Spencer Williams
@swilliams1918.bsky.social
Assistant Teaching Professor at University of Washington iSchool. Studying science communication and social media.
Reposted by Spencer Williams
losing my mind over youtube's suggested reply for this comment
November 17, 2025 at 3:50 PM
losing my mind over youtube's suggested reply for this comment
In honor of anyone else whose Halloween plans involve sitting on the couch recovering from neck pain, here's a mini-thread on horror moves I've watched recently that a) I really liked and b) are considered "low-popularity" according to Letterboxd's popularity sort. Halloween hidden gems, I guess!
October 31, 2025 at 6:49 PM
In honor of anyone else whose Halloween plans involve sitting on the couch recovering from neck pain, here's a mini-thread on horror moves I've watched recently that a) I really liked and b) are considered "low-popularity" according to Letterboxd's popularity sort. Halloween hidden gems, I guess!
Reposted by Spencer Williams
Zohran caught in LIES: Mamdani claims to have "loved Final Fantasy III" when he was growing up. yet research indicates that the game he played was in fact the SIXTH Final Fantasy game
October 28, 2025 at 9:31 PM
Zohran caught in LIES: Mamdani claims to have "loved Final Fantasy III" when he was growing up. yet research indicates that the game he played was in fact the SIXTH Final Fantasy game
Reposted by Spencer Williams
Every time I need to log onto one of several LoR services to submit a rec letter, I always think of this comic. The worst are individual programs with their own log-ins. Who is this more convenient for?
October 29, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Every time I need to log onto one of several LoR services to submit a rec letter, I always think of this comic. The worst are individual programs with their own log-ins. Who is this more convenient for?
Reposted by Spencer Williams
Really excited to share this new paper on "Data Visualizations as Propaganda", co-led by PhD students Priya Dhawka and Nina Lutz, which just won a Best Paper award at the CSCW conference: dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/...
[Short thread]
[Short thread]
Data Visualizations as Propaganda: Tracing Lineages, Provenance, and Political Framings in Online Anti-Immigrant Discourse | Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction
Along with other visual content, data visualizations are increasingly used within
online discourse, including political communication. Though often considered to be
''objective'', data visualizations ...
dl.acm.org
October 27, 2025 at 9:10 PM
Really excited to share this new paper on "Data Visualizations as Propaganda", co-led by PhD students Priya Dhawka and Nina Lutz, which just won a Best Paper award at the CSCW conference: dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/...
[Short thread]
[Short thread]
Reposted by Spencer Williams
“I Saw the TV Glow” writer-director Jane Schoenbrun is doing a series at Netflix based on Charles Burns’ “Black Hole” comics (which also have a long on-off history with movie adaptations). Details here.
Netflix Lands ‘Black Hole’ Series From ‘I Saw the TV Glow’ Filmmaker Jane Schoenbrun
Co-produced by New Regency, the drama is based on a graphic novel by Charles Burns.
www.hollywoodreporter.com
October 23, 2025 at 4:34 PM
“I Saw the TV Glow” writer-director Jane Schoenbrun is doing a series at Netflix based on Charles Burns’ “Black Hole” comics (which also have a long on-off history with movie adaptations). Details here.
Nobody's doing it like pants
October 22, 2025 at 9:28 PM
Nobody's doing it like pants
Reposted by Spencer Williams
digimon fan who's never heard of a werewolf watching horror movies: oh my god he's turning into some sort of WereGarurumon
November 7, 2024 at 8:09 PM
digimon fan who's never heard of a werewolf watching horror movies: oh my god he's turning into some sort of WereGarurumon
Reposted by Spencer Williams
"We've created a perfect storm: tools that amplify incompetence, used by developers who can't evaluate the output, reviewed by managers who trust the machine more than their people." ... #AI
“We've normalized software catastrophes to the point where a Calculator leaking 32GB of RAM barely makes the news. This isn't about AI. The quality crisis started years before ChatGPT existed. AI just weaponized existing incompetence.” techtrenches.substack.com/p/the-great-...
The Great Software Quality Collapse: How We Normalized Catastrophe
The Apple Calculator leaked 32GB of RAM.
techtrenches.substack.com
October 20, 2025 at 1:51 PM
"We've created a perfect storm: tools that amplify incompetence, used by developers who can't evaluate the output, reviewed by managers who trust the machine more than their people." ... #AI
I recently had a messaging app ask me if I wanted an AI summary of 8 (!) messages in a group chat with my friends. Human connection with my closest friends? Not for me, thanks, just give me some watered down bullshit please 😭
i see you're doing something online that you have effortlessly done 100,000 times. would you like to use this ai tool? would you like to use this ai tool? would you like to use this ai tool? would you like to use this ai tool? would you like to use this ai tool? would you like to use this ai tool? w
October 20, 2025 at 8:17 PM
I recently had a messaging app ask me if I wanted an AI summary of 8 (!) messages in a group chat with my friends. Human connection with my closest friends? Not for me, thanks, just give me some watered down bullshit please 😭
Reposted by Spencer Williams
“Oh, c’mon now. ... I know! Why don’t you two go downstairs today and build a monster?”
