I just signed a petition calling for Norwegian universities to use research expertise on AI when deciding how to implement it, rather than having decisions be made mostly administratively. , If you are a researcher in Norway, please read it and sign it if you agree – and share with anyone else who might be interested. The petition was written by three researchers at UiT: Maria Danielsen (a philosopher who completed her PhD in 2025 on AI and ethics, including discussions of art and working life), Knut Ørke (Norwegian as a second language), and Holger Pötzsch (a professor of media studies with many years of research on digital media, video games, disruption, and working life, among other topics). This is not about preventing researchers from exploring AI methods in their research. It is about not uncritically accepting the hype that everyone must use AI everywhere without critical reflection. It is about not introducing Copilot as the default option in word processors, or training PhD candidates to believe they will fall behind if they do not use AI when writing articles, without proper academic discussion. Changes like these should be knowledge-based and discussed academically, not merely decided administratively, because they alter the epistemological foundations of research. Maria wrote to me a couple of months ago because she had read my opinion piece in Aftenposten in which I called for a strong brake on the use of language models in knowledge work. She was part of a committee tasked with developing UiT’s AI strategy and was concerned because there was so much hype and so few members of the committee with actual expertise in AI. I fully support the petition. There are probably some good uses for AI in research, but the uncritical, hype-driven insistence that we must simply adopt it everywhere is highly risky. There are many researchers in Norway with strong expertise in AI, language, ethics, working life, and culture. We must make use of this expertise. This is also partly about respect for research in the humanities, social sciences, psychology, and law. Introducing AI at universities and university colleges is not merely a technical issue, and perhaps not even primarily a technical one. It concerns much more: philosophy of science, methodological reflection, epistemology, writing, publishing, the working environment, and more. […]
I’m presenting my book Blogging at our university bookshop, Studia, today at 2:15 pm. If you’re in town you’re very welcome to come! I’m going to talk for 25 minutes and Studia’s serving snacks of some kind, so I think it’ll be good. (I always appreciate snacks.) Oh, it’ll be in Norwegian.
Mad Mullah Hastur
Good presentation, it could have been longer though. It’s a far too interesting topic to be short about it. I guess I have to read your book, now 😉
Stavelin.com » Blog Archive » Blogging i bokfom
[…] Jill “Dr. Blogging” Walker Rettberg presenterte i dag sin bok, blogging p?• studentsenteret. […]
Jill Walker Rettberg
Thanks! But who ARE you, Mad Mullah?
jill/txt » connecting students working on social media at uib
[…] Yesterday, after the book presentation, I met two of these studetns. Kristine Ludvigsen is studying pedagogy and finishing her Master’s degree on learning in Second Life. She had lots of questions about how to think about ethics in an online environment – she had permission from all her informants, but as the interviews had taken place in Second Life, sometimes other people had turned up in the middle of an interview – or someone simply walked past in the background. Her final paper is going to be a video paper, so she was wondering whether she could use material in the video paper despite there being someone in the background of the image who had’t formally given permission? I think it depends on the situation – but it does show the trickiness of online work. Kristine has already looked at the AoIR’s ethics guidelines: I think she’d find Charles Ess’s new book Digital Media Ethics useful – I only just saw it this morning and will certainly buy a copy. Charles Ess has worked on ethics on the internet for years. […]
Mad Mullah Hastur
Bwahaha! The Mad Mullah is the alter ego of your neighbourhood’s friendly administrator 😉
Jill Walker Rettberg
OMG, you’re our student advisor. We probably have the coolest student advisor in town 🙂
Toril
I can’t believe I missed your presentation!! Congratulations on finishing your book, Jill – I’m sure it’s excellent, and I can’t wait to buy it 🙂
Craig Bellamy
Hi Jill, your new book looked interesting. Is there an English version available?
warm regards from tropical Shoreditch,
Craig
Craig Bellamy
OK, just answered my own question. Well done on that.
Jill Walker Rettberg
Hey, Craig! Long time no see. Glad to see you found it 🙂
Sosiale medier @ UiB « carlchristian.net
[…] Tidligere i v?•r presenterte Jill sin siste bok, “Blogging” p?• studia. Etterp?• ble Eva og jeg sittende ?• prate med Jill og Kristine som diskuterte hvordan det var ?• sitte alene p?• sitt institutt med sine studier p?• sosiale medier. Dette kunne jeg nikke gjenkjennende til, og fortalte Jill at jeg nok burde ha kontaktet henne i l??pet av skriveprosessen min, men at jeg oppdaget henne, og skj??nte det litt for sent. Paradoksalt nok satt jeg mye alene og skrev om sosiale medier store deler av 2008. Jeg fulgte en forskningsgruppe ved mitt eget institutt, men savnet noen utveksle ideer med noen som delte mitt engasjement for nye medier. Jill var rask med iverksettelse av ideen, blogget om den allerede dagen etter. Etter en m?•neds tid var f??rste m??te p?• plass. […]