Christina Laffin
@christinalaffin.bsky.social
Associate Professor in Premodern Japanese Literature and Culture, University of British Columbia. She/her.
Pinned
After 7 years of meeting weekly, collaborating with 31 contributors, editing alongside multiple translators & research assistants, seeking advice, hunting sources, rethinking, & learning, learning, learning, 2 colleagues (now bosom buds) & I sent a 1000-page manuscript to press for review today. 1/
Reposted by Christina Laffin
So-called "smart" devices are pushed heavily for the holidays, but be mindful of what you're opting that gift recipient into. www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...
Think Twice Before Giving Surveillance for the Holidays
With the holidays upon us, it's easy to default to giving the tech gifts that retailers tend to push on us this time of year: smart speakers, video doorbells, bluetooth trackers, fitness trackers,
www.eff.org
November 22, 2025 at 5:02 PM
So-called "smart" devices are pushed heavily for the holidays, but be mindful of what you're opting that gift recipient into. www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...
Reposted by Christina Laffin
This is the 2nd time a major government report from Deloitte has been found to contain errors likely generated by AI.
First in Australia and now, as The Independent has confirmed, in a major healthcare policy paper for the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador #nlpoli #AI #deloitte
First in Australia and now, as The Independent has confirmed, in a major healthcare policy paper for the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador #nlpoli #AI #deloitte
A major healthcare policy paper commissioned by @govnl.bsky.social government from Deloitte at a cost of $1.6 million, cites research papers that don’t exist, making it the second major government policy paper called into question in as many months. #nlpoli #AI
theindependent.ca/news/lji/maj...
theindependent.ca/news/lji/maj...
Major N.L. healthcare report contains errors likely generated by A.I. – The Independent
$1.6 million Health Human Resources Plan from Deloitte cites research papers that don’t exist, making it the second major government policy paper called into question in as many months
theindependent.ca
November 22, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Reposted by Christina Laffin
In an interview this week, Ken Sim said that he had a list of all the times he said no to the Vancouver Police Department, and said a lot of their budget increases were out of the city's control.
We got the list. We looked at the budget.
Here is a fact check.
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
We got the list. We looked at the budget.
Here is a fact check.
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
November 21, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Reposted by Christina Laffin
Proctorio’s lawsuit against former UBC staff member Ian Linkletter ended last week, after a five-year saga over tweets Linkletter posted that Proctorio alleged violated their copyright.
ubyssey.ca/news/proctor...
ubyssey.ca/news/proctor...
Proctorio lawsuit against former UBC staff member ends after five year saga
Proctorio’s lawsuit against former UBC staff member Ian Linkletter ended last week, after a five-year saga over tweets Linkletter posted that Proctorio alleged violated their copyright.
ubyssey.ca
November 19, 2025 at 7:04 PM
Proctorio’s lawsuit against former UBC staff member Ian Linkletter ended last week, after a five-year saga over tweets Linkletter posted that Proctorio alleged violated their copyright.
ubyssey.ca/news/proctor...
ubyssey.ca/news/proctor...
An important win against surveillance technology. Admiration and gratitude for Ian Linkletter relentlessly maintaining an ethical stance as Proctorio worked against him (and the interests of all of us dedicated to education) over the course of 1,899 days.
Proctorio’s lawsuit against former UBC staff member Ian Linkletter ended last week, after a five-year saga over tweets Linkletter posted that Proctorio alleged violated their copyright.
ubyssey.ca/news/proctor...
ubyssey.ca/news/proctor...
Proctorio lawsuit against former UBC staff member ends after five year saga
Proctorio’s lawsuit against former UBC staff member Ian Linkletter ended last week, after a five-year saga over tweets Linkletter posted that Proctorio alleged violated their copyright.
ubyssey.ca
November 21, 2025 at 6:17 PM
An important win against surveillance technology. Admiration and gratitude for Ian Linkletter relentlessly maintaining an ethical stance as Proctorio worked against him (and the interests of all of us dedicated to education) over the course of 1,899 days.
Reposted by Christina Laffin
Literary translators! Our publisher, @twolinespress.com, is currently open for submissions for animal stories in translation (from any language) & the Stevns Translation Prize (for Vietnamese translators). As always, no submissions fees.
For more info visit: www.catranslation.org/books/submit...
For more info visit: www.catranslation.org/books/submit...
November 18, 2025 at 6:22 PM
Literary translators! Our publisher, @twolinespress.com, is currently open for submissions for animal stories in translation (from any language) & the Stevns Translation Prize (for Vietnamese translators). As always, no submissions fees.
For more info visit: www.catranslation.org/books/submit...
