Jennifer Sano-Franchini
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jsanofranchini.bsky.social
Jennifer Sano-Franchini
@jsanofranchini.bsky.social
510 followers 420 following 240 posts
assoc prof | cultural & digital rhet // asian am rhet // UX // beneficiary of affirmative action // refusing genAI 👹
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jsanofranchini.bsky.social
The second CCCC Reading Circle on Land, Labor, Water & Writing: The Costs of Generative AI in the Writing Classroom is on Wed, Dec 10 @ 4–5 PM ET.

Looking forward to discussing @dustinedwards.bsky.social's Enduring Digital Damage w/@hannahhopkins.bsky.social & @donniejsackey.bsky.social!
Event Flyer—Land, Labor, Water & Writing: The Costs of Generative AI in the Writing Classroom, CCCC Fall 2025 Reading Circle, Session 2: Book Discussion of Enduring Digital Damage by Dustin Edwards, Wednesday, December 10, 2025, 4–5 PM Eastern, with brief remarks from the author, facilitated by Hannah Hopkins and Donnie Johnson Sackey.
November 4, 2025 at 3:45 PM
jsanofranchini.bsky.social
Join Carmen Kynard and Cindy Tekobbe for a discussion of @karenhao.bsky.social's Empire of AI!

Thursday, October 16, 5:30 PM ET, free for all CCCC members.

Join CCCC: ncte.org/college/cccc....

Register: my.ncte.org/event-inform...

Enter our book giveaway: ncte.org/cccc-fall-20...

@ncte.org
Flyer for CCCC Fall 2025 Reading Circle, Labor, Land, Water & Writing: The Costs of Generative AI in the Writing Classroom. Book Discussion: Empire of AI by Karen Hao, Thursday, October 16, 2025, 5:30–6:30 PM ET.
September 30, 2025 at 1:22 PM
jsanofranchini.bsky.social
automating inhumanity
screenshot from google search: Top stories: OpenAI sued over teen's suicide after ChatGPT interaction. To the left, a story by OpenAI from 2 days ago titled "Helping people when they need it most." To the right, a BBC article from 1 day ago titled "Parents of teenager who took his own life sue OpenAI.
August 29, 2025 at 12:42 AM
jsanofranchini.bsky.social
To say that genAI is "just a tool" or "like a calculator" is a prime example of what it means presume that technologies can be ideologically neutral, ignoring a long established understanding in writing studies, rhetoric and composition, and technical comminication.
July 10, 2025 at 12:08 AM
jsanofranchini.bsky.social
Good to see! This makes intuitive sense and it aligns with what Karen Hao has been saying. I would think goal-oriented/task-specific, localized, and context and community specific are key, as we noted on refusinggenai.wordpress.com.
"we are specifically opposed to capital "G" Generative AI technologies produced by Big Tech corporations and backed by venture capital...We are not necessarily opposed to the local development of homegrown genAI platforms designed to address specific community needs through responsible privacy policies and critical attention to the broad impacts of the technology."
June 10, 2025 at 2:17 PM
jsanofranchini.bsky.social
Part 2
Part 2 of the LinkedIn post: Ch. 2 Technical Performance appears to rely heavily on self-reporting by AI companies, which should therefore be interpreted as potential or likely marketing arguments. In addition, there’s a heavy reliance on the method of benchmarking. Not only is benchmarking limited as the report itself acknowledges on pp. 100–102, but benchmarks are also often more reflective of the values of the companies & orgs that set them—including their views of “human ability”—than anything else. For instance, the report mentions the Turing test as a longstanding benchmark. I think we need to be clear that the Turing test is a measure of whether people can tell the difference between a chatbot and a human writer—which I think most would agree that it’s quite difficult if not impossible to tell at this point—and not the actual “intelligence” of an LLM chatbot as some might presume, nor its efficacy by any number of other metrics. The other source cited is a report from OpenAI. Although presented and formatted as a technical report, this document should also be contextualized as a marketing effort to bolster the legitimacy of OpenAI’s product. In addition, the claim that GPT-4 “scored in the 93rd percentile on the SAT (Reading & Writing), the 99th percentile on the GRE Verbal exam, the 85th-100th percentile on [several] AP exams” says more about the limits and problems of standardized testing, not to mention admissions processes, than it does the competence of GPT-4 or its ability in comparison to human intelligence or performance. I’m actually really curious to see meaningful evidence that substantiates these claims that current chatbots are remarkably capable at writing or any of the other things that these companies are claiming, so if you have something like that, please feel free to share! Anyway, here’s a source on Evaluating Arguments about GenAI that may be useful: https://refusinggenai.wordpress.com/evaluating-arguments/
April 25, 2025 at 4:43 PM
jsanofranchini.bsky.social
I spent a bunch of time responding to some uptake of AI hype in the educational sector and am sharing here bc I think it's important to see examples of what this looks like and how to assess it—and also to have a reminder of the value of rhetorical analysis www.linkedin.com/posts/jsanof...
LinkedIn post that begins: I appreciate this effort to push the conversation forward while acknowledging dissenting perspectives but I have to point out that the sources used to substantiate the claim that “today’s major GenAI tools are remarkably competent when compared to previous systems from only a few years ago,” or that “They have now surpassed non-expert human performance in many areas central to education” must be read with much greater criticality. (Excuse the essay ahead, which continues into the comments.) For example, the co-directors of the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Index Report are Yolanda Gil and Raymond Perrault, the latter of whom is an AI researcher & Distinguished Computer Scientist at SRI International, where he spent 30 years as director of the Artificial Intelligence Center. In other words, he's staked his career in AI and thus has a vested interested in its success. Steering committee members include folks affiliated with Anthropic and Google, and supporting partners include private companies who have a massive financial stake in the success of generative AI, including Google & OpenAI. These are all factors that should inform our understanding of the goals of the report. Next, the report intersperses information about AI with claims about generative AI. This rhetorical move contributes to the conflation of products and technologies that have very different purposes, functions, outcomes, and implications. In addition, I would argue that the Top Takeaways listed on pp. 3–5 have little to do with the functional capabilities of these products and more to do with uptake, investment, and outlook—things that are more reflective of marketing success than anything else. (Interestingly, the report makes it very easy to pick up the claims it wants you to take away through its Chapter Highlights, Overviews, and Reviews, which may be a fine summary but insufficient for understanding the credibility of the claims being made.)
April 25, 2025 at 4:38 PM
jsanofranchini.bsky.social
I can't believe it's #4C25 week! In addition to the Thurs morning address, I'll be on two Friday panels--one on underground/college radio and the other I'm just chairing on BIPOC instructors & mitigating bias in SEIs.

