It's 4.30pm on Friday afternoon and I just finished yesterday's To Do list. I have a full list for today ... now I have to figure out which thing(s) will actually get done. Peer reviews? Maybe not. Grant review. I guess yes. Other things ... will be coming home for the weekend, I suppose. :(

Australia is tightening the rules on children’s privacy – here’s how it will work. @tamaleaver.bsky.social talks about the draft Children's Online Privacy Code for @aunz.theconversation.com theconversation.com/australia-is...

Thousands of people are selling their identities to train AI – but at what cost?

The Government released the final report of the Strategic Examination of R&D yesterday. It's called "Ambitious Australia"🙃 Haven't read much, yet, but it says we should fund the ARC more. Like every single previous review. Can we got on with it & do that, now? www.industry.gov.au/publications...

As voice AI becomes embedded in toys and everyday life, how do we help children not just use it, but question & help design it? www.admscentre.org.au/enhancing-pr... #AIethics #VoiceAI #CoDesign

Grammarly is no longer a friendly tool to help people become better writers, it is now a full on AI-plagiarism machine. I wrote a blog post showing how Grammarly's Expert review feature (discontinued yesterday) presented fake versions of academics without permission. jilltxt.net/grammarly-ge...

This remains vital to remember: nobody knows if Australian's Under16 Social Media Ban will actually work (ie have a positive impact on under16s) and nobody will be able to judge that meaningfully for years (not days, not months).

#AoIR2026 proposals in, #AoIR2025 papers OUT! AoIR SPIR 2025 Ruptures is now available. Check out the papers of our annual conference online 🔗 spir.aoir.org/ojs/index.ph... 🥳

I love the original Toy Story trilogy but, honestly, making screen time AKA 'tech' the villain for Toy Story 5 has the potential to really alienate kids and parents. I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think this will be the Toy Story for me. youtu.be/c51ND9Hdbw0?...

♾️ CFP OUT NOW: M/C Journal '#immortality' issue, edited by Angelique Nairn and Deepti Bhargava. Article submissions due 17 Apr. 2026; issue launch date 17 June 2026. #mcjournal ♾️ journal.media-cultur...

🚨CFP: The ADM+S Generative Authenticity project is hosting a small scholarly symposium on Authenticity, Generative AI and Synthetic Media on 6-7 May at QUT Kelvin Grove (and hybrid node). Short abstracts due 9 March. All info and the submission form: docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Zoë Hitzig's piece in the NYTimes really hits home why OpenAI's inevitable, but even more intrusive, shift to deploying ads in ChatGPT shows (a) an exploitation of private data that eclipses even social media platforms; & (b) that there really are no new ideas coming out of AI companies at all.

What happens next now that the European Commission has found TikTok in breach of the Digital Services Act? My latest for @techpolicypress.bsky.social press unpicks the process - and what's likely to happen www.techpolicy.press/the-eu-wants...

ICYMI: A new study from @oii.ox.ac.uk and @oxprimarycare.bsky.social, carried out in partnership with @mlcommons.org and other institutions warns of risks of AI chatbots giving medical advice. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Academic folks: I'm looking to try and find one more good, accessible overview article (undergrad level) on the current impact of AI on each of tv, film, music and videogaming for my #WebMedia unit running this (Australian) semester. Recommendations, please? #AcademicSky

Hot damn. 🔥🔥🔥

Call for Papers: The Landscape of Generative AI in Australia: A Critical Look Forward, themed issue of Media International Australia, edited by @suzesrdarov.bsky.social & me. Details: journals.sagepub.com/page/mia/cal... Abstracts due Friday 27th February 2026. #generativeAI

Huge thank you to my amazing PhD supervisors Tama Leaver @tamaleaver.bsky.social and Crystal Abidin, as well as Eleanor Sandry @zigzaggery.space, and especially all of the friends and colleagues whose support helped me reach this dream milestone. 💖 Excited for what comes next!! ✨

My PhD in Internet Studies was recently conferred by @curtinuniversity.bsky.social, so I'm thrilled to be starting 2026 as *Dr* Rachel Berryman! 🎓🥳 My PhD thesis, "Analysing Virtual Influencers", is now available online - you can download it here: hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937... 🧵Summary below:

There is a tsunami of litigation against the social media companies over their harms to teens. It's a little hard to follow because there are so many suits, but a bellwether case is going to trial this month, and Snap just settled its way out of it: www.nytimes.com/2026/01/20/t...

So: 2026.

The ARC’s processes are back to being farcical, @jasonclaremp.bsky.social You advocated for a streamlined, efficient, faster ARC, but all that progress has been undone. How can they claim to fund “innovation” with more than a year between initial proposal & outcomes? It should be 6 months, not 16!

