Deneen Senasi
@dsenasi.bsky.social
Shakespeare and Donne scholar, Humanities advocate, library and museum acolyte, erstwhile ballerina: "To be or not to be, that is the question . . . "
Pinned
Deneen Senasi
@dsenasi.bsky.social
· Nov 10
Just want to say thanks for this lovely, welcoming space. I write and teach about writing and teaching, the creation of knowledge in the humanities and its transfer across contexts, tracing strands of public, digital, and medical humanities as instruments of action in the world we all share.
Reposted by Deneen Senasi
Girls in the Innocenti Archive: histories of Florence’s foundlings unveiled
From tokens to prayer cushions, a new exhibition brings to light the traces of Florence’s foundling girls and the women who left them behind.
by Linda Falcone
www.theflorentine.net/2025/11/12/g...
From tokens to prayer cushions, a new exhibition brings to light the traces of Florence’s foundling girls and the women who left them behind.
by Linda Falcone
www.theflorentine.net/2025/11/12/g...
Girls in the Innocenti Archive: histories of Florence’s foundlings unveiled | The Florentine
From tokens to prayer cushions, a new exhibition brings to light the traces of Florence’s foundling girls and the women who left them behind.
www.theflorentine.net
November 25, 2025 at 12:23 PM
Girls in the Innocenti Archive: histories of Florence’s foundlings unveiled
From tokens to prayer cushions, a new exhibition brings to light the traces of Florence’s foundling girls and the women who left them behind.
by Linda Falcone
www.theflorentine.net/2025/11/12/g...
From tokens to prayer cushions, a new exhibition brings to light the traces of Florence’s foundling girls and the women who left them behind.
by Linda Falcone
www.theflorentine.net/2025/11/12/g...
Reposted by Deneen Senasi
I took the K-12 student certification to see how it works. Sample question.
November 24, 2025 at 12:03 PM
I took the K-12 student certification to see how it works. Sample question.
Reposted by Deneen Senasi
On the third anniversary of ChatGPT, I aimed to pull back from “AI” as a flowing current of new models, new data centers, new initiatives, “new new new” — and look at it as a product of a specific and unique moment in history. What *was* ChatGPT? A few points in the thread ⬇️
What was ChatGPT? Now nearly three years old, we can look at OpenAI's LLM as a product of its time, optimized ever since to its earliest uses. While this period of deep disorientation and social isolation has been obscured from public memory, it remains embedded within the interface.
What Was ChatGPT?
A Chatbot Optimized for Social Distance
Three years after the launch of ChatGPT, we can finally speak in hindsight about what it was and how it came to be. Its meteoric rise shocked the world, gather...
mail.cyberneticforests.com
November 24, 2025 at 9:28 AM
On the third anniversary of ChatGPT, I aimed to pull back from “AI” as a flowing current of new models, new data centers, new initiatives, “new new new” — and look at it as a product of a specific and unique moment in history. What *was* ChatGPT? A few points in the thread ⬇️
Reposted by Deneen Senasi
Reposted by Deneen Senasi
An interview with a historian who set out to weave a textile of the type that would have been sold to plantations for use by enslaved people, using period equipment.
www.publicbooks.org/cloth-and-co...
www.publicbooks.org/cloth-and-co...
Cloth and Complicity: Seth Rockman on Plantations, Textiles, and the Art of Weaving - Public Books
“But I had found a set of instructions in the archives of one of New England's leading manufacturers of low-end woollen cloth for enslaved wearers.”
www.publicbooks.org
November 22, 2025 at 3:25 AM
An interview with a historian who set out to weave a textile of the type that would have been sold to plantations for use by enslaved people, using period equipment.
www.publicbooks.org/cloth-and-co...
www.publicbooks.org/cloth-and-co...
Reposted by Deneen Senasi
Still relevant, still our most-read post: "The school seems to believe that if they bring it up and talk to us about it, even more people will use it" theimportantwork.substack.com/p/at-my-high...
At my high school no one is talking about AI
But everyone is using it
theimportantwork.substack.com
November 22, 2025 at 2:53 PM
Still relevant, still our most-read post: "The school seems to believe that if they bring it up and talk to us about it, even more people will use it" theimportantwork.substack.com/p/at-my-high...
Reposted by Deneen Senasi
It’s widely known (and, I think, pretty uncontroversial) that learning requires effort — specifically, if you don’t have to work at getting the knowledge, it won’t stick.