What about you??

Hope to see ya in Baltimore!!!!
CCCC 2025 Panel G.19 Tuning in "Left of the Dial": From Underground Radio to Writing Studies CCCC 2025 panel H.24 BIPOC Writing Instructors' Teaching and Learning B-Sides: Extending the Conversation on Mitigating Bias in SEIs
April 8, 2025 at 2:05 AM
jsanofranchini.bsky.social
More than 2000 showed up in Morgantown, West Virginia 🥹 💙💛 Lots of great signs but I'll never forget RFK CAN SMD 😂 #HandsOff
Large crowd seated at Ruby Amphitheater, facing a speaker on the stage to the right.
April 6, 2025 at 1:04 AM
jsanofranchini.bsky.social
From an ornithologist friend on the NSF cuts—if you care about the price of eggs, you should care about what the administration is doing to defund scientific research.
Facebook post that states: "This Republican administration is destroying US science - and if you think this doesn’t affect you, think again… if you take medicine of any kind, benefit from cancer treatments for you or a family member, eat food, use a computer or phone, you directly benefit from science!!! I was scheduled to be on a panel for NSF starting at 8 am this morning, but it got cancelled approximately 12 hours before it began. Why? Because of mass firings at NSF yesterday, with over 10% of staff scientists cut for no reason (many who worked there for years!). The panel I was scheduled to be on would have potentially funded work to combat BIRD flu… work that ultimately could have made for cheaper eggs and fewer deaths and economic losses from another pandemic. You can tell yourself that “all new administrations fire people”. Not at this scale, and not in this haphazard manner. Don’t kid yourself so you can sleep at night. This is an all out war on science that is NOT great for any of us in America."
February 19, 2025 at 3:50 PM
jsanofranchini.bsky.social
Also the RCWS History & Theory of Rhetoric Forum Panel at #MLA25:

Rhetorics of (In)Visibility and the Law: Intersectional Perspectives from the Local to the National
Saturday 1/11, 5:15–6:30 PM
MLA 2025 Session flyer for Rhetorics of (In)Visibility and the Law, Saturday 1/11, 5:15–6:30 PM. The Afro-Techno Jeremiad as a Challenge to Technological Progress Narratives, Earl Brooks, U of Maryland Baltimore County New Research Methods for Studying a New Generation of Policy Writers: Insights from Moms for Liberty, Katherine S. Flowers, U of Massachusetts, Lowell Incarceration, Illness, and Rhetorical Resistance, Manu Sundaresan, U of Chicago Analyzing Accounts and Technologies of Policing from the Civil Rights Era to the Present, Brandon Erby, U of Kentucky
January 7, 2025 at 9:32 PM
jsanofranchini.bsky.social
Just wanted to spread the word about the CCCC Sponsored Panel at #MLA25:

Students' Right to Their Own Language, Disciplinary Histories, and Equitable Futures

Friday 1/10, 3:30–4:45 PM

@rcmeg.bsky.social
Michelle Grue
Xochilt Trujillo Flores
@kasenc.bsky.social
Session flyer for SRTOL, Disciplinary Histories, and Equitable Futures, MLA 2025, Friday 1/10, 3:30–4:45 PM. CCCC in 1968: The Abundant History of Ernece B. Kelly and the Origins of the NCTE Taskforce on Racism and Bias, Megan McIntyre, U of Arkansas, Fayetteville SRTOL and SRTOW: Abundant Resources for Giving Feedback on Black Students’ Writing, Michelle Grue, U of California, Santa Barbara They Say, I Say, No SAE: Teaching Students to Harness the Rhetorical Tools They Came With, Xochilt Trujillo Flores, California State U, San Bernardino Abundant Virtues: How Assignment Guidelines Encourage and Negotiate Personal, Disciplinary, and Bureaucratic Values, Kasen Christensen, East Carolina U
January 7, 2025 at 9:27 PM
jsanofranchini.bsky.social
Sharing two new pages on Refusing GenAI in Writing Studies:

- What Is GenAI Refusal? refusal.blog/what-is-refu...

