Paul Rowe
@armchair-caver.bsky.social
Cultural heritage / collection management software / data access / occasionally seen caving. CEO, Vernon Systems.
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings, look on my works trapped due to political despair! I beseech you to send ye mighty bank details to share ten percent of this bounty. 💰
October 30, 2025 at 9:00 PM
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings, look on my works trapped due to political despair! I beseech you to send ye mighty bank details to share ten percent of this bounty. 💰
I wanted to try making something from a material I hadn't worked with before, so I built a very tiny castle out of balsa wood. Lego figure for scale (or possibly a giant in that universe). 🏰 #miniature
October 29, 2025 at 8:46 PM
I wanted to try making something from a material I hadn't worked with before, so I built a very tiny castle out of balsa wood. Lego figure for scale (or possibly a giant in that universe). 🏰 #miniature
Reposted by Paul Rowe
The thing regular people don’t often grasp about ‘academic freedom’ is that if you don’t allow experts to research & teach in their fields of expertise, guided by their professional judgment & decades of training, you have effectively given up on the concept of knowledge & shut down your university
Universities are moving rapidly to comply with laws that don't exist.
“I’m emotionally shellshocked right now,” said one professor in the Texas Tech system. “What does it say about academic freedom? It says we don’t have it.” The professor spoke by phone from the inside of a car to avoid being overheard by colleagues.
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/26/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/26/u...
September 27, 2025 at 11:41 AM
The thing regular people don’t often grasp about ‘academic freedom’ is that if you don’t allow experts to research & teach in their fields of expertise, guided by their professional judgment & decades of training, you have effectively given up on the concept of knowledge & shut down your university
Reposted by Paul Rowe
Example: Bestselling NZ book banned in the US.
[Paraphrased] Don't read the book if you don't like it. Not ban it.
#LIANZA2025
[Paraphrased] Don't read the book if you don't like it. Not ban it.
#LIANZA2025
Teacher sacked in culture wars fracas
"We are ready to have our day in court", says a teacher sacked for reading a fun Kiwi book
newsroom.co.nz
September 23, 2025 at 11:53 PM
Example: Bestselling NZ book banned in the US.
[Paraphrased] Don't read the book if you don't like it. Not ban it.
#LIANZA2025
[Paraphrased] Don't read the book if you don't like it. Not ban it.
#LIANZA2025
Reposted by Paul Rowe
Generative AI - Ethical use of mātauranga.
Mātauranga Māori is taonga.
Highlights (mine):
1. Check with Māori rep from ethics committee
2. Don't use prompt to generate mātauranga Māori
3. Never use or generate tapu data
4. AI use must be acknowledged
#GenAI #DataIsTaonga #LIANZA2025
Mātauranga Māori is taonga.
Highlights (mine):
1. Check with Māori rep from ethics committee
2. Don't use prompt to generate mātauranga Māori
3. Never use or generate tapu data
4. AI use must be acknowledged
#GenAI #DataIsTaonga #LIANZA2025
September 22, 2025 at 10:12 PM
Generative AI - Ethical use of mātauranga.
Mātauranga Māori is taonga.
Highlights (mine):
1. Check with Māori rep from ethics committee
2. Don't use prompt to generate mātauranga Māori
3. Never use or generate tapu data
4. AI use must be acknowledged
#GenAI #DataIsTaonga #LIANZA2025
Mātauranga Māori is taonga.
Highlights (mine):
1. Check with Māori rep from ethics committee
2. Don't use prompt to generate mātauranga Māori
3. Never use or generate tapu data
4. AI use must be acknowledged
#GenAI #DataIsTaonga #LIANZA2025
Reposted by Paul Rowe
Hello. I wrote a nice long essay about AI and this very strange moment where we're constantly told we're living in the dawn of a strange new future but the only thing that's actually clear is that everyone feels pretty unmoored and uncertain. I hope you'll read it
AI Is a Mass-Delusion Event
Three years in, one of AI’s enduring impacts is to make people feel like they’re losing it.
www.theatlantic.com
August 18, 2025 at 9:21 PM
Hello. I wrote a nice long essay about AI and this very strange moment where we're constantly told we're living in the dawn of a strange new future but the only thing that's actually clear is that everyone feels pretty unmoored and uncertain. I hope you'll read it
Need to create an AI policy for your organisation for the first time? The Arts Council England has put together an excellent resource kit to help organisations build an AI policy that matches their purpose and culture.
www.artscouncil.org.uk/lets-create/...
www.artscouncil.org.uk/lets-create/...
Responsible AI Practical Toolkit
Resources to help creative and cultural organisations create Responsible AI policies and practices.
www.artscouncil.org.uk
August 6, 2025 at 3:08 AM
Need to create an AI policy for your organisation for the first time? The Arts Council England has put together an excellent resource kit to help organisations build an AI policy that matches their purpose and culture.
www.artscouncil.org.uk/lets-create/...
www.artscouncil.org.uk/lets-create/...