Even if an LLM could be trusted to give you correct information 100% of the time, it would be an inferior method of learning it.
Even if an LLM could be trusted to give you correct information 100% of the time, it would be an inferior method of learning it.
Relying on ChatGPT to teach you about a topic leaves you with shallower knowledge than Googling and reading about it, according to new research that compared what more than 10,000 people knew after using one method or the other.
Shared by @gizmodo.com: buff.ly/yAAHtHq
Shared by @gizmodo.com: buff.ly/yAAHtHq
November 21, 2025 at 12:49 PM
It’s widely known (and, I think, pretty uncontroversial) that learning requires effort — specifically, if you don’t have to work at getting the knowledge, it won’t stick.
Even if an LLM could be trusted to give you correct information 100% of the time, it would be an inferior method of learning it.
Even if an LLM could be trusted to give you correct information 100% of the time, it would be an inferior method of learning it.
Reposted by Deneen Senasi
Reposted by Deneen Senasi
Don’t threaten us with a good time.
AI advocates have warned that if every author in the class action filed a claim, it would "financially ruin" the entire industry.
Authors celebrate “historic” settlement coming soon in Anthropic class action
Advocates fear such settlements will “financially ruin” the AI industry.
arstechnica.com
November 18, 2025 at 7:36 AM
Don’t threaten us with a good time.
Reposted by Deneen Senasi
"Powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4o model by default...tests repeatedly showed that the AI toy dropped its guardrails the longer a conversation went on, until hitting rock bottom on incredibly disturbing topics."
AI-Powered Stuffed Animal Pulled From Market After Disturbing Interactions With Children
FoloToy says it's suspended sales of its AI-powered teddy bear after researchers found it gave wildly inappropriate and dangerous answers.
futurism.com
November 17, 2025 at 4:00 AM
"Powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4o model by default...tests repeatedly showed that the AI toy dropped its guardrails the longer a conversation went on, until hitting rock bottom on incredibly disturbing topics."
Reposted by Deneen Senasi
"Ultimately, the collective strategy of AI companies threatens to deskill precisely those people who are essential for society to function. (...) automation of knowledge and culture by private companies is a worrying prospect – conjuring dystopian and outright fascistic scenarios."
“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 16, 2025 at 8:16 PM
"Ultimately, the collective strategy of AI companies threatens to deskill precisely those people who are essential for society to function. (...) automation of knowledge and culture by private companies is a worrying prospect – conjuring dystopian and outright fascistic scenarios."
Reposted by Deneen Senasi
What, exactly, does this string of words mean? Why does everyone who stands to profit from selling "AI" love to repeat it? And what's the value of slogans that masquerade as history?
sonjadrimmer.com/blog-1/2025/...
sonjadrimmer.com/blog-1/2025/...
"The Printing Press Democratized Knowledge": When Slogans Masquerade as History — Sonja Drimmer
The phrase is said so frequently it seems, like the mechanism it celebrates, to mechanically replicate itself. It's become a favorite catchphrase among tech boosters of any sort (see my post on...
sonjadrimmer.com
September 10, 2025 at 7:51 PM
What, exactly, does this string of words mean? Why does everyone who stands to profit from selling "AI" love to repeat it? And what's the value of slogans that masquerade as history?
sonjadrimmer.com/blog-1/2025/...
sonjadrimmer.com/blog-1/2025/...
Reposted by Deneen Senasi
"95 per cent of generative AI initiatives produced zero return." But huge volumes of hype.
This is #BigData, not intelligence
www.ft.com/content/fca4...
This is #BigData, not intelligence
www.ft.com/content/fca4...
Letter: Artificial intelligence and the growth illusion
From Bernard H Casey, Social Economic Research, London and Frankfurt
www.ft.com
November 13, 2025 at 10:03 PM
"95 per cent of generative AI initiatives produced zero return." But huge volumes of hype.
This is #BigData, not intelligence
www.ft.com/content/fca4...
This is #BigData, not intelligence
www.ft.com/content/fca4...
Reposted by Deneen Senasi
Allowing for the refusal of AI in our educational institutions is simply the right thing to do. If we can's support those freedoms, what are we doing? Congratulations on a year of vital work.
A new post on Refusing GenAI in Writing Studies from @jsanofranchini.bsky.social, @rcmeg.bsky.social, and me: "A Year of Refusal"
refusinggenai.wordpress.com/2025/11/12/a...
refusinggenai.wordpress.com/2025/11/12/a...
