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. […]
Espen
The cobbler’s children have no shoes – and an Internet Writing conference has no Internet connection. Makes sense to me…..
Jill
There are lots of people doing interesting work but not one laptop in the auditorium, so perhaps I’m the only one who misses it. I’d gotten SO used to laptops in the auditorium. I’ve not even been bringing my own laptop actually, kind of saddened about the lack of wireless. Oh well.
Scott
I did miss the wireless as well, though I always put conference spread at the top of the list, and the food was pretty good in Nottingham. And there was a lot of meatspace talking going on, which may have been facilitated by the lack of wireless.
Jill
You’re right, Scott, the food was excellent, and after writing my grouch about the lack of wireless I had lots of good conversations, too, and even saw a few powerbooks and ibooks around. Unconnected but present.
Simon
Hi
Good to see you and Scott at Incubation. A very nice reading of Kind of Blue – thanks.
They’re currently testing the wireless here at Nottingham Trent. Hopefully they’ll have it in place for the next Incubation.
all the best
Simon
Jill
Cool, Simon! I’ve got to admit, most of my university is wireless-less, too…
Sue Thomas
Espen commented: “an Internet Writing conference has no Internet connection”
In fairness to the fantastic tech team at Incubation I must point out that Espen is entirely misinformed. There were two computer resource rooms available for the delegates to use and our IT people set up special passwords so they could access the web. The demonstration rooms had excellent connections and enormous screes, and the entire first day was streamed live on the web.
True, there was no live wireless connection at Incubation, but then I have only ever been to one conference which did have this, and that was at AOIR at the Hilton in Toronto — where access was also very expensive.
Sue
Jill
Sue, yes, I was unbalanced indeed to leave out the easily accessible and large room of computers – I’ve gotten spoilt by having happened to visit people and conferences with wireless recently and it is SO NICE, and almost a surprise now to suddenly see my computer not finding a signal… I enjoyed Incubation a lot, though I was kind of grouchy-feeling when I wrote this. Homesick, probably, for the web – I felt a lot better after using the computers in the lab!
Sue Thomas
I forgive you! Am curious about the wireless though. Is it good in Norway or were you thinking more of other countries?
Jill
Well, it’s gaining in Norway, though there’s still only sections of the university that are covered by it, not including my office or where I teach – though I can sit outside and work. I still haven’t tried using wireless with a guest at our university so it’s quite possible they’d be very stickly about it, I don’t know.
I’ve been spending time in the States though, and each of the five or six homes I’ve visited has had an open, or easily opened, wireless network. It’s been so nice to be able to open my computer after a journey and instantly be at home, my friends online, my email there, my websites easily accessible. I’ve used ichat to voice and videochat instead of using the phone. Very convenient.
I had a long gap with no conferences between this year and last, but the Media Ecology conference I was at in Rochester, NY last month was wirelessed, and DAC in Melbourne in May 2003 was too, though back then I didn’t have a wireless card in my laptop. The conference made me get one, though! I was so jealous of all the other attendees discussing the presentations in the IRC backchannels and blogging live! Actually the two librarians and archivists conferences I’ve spoken at in Norway the last few months have had wireless too – at hotels, so if I hadn’t been getting my feed free as a speaker I’d probably not have paid the 300 kroner (about US$50) a day or whatever it was to get it. I’ve paid 40 kroner (about US$6) for an hour at airports a few times, though.
I like the idea of really using this technology in a conference, I mean, REALLY using it, augmenting the already good f2f stuff that happens, but I’m not entirely sure how that might be done.