Our July update is out! Semble MCP and Subscriptions shipped, Zotero libraries start roaming on Semble, and lots of exciting community contributions (we love being able to say this every month and really mean it 😇)

Cosmik Updates: July 2026

Cosmik at DWeb Camp Berlin, Semble MCP and Subscriptions shipped, Zotero libraries start roaming on Semble, and a new blog series on the sensemaking patterns we're seeing on Semble. Plus an interactive map of the Sembleverse by @davidgasquez.com, and lots more community contributions

blog.cosmik.network

I'm just now reading @randomwalker.bsky.social's writeup of his ICML keynote. It is very insightful. Everyone thinking about the future of work in the age of AI should read this. www.normaltech.ai/p/what-will-...

What will be left for us to work on?

My keynote at ICML 2026

normaltech.ai

@semble.so @bookhive.buzz any integrations in the works? Would be neat to sync up books and reviews from bookhive into Semble cards and add books found on Semble back into Bookhive

@bookhive.buzz what are the “specific parts” of our Bluesky account that Bookhive needs access to?

Culture is a form of data. History is a form of data. Identity is a form of data. That is enough to highlight that folks who don't have to assert themselves due to them being mainlined in society are ambivalent to the data protection of everyone else (it's the French Revolution all over again).

Jacky!@omg.jacky.wtf · 5d ago

People do care about their data; they happen to not use the same language that tech folks use when they're talking about. And frankly, we as tech folks fucked up by fighting for React and JavaScript everywhere (dev happiness) over privacy and safety (user integrity). It's our fault.

The application for the AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellowship, which places scientists & engineers into roles in Congress and in the Executive Branch, opened today. This program is essential for building technical policy capacity in the US. If interested, apply: fellowshipapp.aaas.org/app/main

I really struggle with OSF (@cos.io). I find the design hard to use. I don’t like reading papers from it. Papers posted on PsyArxiv are a real pain to open on mobile devices bc they’re within OSF. Not the case for those on arxiv.

@semble.so when I'm connecting two cards, how should I be reading the connecting button, say one card is an "explainer" for the other. Is the top card the one that is doing the explaining of the bottom card or is the bottom card doing the explaining and the top the original source?

Good comedians are also good social psychologists. Astute observers, with an uncanny ability to peer into others’ minds. They have to be to be funny to an audience of strangers. Good comedy anticipates the funny through mind-reading (and practice).

Many optimistic posts from me lately about AT Proto + the Atmosphere. This one more pessimistic—I think the tech is super promising, but the fact that 5 hottest reads on @standard-reader.app all from within and about this community means it’s all still pretty niche. Hoping more folks tune in soon 🤞

Standard Reader@standard-reader.app · 5d ago

🔥 The 5 hottest reads on Standard Reader this week 1. What is the Atmosphere? — @leaflet.pub

Love this idea that industry should subsidize basic research. Industry famously is great at prioritizing timelines longer than a year or two

Ameaka Fatima Nkempu, a Johns Hopkins University researcher in public health, was detained by ICE while boarding a domestic flight. She says she is Cameroonian in a Medium article that she authored. As of Thursday morning, the ICE Online Detainee Locator did not list where she was being held.

Baltimore Banner@thebaltimorebanner.com · 6d ago

ICE detains Hopkins public health researcher as agency expands airport arrests

@chive.pub is doing preprints! and oxa.dev — which is schema for research, watch the atsci keynote — is being supported by arxiv lots and lots of cool potential and (quiet) action happening here ☺️

1st book review! “Lombrozo unpacks the psychology of explanations in rich detail and sharply analyzes how explaining can help and hinder…The result is a fresh, engrossing take on an important aspect of human behavior.” 😀 www.publishersweekly.com/9780063395008

Why We Ask Why: The Science of Explanation and the Human Drive to Understand by Tania Lombrozo

People explain what they experience, feel, and encounter in order to understand the present and anticipate the future, according...

publishersweekly.com

Infantino is breaking futbol

New post on the @cosmik.network blog: who ever heard of bookmarks that can help *shorten* your reading list? On how bookmarks, combined with social curation networks like @semble.so, can be much more than bookmarks - they can be sensors! blog.cosmik.network/sensors-not-...