- OAQs (Occasionally Asked Questions) refusal.blog/oaqs/

...more coming soon!

@nobugsnous.bsky.social
@rcmeg.bsky.social
Refusing GenAI
December 13, 2024 at 9:26 PM
jsanofranchini.bsky.social
Is it just me or does anyone else just not get the appeal of bath and beauty products scented to smell like baked goods or food in general?
Screen capture of Native brand moisturizing shampoo, strawberry frosted donut scent
December 11, 2024 at 1:10 AM
jsanofranchini.bsky.social
Can I share another gem from this piece that I think is super relevant to current discussions of GenAI?

Lately I've seen more on here about how AI relies on exploited labor in the Global South for data labeling & content moderation. Selfe described this dynamic quite clearly more than 25 years ago.
"From our perspective today, of course, we can see a darker side of this dynamic. The economic engine of technology must be fueled by—and produce—not only a continuing supply of individuals who are highly literate in terms of technological knowledge, but also a ongoing supply of individuals who fail to acquire technological literacy, those who are termed 'illiterate' according to the official definition. These latter individuals provide the unskilled, low-paid labor necessary to sustain the system I have described—their work generates the surplus labor that must be continually re-invested in capital projects to produce more sophisticated technologies. "The people labeled as 'illiterate' in connection with technology—as expected—are those with the least power to effect change in this system. They come from families who attend the poorest schools in this country and they attend schools with the highest populations of students of color. In part because of such facts, those students have less access to technology."
December 5, 2024 at 11:51 PM
jsanofranchini.bsky.social
New Resource: Refusing GenAI in Writing Studies: A Quickstart Guide (refusal.blog)

This guide outlines ten premises that ground refusal as a disciplinary response to GenAI in writing studies. We'll be updating this website w/more in the weeks ahead..!

@nobugsnous.bsky.social @rcmeg.bsky.social
"Refusing GenAI"
November 15, 2024 at 2:01 PM
jsanofranchini.bsky.social
New earrings
Neon yellow, semi-transparent acrylic earrings in the shape of upside down triangles that say "abortion is healthcare" in all caps, set on a granite countertop
November 15, 2024 at 5:21 AM
jsanofranchini.bsky.social
Little buff boy #itysl
Photo collage featuring three shots of a fawn colored Jindo sitting intently.
November 11, 2024 at 3:26 AM
jsanofranchini.bsky.social
Just in time for the holidays
Etsy listing for a yellow t-shirt with a colorful umbrella and the text "God Makes Me Wet" in colorful lettering
November 8, 2024 at 3:17 PM
jsanofranchini.bsky.social
NCTE joined PEN America, FIRE, AFT, ASA, ACLU Florida, AHA, and several other organizations in this letter urging that Florida lawmakers reject SB 1372/HB 1291 pen.org/wp-content/u...
Logos of PEN America, the United Faculty of Florida, the Florida Education Association, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, Equality Florida, the American Federation of Teachers, the American Sociological Association, the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, the American Historical Association, the Interfaith Alliance of Southwest Florida, the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Miami, the Woodhull Freedom Foundation, Defending Rights & Dissent, Citizens for Truth and Justice in Education, the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education, EducateUS, the National Council of Teachers in English, the Freedom to Read Foundation, the Florida Council of Churches, and People for the American Way "This nonpartisan collective agrees that SB 1372 and HB 1291 will have a profound chilling effect on speech, run afoul of First Amendment protections, and stand to permanently damage academic freedom in Florida, much like their predecessor, the Stop WOKE Act. We urge the Florida Senate to reject SB 1372 and the House of Representatives to reject HB 1291."
March 4, 2024 at 6:38 PM
jsanofranchini.bsky.social
We really would love to see those proposals! #MLA25 #teamrhetoric
Flyer for MLA 2025 call for proposals on Rhetorics of In/Visibility and the Law: Intersectional Perspectives from the Local to the National Amidst a national upswell in anti-equity legislation, this panel centers the experiences of activists and academics from states seeking to in- /hyper-visibilize minoritized populations via policies that enact erasure, risk, and harm. Sponsored by the RCWS History & Theory of Rhetoric Forum. Send 250-word proposals to jennifer.sano-franchini@mail.wvu.edu by March 15, 2024.
March 1, 2024 at 4:38 PM
jsanofranchini.bsky.social
It's here! 🤩🤩🤩 Technical Communication 70.4, Special Issue on Critical Digital Interface Analysis and Social Justice stc.org/techcomm/ #techcomm
Cover and contents for Technical Communication, Volume 70, Number 4, November 2023, Special Issue in Critical Digital Interface Analysis and Social Justice
November 15, 2023 at 4:17 PM