective safeguards are much harder to put in place
December 19, 2025 at 8:34 AM
I’ll start using this term and @rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social you should pin it down in an article 👇🏼
“Newsroom morale soared” sounds to me like a an absolute HR success!
I take it all back we should absolutely let AI run the vending machines
December 19, 2025 at 7:56 AM
“Newsroom morale soared” sounds to me like a an absolute HR success!
Travelling to the US is out of the question for me anyways, so I can share this. It breaks my heart, and I’m so worried for friends and colleagues.
The White House claims the vote to rename the Kennedy Center was “unanimous.” That is false. I was muted on the call and denied the opportunity to speak or register my opposition. That is not consensus. That is censorship.
December 19, 2025 at 6:50 AM
Travelling to the US is out of the question for me anyways, so I can share this. It breaks my heart, and I’m so worried for friends and colleagues.
My brain has since childhood been shaped by Apple logics—but Tahoe ..?! A simple basic rule in UX design, DO NOT ADD STEPS. Spotlight is … what’s going on there? What on earth happened?
December 18, 2025 at 2:41 PM
My brain has since childhood been shaped by Apple logics—but Tahoe ..?! A simple basic rule in UX design, DO NOT ADD STEPS. Spotlight is … what’s going on there? What on earth happened?
Reposted by Stefanie Sirén-Heikel
Suo, jossa olen viime viikot rämpinyt: erikoinen Suomi-slop, joka leviää Facebookissa, koska Meta ihan itse maksaa tällaisista tekoälysisällöistä nykyään. yle.fi/a/74-20197424
Somessa leviää hellyyttäviä Suomi-postauksia, joissa kaikki ei ole kohdallaan: Yle selvitti, mistä on kyse
Yle löysi verkoston, joka tekee rahaa julkaisemalla positiivisia Suomi-valheita.
yle.fi
December 18, 2025 at 1:28 PM
Suo, jossa olen viime viikot rämpinyt: erikoinen Suomi-slop, joka leviää Facebookissa, koska Meta ihan itse maksaa tällaisista tekoälysisällöistä nykyään. yle.fi/a/74-20197424
Take note 👇
Carr is destroying everything from broadband consumer protections and media consolidation, to oversight of prison telecom monopolies and robocallers.
Just blanket, mindless deregulation dressed up as efficiency.
there's like two people in the press (I'm one) who even cover it. Like, at all.
Just blanket, mindless deregulation dressed up as efficiency.
there's like two people in the press (I'm one) who even cover it. Like, at all.
Big Telecom, Robocallers, Love Brendan Carr’s Plan To Lobotomize The FCC
Last month Trump FCC boss Brendan Carr announced his “DELETE, DELETE, DELETE” initiative. It’s basically a plan to lobotomize FCC corporate oversight and consumer protection at th…
www.techdirt.com
December 18, 2025 at 1:45 PM
Take note 👇
As a Finn, I hope this controversy will finally open the 🥫of 🪱 that this is a deeply racist country. Quiet internalised racism is now perceived as okay to vent, almost something to strive for in some circles. The data showed this already in 2023. www.euronews.com/2023/10/25/s...
Eivätkä meidän haittaisänmaalliset jättäneet tätä suinkaan tähän:
December 17, 2025 at 4:26 PM
As a Finn, I hope this controversy will finally open the 🥫of 🪱 that this is a deeply racist country. Quiet internalised racism is now perceived as okay to vent, almost something to strive for in some circles. The data showed this already in 2023. www.euronews.com/2023/10/25/s...
Reposted by Stefanie Sirén-Heikel
New article out from me and Angèle Christin in the Annals of the AAPSS! In "The Politics of Engagement in Platform Governance," we unpack and historicize the concept of "social media engagement," an idea that has dominated debate over platform politics in recent years.
doi.org/10.1177/0002...
doi.org/10.1177/0002...
The Politics of Engagement in Platform Governance - Becca Lewis, Angèle Christin, 2024
In recent years, the concept of user engagement has dominated debate over the governance of online platforms, and critics use the term to assign crass commercia...
doi.org
December 15, 2025 at 2:10 PM
New article out from me and Angèle Christin in the Annals of the AAPSS! In "The Politics of Engagement in Platform Governance," we unpack and historicize the concept of "social media engagement," an idea that has dominated debate over platform politics in recent years.
doi.org/10.1177/0002...
doi.org/10.1177/0002...
This is a really interesting piece, where @g-piechota.bsky.social points out how news media might be pulling the rug under their feet by focusing on “content”. Do we need humans for content? www.inma.org/blogs/confer...
AI and the creator economy are transforming news in Africa
During the recent INMA Africa Audience Development Summit, INMA Researcher-in-Residence Greg Piechota discussed how two global forces on news media — AI and the creator economy — are on full display i...
www.inma.org
December 17, 2025 at 11:54 AM
This is a really interesting piece, where @g-piechota.bsky.social points out how news media might be pulling the rug under their feet by focusing on “content”. Do we need humans for content? www.inma.org/blogs/confer...