A Year of Refusal
Maggie Fernandes, University of ArkansasMegan McIntyre, University of ArkansasJennifer Sano-Franchini, West Virginia University Photo by Francis Glenn Marciano on Pexels.com It’s been about a year …
refusinggenai.wordpress.com
November 13, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Allowing for the refusal of AI in our educational institutions is simply the right thing to do. If we can's support those freedoms, what are we doing? Congratulations on a year of vital work.
Reposted by Deneen Senasi
Read Audrey Watters, always.
"Technologies are often wielded in ways meant to imply that humans are weak, messy, slow, stupid, replaceable.
We are strong, messy, awkward, flawed, irreplaceable. All of us.
Our strength comes, in part, from this vulnerability, from our humanity."
"Technologies are often wielded in ways meant to imply that humans are weak, messy, slow, stupid, replaceable.
We are strong, messy, awkward, flawed, irreplaceable. All of us.
Our strength comes, in part, from this vulnerability, from our humanity."
AI Grief Observed
These remarks were delivered this evening at the Creatively Critical Tech Speaker Series at Illinois State University.
"There is no good way to say this."
These are the opening words of Yiyun Li’s l...
2ndbreakfast.audreywatters.com
November 13, 2025 at 3:05 AM
Read Audrey Watters, always.
"Technologies are often wielded in ways meant to imply that humans are weak, messy, slow, stupid, replaceable.
We are strong, messy, awkward, flawed, irreplaceable. All of us.
Our strength comes, in part, from this vulnerability, from our humanity."
"Technologies are often wielded in ways meant to imply that humans are weak, messy, slow, stupid, replaceable.
We are strong, messy, awkward, flawed, irreplaceable. All of us.
Our strength comes, in part, from this vulnerability, from our humanity."
Reposted by Deneen Senasi
There is still time to apply for one of our 50+ Visiting Fellowships @bodleian.ox.ac.uk for the 2026-27 academic year! A vibrant interdisciplinary research centre in the heart of one of the world’s great libraries!
VISITING FELLOWSHIPS: Applications are now open for 2026-27!
The deadline for applications is Friday 28 November 2025.
For more information on how to apply: https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/csb/fellowships/bodleian-visiting-fellowships
The deadline for applications is Friday 28 November 2025.
For more information on how to apply: https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/csb/fellowships/bodleian-visiting-fellowships
November 12, 2025 at 4:22 PM
There is still time to apply for one of our 50+ Visiting Fellowships @bodleian.ox.ac.uk for the 2026-27 academic year! A vibrant interdisciplinary research centre in the heart of one of the world’s great libraries!
Reposted by Deneen Senasi
Senior Librarian role in Oxford👇 www.asc.ox.ac.uk/fellow-libra...
Fellow Librarian | All Souls College
www.asc.ox.ac.uk
November 10, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Senior Librarian role in Oxford👇 www.asc.ox.ac.uk/fellow-libra...
Reposted by Deneen Senasi
Minds over AI: To tackle disinformation, look to education www.diplomaticourier.com/posts/minds-...
Minds over AI: To tackle disinformation, look to education
Nov 10, 2025 // As AI makes misinformation and disinformation faster, cheaper, and more convincing, we need the tools to tell veracity from virality. The foundational pillar of those tools must be edu...
www.diplomaticourier.com
November 10, 2025 at 5:03 PM
Minds over AI: To tackle disinformation, look to education www.diplomaticourier.com/posts/minds-...
Reposted by Deneen Senasi
Currently doing some marking. A reminder to everyone involved in archives and collections: digitisation is not preservation. If I digitise a box of records and put the files on a USB stick I haven't preserved a thing. It's all about what you do with the files post-digitisation. #archives #digipres
November 10, 2025 at 5:35 AM
Reposted by Deneen Senasi
“The problem is that when it is installed in a health sector that prizes efficiency, surveillance and profit extraction, AI becomes not a tool for care and community but simply another instrument for commodifying human life.”
What we lose when we surrender care to algorithms | Eric Reinhart
A dangerous faith in AI is sweeping American healthcare – with consequences for the basis of society itself
www.theguardian.com
November 9, 2025 at 3:09 PM
“The problem is that when it is installed in a health sector that prizes efficiency, surveillance and profit extraction, AI becomes not a tool for care and community but simply another instrument for commodifying human life.”
