“404 Media asked OpenAI if it had explicitly told users that humans may review their prompts in order to improve ChatGPT’s responses, and if so, to point to where this disclosure is. OpenAI did not answer this question.”

Joseph Cox@josephcox.bsky.social · 2w ago

New from 404 Media: humans are reading ChatGPT conversations. OpenAI has hired an army of contractors who read real ChatGPT users' chats. I've seen internal docs, the review system, and real user prompts. Sometimes they contain very personal and sensitive information www.404media.co/inside-proje...

Cool to see my colleague Ai Tam Le's post up at The Auditorium: "What gives doctoral researchers a sense of belonging?" theauditorium.blog/2026/09/14/w... #academicsky #phdchat #resdev

What gives doctoral researchers a sense of belonging?

By Dr Ai Tam Le, Lecturer in Graduate Researcher Development, Researcher Development Academy, Deakin University Photo by Kind and Curious on Unsplash A sense of belonging is a basic human need and …

theauditorium.blog

✍️"There is no shortage of proposed responses to the academic paper glut, but nearly all of them aim at evaluating research more wisely. Far rarer is any willingness to limit how much gets produced in the first place" #AcWri #AcademicSky

As AI writing proliferates academics should publish less - LSE Impact

AI tools have accelerated the production of academic writing to the point where quality control mechanisms and peer review are buckling under the weight of submissions. Muhammad Aamir Cheema argues it...

blogs.lse.ac.uk

Quick observation: minimum $50k for 'Explore' grants is still a problem for HASS, given limits on teaching buyout imposed at both ARC and institution ends. We don't need synchrotrons, we just need time to write!

ARC Tracker@arc-tracker.bsky.social · 2mo ago

The ARC's new grant scheme table, in case you don't want to read through the details (which are here: www.arc.gov.au/system/files...)

New post this week: early findings from a study about how academics use GenAI that offers crucial insight into the emotional aspects of engaging with it, by @neilselwyn.bsky.social and colleagues: researchwhisperer.org/2026/07/21/a... #academicsky #highered #genAI

Academic (mis)uses of GenAI

This second post by Neil Selwyn and his collaborators shares some of the preliminary results from their research survey, which was discussed in an RW post earlier this year ‘Academics’ …

researchwhisperer.org

Another absolute cracker from @hannahforsyth.bsky.social: "Universities are not safe places to work" Academics and professional staff need to remember that we ARE the university. open.substack.com/pub/hannahfo... #AcademicSky

Universities are not safe places to work

Overwork, extreme stress, and a lack of physical safety is underpinned by active hostility to academic staff in general - and union activists in particular.

open.substack.com

REDS Conference 2027 - Call for Abstracts! Free, open, online conference on researcher development. Theme: ‘A whole ecosystem approach to developing researchers’ 12-6pm 20th Jan and 8-1 on 21st Jan 2027 Abstract submission deadline 5pm 31st Jul 2026 redsconference.co.uk/2026/06/01/c...

Call for Abstracts: REDS Conference 2027 – A whole ecosystem approach to developing researchers

REDS is a free, open, online conference designed to encourage and share research and scholarship within researcher education and development disciplines. The 2027 theme is ‘A whole ecosystem approa…

redsconference.co.uk

Big thanks to @jacksonwryan.com for writing this thoughtful, reflective piece on how #preprint servers are balancing principles of integrity and inclusion in moderation practices. Research led by @nataschachtena.bsky.social Story: www.nature.com/articles/d41... #openscience #scholcomm

Who gets left behind in Australia’s Open Access strategy? researchwhisperer.org/2026/05/05/a... #AcademicSky #HigherEd #AcWri

Who Gets Left Behind in Australia’s Open Access Strategy?

I’ve been thinking about Australian’s recent Open Access (OA) deal now that the dust has settled on the recent showdown with Elsevier. After all, we’d been spending some $500 million to $1 billion …

researchwhisperer.org

Maybe the “world first” social media ban was not a great idea to start with?? Regulate big tech, not young people 🤷🏻‍♀️ theconversation.com/social-media...

Social media giants are not complying with under-16s social media ban, new report finds

eSafety is investigating Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube for “potential non-compliance”. But several questions about the ban remain unanswered.

theconversation.com

Hoping against hope that the metric tide is turning, for all the reasons that @peterwoelert.bsky.social outlines in this article. #AcademicSky #AcWri #AcademicPublishing

Peter Woelert@peterwoelert.bsky.social · 7mo ago

I wrote a piece for 'Future Campus' in which are argue that for academic publication to have a future, a radical departure from current productivity-focused models and incentives is needed: futurecampus.com.au/2026/03/10/t...

This project by photographer Michael Wolf is so good: 'Bastard chairs' worksthatwork.com/1/bastard-ch...

FYI, Academia.edu has changed its terms of service to give an irrevocable worldwide license for anything uploaded to its site to be used for generative AI. I do not consent to this and have pulled all my papers.

Academia.edu - Find Research Papers, Topics, Researchers

Academia.edu is the platform to share, find, and explore 50 Million research papers. Join us to accelerate your research needs & academic interests.

academia.edu

Now launched! Get onto it, you good things. Let's all turn back the metric tide. #AcademicSky

DORA@dorassessment.bsky.social · 8mo ago

📚 On this International Day of Education, we’re excited to share that DORA is launching an introductory course on Responsible Research Assessment in February 2026! An online, self-paced course on the basics of RRA, open to all career stages. Watch this space! 🧐

Happy year of the fire horse [Mark Rothko, Red on Red, 1969]

Well, now this is a total surprise!