Reposted by Stefanie Sirén-Heikel
New paper on the fatal consequences of job loss using 🇫🇮 administrative data: "For every 100,000 displaced men, there are 1,100 additional deaths. 60% accrue to the displaced worker, 40% are due to excess spousal mortality.. no such dire consequences are observed after a woman’s job loss"
November 12, 2025 at 8:55 AM
New paper on the fatal consequences of job loss using 🇫🇮 administrative data: "For every 100,000 displaced men, there are 1,100 additional deaths. 60% accrue to the displaced worker, 40% are due to excess spousal mortality.. no such dire consequences are observed after a woman’s job loss"
Today is the annual tax day in Finland when media indulge in stories about who paid the most taxes. Commentators will go on saying that Finland has one of the highest tax rates globally, often without any explanation needed. It’s a bit more complicated than that. www.euronews.com/business/202...
Personal average tax rates in Europe: Increases and cuts in 2024
The tax burden on workers, composed of income tax and social security contributions, varies widely across Europe. In 2024, this burden changed significantly in some countries, with notable rises and f...
www.euronews.com
November 12, 2025 at 8:36 AM
Today is the annual tax day in Finland when media indulge in stories about who paid the most taxes. Commentators will go on saying that Finland has one of the highest tax rates globally, often without any explanation needed. It’s a bit more complicated than that. www.euronews.com/business/202...
Reposted by Stefanie Sirén-Heikel
✨ Audiences doubt the benefits of AI-generated imagery in news are worth the risks, new study finds.
@andrewdeck.bsky.social wrote an article on our latest study in @digitaljournalism.bsky.social 🙏
w Dina Strikovic
www.niemanlab.org/2025/11/audi... @aimediademlab.bsky.social @ddc-sdu.bsky.social
@andrewdeck.bsky.social wrote an article on our latest study in @digitaljournalism.bsky.social 🙏
w Dina Strikovic
www.niemanlab.org/2025/11/audi... @aimediademlab.bsky.social @ddc-sdu.bsky.social
Audiences doubt the benefits of AI-generated imagery in news are worth the risks, new study finds
What do readers really think of AI-generated images in their news? There has been substantial research on how audiences respond to AI-generated text, but far less dedicated research on image generator...
www.niemanlab.org
November 7, 2025 at 7:56 AM
✨ Audiences doubt the benefits of AI-generated imagery in news are worth the risks, new study finds.
@andrewdeck.bsky.social wrote an article on our latest study in @digitaljournalism.bsky.social 🙏
w Dina Strikovic
www.niemanlab.org/2025/11/audi... @aimediademlab.bsky.social @ddc-sdu.bsky.social
@andrewdeck.bsky.social wrote an article on our latest study in @digitaljournalism.bsky.social 🙏
w Dina Strikovic
www.niemanlab.org/2025/11/audi... @aimediademlab.bsky.social @ddc-sdu.bsky.social
Oh my, Finland is choosing AWS for parliamentary election data. Because it’s cheaper. Love to hear thoughts from @evgenymorozov.bsky.social @alexhanna.bsky.social @eff.org @meredithmeredith.bsky.social @zephoria.bsky.social etc etc. I mean we do like to trust things.
Tämän pitäisi olla laitonta. T. pilvipalveluntarjoaja ja datakeskusoperaattori yle.fi/a/74-20191502
Seuraavat eduskuntavaalit pyörivät amerikkalaisen Amazonin palvelimilla – äänet annetaan edelleen paperilla
Ensimmäistä kertaa vaaleissa ehdokas- ja äänestäjätiedot sekä tuloslaskenta siirtyvät Suomen rajojen ulkopuolelle. Tutkija ei käyttäisi pilvipalvelua kansallisen turvallisuuden asioissa.
yle.fi
November 6, 2025 at 11:57 AM
Oh my, Finland is choosing AWS for parliamentary election data. Because it’s cheaper. Love to hear thoughts from @evgenymorozov.bsky.social @alexhanna.bsky.social @eff.org @meredithmeredith.bsky.social @zephoria.bsky.social etc etc. I mean we do like to trust things.
Tänään oli @yle.naamio.social aamussa keskustelua tekoälyn hyödyistä elinsiirroissa. Jos sellaiseen lähdetään, on opittava miten ei pidä tehdä. Esimerkkinä Iso-Britannian karut kokemukset. www.normaltech.ai/p/does-the-u...
Does the UK’s liver transplant matching algorithm systematically exclude younger patients?
Seemingly minor technical decisions can have life-or-death effects
www.normaltech.ai
November 6, 2025 at 8:38 AM
Tänään oli @yle.naamio.social aamussa keskustelua tekoälyn hyödyistä elinsiirroissa. Jos sellaiseen lähdetään, on opittava miten ei pidä tehdä. Esimerkkinä Iso-Britannian karut kokemukset. www.normaltech.ai/p/does-the-u...
Read this thread today 👇🏼
If you use any form of automation, verify verify verify. You can’t not do your job.
If you use any form of automation, verify verify verify. You can’t not do your job.
#AISlop #journalism
The Norwegian news agency published a story about a security report from Telenor, one of the largest telecommunications companies in the Nordics. But the story was full of mistakes, such as incorrectly describing threats and using the wrong name for the security director.
