A statement from Exeter UCU branch @ucu.org.uk - please share far and wide.

We had a blast hosting Sarah @craicexeter.bsky.social . We should be having more of these much needed discussions as scholars - Sarah’s talk featured a great mix of critical edge and openness to dialogue

Sarah Shugars@shugars.bsky.social · 7mo ago

I had the absolute pleasure to visit @craicexeter.bsky.social, where I laid out an argument for how critical & computational scholars should lead the conversation on AI. We need to expand research on harms, interrogate corporate hype, and support people’s critical understanding these technologies

Happy 25th birthday to Wikipedia! 🥳 A fitting moment to share 1. Their great site to mark the occasion: wikipedia25.org 2. A paper in Big Data & Society, published over the winter break, where we develop Wikipedia as a “Refractive Dataset”, led by @beeeeeers.bsky.social: doi.org/10.1177/2053...

I’m chuffed to share that I’ve been awarded this grant with @ftripodi.bsky.social and Brett Zehner 🥳 We’ll be studying how AI systems may reproduce or reinforce biases in Wikipedia, whether by extracting knowledge from the platform or by contributing content back to it. Excited to get started!

BRAID UK@braiduk.bsky.social · 8mo ago

We’re excited to announce seven newly funded projects that will establish and strengthen collaborations between US and UK researchers exploring and addressing the ethical, legal, and societal implications of artificial intelligence (AI): braiduk.org/new-projects...

👀ICYMI: "It matters less that Grokipedia succeeds than whether it helps to delegitimise Wikipedia." @gildersleve.uk #Grok #Wikipedia #Knowledge

Grokipedia falls flat, but AI is already rewriting Wikipedia’s future - Impact of Social Sciences

Launched as a competitor to Wikipedia, Grokipedia is one of the first LLM based encyclopaedias, but how does it compare to the last best place on the internet?

blogs.lse.ac.uk

Launched as a competitor to Wikipedia, Elon Musk's #Grokipedia is one of the first LLM-based attempts to create an encyclopaedia. @gildersleve.uk finds it compares poorly to Wikipedia, but the latter faces challenges as AI tools cannibalise its content and audiences. @lseimpactblog.bsky.social

Grokipedia falls flat, but AI is already rewriting Wikipedia’s future - Impact of Social Sciences

Launched as a competitor to Wikipedia, Grokipedia is one of the first LLM based encyclopaedias, but how does it compare to the last best place on the internet?

blogs.lse.ac.uk

I enjoyed writing this piece for the LSE Impact Blog on Musk's latest swing at Wikipedia, and its future in a hostile AI-skewed political landscape 👇

LSE Impact@lseimpactblog.bsky.social · 9mo ago

💥New: Grokipedia falls flat, but AI is already rewriting Wikipedia’s future ✍️ @gildersleve.uk #Grok #Grokipedia #Wikipedia #LLMs

It was a great experience organising this workshop with colleagues - looking forward to more good CrAIC!

The Critical AI Centre@craicexeter.bsky.social · 10mo ago

CrAIC Launch Workshop is a success! 🌟 Our two-day event @exeter.ac.uk was packed full of great presentations and conversations. We're really excited to build on the connections made, grow our network, and push forward this research in Critical AI together. Quick wrap up of the sessions in thread 🧵

Super excited for the launch workshop for our research centre. Sign up below for the public roundtable!

The Critical AI Centre@craicexeter.bsky.social · 10mo ago

👋 What's the CrAIC? Come find out what we have been up to in critical AI studies at our launch event, featuring a lineup of stellar speakers, on Wednesday 8th October (University of Exeter / hybrid). Register at the link!

A really great read overall on how Wikipedia has survived the Internet, and the challenges it still faces. Going straight on my students' reading lists!

The Verge@theverge.com · 11mo ago

The world’s largest encyclopedia became the factual foundation of the web, but now it’s under attack. Read more from @joshdzieza.bsky.social: www.theverge.com/cs/features/...

A depressing juxtaposition of news stories, there is such a disconnect in the national conversation. A public figure directly calling for violence against trans people is met with police sympathy and instead we get phone ban campaigns to tackle online harms 🙃.

Troubling news as Wikimedia's claim against the OSA is dismissed. This opens the door for onerous new requirements such as ID verification and stricter content moderation. These measures run antithetical to Wikipedia's practical operation and core principles as the encyclopaedia anyone can edit.

Wikipedia operator loses court challenge to UK Online Safety Act regulations

The operator of Wikipedia on Monday lost a legal challenge to parts of Britain's Online Safety Act, which sets tough new requirements for online platforms and has been criticised for potentially curtailing free speech.

reuters.com

For even more WikiResearch at #IC2S2, I'm presenting our work on WikiReddit on Wednesday 14:30 in 'Social Media II' 🧑‍💻 I'll explain how these complementary platforms are powered by the magic of ✨𝐩𝐞𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐲✨, and how our dataset can be used to study cross-platform flows of information and attention 🔀

Patrick Gildersleve@gildersleve.uk · last yr.

