Charles Logan
LightNews LightNews
banner
charleswlogan.bsky.social
Charles Logan
@charleswlogan.bsky.social
5.6K followers 2.5K following 2.6K posts
Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Center for Responsible Technology, Policy, and Public Dialogue at Northwestern University - Civics of Technology Board Member - Dad Life - he/him
Posts Replies Media Videos
charleswlogan.bsky.social
[Cackling] The Wilco/Dad Rock indoctrination continues apace
A screenshot for a music show at the venue SPACE in Evanston, Illinois, featuring a cover band called The Rock and Roll Playhouse playing songs by Wilco for kids.
November 13, 2025 at 1:32 AM
charleswlogan.bsky.social
Had to have an obligatory Alpha School slide for an upcoming talk on AI, democracy, and education, so I went with this shot of MacKenzie Price and the A+ caption pairing.
A screenshot from an interview with MacKenzie Price, the co-founder of Alpha School. The image shows a white woman with blonde hair, blue eyes, and a tight-lipped smile. The words "and without a single teacher" appear below Price. The video, from Today, is titled, "No teachers, no homework: School solely uses AI to teach students".
November 11, 2025 at 9:48 PM
charleswlogan.bsky.social
If you'll be in Albany next week, I'll try to connect threads on anti-democratic parents' rights groups, AI, democracy, and education at a talk I'm giving at SUNY-Albany on Thursday afternoon as part of the AI and Democracy: Critical Questions Speaker Series.
A screenshot of a portion of a flyer advertising my talk at SUNY-Albany. The title of my talk is, "Radio TV Computers Internet YouTube MOOCs AI Will Democratize Education 🤞🏻" with the words "Radio TV Computers Internet YouTube MOOCs" all crossed out. The abstract of my talk reads, "The signatories of President Donald Trump’s “Pledge to America’s Youth: Investing in AI Education” include Big Tech behemoths and smaller educational technology companies that incorporate Big Tech’s generative AI models into their platforms. While it’s unsurprising to see the likes of OpenAI, Microsoft, and Google supporting the President’s initiative, other signatories are perhaps more notable. Moms for America, Moms for Liberty, and Parents Defending Education–groups opposed to public education and its promise of a multicultural democracy–also joined corporate America to support the President’s vision for AI education in the United States. The alignment between these technology companies and parents’ rights groups brings into focus how the push to embed the latest AI technologies into classrooms is also a political project, one that is, despite claims to the contrary, an attack on democracy. In this talk, I consider the history of claiming technology will democratize education in the United States, narratives that often rely on the rhetoric of access while failing to confront structural oppression. Next, I will reflect on how this current moment in AI and education conforms to and diverges from the past, with a focus on Big Tech’s power, politics, and preferred pedagogies. I will close by offering ways forward grounded in collective resistance and a commitment to the democratic ideals of public education."
November 7, 2025 at 1:41 AM
charleswlogan.bsky.social
No coincidence that Moms for America, Moms for Liberty, and Parents Defending Education signed the Trump Administration's "Pledge to America’s Youth: Investing in AI Education".
“One thing that I try to make clear any time I talk about book bans is that it’s not about the books, it’s about deputizing bigots to do the ugly work of defunding all of our public institutions of learning,” Maggie Tokuda-Hall, a cofounder of Authors Against Book Bans, told me. “The current proliferation of AI that we see particularly in the library and education spaces would not be possible at the speed and scale that is happening without the precedent of book bans leading into it. They are very comfortable bedfellows because once you have created a culture in which all expertise is denigrated and removed from the equation and considered nonessential, you create the circumstances in which AI can flourish.”
November 7, 2025 at 1:41 AM
charleswlogan.bsky.social
😭😭🥳🥳
A screenshot from an email that reads, "Dear Charles Logan, Congratulations! Your submission, "'A Future To Fight For': Resisting and Reimagining AI in Education Through Technoskeptical Inquiry, Speculative Design, and Ideological Sensemaking", has cleared all of the necessary checks and will soon be delivered to ProQuest for publishing.
November 6, 2025 at 9:02 PM
charleswlogan.bsky.social
Apparently the Friend ads have arrived in Chicago and the people know: AI is not your friend.
An ad for the Friend AI pendant that is, according to a post on Redditt, at the Fullerton CTA stop. The ad reads, "friend. [frend] noun. someone who listens, responds, and supports you." A person has written, "AI is not your friend" over the image of the pendant.
November 6, 2025 at 1:42 PM
charleswlogan.bsky.social
academic review system doing great thanks generative AI
A screenshot from a portal for submitting a review of an academic paper that reads, "I confirm I have not uploaded the author manuscript to any third party tool and have not used a generative AI tool to produce this reviewer report."
November 4, 2025 at 10:35 PM
charleswlogan.bsky.social
Trying a new approach this year
A note that reads, “Please take 2. Really. Just 2 pieces. Or be cursed forever muhahahaha”
October 31, 2025 at 10:07 PM
charleswlogan.bsky.social
We meet again, old friend
A photograph of a yellow banana costume spread on a couch
October 31, 2025 at 9:46 PM
charleswlogan.bsky.social
Doing some upcoming talks on GenAI and its impacts on schools and families and getting a lot of use out of this image from Bart Fish at Better Images of AI: betterimagesofai.org/images
Sam Altman watches over a family consuming his AI. The living room vignette is framed by power tool imagery. The words “Behaviour Power” are the top of the artwork, framing the intent of the piece.
October 29, 2025 at 8:06 PM
charleswlogan.bsky.social
Got on the subject of the Great Chicago Fire tonight. Kids wanted to know more, so I searched for a video in DuckDuckGo browser. Was served AI slop before selecting a video from WTTW, our PBS station. Really illustrates the enshittification of the internet and the need to fund public broadcasting.
A screenshot of three video thumbnails showing what appear to be AI-generated women wearing low-cut dresses next to video titles such as, "What made Chicago the Phoenix City After the Great Fire?"
October 29, 2025 at 1:29 AM
charleswlogan.bsky.social
I think a lot about this quote from my dissertation. It's from an undergrad in AI, Equity, and Public Education, a class that I co-designed and co-taught. The undergrad's words possess a weariness... 🧵
However, my individual critical response to AI is not enough, and big tech has already been swept away by the hype around AI. Universities are hopping on board, and students are scrambling to learn about this technology for their future careers…I acknowledge that it is inevitable that AI will be the center of hype because it is in the hands of these big institutions. However, I also believe that this hype doesn’t have to stay around.
October 26, 2025 at 8:04 PM
charleswlogan.bsky.social
Listening to @techwontsave.us while waiting for the kid’s softball practice to end with my plain old glasses and appropriately themed socks for this conversation between @hypervisible.blacksky.app and @parismarx.com on the proliferation of “smart” glasses. Listen at: techwontsave.us/episode/298_...
A photograph of my glasses resting atop my crossed leg. My sock is also visible, and the sock has Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” printed on it. The image is of a bald human figure with hands on either side of his head and mouth agape in a scream.
October 17, 2025 at 10:45 PM
charleswlogan.bsky.social
I'm mentoring a student at my undergrad alma mater and when I went to update my profile in the institution's new platform, I discovered two reasons to feel less than awesome about higher ed right now: 1) directions to frame my experience as my "personal brand"; and 2) an invitation to use AI :(
A screenshot of a suggestion to "Add a short line about your career aspirations or experiences. Think 'personal brand'." A screenshot of a pop-up within the platform's messenging tool. The pop-up reads, "Exciting news! We've added AI to craft some of your inbox templates to help you further your conversation. Just remember to add your personal details and tone for that personal touch."
October 11, 2025 at 7:46 PM
charleswlogan.bsky.social
Tech bros: Check out our cute new chatbot-integrated toy Surveilo that'll record every single interaction for us to monetize.