Reposted by Paul Rowe
Particularly struck by "... a museum needs to do more than just show you old things, or try to transport you to a past era. It should jar you into the realization that you exist in time, and see your present (and ideally, your future) with fresh eyes." @almostarch.bsky.social
July 29, 2025 at 11:16 AM
Particularly struck by "... a museum needs to do more than just show you old things, or try to transport you to a past era. It should jar you into the realization that you exist in time, and see your present (and ideally, your future) with fresh eyes." @almostarch.bsky.social
Reposted by Paul Rowe
People want good AI, not climate-wrecking, prejudice-enforcing, job-destroying AI. But tech, govt isn't listening?
ACE staffer quoted by Oonagh Murphy: 'The worst thing we can do about AI is ignore it; the second is embrace it too gleefully'
ACE staffer quoted by Oonagh Murphy: 'The worst thing we can do about AI is ignore it; the second is embrace it too gleefully'
June 18, 2025 at 3:19 PM
People want good AI, not climate-wrecking, prejudice-enforcing, job-destroying AI. But tech, govt isn't listening?
ACE staffer quoted by Oonagh Murphy: 'The worst thing we can do about AI is ignore it; the second is embrace it too gleefully'
ACE staffer quoted by Oonagh Murphy: 'The worst thing we can do about AI is ignore it; the second is embrace it too gleefully'
Reposted by Paul Rowe
something I've learned by covering online archives and libraries is that many valuable, free, online resources are maintained by extremely small teams, maybe one volunteer. Asking them to deal with scrapers that behave like DDoS attacks is unrealistic www.404media.co/ai-scraping-...
AI Scraping Bots Are Breaking Open Libraries, Archives, and Museums
"This is a moment where that community feels collectively under threat and isn't sure what the process is for solving the problem.”
www.404media.co
June 17, 2025 at 1:30 PM
something I've learned by covering online archives and libraries is that many valuable, free, online resources are maintained by extremely small teams, maybe one volunteer. Asking them to deal with scrapers that behave like DDoS attacks is unrealistic www.404media.co/ai-scraping-...
Are AI Bots knocking cultural heritage offline?
Our business hosts cultural heritage collection sites for hundreds of organisations and we were one of the respondents submitting feedback and stats for this study: www.glamelab.org/products/are...
Our business hosts cultural heritage collection sites for hundreds of organisations and we were one of the respondents submitting feedback and stats for this study: www.glamelab.org/products/are...
Are AI Bots Knocking Cultural Heritage Offline?
www.glamelab.org
June 17, 2025 at 10:06 PM
Are AI Bots knocking cultural heritage offline?
Our business hosts cultural heritage collection sites for hundreds of organisations and we were one of the respondents submitting feedback and stats for this study: www.glamelab.org/products/are...
Our business hosts cultural heritage collection sites for hundreds of organisations and we were one of the respondents submitting feedback and stats for this study: www.glamelab.org/products/are...
Reposted by Paul Rowe
The perfect bird feeder doesn't exi--
June 3, 2025 at 11:08 AM
The perfect bird feeder doesn't exi--
As a recreational caver, I'm always grateful for the land access many landowners give us. We're privileged to see caves rarely visited, often with amazing mineral formations. The gypsum and aragonite crystals we saw this month in a cave in Waitomo, New Zealand were particularly good.
May 23, 2025 at 4:13 AM
As a recreational caver, I'm always grateful for the land access many landowners give us. We're privileged to see caves rarely visited, often with amazing mineral formations. The gypsum and aragonite crystals we saw this month in a cave in Waitomo, New Zealand were particularly good.
Reposted by Paul Rowe
Using big LLMs for basic queries is 'like turning on stadium floodlights to look for your keys' - this is good on the AI environmental questions.
We still don’t know how much energy AI consumes
Companies must give us the chance to understand the environmental impact of the tech we use
www.ft.com
May 21, 2025 at 6:04 AM
Using big LLMs for basic queries is 'like turning on stadium floodlights to look for your keys' - this is good on the AI environmental questions.
Reposted by Paul Rowe
What’s happening now? Tracking the political actions affecting cultural institutions | May 14, 2025
Over the last several months, the attacks on cultural institutions have been relentless. I’ve been tracking political actions affecting museums and other linked institutions on a public document for…
Over the last several months, the attacks on cultural institutions have been relentless. I’ve been tracking political actions affecting museums and other linked institutions on a public document for…
What’s happening now? Tracking the political actions affecting cultural institutions | May 14, 2025
Over the last several months, the attacks on cultural institutions have been relentless. I’ve been tracking political actions affecting museums and other linked institutions on a public document for a few weeks, but that action feels too little for the scale of assault on our institutions so I’m going to dust off the ol’ blog to try to connect the dots about what’s been happening.
museumgeek.xyz
May 14, 2025 at 7:31 PM
What’s happening now? Tracking the political actions affecting cultural institutions | May 14, 2025
Over the last several months, the attacks on cultural institutions have been relentless. I’ve been tracking political actions affecting museums and other linked institutions on a public document for…
Over the last several months, the attacks on cultural institutions have been relentless. I’ve been tracking political actions affecting museums and other linked institutions on a public document for…
Reposted by Paul Rowe
Every time the PM says his Govt is going to make pay equity “more affordable” he is just saying they want to keep underpaying the people whose work has been undervalued due to gender discrimination.