The Norwegian news agency published a story about a security report from Telenor, one of the largest telecommunications companies in the Nordics. But the story was full of mistakes, such as incorrectly describing threats and using the wrong name for the security director.
November 5, 2025 at 9:15 AM
Read this thread today 👇🏼
If you use any form of automation, verify verify verify. You can’t not do your job.
If you use any form of automation, verify verify verify. You can’t not do your job.
Reposted by Stefanie Sirén-Heikel
NEW: Common Crawl, the massive archiver of the web, has gotten cozy with AI companies and is providing paywalled articles for training data. They’re also lying to publishers who have asked for material to be removed. “The robots are people too,” CC’s exec director told us when we asked about this.
The Nonprofit Feeding the Entire Internet to AI Companies
Common Crawl claims to provide a public benefit, but it lies to publishers about its activities.
www.theatlantic.com
November 4, 2025 at 12:15 PM
NEW: Common Crawl, the massive archiver of the web, has gotten cozy with AI companies and is providing paywalled articles for training data. They’re also lying to publishers who have asked for material to be removed. “The robots are people too,” CC’s exec director told us when we asked about this.
Reposted by Stefanie Sirén-Heikel
Some context on Will’s post: Mitchell and Pistilli were being mass blocked not because they were “pro-AI” (they are fairly critical) but because they were falsely *labeled* as pro-AI by lazy blocklist creators. Opt out all you want — I do! But be careful about who/what you trust to filter for you.
Blocking hatemongers is one thing but this trend of using mass block lists to avoid hearing from people who might or might not hold points of view you expect to disagree with is unhealthy imo and hurts the platform.
Bluesky was better off with folks like Margaret Mitchell and Giada Pistilli on it.
Bluesky was better off with folks like Margaret Mitchell and Giada Pistilli on it.
November 4, 2025 at 2:35 PM
Some context on Will’s post: Mitchell and Pistilli were being mass blocked not because they were “pro-AI” (they are fairly critical) but because they were falsely *labeled* as pro-AI by lazy blocklist creators. Opt out all you want — I do! But be careful about who/what you trust to filter for you.
Skimming @niemanlab.org predictions for 2025, and what strikes me is the idea that people want to be active. We see this in pedagogy too, that we should activate. Students often hate it, bc it’s cognitively heavy! Sometimes we just want to sit by the 🔥and listen. www.niemanlab.org/2024/12/ai-t...
AI turns news into a conversation
"The future of news is moving beyond the written word. With AI at its core, it's conversational, spoken, interactive, responsive, and deeply personal — the very essence of meaningful human communicati...
www.niemanlab.org
November 4, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Skimming @niemanlab.org predictions for 2025, and what strikes me is the idea that people want to be active. We see this in pedagogy too, that we should activate. Students often hate it, bc it’s cognitively heavy! Sometimes we just want to sit by the 🔥and listen. www.niemanlab.org/2024/12/ai-t...
More books for the wicked! This one flew under my radar for too long.
Here is our review on Daily Kos: www.dailykos.com/stories/2024...
Written by Mark Graham (@geoplace.bsky.social), James Muldoon (@jamesmuldoon.bsky.social) and Callum Cant, it details the lives of low-wage workers, mostly women, in places like Kenya, India and the Philippines....
Written by Mark Graham (@geoplace.bsky.social), James Muldoon (@jamesmuldoon.bsky.social) and Callum Cant, it details the lives of low-wage workers, mostly women, in places like Kenya, India and the Philippines....
Nonfiction Views: The global sweatshop behind AI, plus this week's notable new nonfiction
In recent months, there has been a steady stream of books published about Artificial Intelligence, or A.I. I tend not to select these books to feature, even though I consider the issue fascinating ...
www.dailykos.com
November 4, 2025 at 9:31 AM
More books for the wicked! This one flew under my radar for too long.
Reposted by Stefanie Sirén-Heikel
Authors’ class action suit against OpenAI moves forward www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...
Authors’ Class Action Lawsuit Against OpenAI Moves Ahead
A New York judge dismissed an attempt by OpenAI to throw out a class action lawsuit that consolidates suits from a number of authors charging the company with copyright infringement.
www.publishersweekly.com
October 29, 2025 at 5:27 PM
Authors’ class action suit against OpenAI moves forward www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...
Reposted by Stefanie Sirén-Heikel
“In a study of some 20,000 election-related posts in the Netherlands, researchers [..] found that over 400 posts were AI-generated. The party of far-right leader Geert Wilders, the Party for Freedom (PVV), came out on top in its use of AI.” www.politico.eu/article/elec...
The week that AI deepfakes hit Europe’s elections – POLITICO
Dutch and Irish elections show voters now have to worry if the political content they consume is real.
www.politico.eu
October 31, 2025 at 7:35 AM
“In a study of some 20,000 election-related posts in the Netherlands, researchers [..] found that over 400 posts were AI-generated. The party of far-right leader Geert Wilders, the Party for Freedom (PVV), came out on top in its use of AI.” www.politico.eu/article/elec...