Great session on Wikipedia at #IC2S2 with some very cool research. Strong themes of multilingual analysis and coordination dynamics @smfsamir.bsky.social @feloe.bsky.social

Great session on Wikipedia at #IC2S2 with some very cool research. Strong themes of multilingual analysis and coordination dynamics @smfsamir.bsky.social @feloe.bsky.social

I am pleased to announce the launch of the Manifesto for Wikimedia Research manifesto.wiki. As my co-authored Big Data & Society commentary explains, the manifesto is dedicated to a humanist and critical tradition of taking Wikipedia's importance seriously. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

A manifesto for Wikimedia research: Critically studying Wikimedia as infrastructure

manifesto.wiki

Had a great time meeting everyone and seeing all the interesting work @icwsm.bsky.social. I presented our study on the Wikireddit dataset - exploring Wikipedia’s role in fact-checking, discussion, and cross-platform attention on the web. Thank you to the organisers! 📄: ojs.aaai.org/index.php/IC...

Important starter pack research in action! I received lots of follow notifications during this talk - hopefully this work prompts more ICWSM activity here!

Leo Balduf@leobalduf.bsky.social · last yr.

I'll be at #ICWSM 2025 next week to present our paper about Bluesky Starter Packs. For the occasion, I've created a Starter Pack with all the organizers, speakers, and authors of this year I could find on Bluesky! Link: go.bsky.app/GDkQ3y7 Let me know if I missed anyone!

Very cool work at #ICWSM tracking information manipulation in response to national regulation on the Russian Wikipedia fork From Mykola Trokhymovych, @elaragon.bsky.social, @e-migrante.bsky.social & others

I'll be at #ICWSM 2025 next week to present our paper about Bluesky Starter Packs. For the occasion, I've created a Starter Pack with all the organizers, speakers, and authors of this year I could find on Bluesky! Link: go.bsky.app/GDkQ3y7 Let me know if I missed anyone!

You can still sign up for our My580 Methods Short Course 👉 Modern Text Analysis and NLP with Python, by @gildersleve.uk 📆 Tuesday 27 May, from 10am - 3pm 🖱️ www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/modern-tex...

Modern Text Analysis and NLP with Python

Training for PhD and MSc students in the design of social research, quantitative and qualitative analysis.

eventbrite.co.uk

Next up on our My580 Methods Short Courses 👉 Modern Text Analysis and NLP with Python, by @gildersleve.uk 📆 Tuesday 27 May, from 10am - 3pm 🖱️ www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/modern-tex...

Modern Text Analysis and NLP with Python

Training for PhD and MSc students in the design of social research, quantitative and qualitative analysis.

eventbrite.co.uk

We are challenging the lawfulness of the UK’s Online Safety Act Categorisation Regulations, which determine our obligations under UK laws. These rules create unacceptable risks for Wikipedia’s volunteer users, such as disempowering those who wish to keep their identity private. Read ➡️ w.wiki/E3XD

I have two postdoc positions for a computer scientist and a social scientist to work on my ERC-funded project HUMANET Human-Machine Social Systems at LSE. Please read more and apply at jobs.lse.ac.uk/Vacancies/W/.... More information about the project is available at humanet.science.

📣Call for papers! 1️⃣ week left to send your 250-word abstract for @audreyalejandro.bsky.social and ‪@dandekadt.bsky.social‬'s two-day workshop on "Computational Social Science meets Qualitative Research" Learn more➡️ www.lse.ac.uk/Methodology/... @lsedatascience.bsky.social

📄 Excited to share a new dataset preprint! WikiReddit: Tracing Information and Attention Flows Between Online Platforms A collaboration with @beeeeeers.bsky.social, Viviane Ito, Agustin Orozco, and @ftripodi.bsky.social at @citap.bsky.social .

📣Call for papers! Dr Daniel de Kadt and @audreyalejandro.bsky.social are hosting a two-day workshop on "Computational Social Science meets Qualitative Research" Learn more➡️ www.lse.ac.uk/Methodology/... @lsedatascience.bsky.social

I wrote for Slate about how a conservative think tank plans to "identify and target" Wikipedia editors who it claims are abusing their position—a dangerous escalation that shifts the fight from debating edits to going after the editors themselves. slate.com/technology/2...

A Powerful Conservative Think Tank Is Targeting One of the Last Good Things on the Internet

The Heritage Foundation plans to “identify and target” Wikipedia editors it accuses of antisemitism.

slate.com

🚨New preprint! 📰The News Comment Gap and Algorithmic Agenda Setting in Online Forums w/ Flora Böwing We study: 1) The differences in comment preferences between journalists and readers 2) How comment ranking algorithms prioritise different kinds of comments to display to users 🧵

Excited to be at #IC2S2 2024! I’ll be presenting “The News Comment Gap and Algorithmic Agenda Setting in Online Forums” in session 3C, Friday 11am. Say hi if you want to connect👋