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drpen.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
Dr Pen
@drpen.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
45 followers 13 following 750 posts
Tech society posts and shares from Dr Pen, Digital Media & Humanities academic based in Malta, from London. Late bloomer, a bit pithy.

#UserExperience #UGC […]

🌉 bridged from ⁂ https://mastodon.social/@DrPen, follow @ap.brid.gy to interact
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drpen.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
Ive been digging around for text analysis OS apps and found AntConc via a Reddit thread. This app is very good from what I can see in early quick testing. Im looking at term frequency across relevant papers, and some 'concordance' context but AntConc will do […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]
A wordcloud output from AntConc text analysis software showing the frequency of words for a group of PDFs about big tech and edtech governance. Governance, edtech, design, system, time, media and language are large words in the cloud.
December 15, 2025 at 7:33 AM
Reposted by Dr Pen
srdas.mastodon.online.ap.brid.gy
Reasonably sure Mastodon peeps like libraries and might like a peek at this wowzer I stepped into today.

#dascdmx
A look inside the Biblioteca Vasconcelos in Mexico City. There are columns of bookshelves seeming suspended at various levels from the ceiling with walkways connecting and that keep going into the far distance. Light from glass skylights many stories up and interior lighting are throughout. On the bottom floor, slightly lower than the camera vantage is the skeleton of a whale
September 28, 2025 at 6:12 AM
Reposted by Dr Pen
benpatrickwill.bsky.social
Learning management systems are "platforms" and they follow the platform dual income model of subscription contracts plus data extraction. *Our* data are *their* assets, which they can capitalize however they wish due to the terms of service our institutions sign www.ei-ie.org/en/item/2848...
The Instructure company highlights how edtech platforms’ data assets may be subject to unanticipated future uses. These potential uses are covered in their legal policies: Instructure may share information in any talks about change of control: ‘We may share information about you in connection with or during negotiation of any merger, financing, acquisition, bankruptcy, dissolution, transaction orproceeding involving sale, transfer, divestiture or disclosure of all or a portion of our business or assets to another company. (European Union Region Product Privacy Notice Addendum) In this respect, user data is increasingly considered as a platform company’s assets. Aligned with the dynamic business approaches of the digital economy more broadly, this means data are often collected for the potential value they might yield in the future, not necessarily because of the current requirements of a platform or for wider educational purposes.
December 13, 2025 at 12:08 AM
Reposted by Dr Pen
benpatrickwill.bsky.social
I would *love* to see examples of "socialist" AI for education, or "fair" AI for education, or "local" models controlled by education institutions - but I doubt we ever will and instead we're left with Big AI, edtech and investors *already* imposing their market desires on public education.
December 12, 2025 at 11:36 PM
Reposted by Dr Pen
holger-moller.bildung.social.ap.brid.gy
"The fact that large language models (LLM) have scraped my website and continue to do so has had me feeling less motivated to share my thoughts. But maybe the best act of rebellion against AI slop is to keep writing and not let the silicon valley bastards grind me down."
@harold […]
Original post on bildung.social
bildung.social
December 2, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Reposted by Dr Pen
bettycjung.bsky.social
Aging Out of Fucks: The Neuroscience of Why You Suddenly Can’t Pretend Anymore
Your brain's middle finger to people-pleasing
www.blog.lifebranches.com/p/aging-out-...
Aging Out of Fucks: The Neuroscience of Why You Suddenly Can’t Pretend Anymore
Your brain's middle finger to people-pleasing
www.blog.lifebranches.com
December 12, 2025 at 3:31 AM
drpen.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
A comprehensive list of all visa/border requirements from European citizens visiting the US was shared here a few days ago but now I cant find it. Can anyone give me a link to that list? It includes biometric data, list of all relatives etc.

#uspol #usvisa #ukpol #us
December 12, 2025 at 10:32 AM
drpen.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
Good morning the great wonderful Mastodon and wider fediverse. Its good to be here, amongst the sane and lovely people of the world.

