Laura Williams
@ljwilliams.bsky.social
Part-time PhD student researching running, information behaviour and social media. Librarian. Slow runner. Stroke survivor and neurodivergent. Evertonian. Prone to typos.
Feel like I can sense the signs of burning out. Went for my monthly GP appointment to check in on mental health and review medication. Grateful for this level of care but it’s a reminder of being unwell. Work was draining today too and I feel very out of sync with routines at the moment.
November 26, 2025 at 7:53 PM
Feel like I can sense the signs of burning out. Went for my monthly GP appointment to check in on mental health and review medication. Grateful for this level of care but it’s a reminder of being unwell. Work was draining today too and I feel very out of sync with routines at the moment.
On AI and research: “Something without a brain scrabbled around and found stuff that looks like content but isn’t, because it wasn’t chosen, analyzed, and written by a person. Frankenstein’s monster copy-paste jobs from a bunch of different places? That’s not a summary. That’s word salad.”
LLM-based gen AI for writing, audio, art, and video are "digital vultures bloated on stolen books [and other human-made things] which they churn together and vomit out in imitations of words from actual thinking, feeling brains."
buttondown.com/surekhadavie...
buttondown.com/surekhadavie...
Basement adventures showed me why ChatGPT can only ever be garbage.
In The British Library. Photo by Surekha Davies. Hallo readers, First, a news flash: Join me for a virtual book launch for HUMANS: A MONSTROUS HISTORY...
buttondown.com
November 26, 2025 at 8:19 AM
On AI and research: “Something without a brain scrabbled around and found stuff that looks like content but isn’t, because it wasn’t chosen, analyzed, and written by a person. Frankenstein’s monster copy-paste jobs from a bunch of different places? That’s not a summary. That’s word salad.”
Apologising in advance to everyone in my office because all I’m going to talk about on Tuesday is how much I loved the Paddington musical. I’m not even that much of a Paddington fan but that was stunning theatre.
November 22, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Apologising in advance to everyone in my office because all I’m going to talk about on Tuesday is how much I loved the Paddington musical. I’m not even that much of a Paddington fan but that was stunning theatre.
Reposted by Laura Williams
“We analyzed 47000 conversations that people had with ChatGPT. We’re pretty sure we don’t have consent for a lot of them. So we are reproducing screenshots here.”
www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
November 15, 2025 at 7:40 PM
“We analyzed 47000 conversations that people had with ChatGPT. We’re pretty sure we don’t have consent for a lot of them. So we are reproducing screenshots here.”
www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
Reposted by Laura Williams
No no no begs every archivist. You are never going to be able to find anything. Please don’t start using emojis in file names. Who asked for this? What fresh hell is next?
November 12, 2025 at 10:38 AM
No no no begs every archivist. You are never going to be able to find anything. Please don’t start using emojis in file names. Who asked for this? What fresh hell is next?
Excellent cloud inversions on today’s lunch break walk
November 6, 2025 at 1:36 PM
Excellent cloud inversions on today’s lunch break walk
Everything is a remix but I don’t think this is a good explanation of the concept of postplagerism and how it might translate from art to academic writing.
I'm sorry but what in the everloving heck (no energy for alt text sorry)
October 30, 2025 at 10:50 AM
Everything is a remix but I don’t think this is a good explanation of the concept of postplagerism and how it might translate from art to academic writing.
Reposted by Laura Williams
🚨NEW PAPER ALERT 🚨 @tamigraph.bsky.social @briana-v.bsky.social and I discuss wellness chatbots, their labor implications, & "private vibes" vs "privacy". We call for critical human-AI communication scholarship that takes into account context & political economy: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
A chatbot for the soul: mental health care, privacy, and intimacy in AI-based conversational agents - Communication and Change
Artificial intelligence-based conversational agents—chatbots—are increasingly integrated into telehealth platforms, employee wellness programs, and mobile applications to address structural gaps in me...
link.springer.com
October 29, 2025 at 1:34 PM
🚨NEW PAPER ALERT 🚨 @tamigraph.bsky.social @briana-v.bsky.social and I discuss wellness chatbots, their labor implications, & "private vibes" vs "privacy". We call for critical human-AI communication scholarship that takes into account context & political economy: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Reposted by Laura Williams
We will be closing our representation statistics survey at some point in the next month, and we have already heard from more than 1000 neurodivergent librarians! #librarians #neurodiversity
lancasteruni.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...
lancasteruni.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...
Qualtrics Survey | Qualtrics Experience Management
The most powerful, simple and trusted way to gather experience data. Start your journey to experience management and try a free account today.
lancasteruni.eu.qualtrics.com
October 27, 2025 at 8:38 AM
We will be closing our representation statistics survey at some point in the next month, and we have already heard from more than 1000 neurodivergent librarians! #librarians #neurodiversity
lancasteruni.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...
lancasteruni.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...
Every morning people look so upset and hard done by on the train when I ask for bags to be moved so I can have a seat.
October 24, 2025 at 7:33 AM
Every morning people look so upset and hard done by on the train when I ask for bags to be moved so I can have a seat.
If you’ve spent any time with me over the last few months you will be aware that I’m hyper focused level obsessed with mushrooms. Tonight I’m going to see Merlin Sheldrake talk about mushrooms. Very excited!
