New paper of mine on complexities of researcher engagement in online and IRL armed conflict, focusing on Somali/LasAnod war case study. journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

NEW | '“No Language Left Behind?” Predictive Text, Generative AI and Dilemmas of Digital Inclusion for Marginalized Languages' by @petechonka.bsky.social, Stephanie Diepeveen & Yidnekachew Haile. ➡️ Read it #OA: bit.ly/MLO-Chonka @isabellezaugg-phd.bsky.social @aiatkings.bsky.social

i shouldn’t give this piece any more attention than it has already garnered but i feel like it is worth pointing out some flaws in the argument/unquestioned assumptions thread 1/

‘Care and Politics in Action’ examines how Somali businesswomen in Zambia mobilized humanitarian relief to Puntland. By Sahra Ahmed Koshin, Nauja Kleist and Karuti Kanyinga. An output of the D-Hum project involving DIIS, IDS–University of Nairobi, Rako and RVI. tinyurl.com/CareandPolit...

The University of Sheffield has stopped paying staff. Not for striking but for refusing to work unpaid to make up for strike days they were already docked for. This is punishment, not negotiation. And it’s completely reckless. www.ucu.org.uk/article/1438...

Israeli forces on Wednesday killed at least 11 Palestinians in Gaza, including two 13-year-old boys, three journalists and a woman, hospitals said, on one of the war-battered enclave 's deadliest days since the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel took effect in October. www.npr.org/2026/01/22/g...

Using the Somali language for AI - podcast from Mogadishu. Abdimalik and I talking with Aweis (SPA) on importance and challenges of translation for digital rights, and our collaboration with AGA (Af Soomaali/Somali) www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BIR...

Read our latest article: Beyond war and politics: Somali kinship and everyday service delivery - co-authored with Abdirahman Edle and Karuti Kanyinga🇸🇴🇰🇪🇩🇰 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Kerrang! journalists’ strike shows true metal. In December freelance writers at music magazine Kerrang! showed the power of coordinated, collective action. buff.ly/0LjzPiK #FreelanceWin

I know there’s a lot going on in the world right now. But this spectacular fallout between Saudi and UAE is going to reshape the region and impact events beyond. It’s hard to overstate the Saudi anger at the UAE that’s expressed by revealing step-by-step details + officer names in the UAE operation

On Tuesday, the Israeli military invaded Birzeit University, attacking students with live ammunition. Israel's scholasticide is a core part of its attempt to obliterate the collective life of the Palestinian people. We have written to Yvette Cooper urging the British government to take action.

If the Palestine Action hunger strikers die - which they could do at any moment, as they are now very close to the end - it will be the government that killed them. Today’s column explains why. Please share, and write urgently to your MP. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Regardless of the debate about the legitimacy of its independence claim, the explicit use of the example of Somaliland to erase Palestine (and enable genocide) sickens me www.middleeasteye.net/news/israeli...

an important read for at least 2 reasons: 1. shows how big tech operates on intuitions and vibes and not rigorous research 2. this is a masterpiece in how to breakdown complex scientific concepts in simple language and elegant pros that captivate the lay reader taranis.ie/datacenters-...

So glad we're hosting this again. I'll also be speaking about the Get the Vote Out campaign for our branch's local dispute on academic freedom around Palestine, protection of staff, divestment from genocide and essential governance reform at KCL. Join us!

New XCEPT report by Hilina Berhanu Degefa on women’s participation in Ethiopia’s ethnonational armed groups. Completed through the Women Researchers Fellowship in the X-Border Local Research Network, where RVI is a core partner. Read here: tinyurl.com/w8dupaah

🚨🚨 Calling on all KCL UCU members: TODAY is the last ⭐️safe day⭐️ to post your ballots for both national and local disputes! VOTE today, VOTE yes and put them in the POST!! 📦 📦 ➡️ ALSO if your ballot papers arrive later than today please contact us as we can deliver in person on Friday afternoon 💫💫

🗣️🗣️How is the UCU National ballot connected to and distinct from KCL UCU’s local ballot? An explainer from @jamiewoodcock.com KCL UCU’s branch chair ⬇️

#wearekcl #wearetheuniversity

‘Shared values?’ This is meaningless when your university invests in genocide. VOTE in our local ballot for Palestine and against this wilful silence against oppression www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/affi... ➡️ kcl.web.ucu.org.uk

Dusk-to-Dawn curfew in place in Tanzania as protests continue following the national election yesterday. Incumbent Samia Suluhu is accused of intimidation and arbitrary arrests of leading opposition figures, including Chadema leader Tundu Lissu who is charged with treason and was not on the ballot.

Here we go! It's taken a lot of work by the branch to get to this ballot. Palestine IS a workplace issue. ESPECIALLY in our workplace. Local ballot papers drop next week. #WeAreKCL #FreePalestine

“Well-meaning” people are using machine translation to write Wikipedia articles in languages that they don’t speak themselves, accelerating the degeneration in quality of the web corpus for several languages with relatively few native speakers. www.technologyreview.com/2025/09/25/1...