5 y.o.: Plays with his "broken-down train" all morning and leaves for preschool with instructions that I am not to touch the train because it is very valuable.
Two small cardboard boxes wrapped in masking tape.
October 8, 2025 at 2:09 PM
charleswlogan.bsky.social
Labubu dolls are now becoming A Thing with the local third graders - and I refuse to participate because we already have the OGs:
A screenshot of two monsters with large, yellow eyes; sharp teeth; and sharp claws. The monsters are from the book "Where the Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak.
October 5, 2025 at 7:22 PM
charleswlogan.bsky.social
The only way to resolve this is a duel at ISLS. Come prepared!
Homer Simpson is holding a glove while at Moe's bar. A mug of beer is on the countertop in front of Homer. Moe is behind the counter. Homer is saying to Moe: "I challenge you to a duel!"
October 4, 2025 at 1:07 PM
charleswlogan.bsky.social
Apparently General Ludd's army - who're also possible Holden Caulfield fans - is displeased with the new ad campaign in NYC from the makers of Friend, an AI wearable/surveillance nightmare.

⚒️🤖⚒️
A photograph of an ad in a subway station. The ad's text reads, "I'll ride the subway with you." Somebody has taken a black marker and drawn a line through the text. Next to the printed text are the handwritten words, "Don't be a phoney. Be a Luddite."
September 30, 2025 at 1:57 AM
charleswlogan.bsky.social
A lovely surprise from this afternoon: there I was waiting at my local public library for my kids to complete the scavenger hunt and I happened to glance down and see a memoir published by one of my former students.