Reposted by Deneen Senasi
Happy 423 years of us! 🎉 📚
The Bodleian Libraries opened for the first time on 8 November 1602...
This means, we're older than the refracting telescope (1608), the publication of Shakespeare's Hamlet (1623) and Sir Isaac Newton's apple (1666)! 😅
The Bodleian Libraries opened for the first time on 8 November 1602...
This means, we're older than the refracting telescope (1608), the publication of Shakespeare's Hamlet (1623) and Sir Isaac Newton's apple (1666)! 😅
November 8, 2025 at 7:01 AM
Happy 423 years of us! 🎉 📚
The Bodleian Libraries opened for the first time on 8 November 1602...
This means, we're older than the refracting telescope (1608), the publication of Shakespeare's Hamlet (1623) and Sir Isaac Newton's apple (1666)! 😅
The Bodleian Libraries opened for the first time on 8 November 1602...
This means, we're older than the refracting telescope (1608), the publication of Shakespeare's Hamlet (1623) and Sir Isaac Newton's apple (1666)! 😅
Reposted by Deneen Senasi
“And then you have librarians who are experiencing a real existential crisis because they are getting asked by their jobs to promote [AI] tools that produce more misinformation. It's the most, like, emperor-has-no-clothes-type situation that I have ever witnessed.” - Alison Macrina
AI Is Supercharging the War on Libraries, Education, and Human Knowledge
"Fascism and AI, whether or not they have the same goals, they sure are working to accelerate one another."
www.404media.co
November 7, 2025 at 7:15 AM
“And then you have librarians who are experiencing a real existential crisis because they are getting asked by their jobs to promote [AI] tools that produce more misinformation. It's the most, like, emperor-has-no-clothes-type situation that I have ever witnessed.” - Alison Macrina
Reposted by Deneen Senasi
“what will happen when ai takes all the desk jobs”
so, the recursive loops that form when the bots generate the content they subsequently feed on, having been deprived of the material that gave a sheen of quality to their counterfeit languagelike slop?
that’s called “model collapse” and it’s ugly.
so, the recursive loops that form when the bots generate the content they subsequently feed on, having been deprived of the material that gave a sheen of quality to their counterfeit languagelike slop?
that’s called “model collapse” and it’s ugly.
What Is Model Collapse? | IBM
Model collapse refers to the declining performance of generative AI models that are trained on AI-generated content.
www.ibm.com
November 2, 2025 at 10:17 PM
“what will happen when ai takes all the desk jobs”
so, the recursive loops that form when the bots generate the content they subsequently feed on, having been deprived of the material that gave a sheen of quality to their counterfeit languagelike slop?
that’s called “model collapse” and it’s ugly.
so, the recursive loops that form when the bots generate the content they subsequently feed on, having been deprived of the material that gave a sheen of quality to their counterfeit languagelike slop?
that’s called “model collapse” and it’s ugly.
Reposted by Deneen Senasi
One can have an informed citizenry or a bunch of gullible marks with no knowledge or thinking skills with which to make sense of the world. The garbage and propaganda that AI crawlers swallow for their data sets are a gigantic thumb on the sales of the latter.
Tell the offline people in your life.
Tell the offline people in your life.
‘In a twist that befuddled researchers for a year, almost no human beings visit the sites, which are hard to browse or search. Instead, their content is aimed at crawlers, the software programs that scour the web & bring back content for search engines & LLMs’
www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
Russia seeds chatbots with lies. Any bad actor could game AI the same way.
In their race to push out new versions with more capability, AI companies leave users vulnerable to “LLM grooming” efforts that promote bogus information.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 3, 2025 at 7:01 AM
One can have an informed citizenry or a bunch of gullible marks with no knowledge or thinking skills with which to make sense of the world. The garbage and propaganda that AI crawlers swallow for their data sets are a gigantic thumb on the sales of the latter.
Tell the offline people in your life.
Tell the offline people in your life.
Reposted by Deneen Senasi
Käthe Kollwitz (1867–1945), German artist who worked with painting, printmaking and sculpture, known for her self portraits and depictions of the effects of poverty, hunger and war on the working classes #WomensArt
November 2, 2025 at 5:57 AM
Käthe Kollwitz (1867–1945), German artist who worked with painting, printmaking and sculpture, known for her self portraits and depictions of the effects of poverty, hunger and war on the working classes #WomensArt