My eldest finished sixth form today (🫠). Very amused to learn that during leaver's assembly the school finally acknowledged their most notorious alumni Liz Truss, as a warning to learn to be good with money and have decent principles (accompanied by an embarrassing photo of her as a student there) 😂

This morning I managed to retrieve a clinician's 3000 word assignment that they had accidentally deleted twenty minutes before their submission deadline. I have never felt career satisfaction like it.

The ultimate catch-22 for refugees: You have to be in the UK to seek asylum BUT According to our government, You are illegitimate if you come here through irregular means... AND you are illegitimate if you come on a visa, too 🤔🤔 www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MIP...

Very interesting oral history -- interviews with some top NLP folks on the effects of GenAI on their field: www.quantamagazine.org/when-chatgpt...

Gaaaahhh. Of interest to #medlibs ...so happy we pay so much to publishers for high quality work like this!

This is what I was talking about during my keynote at @lilacconf.bsky.social #LILAC25 last week for all those who asked, what can they do and how to be involved in challenging the way big tech shape oir worlds ✨️🤘

This week’s column is on AI slop and the aestheticisation of fascism. Happy Easter! www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

An excellent addition to the "How to read a paper" fold - focus is clearly on health but the introduction has wide relevance as do many of the questions 📚 #medlibs

Already hoping to find a way to be back next year- so I'm very pleased that it will be in Yorkshire! I've had such a great time at my first LILAC-it has been both practical and inspiring (and fun) (and it dispelled some negative preconceptions I may have had about it as a conference 😬!). #lilac25

Booked early afternoon train home from #lilac25, partly due to maternal guilt + wanting to be home by bedtime, partly because I'd usually be completely over it by day 3 of a conference. Still glad I'll be home by bedtime but I reallllly didn't want to leave yet and I'm gutted to miss the afternoon.

Great shout-out to the brilliant work of @rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social and Careful Industries during the discussion on the keynote from @elinorcarmi.bsky.social #lilac25

Brilliant keynote from @elinorcarmi.bsky.social - definitely going to read the report on my way home! openaccess.city.ac.uk/id/eprint/31...

Combining my Lilac experience with my love of outdoor pools by visiting the National Lido of Wales before the conference dinner...managed a (lovely) 15 minute swim before we all had to evacuate because of a thunderstorm 😂

"If you're providing an online system with very personal data about you, like your face or your job or your favourite colour, you ought to do so with the understanding that those data aren't just useful to get the immediate outcome — like a doll." I have to explain this to students almost daily!

Jess Haigh's presentation about her research on the impact of LILAC is full of really informative descriptions of the practicalities of her research process and getting research done without funding or a supervisor. So useful to see this discussed in detail. #lilac25

First conference I've been to with a live musical performance (of an original folk song about information literacy no less) in the keynote. Jane Secker's keynote was amazing in all the ways! #lilac25

Is traditional information literacy like folk music, and AI literacy our moment to "go electric"? Under the hype about AI we still need a solid foundation of information literacy, but we may need to rethink some of our models and practices #lilac25

Really enjoyed this session, wondering whether there is any scope to try out something like this across NHS libraries to help us develop our teaching practice... #lilac25

Here is a very good post by @rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social on responsible use of AI. For those of us who think by writing (me included) the writing is the thinking and there’s no point getting AI to do it. But not everyone thinks by writing. www.careful.industries/blog/2025-4-...

Made an extremely regrettable choice by eating in the hotel bar because I'm too tired to move...this macaroni cheese looks and tastes like it came out of a sachet and cost just under half of my (very cheap) room for the night 😭

Relatable insights from Katie Smith on the work they've been doing to evaluate attitudes of NHS staff returning to study. Themes are very recognisable from the staff we work with-lack of confidence in their academic skills (although they often have more skills than they recognise!) #lilac25

Feeling very relieved that my #lilac25 presentation was during the first session this morning so I can now relax and enjoy the rest of the conference, which all looks great. (If I can stop obsessing about all the stupid things I said/didn't say when I presented...)

This is an incredibly brave, moving and powerful talk, 'speaking truth to tech gods.' Definitely worth a watch. youtu.be/TZOoT8AbkNE?...