For more info visit: www.catranslation.org/books/submit...
Reposted by Christina Laffin
Call for applications: 2026 Florence Tan Moeson Research Fellowship Program at the Library of Congress, which supports short-term travel for research in the LOC Asian Division's collections. Application deadline January 11, 2026.
Fellowship Information | About this Reading Room | Asian Reading Room | Research Centers | Library of Congress
The Asian Division at the Library of Congress invites applications for the 2026 Florence Tan Moeson Research Fellowship Program, established through the generous gift of Florence Tan Moeson, who…
buff.ly
November 21, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Call for applications: 2026 Florence Tan Moeson Research Fellowship Program at the Library of Congress, which supports short-term travel for research in the LOC Asian Division's collections. Application deadline January 11, 2026.
Reposted by Christina Laffin
When I was under 1, my dad was arrested in the UK. As was the standard procedure, he had the beating of his life and was left on a cell floor to reflect on the errors of his ways. He got 3 years in a max security jail. One of the men arrested with him died on hunger strike.
🐦🔎The University of British Columbia hosts talk on excavation conducted next to Israeli torture camp: Megiddo is the site of one of the largest torture camps for Palestinians; the dig is right next to the prison
sparrows4palestine.substack.com/p/ubc-hosts-...
sparrows4palestine.substack.com/p/ubc-hosts-...
UBC hosts talk on excavation conducted next to Israeli torture camp
Megiddo is the site of one of the largest torture camps for Palestinians; the dig is right next to the prison
sparrows4palestine.substack.com
November 20, 2025 at 12:42 PM
When I was under 1, my dad was arrested in the UK. As was the standard procedure, he had the beating of his life and was left on a cell floor to reflect on the errors of his ways. He got 3 years in a max security jail. One of the men arrested with him died on hunger strike.
Reposted by Christina Laffin
🐦🔎The University of British Columbia hosts talk on excavation conducted next to Israeli torture camp: Megiddo is the site of one of the largest torture camps for Palestinians; the dig is right next to the prison
sparrows4palestine.substack.com/p/ubc-hosts-...
sparrows4palestine.substack.com/p/ubc-hosts-...
UBC hosts talk on excavation conducted next to Israeli torture camp
Megiddo is the site of one of the largest torture camps for Palestinians; the dig is right next to the prison
sparrows4palestine.substack.com
November 20, 2025 at 12:17 PM
🐦🔎The University of British Columbia hosts talk on excavation conducted next to Israeli torture camp: Megiddo is the site of one of the largest torture camps for Palestinians; the dig is right next to the prison
sparrows4palestine.substack.com/p/ubc-hosts-...
sparrows4palestine.substack.com/p/ubc-hosts-...
Reposted by Christina Laffin
"To The World" is a comic zine by Jehad Abu Dayya and Esraa El-Banna, who wrote and drew the comic from their tents in Deir Al-Balah. Edited by Deena Mohamed, it tells the story of a fictional student named Farah, who shares her experience during the genocide in Gaza.
October 15, 2025 at 2:57 PM
"To The World" is a comic zine by Jehad Abu Dayya and Esraa El-Banna, who wrote and drew the comic from their tents in Deir Al-Balah. Edited by Deena Mohamed, it tells the story of a fictional student named Farah, who shares her experience during the genocide in Gaza.
Reposted by Christina Laffin
NEW: No Arms In The Arts launches boycott of the Scotiabank Photo Award.
70 artists, curators and photographers, including many past winners and nominees, are withdrawing their work ahead of the 2025 nominations.
boycottphotoaward.org
70 artists, curators and photographers, including many past winners and nominees, are withdrawing their work ahead of the 2025 nominations.
boycottphotoaward.org
November 10, 2025 at 1:56 PM
NEW: No Arms In The Arts launches boycott of the Scotiabank Photo Award.
70 artists, curators and photographers, including many past winners and nominees, are withdrawing their work ahead of the 2025 nominations.
boycottphotoaward.org
70 artists, curators and photographers, including many past winners and nominees, are withdrawing their work ahead of the 2025 nominations.
boycottphotoaward.org
Reposted by Christina Laffin
- Will it account for its leadership harassing pro-Palestinian authors publicly and privately?
November 17, 2025 at 11:56 PM
- Will it account for its leadership harassing pro-Palestinian authors publicly and privately?
Reposted by Christina Laffin
Questions it needs to answer:
- Who are its "anonymous funders?"
- Will the Giller finally end its partnership the Azrieli Foundation, set to renew this year?
- Will it confirm whether it has terminated its Indigo sponsorship?
- Who are its "anonymous funders?"