What a wonderful book by a wonderful person.
A photograph of a stack of books and in front of the stack of books is a red book titled "Whale Eyes: A Memoir About Seeing and Being Seen" by James Robinson.
September 24, 2025 at 2:13 AM
charleswlogan.bsky.social
I suppose that means rounds of new fights...

Read, use, and teach Dr. Pasek's zine at: emmlab.info/Resources_pa...
A screenshot of the zine "Getting Into Fights with Data Centres" by Anne Pasek.
September 23, 2025 at 10:38 PM
charleswlogan.bsky.social
What's true for teaching about and against AI is true for platforms broadly. I'm reminded of this figure from @philnichols.bsky.social and @anterobot.bsky.social's "Platform Studies in Education" article, and how it orients analysis across social, technical, and political-economic dimensions.
An image of electronic circuits shaped like a tree with branches, a trunk, and roots. The branches section is titled "Social" with subgroups including "Users" and "Content". The trunk section is titled "Technical" and includes subsections "Code", "(Meta)Data", "Algorithms", "Interfaces", "Protocols", and "Hardware". The roots section is titled "Political-Economic" and includes subsections "Business Models", "Ownership", "Governance", and "Material Resources".
September 20, 2025 at 7:10 PM
charleswlogan.bsky.social
I finished Karen Hao's "Empire of AI" today - 10/10 would recommend - and I appreciate the emphasis on an ecological approach to teaching about (and, I'd argue, against) AI, including the technology's political economy and the ideologies of Big Tech's leaders that shape the technologies.
An excerpt from Karen Hao's book "Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAI". The excerpt reads, "Finally, to redistribute power along our third axis, influence, we need broad-based education. The antidote to the mysticism and mirage of AI hype is to teach people about how AI works, about its strengths and shortcomings, about the systems that shape its development, about the worldviews and fallibility of the people and companies developing these technologies."
September 20, 2025 at 7:10 PM
charleswlogan.bsky.social
New @civicsoftech.bsky.social book club!

I'm leading a discussion of @neilselwyn.bsky.social's new book "Digital Degrowth: Radically Rethinking Our Digital Futures" on Tues, Nov 11, from 8-9pm ET. Dr. Selwyn will be joining us too.

Register at our events page: www.civicsoftechnology.org/events
A photograph of me holding the book "Digital Degrowth: Radically Rethinking Our Digital Futures" by Neil Selwyn.
September 17, 2025 at 3:22 PM
charleswlogan.bsky.social
I'm talking with a group of math educators this week about AI and equity, so I thought I'd share this history lesson that I learned from Audrey Watters' Teaching Machines: Bob Moses, who'd later found the Algebra Project, came to doubt whether teaching machines had a role in liberatory education.
A slide with a photograph of a young Black man wearing glasses. The photograph's caption reads, "Robert Moses at the training for Freedom Summer volunteers, 1964. Photo by Steve Schapiro." The photograph is from the Zinn Education Project. Next to the photograph is a text box. The text reads, "[T]he goal of the Freedom Schools was to transform society, not to be conditioned to conform to it, and not be conditioned to conform to someone else's notion of transformation" (Watters, 2021, p. 227).​ "What I was interested in was the idea of training SNCC workers to develop material with the people we were working with...At that point it was not programmed learning; there was a great deal of interaction." - Bob Moses​. From Teaching Machines: The History of Personalized Learning by Audrey Watters."
September 15, 2025 at 5:54 PM
charleswlogan.bsky.social
And then there's this amazing academic article/short fiction/comics piece, "The The Internet Doesn’t Exist in the Sky: Literacy, AI, and the Digital Middle Passage" by @miasshaw.bsky.social, @srtoliver.bsky.social, and @drtanksley.bsky.social. Read the article: www.tieratanksley.com/_files/ugd/e...
A screenshot from the article "The The Internet Doesn’t Exist in the Sky: Literacy, AI, and the Digital Middle Passage" by Mia Shaw, S. R. Toliver, and Tiera Tanksley. The screenshot shows two side-by-side images. The image on the left pictures a figure standing on a stage speaking to people. The figure is saying, "On this day, we come together to dream of technology anew. On this day, we force the Symbiote corporate organism out of our lands, out of our bodies. On this day, we break the chains of algorithmic oppression. Together." The image on the right pictures a Black teenage girl with her arms crossed over a shirt that reads, "Oh my Lorde". A speech bubble above the girl reads, "An interesting speech, Id say." The girl says, "Yea."
September 15, 2025 at 1:56 PM