Grease came out in 1978, it was about life in 1958. If it came out today it would be about life in 2006 🙈
Sam Kinsley
@samkinsley.uk
Bristolian. Snr Lecturer Digital Geographies, Exeter. RGS-IBG Deputy Chair Digital Geographies Research Group. See also @geocritbot.uk
Financialisation of UK Higher Ed. & functional stupidity The higher education sector across the anglophone parts of the world, amongst others, is in continuing crisis. At present that crisis is most visible in the UK through the proposed, and implemented, redundancy programmes, real-terms cuts to…
Financialisation of UK Higher Ed. & functional stupidity
The higher education sector across the anglophone parts of the world, amongst others, is in continuing crisis. At present that crisis is most visible in the UK through the proposed, and implemented, redundancy programmes, real-terms cuts to overall investment in research and ongoing (at present - annual) national level pay disputes between the largest academic trade union and the employers group…
samkinsley.com
Beyond sick of the inaction and head-in-the-sand from this government on HE.
Margot Finn@eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 2w ago'Ministers have rejected calls to establish a “special regime” for bailing out universities facing insolvency, saying that political intervention should not be the “default response” in such scenarios.' 1/3
Most popular smart watches and fitness trackers aren't end-to-end encrypted, nor say how often governments demand access to users' data. My argument: If wearable makers don't want to disclose that they're turning over users' data to the feds, then the obvious fix is to end-to-end encrypt it.
Most fitness wearables lack end-to-end encryption and don't disclose government data demands, says EFF
Most fitness wearables don't use end-to-end encryption to protect users' health information, leaving open the door for government demands for data.
this.weekinsecurity.com
Without saying your age, what is your favourite film released the year you turned 18? youtu.be/3zlQYQ0ecA4?...
Any Jungle In Guy?
YouTube video by BikeMartyr
youtu.be
Detritus@detritus.bsky.social · 2w agoWithout saying your age, what is your favourite movie released the year you turned 18? youtu.be/KGZK2NEsIqc
Geography’s subject Conceptualisations of a ‘subject’ or subjectivity form part of a theoretical tradition variously theorising who, what and where the ‘human’ is in … Geography’s subject Nine years on and I think I still believe what I argued her about understandings of subjects/subjectivity in…
Geography’s subject
Conceptualisations of a ‘subject’ or subjectivity form part of a theoretical tradition variously theorising who, what and where the ‘human’ is in … Geography’s subject Nine years on and I think I still believe what I argued her about understandings of subjects/subjectivity in geography. I’d be interested to hear what others think…
samkinsley.com
Financialisation of UK Higher Ed. & functional stupidity The higher education sector across the anglophone parts of the world, amongst others, is in continuing crisis. At present that crisis is most visible in the UK through the proposed, and implemented, redundancy programmes, real-terms cuts to…
Financialisation of UK Higher Ed. & functional stupidity
The higher education sector across the anglophone parts of the world, amongst others, is in continuing crisis. At present that crisis is most visible in the UK through the proposed, and implemented, redundancy programmes, real-terms cuts to overall investment in research and ongoing (at present - annual) national level pay disputes between the largest academic trade union and the employers group…
samkinsley.com
My melon is twisted and it isn’t down to illicit substances, early 90s rave music or the heat… I have Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo. It’s not very nice…
When I joined Exeter in 2013 I had applied for 52 jobs. I was nearing the end of my contract at UWE, I was so proud & excited to be joining a dept with so many of my academic heroes in it. It wasn’t perfect, the university already had problems, but geography was a hugely inspiring dept.
Susan Smith, a geographer & outstanding scholar, on the crisis in U.K. HE
Margot Finn@eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 3w agoThis is an excellent opportunity for the signatories to lean into addressing the wider UK university crisis. Here's a perspective on that imperative from the vantage point of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences:
I've signed and sent a letter - from authors, broadcasters, journalists, artists, scholars and performers - to express our deep concern at @exeter.ac.uk’s troubling plans to make mass redundancies within the Humanities Dept @uniofexeterhass.bsky.social. I would love it if you read and shared widely.
"why do fossil fuel companies plan to pump more than ever?" Sick of articles deploring growth in oil production without mentioning rich-world demand. One reason they pump more is we -- with our refusal to change our carbon-intensive ways -- ask them to. Don't ask oil firms to change if you won't.