- Will the Giller finally end its partnership the Azrieli Foundation, set to renew this year?
- Will it confirm whether it has terminated its Indigo sponsorship?
November 17, 2025 at 11:53 PM
Questions it needs to answer:
- Who are its "anonymous funders?"
- Will the Giller finally end its partnership the Azrieli Foundation, set to renew this year?
- Will it confirm whether it has terminated its Indigo sponsorship?
- Who are its "anonymous funders?"
- Will the Giller finally end its partnership the Azrieli Foundation, set to renew this year?
- Will it confirm whether it has terminated its Indigo sponsorship?
Reposted by Christina Laffin
Right now, protesters are outside the pre-taped 2025 Giller Prize ceremony with a puppet of David Fingold (the asset manager at Scotiabank responsible for the bank's Elbit Systems investment) asking:
Who funds the Giller Prize?
Who funds the Giller Prize?
November 17, 2025 at 11:52 PM
Right now, protesters are outside the pre-taped 2025 Giller Prize ceremony with a puppet of David Fingold (the asset manager at Scotiabank responsible for the bank's Elbit Systems investment) asking:
Who funds the Giller Prize?
Who funds the Giller Prize?
Reposted by Christina Laffin
Yet again: can we accept that the current technology of generative AI is an inherently fascistic product, and should be treated as such?
Just as fascism is not inevitable, neither is the invasion of genAI into every aspect of society - especially education and academia.
Just as fascism is not inevitable, neither is the invasion of genAI into every aspect of society - especially education and academia.
“While the AI industry claims its models can “think,” “reason,” and “learn,” their supposed achievements rest on marketing hype and stolen intellectual labor. In reality, AI erodes academic freedom, weakens critical reading, and subordinates the pursuit of knowledge to corporate interests.”
AI Is Hollowing Out Higher Education
Olivia Guest & Iris van Rooij urge teachers and scholars to reject tools that commodify learning, deskill students, and promote illiteracy.
www.project-syndicate.org
November 18, 2025 at 12:11 AM
Yet again: can we accept that the current technology of generative AI is an inherently fascistic product, and should be treated as such?
Just as fascism is not inevitable, neither is the invasion of genAI into every aspect of society - especially education and academia.
Just as fascism is not inevitable, neither is the invasion of genAI into every aspect of society - especially education and academia.
Reposted by Christina Laffin
Health Care Workers Spoke Out for Their Peers in Gaza. Then Came Backlash. truthout.org/articles/the...
Health Care Workers Spoke Out for Their Peers in Gaza. Then Came Backlash.
Medical institutions are silencing their staff and impeding efforts to build solidarity with medical workers in Gaza.
truthout.org
November 18, 2025 at 4:53 AM
Health Care Workers Spoke Out for Their Peers in Gaza. Then Came Backlash. truthout.org/articles/the...
Reposted by Christina Laffin
Jaw dropped. Trump Administration Removes Report on Missing and Murdered Native Americans, Calling It DEI Content
Trump Administration Removes Report on Missing and Murdered Native Americans, Calling It DEI Content - Oklahoma Watch
The Trump administration removed a congressionally mandated report on missing and murdered Native Americans from the DOJ website, citing compliance with an executive order against DEI. Senators who ch...
oklahomawatch.org
November 17, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Jaw dropped. Trump Administration Removes Report on Missing and Murdered Native Americans, Calling It DEI Content
Reposted by Christina Laffin
It’s the universities encouraging students to use AI that really gets me. All this “we need to accept it’s here and teach them to use it” does not help students learn to think. Writing is for thinking and communicating, not just producing words.
I spent a lot of time this semester explaining why it produces bad work but at the end of the day, they're being asked to do a thing they find difficult, and this makes it easy for them, without any meaningful consequence. And the university encourages them to use it.
November 18, 2025 at 3:46 AM
It’s the universities encouraging students to use AI that really gets me. All this “we need to accept it’s here and teach them to use it” does not help students learn to think. Writing is for thinking and communicating, not just producing words.
Reposted by Christina Laffin
Finally got to the "I want to burn it all down" portion of the gen AI-era semester, where I realize they're all using some sort of LLM to "help" organize their thoughts and it's just spitting out raw sewage onto the screen.
November 17, 2025 at 10:04 PM
Finally got to the "I want to burn it all down" portion of the gen AI-era semester, where I realize they're all using some sort of LLM to "help" organize their thoughts and it's just spitting out raw sewage onto the screen.
Reposted by Christina Laffin
『国宝 熊野御幸記と藤原定家の書』三井記念美術館で開催 開館20周年を記念し、定家筆の名宝を翻刻文付きで全巻展示｜ニフティニュース news.nifty.com/article/enta...
