kay slater
@kslater.bsky.social
information worker + critical scholar | DJ | research network @libraryfutures.bsky.social | AI + Planetary Justice Alliance | Chicago, of course views my own! letterboxd: https://boxd.it/etsK7
the @chicagoreader.com's august print issue is out this week and it's all about surveillance 📹 i often write about ai and drones and alprs. but the stories in this issue focus on the quieter, more subversive ways people in power have built a society for fascism to thrive. more in my staff note:
The quiet infrastructure of control - Chicago Reader
Staff note: August 2026 Surveillance issue
chicagoreader.com
New Chicago Community Dashboard project: chicagocommunitydashboard.org, might be of interest to folks! Made by @datamade.us
Home | Chicago Community Dashboard
Free, annually updated data on demographics, health, economics, and education across Chicago's community areas, wards, and school board districts.
chicagocommunitydashboard.org
would like the squirrels on my block to know that no, it was not very nice to drop nuts from your favorite tree and consequently crack my windshield; and that because of this, we can no longer be friends
I've built a map displaying where on the Amtrak network you can take your bike, line-by-line and station-by-station. This data isn't available anywhere else, check out where you can go! amtrak-bike-map.transittools.dev
Amtrak Bicycle Access
Explore carry-on, checked, and station-level bicycle access across the Amtrak rail network.
amtrak-bike-map.transittools.dev
when i ask for feedback: yay! when i receive feedback: oh… my god
Technological Advancements Allow Data Centers To Run On Even More Electricity https://theonion.com/technological-advancements-allow-data-centers-to-run-on-even-more-electricity/
We invite the community to provide comments on a new strategic plan from the Coalition for Resilient Research Data Infrastructure (CRRDI). Learn more 📖 Read the draft strategic plan 💭 Share feedback 💻 Join us August 7th at 2 pm ET for a webinar! www.datarescueproject.org/open-for-com...
Open for Community Comment: Coalition for Resilient Research Data Infrastructure (CRRDI) Strategic Plan
The DRP Steering Committee is excited about the release of the draft Strategic Plan of the Coalition for Resilient Research Data Infrastructure (CRRDI). DRP Director Lynda Kellam has been working with...
datarescueproject.org
What, if any, agency do we as librarians have when it comes to AI? Join us for a critical conversation about AI in librarianship, featuring Maria T. Accardi, Sam Popowich, @kslater.bsky.social & Tessa Withorn libraryjuiceconnections.org/events/a-cri...
I know I am just being a grouchy elder but how is it 2026 and writers are still out here saying "we" think of the Internet as "immaterial"—who is this "we" and where have they been for the last decade
Local Idiot To Post Comment On Internet https://theonion.com/local-idiot-to-post-comment-on-internet-1819569981/
amazing to avoid writing a traditional master’s thesis after completing 2 master’s programs, only to write a master’s thesis-length analysis for an independent grant project before dissertation. they got me
Reason number 19,208,138 we love librarians:
Lisa Rabey@pookiebear.net · 2d agoOK. Since I'm a librarian and I must ORGANIZE ALL THE THINGS, I took all the titles mentioned by @tressiemcphd.bsky.social, @ali-alkhatib.com, and the Library Freedom Project and put them in a single list on bookshop.org: bookshop.org/wishlists/53.... (I did not coin "data politics," Tressie did.)
Big Tech knows the importance of public information infrastructures and purposefully seeks to circumvent them
Jason Koebler@jasonkoebler.bsky.social · 2d agoExclusive: We obtained a leaked playbook that Flock gives to cops to coach them on "how to speak to city council" to avoid getting their contracts canceled. Includes strategies like "own the narrative" by talking to mayor "before public comment periods" www.404media.co/own-the-narr...
“The ‘radical’ task before us is not to hope that something resembling our concepts and practices will reemerge in the distant future; it is to do whatever remains in our power to preserve them in the present.” thepointmag.com/letter/on-ra...
On Radical Preservation | The Point Magazine
Our contention is that, if we fail to think through and delimit the role of AI in our lives, we risk undermining the intelligibility of our own guiding cultural concepts, and thus initiating a period ...
thepointmag.com
just came across a brand advertising their clothing in the funniest way possible
while Giannoulias has been on the record as an ardent library supporter, he wants to see more cops and ShotSpotter back in Chicago. here’s a solid primer on the ineffectiveness of police surveillance technology like ShotSpotter that aired *checks watch* yesterday youtu.be/lnBPhelCdWEo
Police Surveillance Technology: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
YouTube video by LastWeekTonight
youtu.be
Block Club Chicago@blockclubchi.bsky.social · 2d agoIllinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias is running for mayor of Chicago, he announced Sunday. He's joining a crowded field looking to replace Mayor Brandon Johnson. blockclubchi.co/4x8rbM6
as a longtime fan i wish Charli xcx all of the best in her career but i do think especially in a post-SOPHIE world it’s time to pack it up, music-wise. this is a flat piece of toast that is certainly not good enough for marty to sit for the album cover
Judith Butler in 2022: “The public, the public good, life, and futurity all depend upon the humanities, and that without the humanities, not only is the future itself bleak or vanishing, but we have no way of describing, understanding, or countering that bleakness.” shc.stanford.edu/arcade/inter...
The Public Futures of the Humanities | Stanford Humanities Center
The public humanities stand the best chance of showing the distinctive contribution that the humanities can make to all fields of knowledge by keeping alive values that are irreducible to both instrum...
shc.stanford.edu
Trib Ed board deciding how to react to young people downtown
Chicago Tribune@chicagotribune.com · 4d agoFrom the Editorial Board: Sparkly, semiattired Lolla kids are this weekend swarming around such oft-deserted environs as Van Buren Street, Jackson Boulevard and State Street. Welcome. Your presence and youthful energy could not be more timely.
Having now seen both movies, this is very true. Kate Berlant gave an incredible performance
Miles Klee 🦉@milesklee.bsky.social · 3w agoMaddie’s Secret was better than The Odyssey
christopher nolan could not write a script for this odyssey (successfully finding age-appropriate curve-friendly black tie wedding attire for less than $200)
this image of Adorno giving a thumbs down deserves more attention
kay slater@kslater.bsky.social · last wk.
omg her and n. katherine hayles (sorry :/)
Ernie Piper@whoisernie.bsky.social · 7d agoZeynep Tufekci is still completely insane over the lab leak idea. "There is a conspiracy to cover this up" is not evidence for "covid was a bioweapon that escaped from a lab". It could also be evidence for my theory, "please stop talking about this stupid idea"
Check out my new article, forthcoming in Critical AI, preprint available here papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
as annoying as this is, it makes clear important questions that must be asked within & near information studies: how do we define & represent the value of information? what are the systems & modes of production that make that representation legible? who benefits from the operation of those systems?
Shiro Sirius@shirosiri.us · last wk.I don’t want to be too sensationalist about this but also I’m the least violent person in the world and I think if someone said this to my face I’d hit them