Have a super academic and otherwise day

Image is my view this morning around 6.45am CET, Malta sunrise.

#morning #europe […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]
Sunrise with low glowing cloud and silhouetted buildings, Malta.
December 10, 2025 at 7:03 AM
drpen.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
Recs for text analysis tools, without any or only minimal genai - Taguette, QDA Miner, what else? Bulk document (around 50 papers) common word analysis is what Im mainly looking for, as well as individual document labelling. Open source, free, Windows 10.
#QualitativeData #textanalysis #software […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
December 8, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Reposted by Dr Pen
bruces.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
Before and After Digital
Before and After Space
Before and After Atomic
Before and After Carbon
Before and After Electricity
Before and After Medicine
Before and After Literacy
Before and After Money

https://youtu.be/2XLiAX3NjBY?si=JvJniWzQ59wUiuyd
December 1, 2025 at 12:59 PM
Reposted by Dr Pen
bruces.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
*It's odd that an artificial/virtual intelligence seems to require an artificial/virtual reality

*Have they been the same thing metaphysically all along
December 2, 2025 at 5:42 AM
drpen.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
Though this is about Connecticut, it reflects the same issues for any data centre location. Its also pretty scary that so many Americans "use AI every day". What the hell for?

#datacenters #datacentres #ai #genai #environment #energy #water

@gerrymcgovern […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
December 7, 2025 at 10:38 AM
Reposted by Dr Pen
ai6yr.m.ai6yr.org.ap.brid.gy
I don't have to send cards often, but I have embarked on a new strategy, instead of buying commercial cards or making them myself: I am buying notecards from local artists when they show up at our local community gallery and using them as greeting cards/birthday […]

[Original post on ai6yr.org]
Strange chicken at the beach and an octopus
December 7, 2025 at 12:15 AM
Reposted by Dr Pen
tryberg.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
If circulating pictures of the 'Peace Prize' charade I suggest the ALT-text:

"Spineless sycophants petting the ego of malignant narcissist'
December 6, 2025 at 8:47 AM
drpen.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
The UK HE financial crisis continues to bite down hard. I can see that Uni of Essex still employed "more than 2,644 academic, research, senior support and general support staff", so they are now experiencing what places like London Met have had to do for at least a decade. Many, many good people […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
December 5, 2025 at 8:36 AM
drpen.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
Always remember, as you attend or give presentations on the use of GenAI in T&L, many people in each session will be sceptical, critical and not agree with the widespread adoption of text or image generators in their practice. But they wont speak out openly […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]
Screenshot of post in the Artists Against Gen AI group on Facebook. It reads: "We had a training at my school today about using AI in the classroom. The presenter was using it for everything from generating warm up questions to grading and giving feedback to students. I don’t know what’s even the point of people anymore. Well, after his spiel, I raised my concerns about its use. I pointed out that AI LLMs don’t produce actual content, but approximations of what you want, resulting in made up citations and factual errors. I pointed out that the creators of the content used to train the models were not compensated or even asked if their works could be used, so it’s built on theft. I pointed out that studies have shown that repeated use of AI is shown to reduce critical thinking skills and empathy. And I pointed out that AI is incredibly bad for the environment, and data centers are causing water supplies to dry up in this country. I concluded by saying that I felt disheartened that our district and admin were pushing for its use. I felt really nervous speaking my mind about it, but people clapped at what I said. I had numerous teachers find me today and tell me they appreciated what I said. It’s always good to know that those of us against AI aren’t alone, even if it feels that way sometimes. I know this group has given me a lot of strength and hope. Keep fighting the good fight!"
December 4, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Reposted by Dr Pen
benpatrickwill.bsky.social
A *very* good paper on AI, education and sci-fi here:

