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. […]
vidar
You can actually get the picture you want by selecting long shutter mode from the menu; shots ranging from 1-15 seconds. Maybe you can even record a few seconds of video to show everyone how incredably wet Bergen is at the moment:)
Henning
He he! This picture sums up autumn in Bergen. In this city you see the autumn pass from under an umbrella. And winter for that matter. But hey, come springtime and it’ll all be forgotten. Or at least forgiven.
Jill
Spring is good in Bergen, that’s true… And at least we don’t get much frost. It’s not just in Finnmark frost has arrived, Anders had to scrape frost off his windscreen in Oslo yesterday. He suggests we start using the Sami system with eight seasons instead of four: that way we could have good, crisp beautiful, colourful autumn AND evil, cold, wet, miserable, dark, gloomy autumn.
Helen
Hello! Norwegian in Melbourne, Australia here.. I see you have been here! The link to your site was in my ‘recommended reading’ list .. I’m doing my Master of Arts in Communication, and in the subject Cultural Convergence we are talking about blogs.. and stuff, u know 🙂
Anyway.. love your site with information relevant for my upcoming essay!
Good luck with your PHD… and yeah, I guess I should say something about the picture:
I am so happy I am heading for summer and not winthr.. 😉
Anders
I disagree with Vidar. Long exposure will give you blurry lines for rain, wich is poetic, but not what I think you want. If you want the raindrops, turn on the flash! The quick flash of light is able to freeze drops and splashes (as well as it gives you smaller aperture and quicker exposure)
Jill
The flash! I hadn’t thought of that! Cool! Thanks, Anders!
I haven’t found any way of setting the shutter time on my nice new digital camera (which disappoints me, because I enjoy the effects you can get with shutter speeds, both for fast photos and for focus depth) but I can choose between different speeds: ISO 50, 100, 200, 400. No faster. And ISO 400 isn’t fast enough for a drop of water.
I’ll try with a flash. It’s still raining so I’ll have plenty of opportunities…
Oh, and Helen, great to know a Norwegian in Melbourne’s dropped by! Enjoy Melbourne and let us know if you start blogging yourself 🙂
vika
Oh wow, this is one of the best photos I’ve seen in a while! Uh, don’t suppose you’d be willing to send me a slightly larger version, so that I could put it on my [electronic] desktop?..