『国宝 熊野御幸記と藤原定家の書』三井記念美術館で開催 開館20周年を記念し、定家筆の名宝を翻刻文付きで全巻展示｜ニフティニュース
2025年12月6日（土）より、中央区日本橋室町にある三井記念美術館で『国宝 熊野御幸記と藤原定家の書―茶道具・かるた・歌仙絵とともに―』が開催される。開館20周年を記念して、藤原定家筆《国宝 熊野御…
news.nifty.com
November 17, 2025 at 11:50 PM
『国宝 熊野御幸記と藤原定家の書』三井記念美術館で開催 開館20周年を記念し、定家筆の名宝を翻刻文付きで全巻展示｜ニフティニュース news.nifty.com/article/enta...
Reposted by Christina Laffin
I have not wanted to believe this for the 30 min since announced. Alice Wong was at the top of a very short list of ppl who truly made the world a better place; a fierce oracle who inspired, rallied, personally supported in dark moments +spoke up for so many of us in the disabled community.
💔 RIP
💔 RIP
I’m heartsick to hear that the incomparable Alice Wong has passed. Her loss will be felt keenly, by many, and for a long time. She is a force, a generous leader and storyteller, and an oracle for disabled futures. Much love to Alice and to all our crip kin and comrades. ❤️🩹
November 15, 2025 at 6:05 AM
I have not wanted to believe this for the 30 min since announced. Alice Wong was at the top of a very short list of ppl who truly made the world a better place; a fierce oracle who inspired, rallied, personally supported in dark moments +spoke up for so many of us in the disabled community.
💔 RIP
💔 RIP
Reposted by Christina Laffin
One way I have found to mourn someone is to set up a monthly sustaining donation to a mutual aid effort they cared about. If you can join me in honoring Alice Wong, @sfdirewolf.bsky.social with a sustaining donation today, please do. Thank you Alice, and I will not let the bastards grind me down.
November 15, 2025 at 12:34 PM
One way I have found to mourn someone is to set up a monthly sustaining donation to a mutual aid effort they cared about. If you can join me in honoring Alice Wong, @sfdirewolf.bsky.social with a sustaining donation today, please do. Thank you Alice, and I will not let the bastards grind me down.
Reposted by Christina Laffin
I don’t want to formulate words yet, but my friend Alice Wong, @sfdirewolf.bsky.social of the Disability Visibility Project, has passed.
Here are the words she left behind:
www.instagram.com/p/DREMDNBjnq...
Here are the words she left behind:
www.instagram.com/p/DREMDNBjnq...
Alice Wong on Instagram: "ID: Yellow background with black text "This is Alice's friend Sandy Ho, posting. Per Alice's wishes, this message is being shared at the time of her passing. Hi everyone, it ...
423 likes, 73 comments - alicatsamurai on November 14, 2025: "ID: Yellow background with black text "This is Alice's friend Sandy Ho, posting. Per Alice's wishes, this message is being shared at the t...
www.instagram.com
November 15, 2025 at 5:57 AM
I don’t want to formulate words yet, but my friend Alice Wong, @sfdirewolf.bsky.social of the Disability Visibility Project, has passed.
Here are the words she left behind:
www.instagram.com/p/DREMDNBjnq...
Here are the words she left behind:
www.instagram.com/p/DREMDNBjnq...
Reposted by Christina Laffin
We're honored to have @jppinfo.bsky.social featured in the NDL's Current Awareness Portal! We hope many more colleagues based in Japan will sign up for Japan Scholar Search, our project opportunities, and more! 🥰
国立国会図書館の『カレントアウェアネス』最新号で、「ジャパン・パスト＆プレゼント」を紹介する文章を掲載させていただきました。JPP の概要や、研究者・図書館員・学生の皆さまへの活用については、ぜひ下記の記事をご覧ください。 current.ndl.go.jp/e2838
E2838 – 日本の人文学のためのハブ構築の試み：ジャパン・パスト＆プレゼント（Japan Past & Present）
カレントアウェアネス-ENo.512 2025.11.06E2838日本の人文学のためのハブ構築の試み：ジャパン・パスト＆プレゼント（Japan Past & Present）柳井イニシアティブ UCLA、早稲田大学・マイケル・エメリック柳...
current.ndl.go.jp
November 7, 2025 at 8:49 PM
We're honored to have @jppinfo.bsky.social featured in the NDL's Current Awareness Portal! We hope many more colleagues based in Japan will sign up for Japan Scholar Search, our project opportunities, and more! 🥰