Fuel on the fire: why oil companies are profiting as the world gets dangerously hot
The scientific consensus is that burning fossil fuels drives the climate crisis, yet the world’s biggest oil companies are planning to increase production
theguardian.com
My understanding is that we are already heading for climate catastrophe with 3 degrees of warming, which suggests US-led AI boosterism is lethal denialism. www.wri.org/insights/cli...
What Would Cities Look Like With 3 Degrees C of Warming vs. 1.5? Far More Hazardous and Vastly Unequal
New data from WRI finds that in most cities, the difference between 3 degrees C and 1.5 degrees C of warming is sizable.
wri.org
Shannon Vallor@shannonvallor.bsky.social · last mo.During my time in the US last month, I had multiple people argue to my face that ‘winning’ the AI race is worth risking climate catastrophe, loss of human agency, mass psychological disturbance, informational collapse, and of course, any moral commitment to a better world. I’m still processing that.
Something deeply troubling & shocking is happening at Exeter University*, where a mass cull of staff is planned, even though it's in surplus. No good justifications given. @jamesgdyke.info provides the details: www.technosphere.earth/the-bonfire-... *Disclosure: I have a Visiting Fellowship here. +🧵
The bonfire of the humanities
150 academic posts at the University of Exeter are to be cut, most in the humanities but also in social sciences, engineering and environmental sciences
technosphere.earth
This is cultural suicide and intellectual vandalism. In an era where humanities-illiterate tech bros have unearned god-like powers, we need historians, philosophers, ethicists, classicists more than ever.
deplorable.is
Francesca Stavrakopoulou@proffrancesca.bsky.social · last mo.I’d love it if you’d sign this. It might not prevent me and my colleagues losing our jobs, but it will draw attention to the ideological vandalism being perpetrated by the wealthy execs running our university. Stop Redundancies at the University of Exeter - sign the petition below! c.org/NpvY4sR9gH
153 academic jobs are proposed to be cut at Exeter. Just had the news. Process is going to be quick too. We will be told if we are part of those considered later today
There is a horrible irony to this question but(!): will anyone be doing any research on what work (if any) the thousands of academics that are being made redundant or quietly leaving academia go on to do? Obviously not the first time & won’t be the last, but worthwhile asking the question…
Being an academic in the UK is to be told that your research having a real-world impact is hugely important... only for you to wake up every day with the government announcing a new stupid policy clearly devoid of any fact-based evidence or underpinning research to justify it.
'We are clamping down on the harm caused by social media. 'Read all about it on the Nazi pogrom deepfake abuse website'
The ways digitisation and AI impact our lives aren't just related to their outputs; they also profoundly change processes and how we relate to one another. An essay by me about forms and admin and people and how, frankly, working in the library is pretty cool. buttondown.com/justenoughin...
Forms don't love you back
Some days, you just don't want to have to fill in another form. An essay (sorry) about AI and the coming formification of everything.
buttondown.com
BBC: “So what advice did David Hockney give to you?” BBC Guest: “Fuck everyone.”
Any VC/SMT/Council with the resource and even a small modicum of progressive and strategic sensibility would give this a new home.
Will Davies@will-davies.bsky.social · 2mo agoWe are closing @goldperc.bsky.social after 12 years. Here I reflect on the times and what we made of them www.goldperc.uk/project_post...
What's it actually feel like to live through the decline and fall of mass Higher Education in Britain? Today I've written about this from the inside here... Hope you like it, and hope you find it useful. isrf.org/blog/what-do...
What Does It Feel Like to Live Under the Threat of Redundancy?
isrf.org
Was "Let's charge exorbitant fees and make universities financially dependent on international students." Then "Let's make international students feel unwelcome in the country." And "Let's cut services and support." Now "Hey, why don't you come any more? Who's going to pay for our universities?"
University of Sussex aims to cut 200 jobs in £35m annual savings drive
Trade union Unison says the cuts will only heap "strain and uncertainty" on the staff who remain.
bbc.com
“19 full-time faculty members, 10 of them tenured, were told… that they’d been laid off… Dozens more have taken early-retirement or buyout offers… Among those laid off Monday was Sanjay G. Reddy, a professor of economics + prominent critic of the university’s financial management.”
‘It’s Just Been Agony’: Facing a Big Deficit, the New School Begins Layoffs
One of New York’s most prominent universities has handed layoff notices to about 15 percent of its employees, marking its latest measure to rectify a $48-million budget deficit.
chronicle.com