Emanuel Maiberg@emanuelmaiberg.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Alpha School, an "AI-powered" private school that costs as much as $65k a year, is generating faulty lesson plans and stealing content from textbooks for training data www.404media.co/students-are...

WHO KNEW? "Thousands of paywalled research papers could be freed with this simple fix" (yes it is good ol' green open access, but in Australia we have been so fixated on read and publish deals the humble repository has been lost in the melee) theconversation.com/thousands-of...

Thousands of paywalled research papers could be freed with this simple fix

‘Green open access’ has existed for decades – and it’s not hard to get academics to use it more.

theconversation.com

Australian University Census on Staff Wellbeing findings are now out and about! stresscafe.net/census/

Census - Stress Cafe

Despite multiple government reviews – including the Australian Universities Accord and a Senate Inquiry – staff wellbeing in the workplace has received little direct attention. In response, the Australian University Census on Staff Wellbeing was launched in 2025 as a sector-wide “name and support” public health and sustainability initiative. The purpose of the Census is […]

stresscafe.net

Welcome to 2026 from @therealrw.bsky.social! We've had a long time between optimistic round-up posts and starting this year with one bodes well. Hope you have things to look forward to, too, research-wise! researchwhisperer.org/2026/02/03/w...

Welcome to 2026

Photo by Warren Griffiths on Unsplash. 2026 is shaping up to be an interesting year. It feels like every year since 2020 has been an ‘interesting year’ for different reasons. Could we h…

researchwhisperer.org

Noooo. Mr Tulk, the iconic Melbourne cafe that's in the SLV, is being forced to close?! WTAF? Why mess with something that ain't broke? If you are similarly incensed, there's a petition - pls sign: www.change.org/p/save-mr-tulk

a woman wearing glasses is reading a book and says " nuh uh " at the bottom

ALT: a woman wearing glasses is reading a book and says " nuh uh " at the bottom

media.tenor.com

Some lovely @mcsweeneys.net to end your working week: How to become a professional writer Definitely share it with your author-y friends. 😄

How to Become a Professional Writer

Do you enjoy writing? Do you like the idea of taking the thing you love doing the most in the world and turning it into work? So that your access t...

mcsweeneys.net

Great long-read by Rebecca Solnit: "Silicon Valley is giving us life void of connection. There is a way out – but it’s going to take collective effort" www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte...

What technology takes from us – and how to take it back | Rebecca Solnit

The long read: Decisions outsourced, chatbots for friends, the natural world an afterthought: Silicon Valley is giving us life void of connection. There is a way out – but it’s going to take collectiv...

theguardian.com

Staff at a Twin Cities yarn store put together a pattern for a red knit “Melt the ICE” hat inspired by the Norwegian resistance. They thought they would attract 10 people to a weekly knit-along. They’ve sold 70,000 copies, raising more than $250k for immigrant aid groups.

‘Rage knitting’ against the machine: the hobbyists putting anti-ICE messages into crafts

Makers take a stand through ‘Melt the ICE’ red knit caps and sparkly nails – all while raising funds for those affected by immigration raids

theguardian.com

Wallowing in post-holiday feasting happiness? Got some time in this weird interstitial space before a new year starts? Add to this Wiki entry on "Research Culture" that @therealrw.bsky.social's @jod999.bsky.social created! Make it better! Read on: researchwhisperer.org/2025/12/09/r...

a man with a beard is looking at a woman with the words maybe we could be better together

ALT: a man with a beard is looking at a woman with the words maybe we could be better together

media.tenor.com

Pantone just updated their Color Of The Year

SIGH- not sure where all this will end but it is likely to be ugly

Ben Williamson@benpatrickwill.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Closing out my year with a journal editor shocker 🧵 Checking new manuscripts today I reviewed a paper attributing 2 papers to me I did not write. A daft thing for an author to do of course. But intrigued I web searched up one of the titles and that's when it got real weird...

That Vanity Fair article. Some of the striking (!) photos on their Insta account: www.instagram.com/vanityfair/ 📌 Meme not from the VF photoshoot.

Fascinating project underway by @neilselwyn.bsky.social and colleagues - please share with your academic networks! #AcademicSky

Neil Selwyn@neilselwyn.bsky.social · 10mo ago

We're running a very short survey to explore why academics are increasingly turning to GenAI to do things that they know/feel they should probably be doing themselves (e.g. write peer reviews, draft papers, data analysis etc.) - please share (or fill in!): redcap.helix.monash.edu/surveys/?s=L...

Yes! A great start but the same people are still, astonishingly, running the State Library of Melbourne. They're not saying, 'we were wrong' but 'you don't understand it, so we'll re-word it'. Rally tomorrow Saturday, at Library 12.30! We must stiffen our spines! (Ba ha ha, books, I'm very tired.)

Libby Robin@libbydeq.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Well done all! The power of protest @austhistassoc.bsky.social

Does having a judgemental lorikeet staring at you help you to write? Print this out, stick it on or next to your computer and see what happens! #academicchatter #academicsky #PhDchat #resdev #highered #suaw