October 21, 2025 at 4:15 PM
If you’ve spent any time with me over the last few months you will be aware that I’m hyper focused level obsessed with mushrooms. Tonight I’m going to see Merlin Sheldrake talk about mushrooms. Very excited!
Duloxetine must be working magic on my brain. I just sat down and wrote a 500 word conference abstract in one go and then sent it to my supervisors. Minimal anxiety, fretting, overthinking or procrastination.
October 16, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Duloxetine must be working magic on my brain. I just sat down and wrote a 500 word conference abstract in one go and then sent it to my supervisors. Minimal anxiety, fretting, overthinking or procrastination.
I haven’t touched my thesis since 22nd September according to the last saved date of my thesis documents. Today’s task might just be getting familiar with it again.
October 16, 2025 at 9:39 AM
I haven’t touched my thesis since 22nd September according to the last saved date of my thesis documents. Today’s task might just be getting familiar with it again.
Reposted by Laura Williams
October 15, 2025 at 5:39 AM
One of many reasons why I’m stuck in a state of chronic stress. Universities shrinking and library work shrinking. I try to imagine possible alternative career paths but I’m not sure what else I’m good at.
'Universities have collectively announced more than 12,000 job cuts in the last year, new analysis from the University and College Union (UCU) suggests.'
Thousands more university jobs cut as financial crisis deepens
University workers will vote on national strike action this month over a 1.4% pay offer made in the summer.
www.bbc.co.uk
October 10, 2025 at 7:37 AM
One of many reasons why I’m stuck in a state of chronic stress. Universities shrinking and library work shrinking. I try to imagine possible alternative career paths but I’m not sure what else I’m good at.
Hello autumn term exhaustion. Every year at this time I fear I will never pick up my PhD work ever again. I am too tired. This year I feel extra stressed because I should be making progress with writing up.
October 8, 2025 at 5:35 PM
Hello autumn term exhaustion. Every year at this time I fear I will never pick up my PhD work ever again. I am too tired. This year I feel extra stressed because I should be making progress with writing up.
Should be thesis writing today as I don’t work on Mondays. But I was off sick for a day last week and feel so behind on teaching prep that I’m logging on to make PowerPoints. Autumn term workload can get in the bin.
October 6, 2025 at 10:29 AM
Should be thesis writing today as I don’t work on Mondays. But I was off sick for a day last week and feel so behind on teaching prep that I’m logging on to make PowerPoints. Autumn term workload can get in the bin.
Mandatory online training to access a system for taking on disability support in the library. Except I’m struggling with the training and it’s making me frustrated to be dyslexic. Not sure if I should ask if there is an alternative way of proving I’m capable of using the student records system.
September 29, 2025 at 5:03 PM
Mandatory online training to access a system for taking on disability support in the library. Except I’m struggling with the training and it’s making me frustrated to be dyslexic. Not sure if I should ask if there is an alternative way of proving I’m capable of using the student records system.
Reposted by Laura Williams
My jaw hurts. My teeth hurt. My executive function has all gone. Nurse says blood pressure too high. Dentist says I need fillings replacing Had a little cry. Pulled myself together and sweated away my feelings with circuits class.
September 25, 2025 at 5:23 PM
My jaw hurts. My teeth hurt. My executive function has all gone. Nurse says blood pressure too high. Dentist says I need fillings replacing Had a little cry. Pulled myself together and sweated away my feelings with circuits class.
I live under a flight path regularly used by RAF military aircraft. Extremely loud and fast fighter jets are sounding very busy today.
September 25, 2025 at 3:13 PM
I live under a flight path regularly used by RAF military aircraft. Extremely loud and fast fighter jets are sounding very busy today.
Reservoirs are filling back up and the mushrooms are fruiting
September 21, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Reservoirs are filling back up and the mushrooms are fruiting
I'm one of those 21,000 patients to get the gamma knife at Sheffield. Now whenever I'm on campus for my PhD days I see the hospital and always think of that time in my life. I'll spare you all the polaroid photo they took of 17 year old me to document the experience.
Today marks a significant milestone both for Sheffield Teaching Hospitals and UK medical history: the 40th anniversary of the first Gamma Knife Stereotactic Radiosurgery treatment, carried out on the 18th of September 1985. Sheffield was the third unit established in the world. 1/4
September 20, 2025 at 12:17 PM
I'm one of those 21,000 patients to get the gamma knife at Sheffield. Now whenever I'm on campus for my PhD days I see the hospital and always think of that time in my life. I'll spare you all the polaroid photo they took of 17 year old me to document the experience.
My WhatsApp media and camera roll is approx 90% fungi at the moment. Mushroom spotting is my current hyperfocus obsession but turns out it’s very good for helping bad mental health.
September 19, 2025 at 1:03 PM
My WhatsApp media and camera roll is approx 90% fungi at the moment. Mushroom spotting is my current hyperfocus obsession but turns out it’s very good for helping bad mental health.
One of those days where I feel broken and tired so I turn into an extra clumsy person. Dropping stuff, knocking things over, splashing and spilling, banging my head. Lots of exclaiming. But I made good food!
September 17, 2025 at 6:30 PM
One of those days where I feel broken and tired so I turn into an extra clumsy person. Dropping stuff, knocking things over, splashing and spilling, banging my head. Lots of exclaiming. But I made good food!