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. […]
Henning
Sounds like a good idea. Take som warm clothes with you though. Winter in NYC can be very cold. Being norwegian I thought I’d be prepared for wintertime over there, but the freezing wind between the skyscrapers were extreme when I were there in March 2002. I ended up in H&M (were else 🙂 by Times Square, buying clothing (which didn’t fit me well by the way, – far to large) just to keep warm. Wrapped up in multiple layers I still froze, wishing for clothing of the kind eskimos wear.
Scott Rettberg
Jill —
You should come to Jersey and talk to my class and eat some Italian food. I’ll throw a party.
Scott
Seb
6 months later, but this might give you an excuse to come back again, Jill:
http://www.rushkoff.com/2003_07_01_archive.php#105965746495070448
Digital Environments and the Liberal Arts
The Fifth Annual Convention of the Media Ecology Association
RIT Campus, Rochester, New York
June 10ñ13, 2004
Media Environments and the Liberal Arts
Scott
Is your email working, Jill? —
I’ve sent an email a couple times and gotten back “A message (from ) was received at 14 Aug 2003 18:08:45 +0000.
The following addresses had delivery problems:
Permanent Failure: 550-Host_204.127.198.35_is_(rbl.uib.no)_blacklisted
Delivery last attempted at Thu, 14 Aug 2003 18:08:47 -0000
“
vika
Jill-
If you’re up for stopping by Providence (it’s between New York and Boston!), and I’m there and not in the UK, I’ll be happy to feed you Russian food. Also, perhaps we could try to arrange for you to give a talk? Or is this a completely-holiday holiday? There’ll be some humanities computing seminar meetings during the semester, but the schedule isn’t finalized yet.
andrew stern
Let’s have hot chocolate, I’m moving to Boston this Fall!
Jamie
If you’re in Boston (oops, Cambridge) visiting Elin I’d be glad to sponsor you to give a talk at Dal (a little north in Nova Scotia). My grad class would certainly be interested in your research and I’m sure that the rest of the Faculty would benefit too.
Jill
Ooh, I’m going to have fun, aren’t I! Henning, I’ll bring woollen underwear, Scott, your mailserver is blacklisted as a spammer (!) but I’ll get an exception made for you with the uib.no server, other suggestions sound great, I’ll email you 🙂
Elin
No no no no guys – Jill is visiting ME! No time for a scholarly tour: every minute will be devoted to doing duck tours, museum, bars, girl stuff, etc etc etc:-)
Right Jill? Aren’t we?
😀
Jill
Duck tours? You didn’t mention ducks on the phone, Elin!
lisa
Connecticut (where I am) lies conveniently between New York and Boston. Just FYI.
Mark Bernstein
For the very excellent duck tours (which are not about waterfowl!) see http://www.bostonducktours.com/ !
Elin
Thanks for the link, Mark:-)
Didn’t remember that people outside Boston might not know what duck tours are!
Alex
Can’t even begin to describe the fun out here in Chicago – especially since you’ve got a guide with karmic debt to work off.
vika
Hey Jill,
I’m having Scott’s problem trying to answer your e-mail:
(reason: 550-Host 66.9.80.129 is (rbl.uib.no) blacklisted)
I’m not spamming, I’m talking borsch! That’s markedly different.