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rfarrow.bsky.social
Rob Farrow
@rfarrow.bsky.social
1.2K followers 550 following 170 posts
Senior Research Fellow
Institute of Educational Technology
The Open University (UK)


Co-Editor, https://jime.open.ac.uk/
Co-Director, http://go-gn.net/
https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=j3-x3WwAAAAJ&hl=en

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rfarrow.bsky.social
November 11, 2025 at 8:45 AM
Reposted by Rob Farrow
pkp.sfu.ca
PKP released the Publication Facts Label for OJS 3.3–3.5, a transparency tool to strengthen journal integrity and reader trust.

Built as a plugin, it helps journals demonstrate their quality and accountability.

Learn more: pkp.sfu.ca/2025/10/31/p...
#OpenAccess #OJS #MediaLiteracy #ScholarlyComms
This label will put your journal's research integrity in black and white - Public Knowledge Project
The Publication Facts Label is now freely available for the 34,000 journals using OJS (V. 3.3 – 3.5)
pkp.sfu.ca
October 31, 2025 at 11:36 PM
rfarrow.bsky.social
Thanks to the 200+ people who signed up for my session this morning at Open Education 2025! My talk is about the sociopolitical and critical dimensions of openness.

You can find a copy of the slides (CC BY) at..
opened25.sched.com/event/270La/...
2025 Open Education Conference: Openness as Critical Perspective
View more about this event at 2025 Open Education Conference
opened25.sched.com
October 30, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Reposted by Rob Farrow
koutropoulos.bsky.social
Researchers show that training on “junk data” can lead to LLM “brain rot”
Researchers show that training on “junk data” can lead to LLM “brain rot”
Models trained on short, popular, and/or “superficial” tweets perform worse on benchmarks.
arstechnica.com
October 24, 2025 at 6:31 PM
Reposted by Rob Farrow
equityunbound.bsky.social
🎉 We’re thrilled to share some amazing news with you… MYFest has been awarded the 2025 @oeglobal.bsky.social (OEGlobal) Award for Open Practice!! 🎉
Read more: awards.oeglobal.org/revealing-20...
Thank you @oeglobal.bsky.social
2025 Open Practices Awards
Open Practices are collective behaviors and techniques that open up access to educational opportunities. These practices promote and support the use of open educational resources, technologies, and so...
awards.oeglobal.org
October 19, 2025 at 1:48 PM
rfarrow.bsky.social
The platform exposing exactly how much copyrighted art is used by AI tools www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
The platform exposing exactly how much copyrighted art is used by AI tools
From 007 to Elsa, Vermillio claims it can trace percentage of AI-generated image drawn from pre-existing material
www.theguardian.com
October 18, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Reposted by Rob Farrow
hypervisible.blacksky.app
The administration “is currently pressuring OpenAI and other AI companies to make their models more conservative-friendly.”
OpenAI is trying to clamp down on ‘bias’ in ChatGPT
GPT-5 is better at resisting liberal ‘pressure,’ the company says.
www.theverge.com
October 11, 2025 at 12:02 PM
Reposted by Rob Farrow
matthewterrill.bsky.social
I was already a hard AI-skeptic but this cements my long suspicion that there is no feasible path to anything close to return on invested capital for these data centers. Tech would need 15 to 25 times current AI revenues within the next 2-3 years just to break even. Not financially viable.
"I clearly hit a nerve in the industry, when judging by the number of individuals who reached out to chat," he wrote in an followup blog post. "In total, l've spoken with over two-dozen rather senior people in the datacenter universe, and there was an interesting and overriding theme to our conversations: no one understands how the financial math is supposed to work. They are as baffled as I am, and they do this for a living." Kupperman's original skepticism was built on a guess that the components in an average Al data center would take ten years to depreciate, requiring costly replacements. That was bad enough: "I don't see how there can ever be any return on investment given the current math," he wrote at the time. But ten years, he now understands, is way too generous. " had previously assumed a 10-year depreciation curve, which I now recognize as quite unrealistic based upon the speed with which Al datacenter technology is advancing," Kupperman wrote. "Based on my conversations over the past month, the physical data centers last for three to ten years, at most." In his previous analysis, Kupperman assumed it would take the tech industry $160 billion of revenue to break even on data center spending in 2025 alone. And that's assuming an incredibly generous 25 percent gross margin - not to mention the fact that the industry's actual Al revenue is closer to $20 billion annually, as the investment manager noted in his previous blog. "In reality, the industry probably needs a revenue range that is closer to the $320 billion to $480 billion range, just to break even on the capex to be spent this year," Kupperman posited in his updated essay. "No wonder my new contacts in the industry shoulder a heavy burden - heavier than I could ever imagine. They know the truth." Kupperman called that gulf between tech industry spending and actual revenue in 2025 "astonishing." However, it doesn't even begin to scratch the surface. For example, how does it all shake out when we account for 2026, when hundreds of new data centers are expected to pop up? "Adding the two years together, and using the math from my prior post, you'd need approximately $1 trillion in revenue to hit break even, and many trillions more to earn an acceptable return on this spend," he writes. "If the economics don't work, doing it at massive scale doesn't make the economics work any better - it just takes an industry crisis and makes it into a national economic crisis," he concludes. Overall, the pessimists broadly agree: it's no longer a matter of if Al is massively overhyped, but when the whole thing comes crashing down. More on Al hype: Data Shows That Al Use Is Now Declining at Large Companies
October 11, 2025 at 5:23 PM
rfarrow.bsky.social
A small number of samples can poison LLMs of any size #ai

