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. […]
Esmail Yazdanpour
Reading: french discussions about social media: One of my students in DIKULT110: Kommunikasjon i sosiale medier is… http://bit.ly/dkru5o
Héloïse Brière
RT @jilltxt: Thanks to @LOeez for great pointers to French-language sites about social media – I summarised them in my blog http://jilltxt.net/?p=2495
Rhodri ap Dyfrig
RT @jilltxt Thanks to @LOeez for great pointers to French-language sites about soc. media – summarised on my blog http://jilltxt.net/?p=2495
David Brake
What about http://loiclemeur.com/ ? He’s in San Francisco now but he’s French…
Jill Walker Rettberg
Good point, David! Though he mostly writes in English now, doesn’t he? This student has to actually find French-language material.
Gro
Merci, Jill, her er bloggen p fransk-norsk som jeg leser:
http://frokenparis.blogspot.com
Mark Bernstein
Don’t forget the wonderful group at Paris 8 — Clement, Balpe, Saleh, and others! Nanard & Nanard at Montpelier as well,
Jill Walker Rettberg
Thanks for the reminder, Mark – but they’re more hypertext and e-lit than social media, aren’t they?