Sensors, not just bookmarks [Patterns of Sensemaking #1]

First of a new series on sensemaking patterns we're observing on Semble

blog.cosmik.network

"As Japanese financial newspaper Nikkei Asia found in a recent investigation, just five US tech giants — Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and Oracle — are hiding an estimated $1.65 trillion in debt that doesn’t appear on balance sheets. futurism.com/artificial-i...

AI Companies Are Trying to Hide a Staggering Amount of Debt

AI companies are pouring tens of billions of dollars into enormous data centers. They're being built on top of a mountain of hidden debt.

futurism.com

C’mon @nytimes.com — you can’t say it’s been a “rough season” for food-borne illnesses and then simply fail to mention how the #CDC has been decimated during this administration 🙄 what kind of reporting is this?

Three such alternatives to city-run grocery stores: 1. Giving people food directly so folks dont go hungry 2. Allow restaurants & grocery stores to price differently (eg richer people pay more for eggs & poorer people pay less) 3. Pay-what-you-want grocery stores All good ideas. All also bad ideas

paul khruangbin (Dan Lehner)@danlehner.bsky.social · last wk.

if there’s anything I would want to drill into the public consciousness it’s that there are almost always like a dozen ways to approach any given problem and some of them will be more effective than others and we have to stop acting like the questions around it are against fixing the issue

Your Bluesky account is a lot more than just a Bluesky profile. For instance, I also use @leaflet.pub (website/newsletter), @grain.social (pictures), @popfeed.social (movies, TV shows), @bookhive.buzz (books), @tangled.org (code), @margin.at and @semble.so (social bookmarks). #EconSky

Leaflet@leaflet.pub · last wk.

Bluesky and Leaflet are in the Atmosphere!!! ...wtf does does that mean? Here's a little explainer, written for everyone. No tech experience or prior knowledge required. All you need is 4 minutes or less :D

Is it same or different to management researchers who don’t manage anyone? 😄

Maria Antoniak@mariaa.bsky.social · last wk.

forever fascinated by social media researchers who don't use social media

I’ve created a Collection on @semble.so for #IC2S2. It’s open for anyone to throw in a link to their paper. If that’s too much work, you can reply here with a link and I’ll do it for you and send you the “card” Semble is proving to be a great tool for discovering new research @ic2s2.bsky.social

Thoughtful piece worth reading. Unfortunately, coming from psychology I’m not confident that using human subjects in a lab leads to higher rates of replicability. Maybe more than proprietary datasets, (because now more data is being made public). But more than commercial LLMs? Not sure!

J. Nathan Matias@natematias.bsky.social · last wk.

When people seek guidance from science, they expect it to work more than once. I have TWO new articles on commercial forces & proprietary models that make science less reliable, with pointers to communities and ideas that might help. This post offers a summary: citizensandtech.org/2026/07/comm...

Arriving from in intl trip this morning, CBP officer pulled me aside to go through my stuff. Eventually he found a handwritten index card I was carrying…

If I’m a reviewer on a paper that uses Pangram to claim something is or is not AI-generated, I’ll tell you right now that it’ll be a tough review.

Im looking for a way to save images to @semble.so —Im thinking things like screenshots, a slide from a presentation, conference poster. Theres no way to do this (yet) directly on Semble. Anyone familiar with @pinkleap.app @grain.social know if I can make it work? cc @atproto.com

I enjoyed this piece (no pun intended) by @wesleyfinck.org that offers another way to think of @semble.so and modular science. A way to make science even more collaborative 🧪 notes.wesleyfinck.org/3mpygn6eerc25

🚨 CALL FOR ABSTRACTS 🚨 1/ We invite proposals for posters and symposia for the New Directions in Social Media Research conference at St John’s College, University of Cambridge (7–8 Dec 2026). We especially welcome future-facing research on how the social world is changing in the digital age.

Arrived at this list through a @wired.com article. Great resource for tech not owned by one of the big (U.S.) companies I believe competition is important so resources like this are invaluable for keeping people informed––you have options! github.com/anitwek/alte...

GitHub - anitwek/alternatives-to-us: A curated list of non-U.S.-based alternatives to popular services, focusing on privacy and global accessibility.

A curated list of non-U.S.-based alternatives to popular services, focusing on privacy and global accessibility. - anitwek/alternatives-to-us

github.com

I’ve been captivated AT Protocol in just the last week. So much is being built on it and I had no idea. Such a cool technology 😆 These are all products where YOU own the data. Many are still in development, but the list here is promising. More power to users atprotoalternatives.com