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. […]
I’ve been enjoying the streetart and graffiti on the old student centre in the last week or so. The building’s going to be torn down, so it’s been declared fair game for decoration, and every morning when I walk past it new additions have appeared.
hanna
If you’re interested in stencil graffiti, check out Bansky‘s work. He’s the most famous graffiti artist in the UK, and pretty much all of his (famous) work is done using stencils. He’s also got a pretty good guide to stencilling here.
str¯k
everyone can cut a stencil. To make it look good is a bit more difficult. good luck!
talking of bansky, did you know that dolk sells prints via his site? The R2D2 rape, as seen on the studentsenteret wall.
check out his profile on http://www.pictureonwalls.com
Jill
I’ve been thinking the become-a-stencil-artist thing over and I think for starters I’ll just stick to blowpens with my eight-year-old. It must take a great deal of time and skill and artistic sense to make good stencils.
Great to know that Dolk’s selling his work! Hm, still light out, perhaps I should wander home and take some more photos of the Student centre stencils…
jill/txt » banksy in new york
[…] [banksy in new york] Hanna told me about Banksy a few weeks ago, when I was all fascinated by the stencil artists in Bergen. Last Saturday I narrowly missed seeing his work in the New York Metropoli […]
str¯k
banksy sells dolks work, not vice versa.
Jill
No no, Str¯k, I meant that Dolk was selling his own work. Bit ambiguously written, I guess.
Mark of the Beast
I saw some awesome stencil art when I was in Bergen last year … one guy in particular was Wowser or something, he had stuff everywhere; there was a Johnny Rotten one and the other one I remember was a businessman doing a Hendrix pose over a burning briefcase, and a dog humping R2D2. Hilarious …
I’m hoping to get back there this year and see how things have progressed …
Tone
I have not seen STRÿK here in Bergen, but many DOLK stencils. I find stencils all over the city,
but only those WOWSER,DOLK and MIR have signatures. I think there are many
stencile artists here in Bergen.
richard
hi there, i saw your posts about 2 funny stencils:
businessman doing a Hendrix pose over a burning briefcase,
and a dog humping R2D2
i would love to find prints or something of them. who are the authors?
can you help me get in touch with them?
thanks!!
Jill Walker Rettberg
I think Dolk did those – there’s a blog dedicated to Dolk’s stencil’s here. Str¯k left a comment above in this thread with a link to where Dolk sells prints.