📸 fatfatpankocat

PLEASE SHARE 📣 Multi-position (PhD and postdoc) call for an interdisciplinary project on "AI in the News Ecosystem: Navigating Trust and Authenticity” Project @ddc-sdu.bsky.social (Digital Democracy Centre (SDU)). Multiple positions with different backgrounds and profiles. Links in🧵 #commsky

Great to see the #AoIR2026 🇲🇽 full CFP now up and accepting submissions! aoir.org/aoir2026/ [Disclaimer: Any fandom references purely coincidental, I'm sure! ;) ]

Barbra Streisand

The Academic Work Tracker spreadsheet is now updated with 2026 dates! If you don't already, 2026 is a great time to start treating your academic work like the wage job where you are paid to work a certain amount of hours that it actually is: docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

Feeling very lucky, very spoilt by my partner, and very chuffed my Classic Space #Lego Minifig collection is now complete! #Christmas

As we crawl to the end of another unhinged year in Australian research, on behalf of the nation I would just like to say to @arc-tracker.bsky.social ❤️❤️❤️THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE❤️❤️❤️ Have a well-earned break, whoever and wherever you are. But please don't leave

#OutOfOffice on. Not turning it off until 19 January 2026!

Australia’s Social Media Ban Was Pushed By Ad Agency Focused On Gambling Ads It Didn’t Want Banned We’ve talked about the Australian social media ban that went into effect last week, how dumb it is, and why it’s already a mess. But late last week, some additional news broke that makes the whole…

It's reaching that time of year again where I update the Academic Workload Tracker so people can use it in 2026. If you used it in 2025, please let me know any bugs you encountered, things you wanted that weren't there, or just nice things about how valuable it was. docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

Of course it f&&king is. Please don't use GenAI for news. Please don't use Grok for anything. Grok is spreading misinformation about the Bondi Beach shooting www.theverge.com/news/844443/...

I think the key word here is "and": So-called "AI" systems don't do what is advertised AND involve labor exploitation AND perpetuate biases AND are environmentally ruinous. I don't think we should drop the environmental angle.

Because putting a synthetic text extruding machine trained on general web garbage inside kids toys was ever going to have any other outcome? Better to stick with extruding play-doh through plastic shapes.

This is an excellent piece by Christiane Kehoe & Elizabeth Westrupp, which contains very clear, very actionable, non-judgemental advice on talking to teens about the #socialmediaban in a way that validates them & their feelings, while building strategies to move forward:

There are lots of myths about the Australian #SocialMediaBan for under16s. One is that it will stop cyberbullying. It won't. Here's a short, blunt piece from me in @theconversation.com explaining why: theconversation.com/australias-s...

Predictably, lemon8 is on fire today. The thing is, though, it’ll end up getting locked down too: they are already on notice to self assess. Set up a WhatsApp group people

Also a throwback to our earlier interview with @tamaleaver.bsky.social of the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child (@digitalchildau.bsky.social) on the recent ban on social media for children under 16 in #Australia: open.spotify.com/episode/5zCX...

What a story! The marketing company behind the social media ban in Australia - smearing academics & figuring how to monetise the ban for big brands 😳

Reddit's update today shows a very begrudging compliance with the #socialmediaban for under16s in Australia: lnkd.in/gFD4Nhek Given the tone of their post, it's not a huge shock to hear that Reddit are planning to challenge the legality of the ban in Australia's courts: lnkd.in/gZWPue-Y

"Children are being targeted with VPN advertisements, with social media posts circulating that instruct people to use the technology to evade Australia’s teen social media ban." - @cameronwilson.bsky.social

In a new #OnlineFirst article, Tom Willma examines how avatars are represented and conceptualized in contemporary digital media, moving beyond traditional theories of identity embodiment. Read the full article here: doi.org/10.1177/1329...

You have to hand it to Apple. Sometimes they just make bloody brilliant ads: youtu.be/KmFPWxjmnqE?...

“This feels like yet another attack on our research community that is already under siege” Senator @davidpocock.bsky.social has issued a media release about the ARC's proposed restructure and job cuts 👇

This is quite an investigation into ARC’s proposed restructure & job cuts by @jennaprice.bsky.social. You know you’ve botched your “review” when several staff complain to a Senator! ARC also ran a witch hunt to find people who might’ve “leaked”. Ugly stuff.

📘New Report: Young Australians’ perspectives on the social media minimum age legislation📘 With the #socialmediaban for teens kicking in on 10 December, hearing their perspectives on it, and social media generally, is so vital! 💡 Read the full report here: doi.org/10.60836/tr3...

Read my🧵about our new #AIstories publication, by @annesigrid.bsky.social - read on for floating motifs, cannibalism and more! And honestly just to understand more about what actually characterises LLM-generated storytelling.