www.anthropic.com/research/sma...
A small number of samples can poison LLMs of any size
Anthropic research on data-poisoning attacks in large language models
www.anthropic.com
October 10, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Reposted by Rob Farrow
universityaffairs.bsky.social
Parliament is debating whether equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) should shape $3.6B in research grants. Supporters say it drives innovation; critics call it politicized. How should Canada balance equity and excellence?

🔗 http://bit.ly/43dhcZc

#EDI #Research #Policy
Parliament reviews EDI for research grants - University Affairs
Witnesses testify for and against applying diversity criteria to scientific funding.
bit.ly
October 9, 2025 at 8:01 PM
Reposted by Rob Farrow
ashleylynch.bsky.social
A lesson I had to learn in the last couple years is that as long as the tech industry has thrown all its money behind something then laws like copyright don’t matter.
October 9, 2025 at 2:24 AM
Reposted by Rob Farrow
paulcrider.liberalcurrents.com
He's right.
justinhendrix.bsky.social Justin Hendrix @justinhendrix.bsky.social · Oct 4
Macron remarks are notable- some quotes: "We have been incredibly naive in entrusting our democratic space to social networks that are controlled either by large American entrepreneurs or large Chinese companies, whose interests are not at all the survival or proper functioning of our democracies."
defenddemocracy.bsky.social Defend Democracy @defenddemocracy.bsky.social · Oct 4
President Macron: “Europeans, let's wake up!

We have been incredibly naive in entrusting our democratic space to social networks.”

defenddemocracy.eu/macron-democ...
October 4, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Reposted by Rob Farrow
ilkayholt.bsky.social
#OpenScience Statement from UN's Secretary-General’s Scientific Advisory Board. "this Scientific Advisory Board calls for urgent cooperation to advance science as a global public good – and we stress that doing so requires accelerated transformation to open science." www.un.org/scientific-a...
Open Science | Secretary-General’s Scientific Advisory Board
Open science — the practices of widely sharing all forms of scientific knowledge — offers crucial benefits to the vitality of research, to connecting science to policy-makers and society, and to…
www.un.org
October 3, 2025 at 10:29 AM
rfarrow.bsky.social
MIT report: 95% of generative AI pilots at companies are failing

fortune.com/2025/08/18/m...
MIT report: 95% of generative AI pilots at companies are failing | Fortune
There’s a stark difference in success rates between companies that purchase AI tools from vendors and those that build them internally.
fortune.com
September 29, 2025 at 12:15 AM
Reposted by Rob Farrow
ukanticorruptioncoalition.org
⬇️ This is the first time a British politician will be found guilty under the UK Bribery Act.
spotlightcorruption.org Spotlight on Corruption @spotlightcorruption.org · Sep 26
🚨 BREAKING: The former leader of Reform UK in Wales, Nathan Gill, has pleaded guilty to #bribery, admitting he received corrupt payments as a Brexit Party MEP in exchange for making statements in the European Parliament to promote Russia’s interests in #Ukraine.
Reform UK’s ex-leader in Wales Nathan Gill pleads guilty to bribery charges
Gill admits to eight charges while an elected member of the European parliament
www.theguardian.com
September 26, 2025 at 12:38 PM
Reposted by Rob Farrow
tabouchadi.bsky.social
For the Guardian, @turnbulldugarte.com and I discuss our research that clearly shows one thing: Labour's anti-immigration strategy will only strengthen Reform and weaken its own electoral prospects. It won't win voters back but ultimately normalizes the far right