Our Somali language gen AI event follows the exciting #SomaliWeek 'Tech for Growth: Somali Businesses in Action' session (in the same venue). Join for both! www.kayd.org/all-events/e...

Looking forward to our #SomaliWeek event on Saturday, where we'll be talking about our collaboration with AGA on the Somali AI Lexicon, and the implications of gen AI on Afka Soomaaliga www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/generative...

Two people in my extended circle are on the Global Sumud Flotilla, aiming to break the siege on Gaza. They are asking us all for increased vigilance as the flotilla enters the high risk zone. You can follow the progress of the flotilla at www.globalsumudflotilla.org/live

Busy @ucuedinburgh.bsky.social picket lines this morning at Edinburgh University with staff striking to defend jobs and oppose the biggest cuts seen in Scottish higher education #SaveHE #NoCompulsoryRedundancies #StopTheCuts

this!

“I’m not sure I want to give way to the right” From the new Private Eye, in shops now.

The International Association of Genocide Scholars, the main association of experts on genocide and mass violence, has just passed a resolution declaring that Israel’s actions in Gaza amount of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. genocidescholars.org/wp-content/u...

Journalists in London have held a vigil for their Palestinian colleagues murdered by Israel in Gaza. The vigil was organised by the London Freelance Branch of the NUJ

Irish Times front page today. Tried to write instead of just screaming. www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025...

Slow clap for the headline

📢 We’re hiring a Lecturer in Computational Humanities Education (Academic Education Pathway). 📔 Contract: Full-time, indefinite contract 🗓 Apply by: 25 August 2025 Full details here: my.corehr.com/pls/kclrecru... #DigitalHumanities #AcademicJobs #Hiring

We've written to KCL Management urging them to urgently lobby UK Government to enable safe passage for Chevening Scholarship students from Gaza to the UK. Considering the level of institutional complicity that KCL has with the genocide, it's really the LEAST they can do. See our statement below.👇

An open letter to KCL management, condemning punitive misconduct disciplinaries against Palestine Encampment students, is currently circulating with 250+ signatories. We copy the text of the letter ⬇️

ICYMI: our teach-in at parliament - 'When the only journalists are being slaughtered' report Thanks to our sponsor @johnmcdonnellmp.bsky.social and speakers @rosesrebellion.bsky.social @bendepear.bsky.social @petechonka.bsky.social @Mariam_Elsayeh, Menna Hijazi. Sharp insights 👇

If you haven't already, do have a look at @petechonka.bsky.social's recent RVI report, 'Digital Governance and Security in the Horn of Africa', which looks at digital finance & social media in #Somalia, #Ethiopia & #Kenya. In-depth research and highly topical.

Results are now in on our consultative e-ballot on academic freedom and staff safeguarding ➡️ we PASSED the threshold for a valid result with 🌟91% 🌟sharing our concern that management is not doing enough to protect us and our rights kcl.web.ucu.org.uk/2025/06/11/c...

Difficult to express how I feel about those in our politics and media who are more concerned about what some rapper said at Glastonbury than fact that, as a matter of deliberate policy, the Israeli government is paying mercenaries to murder starving civilians for fun. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Over the last year, your colleagues, comrades and friends at KCL have been harassed for defending Palestinian rights, upholding academic freedom and union activism. THIS is why we are balloting members NOW. But what exactly has been happening?

🇵🇸 ✊ Yesterday at our KCL UCU General Meeting members voted in favour of 2️⃣ motions calling for ⭐️ a consultative ballot on possible industrial action to protect academic freedom; and ⭐️reaffirming our commitment to campaigning for KCL to divest from genocide. Full wording ⬇️

"We were excited to have a panel accepted on the role of technology in genocide in Gaza at this year’s Computers, Privacy & Data Protection (CPDP) conference in Brussels. However, CPDP then requested that Access Now & others remove the word “genocide” from panel titles & descriptions. We declined."

📢 The next TUC-sponsored Workplace Day of Action for Palestine is this Thursday 15 May (12.30pm) on Nakba Day. KCL UCU will hold a rally outside the Strand Building. Join us to stand for justice in Palestine 📢https://images.app.goo.gl/nJRNV3yxKYpfWgUq7

KCL UCU sends its solidarity to the students who have, since Monday evening, re-occupied King’s Strand campus quad to protest our university’s continued complicity in Israel’s genocide in Gaza and oppression of the Palestinian people. Our full statement ➡️ docs.google.com/document/d/1...

New ICRC statement #Gaza

🗣️🗣️Our next KCL UCU General Meeting is happening ⭐️TOMORROW 30 May 1-3pm ⭐️ with a pre-meet 1-1.30 for people who have not been to a General Meeting before. Please do come along, online on Teams or in person. The more the merrier!🗣️🗣️

Event: Hands off our universities // Defend campus protest // Solidarity with Gaza - 1 May ucw4palestine.org/2025/04/21/e... via @UCW4Pal

A reminder for our members that UCU National Congress is taking place May 24-26 and 4 delegates are attending from our branch to represent the positions of the branch. Please contact us re: motions to debate at our next branch meeting on April 30 ➡️