Information literacy anthem..❤️

So, @elsevierconnect.bsky.social added an AI question and answer to my article in Computer & Education. The answers are wrong! They did not ask permission! The answers are WRONG! How is this science?!

Deeply strange entering middle-age at a time in world history where things are getting measurably worse. Just a continual psychic struggle of “is this fogeyism or are things just not what they used to be?”

Gentle parenting through military leaks

Pro-AI hype and Anti-AI doom are so deeply personal and polarized for a reason: they are the only visions of the future anyone is offering at all. In my latest for @techpolicypress.bsky.social, a look at the loss of faith in participatory politics that frames AI hype, but also its backlash.

Interesting looking free online/in-person event tonight on AI, by The British Academy www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/events/the-a... #EthicalAI #AI

With no safe routes available to ppl fleeing danger, irregular journeys to the UK will continue. Our MPs must understand there are realistic, humane alternatives to REGULATE the arrival of asylum seekers. 🙏 Pls email your MP to attend this important event help.care4calais.org/page/168077/...

Brilliant piece by Siva Anandaciva from the Kings Fund on the implications of abolishing NHS England. www.kingsfund.org.uk/insight-and-...

the internet would be so cool if it wasn't evil

"‘They know what you are working on, they know what you are submitting, they know the results of your peer reviews... They control every part of the process + register every action you take... When Eiko Fried.. asked Elsevier for his personal data[,] he received [100s of K's] of data points..."

This has been my biggest fear and a grave concern I have as #medlibs. There are so many ways they could adulterate PubMed in obvious ways, but also less obvious things they could do that we may never pick up on. I check certain MeSH terms daily to see if anything changed.

The CILIP Information Literacy Group is running a webinar on 1 April on AI and infolit teaching. Details below and the organisers will consider adding small case studies to the event, for anyone wishing to contribute. @infolitgroup.bsky.social #infolit www.tickettailor.com/events/cilip...

This is not an intellectual point, bur I wanted to state that I am frightened by the situation in the US and I am becoming even more anxious by the extent to which most people I know IRL (ie: not politics addicts) are entirely unmoved

The US Vice-president comes to Europe to lecture us on free speech & openness whilst his administration shuts down access to huge quantities of public US scientific & other data, with impact for scholarship across the globe. Is there such a thing as irony literacy?? www.cilip.org.uk/news/news.as...

CILIP is concerned that the removal, hiding, and modification of data, research and other information resources by authorities in the USA is already starting to impede the vital work of UK information professionals. Read more👇 www.cilip.org.uk/news/693964/...

Why was my role important? Why is it still important? Biomedical librarians and other types of #medlibs support researchers at every stage of their career, from, a 🧵...

there’s an alternate universe where AI products were introduced in a measured way, workers thoughtfully figured out how to integrate them into extant workflows, and reasonable leaders didn’t use them as rationale for laying people off (and legally couldn’t) unfortunately that’s not the one we’re in

Good morning to this man, and this man only #bbcqt

So much of the international health information infrastructure is built on the work of NIH... How prepared are we as health librarians to deal with the erosion of the resources we rely on?

TODAY: Join us for our fifth #REALChallenge lecture. @hetanshah.bsky.social will be exploring what #AI might mean for health, and how to navigate and assess the opportunities and risks. Register now to attend online ⬇️   https://buff.ly/42TRHgu

“...to care is an act not of weakness, but of strength.” The Lancet response: bit.ly/4jRb5Av

A very readable summary of the state of the science around the Internet, AI, and human memory. The good news is that our cognitive architecture doesn't collapse in the face of new technologies. The bad news is that we don't have any idea what consequences will follow from mass cognitive automation.

Modern-Day Oracles or Bullshit Machines? Jevin West (@jevinwest.bsky.social) and I have spent the last eight months developing the course on large language models (LLMs) that we think every college freshman needs to take. thebullshitmachines.com

I'm honoured to have been asked to give this year's @healthfoundation.bsky.social annual REAL Challenge lecture - on the theme of AI and health. Thursday 13th Feb in person / online. You can register here and please do share with any networks that may be interested www.health.org.uk/events/hype-...

Sometimes, as a librarian, saying “fuck” helps us do our job better in an AI enshittified Internet

We live in the ✨ world of tomorrow ✨