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. […]
Liz
Very cool idea. Will need to try it here.
And the flylady thing cracked me up…we really are alike in many ways! I subscribed to flylady a couple of months ago, with the best of intentions, but haven’t followed up. The mail is collecting in a separate mailbox, which I empty (guiltily) periodically. Maybe I’ll try this summer, and see if we can get a routine going.
I think the thing that threw me is we have an awful kitchen sink; enamel, not stainless, with rusted spots. It’s not going to be shining in this lifetime. So to start flylady, we first have to replace our sink, which is a pretty major mental roadblock. <sigh>
Jill
That’s so funny that you’re a flylady subscriber too, though, Liz – I actually HAVE shined my kitchen sink but I’m not sure how long that will last… I think I’m having a bit of a housekeeping fix right now because it’s an area where I *can* have a certain amount of control, whereas the thesis and research and teaching and jobs and all is seeming a bit much right now…
And this week my daughter’s with her dad. Keeping a shipshape house is a LOT easier when you’re the only person in it…
H.
Anyone find a link to Nordic-countries labels? I would like to trade with Swedish and Finnish books, but it seems sort of pointless to “release” these into “the wild” labeled in English.
andersja's blog
BookCrossing.com
This is an incredibly good idea for sharing books you’ve read and don’t plan to read again: donate them to the public domain & track their travels 🙂