October 20, 2025 at 8:07 PM
“Oh, c’mon now. ... I know! Why don’t you two go downstairs today and build a monster?”
Reposted by Spencer Williams
not now babe i’m working on my research
October 18, 2025 at 5:20 PM
not now babe i’m working on my research
Reposted by Spencer Williams
lol dude yall will never believe this. Saw this weird ass man dressed as a cowboy the other night and have seen him TWO more times since then,
October 16, 2025 at 10:54 PM
lol dude yall will never believe this. Saw this weird ass man dressed as a cowboy the other night and have seen him TWO more times since then,
On a more personal note, this is my first last-author paper, so kind of a milestone I guess? I feel lucky to have worked with such talented students; made my job easy tbh!
Can AI speak out on behalf of online content creators? Should it? In a new CSCW paper, my students Phoebe Huang, Jiaming Deng, and Yingchen Yang conducted interviews and concept tests with creators on Chinese social media to find out! dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/...
Empowering Creators in the Fight Against Online Hate: A Qualitative Exploration of AI-Mediated Counterspeech Tools | Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction
Content creators face heightened risks of online harm due to their public visibility
and the increasing hostility in digital spaces. Traditional moderation tools, such
as reporting and deletion, often...
dl.acm.org
October 16, 2025 at 8:53 PM
On a more personal note, this is my first last-author paper, so kind of a milestone I guess? I feel lucky to have worked with such talented students; made my job easy tbh!
Can AI speak out on behalf of online content creators? Should it? In a new CSCW paper, my students Phoebe Huang, Jiaming Deng, and Yingchen Yang conducted interviews and concept tests with creators on Chinese social media to find out! dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/...
Empowering Creators in the Fight Against Online Hate: A Qualitative Exploration of AI-Mediated Counterspeech Tools | Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction
Content creators face heightened risks of online harm due to their public visibility
and the increasing hostility in digital spaces. Traditional moderation tools, such
as reporting and deletion, often...
dl.acm.org
October 16, 2025 at 8:27 PM
Can AI speak out on behalf of online content creators? Should it? In a new CSCW paper, my students Phoebe Huang, Jiaming Deng, and Yingchen Yang conducted interviews and concept tests with creators on Chinese social media to find out! dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/...
Re-upping this just in case. How did you learn to lead a research project? What guidance was helpful for you at the time? My current advice to students mostly boils down to "read a lot of papers lol," but I think I can do better!
I'm trying to put together a list of resources for students in my lab who are interested in leading projects, writing, papers, etc. Does anyone have any resources they like about coming up with research questions, conducting lit reviews, or writing academic papers that are accessible to undergrads?
October 16, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Re-upping this just in case. How did you learn to lead a research project? What guidance was helpful for you at the time? My current advice to students mostly boils down to "read a lot of papers lol," but I think I can do better!
Reposted by Spencer Williams
Treehouse of Horror should bring back the intros where Marge warns parents how scary it's gonna be. Kids are probably watching worse things but it sets up a vibe
October 16, 2025 at 6:13 AM
Treehouse of Horror should bring back the intros where Marge warns parents how scary it's gonna be. Kids are probably watching worse things but it sets up a vibe
I'm trying to put together a list of resources for students in my lab who are interested in leading projects, writing, papers, etc. Does anyone have any resources they like about coming up with research questions, conducting lit reviews, or writing academic papers that are accessible to undergrads?
October 15, 2025 at 11:46 PM
I'm trying to put together a list of resources for students in my lab who are interested in leading projects, writing, papers, etc. Does anyone have any resources they like about coming up with research questions, conducting lit reviews, or writing academic papers that are accessible to undergrads?
Reposted by Spencer Williams
Probably finally leaving Twitter for good, need to follow more posters to scratch that itch.
I hear there is an influx of new people who might need to know who the posters are:
go.bsky.app/VhPhrux
go.bsky.app/VhPhrux
October 15, 2025 at 9:58 PM
Probably finally leaving Twitter for good, need to follow more posters to scratch that itch.
Reposted by Spencer Williams
can we all at least agree that no one should ever be criticized for any reason
October 15, 2025 at 1:54 PM
can we all at least agree that no one should ever be criticized for any reason
Reposted by Spencer Williams
Today I learned that Vincent Price's grandson is named Jody in real life, and I am completely baffled by that attention to detail in this ridiculous episode
October 15, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Today I learned that Vincent Price's grandson is named Jody in real life, and I am completely baffled by that attention to detail in this ridiculous episode
Reposted by Spencer Williams
It amazes me that academics living under an authoritarian US government that has a various times labeled both climate change and vaccine science as fraud still seem that it would be a good idea to criminalize scientific misconduct.
October 14, 2025 at 7:37 PM
It amazes me that academics living under an authoritarian US government that has a various times labeled both climate change and vaccine science as fraud still seem that it would be a good idea to criminalize scientific misconduct.
Reposted by Spencer Williams
just let gargamel have the smurfs. who cares
October 30, 2023 at 1:00 AM
just let gargamel have the smurfs. who cares