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Our research makes it clear: by capitulating to the right, Labour is driving voters to Reform UK | Tarik Abou-Chadi and Stuart Turnbull-Dugarte
Mimicking Farage on immigration is senseless. Labour voters feel betrayed; anti-immigration voters see through the ruse, say academics Tarik Abou-Chadi and Stuart Turnbull-Dugarte
www.theguardian.com
September 26, 2025 at 11:30 AM
rfarrow.bsky.social
Strategy: wait until Palestine is destroyed, then recognise it
September 22, 2025 at 1:13 PM
Reposted by Rob Farrow
financialtimes.com
Britain’s zombie universities should put Schumpeter on the syllabus on.ft.com/46tIQC1 | opinion
Britain’s zombie universities should put Schumpeter on the syllabus
It’s time to borrow from the corporate crib sheets — and if all else fails, creative destruction is a force for good
on.ft.com
September 21, 2025 at 4:56 AM
Reposted by Rob Farrow
rezekjoe.bsky.social
Academia dot edu licensing agreement says it can use your likeness and voice and publications in any manner they want, world wide.
hystericalblkns.bsky.social Ordinary Notes @hystericalblkns.bsky.social · Sep 17
If you’re on academia dot edu, let me suggest that you strongly consider deleting your account.
The new TOC from academia dot edu. By creating an Account with Academia.edu, you grant us a worldwide, irrevocable, non-exclusive, transferable license, permission, and consent for Academia.edu to use your Member Content and your personal information (including, but not limited to, your name, voice, signature, photograph, likeness, city, institutional affiliations, citations, mentions, publications, and areas of interest) in any manner, including for the purpose of advertising, selling, or soliciting the use or purchase of Academia.edu's Services.
September 17, 2025 at 8:10 PM
Reposted by Rob Farrow
kashana.blacksky.app
You want to be alive, but they want you dead. We’re a new, well, funded democratic group that thinks you can meet them halfway.
September 17, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Reposted by Rob Farrow
go-gn.bsky.social
We were delighted to join you for #OpenFest25! Thanks so much for making us so welcome at this fantastic event 😀
@rfarrow.bsky.social @beckpitt.bsky.social
jenniad.bsky.social Jenni Adams @jenniad.bsky.social · Sep 4
Building diverse open research networks and communities session now underway at #OpenFest25

Rob Farrow, Beck Pitt & Carina Bossu are speaking about the Global OER Graduate Network, which has special interests in amplifying research from the global South.
September 16, 2025 at 4:43 PM
rfarrow.bsky.social
Up bright and early to head to University of Oxford for the 1st AIEOU Collaborator Conference @ai-e-ou.bsky.social
September 16, 2025 at 5:54 AM
Reposted by Rob Farrow
profdamienpage.bsky.social
As we continue to recreate BNU, we’re now recruiting for a Director of Brand, Communications and Marketing. Crucial senior leadership role for shaping our future. Reshares appreciated.
jobs.bucks.ac.uk/vacancy/dire...
Director of Brand, Communications & Marketing (1861) | Buckinghamshire New University
Full Time (37 hrs per week) – Permanent - High Wycombe campus and hybrid working Competitive salary   HELP US BREAK THE MOULD
jobs.bucks.ac.uk
September 11, 2025 at 5:02 AM
Reposted by Rob Farrow
hypervisible.blacksky.app
“The truth is that artificial intelligence, no matter how sophisticated it may appear, is still massively dependent on the most precarious human labor on the planet. An untold number of digital workers, estimated by the World Bank to be well over one hundred million globally.”
My New Op-Ed in the Culture Pages of Magazine L’Espresso | Antonio A. Casilli
A new article of Yours Truly is featured in the culture pages of the Italian magazine L’Espresso. I introduce the readers to our award-winning documentary In the Belly of AI, which I co-wrote and that...
www.casilli.fr
September 10, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Reposted by Rob Farrow
anitaleirfall.bsky.social
Philosophy majors rank higher than all other majors on verbal & logical reasoning, according to our new study published in the J of the American Philosophical Assoc. They also tend to display more intellectual virtues such as curiosity & open-mindedness theconversation.com/studying-phi... #philsky
Studying philosophy does make people better thinkers, according to new research on more than 600,000 college grads
Philosophers are fond of saying that their field boosts critical thinking. Two of them decided to put that claim to the test.
theconversation.com
September 10, 2025 at 8:33 PM