Shobha Avadhani
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savadhani.bsky.social
Shobha Avadhani
@savadhani.bsky.social
Interested in feminist pedagogy, digital cultures, qualitative research, and social justice. Senior Lecturer, Communications and New Media, National University of Singapore. #AbolishDeathPenalty #ProtectTransKids #FreePalestine
Reposted by Shobha Avadhani
NEW PUB: In this piece I unpack our current racialized surveillance regime in US public education, developing ambivalent surveillance to describe the precarious position critical educators occupy in these Times of Anti-Woke, and considering ways to resist in the classroom.

doi.org/10.1080/1479...
Ambivalent surveillance: teaching in the times of anti-woke
This article addresses the current racialized surveillance regime censoring Blackness and targeting educators in public education, known as “anti-woke.” Building on critical surveillance scholarshi...
doi.org
December 22, 2024 at 9:26 PM
Reposted by Shobha Avadhani
To all my social science and humanities folks. #humanities #socialscience
December 6, 2024 at 7:59 AM
Reposted by Shobha Avadhani
When schools want to get rid of teachers, they force teachers to ‘train’ their own digital replacements. This is what is happening on the larger scale. “Cost reductions” for the institutions, while students still get massive student loan debts, while the quality of education collapses (even more).
“AI organizations are now touting the rollout of ‘AI agents.’ Educators can train these AI agents on their own course materials, transforming them into AI clones of the instructor that can interact with students 24-7.“ 💀
Universities must beware of reliance on big AI (opinion)
Building reliance on Silicon Valley AI companies carries risks, Collin Bjork writes.
www.insidehighered.com
December 2, 2024 at 8:22 PM
Reposted by Shobha Avadhani
I wrote this back in the summer. It looks at a variety of economic, environmental, and trust-related concerns.
What's to Gain from AI? - Digest by The HEAD Foundation
I have lived through an interesting technological era. When I was young, many families still used black and white televisions, phones were attached to walls, and the internet hadn’t been created. Much...
digest.headfoundation.org
December 2, 2024 at 5:30 AM
Reposted by Shobha Avadhani
I speculated on the future of fully synthesised, software-based ‘actors’ and hyperrealistic AI replicas as part of a broader series on the future of software in filmmaking.
◡◶▿ SOFT11 | Synthetic actors
🎭 Who needs the Stanislavski Method when you can imprison your actor in an infinite prequel? | Imaginary Software of the Filmmaking Future Week 11
www.unfound.video
December 2, 2024 at 8:00 AM
Reposted by Shobha Avadhani
My students loved this article and it led to some really great multi day conversations and responses

www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...

#EduSky #criticalai #aiedu #edtech #bced
Why A.I. Isn’t Going to Make Art
To create a novel or a painting, an artist makes choices that are fundamentally alien to artificial intelligence.
www.newyorker.com
December 2, 2024 at 4:11 AM
Reposted by Shobha Avadhani
This is less about generative AI directly and more about the tech culture that gives rise to it, in case useful. It summarizes a few key points I’ve been trying to get across for years with a helpful diagram. 🤓

time.com/6836153/ethi...
Ethical AI Isn't to Blame for Google's Gemini Debacle
Ethical AI isn't the reason for Google's Gemini failure. Here's how AI companies can do better.
time.com
December 2, 2024 at 4:59 AM
Reposted by Shobha Avadhani
I would say this but .. @himself.bsky.social 's "The Map is Eating the Territory: The Political Economy of AI" back in January was really on it.
The Map is Eating the Territory: The Political Economy of AI
It's all driven by who gets what
www.programmablemutter.com
December 2, 2024 at 6:15 AM
Reposted by Shobha Avadhani
This was a the best read about AI that I read in a long time IMHO: dda.ndus.edu/ddreview/reb...
Rebalancing Our Brain: The Crisis of Meaning in the Age of AI | Dakota Digital Review
dda.ndus.edu
December 2, 2024 at 8:31 AM
Reposted by Shobha Avadhani
Finally (and at the risk of reading too far into the “what’s yours?” prompt) this article collates criticisms of rhetoric and ai as same-but-not-identical grapplings with a “copious void,” or both too much and not enough, all at once.

doi.org/10.1080/0277...
A Copious Void: Rhetoric as Artificial Intelligence 1.0
Rhetoric is a trace retained in and by artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. This concept illuminates how rhetoric and AI have faced issues related to information abundance, entrenched social ...
doi.org
December 2, 2024 at 4:58 AM
Reposted by Shobha Avadhani
Tamara Kneese’s “Memento Mori” on the entanglements of a.i. and death culture and the promise of immortality:

thebaffler.com/outbursts/me...
Memento Mori | Tamara Kneese
Techno-utopians think we can resuscitate the dead with data. But should we?
thebaffler.com
December 2, 2024 at 4:58 AM
Reposted by Shobha Avadhani
Shannon Vallor’s “The Danger Of Superhuman AI Is Not What You Think” offers a balance of critical and futural thinking on the harms of gen a.i.

www.noemamag.com/the-danger-o...
The Danger Of Superhuman AI Is Not What You Think | NOEMA
The rhetoric over “superhuman” AI implicitly erases what’s most important about being human.
www.noemamag.com
December 2, 2024 at 4:58 AM
Reposted by Shobha Avadhani
This may be overdoing it, but here are a few: first, Tarleton Gillespie’s creative audit of a.i. writing platforms:

doi.org/10.1177/2053...
Generative AI and the politics of visibility - Tarleton Gillespie, 2024
Proponents of generative AI tools claim they will supplement, even replace, the work of cultural production. This raises questions about the politics of visibil...
doi.org
December 2, 2024 at 4:58 AM
Reposted by Shobha Avadhani
Young Australians speak out against the social media ban www.sbs.com.au/news/the-fee...
'Social media saved me': Here's what children want you to know about the social media ban
Some Australian children are speaking out against the world-first social media ban for under-16s.
www.sbs.com.au
November 30, 2024 at 8:51 AM
Virginia Eubanks sounded the alarm in 2018 in this book.
November 21, 2024 at 5:16 AM
Taking photos of colleagues while they are speaking on a panel is an act of love. Compiling them into a grid is a vibe! Grateful to the friend-colleague who sent me this.
November 19, 2024 at 6:16 AM
Coming up: excited to be part of this online conference on feminist pedagogy in EAP. Going to be scripting and performing a personal narrative that engages with Suzanne Damarin's "Would you rather be a cyborg or a goddess?" feminismxeap.wordpress.com
Feminism x EAP
Symposium [LIVE]: Wed 15 May 2024, 14:00-15:30 BST Activities: Thu 9 - Tue 14 May 2024 Iwona and Sanchia are running an online event on feminism in English for Academic Purposes (EAP). We invite you t...
feminismxeap.wordpress.com
April 18, 2024 at 11:41 PM
What is the inspiration for how you teach? For me, it's my grandmother and mother. I work with feminist pedagogy, and that has a history of its own. But I'm thinking of my foremothers, and their contribution to my operationalization of feminist pedagogy.
October 1, 2023 at 11:31 AM