#nzpol
#nzpol
May 13, 2025 at 2:21 AM
Every time the PM says his Govt is going to make pay equity “more affordable” he is just saying they want to keep underpaying the people whose work has been undervalued due to gender discrimination.
#nzpol
#nzpol
Reposted by Paul Rowe
Some sad confirmation from @bcgl.bsky.social while I was at UW last week—the National Digital Newspaper Program—which builds Chronicling America—has been shut down
Historical newspapers are probably the archival material most used by the general public—for genealogy, local history—it’s such a loss
Historical newspapers are probably the archival material most used by the general public—for genealogy, local history—it’s such a loss
About this Collection | Chronicling America | Digital Collections | Library of Congress
Search America's Historic Newspaper Pages through 1963 Please Note: The Library of Congress has transitioned the longstanding Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers website to this new digi...
www.loc.gov
May 12, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Some sad confirmation from @bcgl.bsky.social while I was at UW last week—the National Digital Newspaper Program—which builds Chronicling America—has been shut down
Historical newspapers are probably the archival material most used by the general public—for genealogy, local history—it’s such a loss
Historical newspapers are probably the archival material most used by the general public—for genealogy, local history—it’s such a loss
Reposted by Paul Rowe
A thoughtful and insightful
breakdown of how legal education should respond to AI 🤖
breakdown of how legal education should respond to AI 🤖
How should legal education respond to AI? Together with 11 UCL Laws colleagues, this paper is our vision for the sector. It's rooted in academic integrity, fundamental competences, and concerns around impacts on learning to learn and intellectual risk taking. (🧵)
discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10...
discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10...
May 7, 2025 at 5:37 PM
A thoughtful and insightful
breakdown of how legal education should respond to AI 🤖
breakdown of how legal education should respond to AI 🤖
Reposted by Paul Rowe
"We are now in an AI-age." Adrian Kingston encourages us to think about our role about making AI better. Can we help reduce the bias in big-AI, and improve the quality? GLAM has a role not just in consuming AI but also informing AI. #NDF25
May 6, 2025 at 4:08 AM
"We are now in an AI-age." Adrian Kingston encourages us to think about our role about making AI better. Can we help reduce the bias in big-AI, and improve the quality? GLAM has a role not just in consuming AI but also informing AI. #NDF25
Reposted by Paul Rowe
Adrian, Te Papa, Head of Digital Channels. Prototype using custom GPT. Also experimented with small safe collection to auto-generate descriptions. Prototype using Audience Impact Model. Internal AI 101 for staff. Draft AI policy - addresses opportunities and stick to org principles. #NDF25
May 6, 2025 at 3:42 AM
Adrian, Te Papa, Head of Digital Channels. Prototype using custom GPT. Also experimented with small safe collection to auto-generate descriptions. Prototype using Audience Impact Model. Internal AI 101 for staff. Draft AI policy - addresses opportunities and stick to org principles. #NDF25
The average lifespan of a web page is 100 days, and the average lifespan of a website is only 2.7 years. Online content is often at greater risk than older analogue content. #ndf25
May 6, 2025 at 12:37 AM
The average lifespan of a web page is 100 days, and the average lifespan of a website is only 2.7 years. Online content is often at greater risk than older analogue content. #ndf25
Puke Ariki have begun creating 3D models of some collection objects using Sketchfab. These are then embedded in their online collection pages. #ndf25 collection.pukeariki.com/highlights/3...
3D Models
Explore some of our 3D models created from collection objects using meticulous photography and photogrammetry processing.
collection.pukeariki.com
May 5, 2025 at 11:56 PM
Puke Ariki have begun creating 3D models of some collection objects using Sketchfab. These are then embedded in their online collection pages. #ndf25 collection.pukeariki.com/highlights/3...
Reposted by Paul Rowe
May 5, 2025 at 10:53 PM
Dave Patten on QR code use at the Science Museum. 500k QR code scans at the entrance (ticketing), but only 2k views of more detailed info pages. Also awareness of QR code fraud - directing visitors to wrong site, incl. fraudulent ticket sale sites. #ndf25
May 5, 2025 at 10:10 PM
Dave Patten on QR code use at the Science Museum. 500k QR code scans at the entrance (ticketing), but only 2k views of more detailed info pages. Also awareness of QR code fraud - directing visitors to wrong site, incl. fraudulent ticket sale sites. #ndf25
Science Museum built an interface in the 1990s for visitors to save content they created during their visitor. However, it pre-dated email logins, so they had to create a memorable instant login for each visitor using a combo of visit date, and randomly assigned colour and icon codes. #ndf25
May 5, 2025 at 9:40 PM
Science Museum built an interface in the 1990s for visitors to save content they created during their visitor. However, it pre-dated email logins, so they had to create a memorable instant login for each visitor using a combo of visit date, and randomly assigned colour and icon codes. #ndf25