"As we demonstrate by analyzing the paradigmatic ideas espoused by Salman Khan, educational AI is designed to optimize the acquisition of knowledge and largely ignores other aspects of teaching and learning, such as care, play, or curiosity."
December 3, 2025 at 11:22 AM
drpen.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
The $£billion industry of identity-connected data, this piece gives some clues about why this is worth so much money and how AI will massively accelerate this already extractive and privacy destroying sector. (Essentially this is how edtech now works too. ) Portrayed as somehow in the users best […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
December 3, 2025 at 8:55 AM
Reposted by Dr Pen
rheinze.myatproto.social
Doctorow spricht von Enshittification, aber schaut sich nur die Konsumseite an. Auf der Produktionsseite war immer höchstmögliche Ausbeutung das Ziel. Uber hat noch nie Profit gemacht. Aber die Arbeit von Taxifahrern entwertet und die Ausbeutung von Menschen und öffentlicher Infrastruktur ermöglicht
December 3, 2025 at 6:43 AM
drpen.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
Call for Assistant Editor
**Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education**
Internationally peer-reviewed, the *Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education* (JARHE), focuses on the scholarship and practice of teaching and learning and higher education.

Email patrickblessinger - at - […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
December 3, 2025 at 6:13 AM
Reposted by Dr Pen
fastfinge.fed.interfree.ca.ap.brid.gy
Huh. Just chatted in person with someone who's been on #mastodon for a while, now, who honestly thought that all the Mastodon domains were run by Mastodon. And having a different domain was, like, just a vanity thing to look cool. It only came up because they were complaining about an issue they […]
Original post on fed.interfree.ca
fed.interfree.ca
December 3, 2025 at 3:54 AM
drpen.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
An interesting online advent calendar from the Ashmolean. Here are Dec 1 and Dec 2...

#christmas #advent #calendar #adventcalendar #museums #ashmolean #academia #academicchatter

https://www.ashmolean.org/advent
View of snow on Benten Hill at Kinryūzan Temple in Asakusa by Utagawa Kuniyoshi Kuniyoshi was one of the last great masters of the Japanese ukiyo-e style of woodblock printing. He is probably best known for his prints of warriors and battles of legendary heroes, but also created designs of ghosts, cats, beautiful women, actor prints and landscapes. This print shows snow at the Kinryūzan Temple in Asakusa, Tokyo and is from Kuniyoshi's series of Famous Places in Edo (modern Tokyo). The temple sits across a lake with snow-laden trees on the right. Small figures in front of the temple hold umbrellas against the snow. Bronze brooch, 100–200 CE, from Amiens, northern France This Roman bronze brooch in the shape of a stag, once decorated with bright multi-coloured enamel, would have been used to fasten a shawl or cloak. The stag is looking backwards and in the centre of the body are aged pieces of coloured enamel. Enamelled jewellery was very popular in Britain and France during the Roman period. The vast Roman empire encouraged the movement of people, ideas and fashions. Certain Roman styles of dress and jewellery became widespread with some personal items travelling long distances with their owners, though some distinctive local fashions did continue to thrive.
December 2, 2025 at 6:04 AM
Reposted by Dr Pen
stopdisinformation.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
What is #digitalpreservation? - Digital Preservation Coalition
Digital Preservation Refers to the series of managed activities necessary to ensure continued access to digital materials for as long as necessary ...(digital preservation) refers to all of the actions required to maintain access to […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
December 2, 2025 at 5:03 AM
Reposted by Dr Pen
jon.social.vivaldi.net.ap.brid.gy
It seems like most every other browser is all in on AI. We have chosen a different path at @Vivaldi

If you would prefer AI not to be integrated into your browser, but still like a feature rich browser, I welcome you to try Vivaldi.

https://vivaldi.com/blog/keep-exploring/

#vivaldi #ai #llm […]
Original post on social.vivaldi.net
social.vivaldi.net
December 1, 2025 at 2:48 AM
Reposted by Dr Pen
ruth-mottram.fediscience.org.ap.brid.gy
"All programmers, from hobbyists to those working at Microsoft or Google, use open-source software, which is present in between 70% and 90% of the computer applications we use today"
#foss #digitalsovereignty […]
Original post on fediscience.org
fediscience.org
November 30, 2025 at 3:15 PM