While we're celebrating today, we want to give a special shout-out to the six HCIL faculty who were recently promoted: **Associate Prof w/Tenure: Ge Gao, Huaishu Peng, Leo Zhicheng Liu, and Caro Pierce-Wiliams **Full Prof: Sheena Erete & Eun Kyoung Choe Congrats all! 🎉

Today we hold our 43rd annual HCIL symposium to celebrate the amazing research being conducted in the US' oldest HCI lab. Read more and download the program (with abstracts for all the talks) here: hcil.umd.edu/hcil-symposi...

"If she has her own house, what will she need me for?" I don't know, dude, maybe be cool and fun to be around and be happy for her success instead being whiny little sad-ass troll about it? www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

very normal behavior by KA$H here (gift link) www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...

Nearly 5 ago while covering AI & data at Protocol, I noticed the massive Infrastructure Act funded controversial surveillance tech inside vehicles - stuff that attempts to detect driver impairment or distraction. It was already closer to reality in the EU at the time.

The April 2026 @acm-sigchi.bsky.social research ethics column by @cfiesler.bsky.social, @vitak.bsky.social, and me asks: "is it ever ethical to violate a platform’s Terms of Service to conduct research?" (Spoiler: it's complicated) sigchi.org/news/newslet... 1/3

HCIL at #chi2026! Read more about the lab’s contributions here: hcil.umd.edu/posts/chi-20...

I’ll be at #chi2026 this week in Barcelona. Looking forward to chatting with many awesome HCI peeps!

Reminder that the call for workshops is open, with a deadline of this Thursday, March 26th. Workshops are split between Sunday and Monday this year, so you have some options for how to use one or both of those days. soups.page/workshops.html

We're very proud of all our @hcil-umd.bsky.social members who had papers, workshops, and posters accepted to this year's #chi2026. Read more about UMD's research at CHI here: hcil.umd.edu/posts/chi-20...

So odd that @vitak.bsky.social and I have similar opinions re the privacy & ethical issues of microchipping employees. We both comment here: fortune.com/2026/03/10/w...

Azerbaijan just closed airspace "in the south of the country" per Bloomberg macro squawk. Losing that link would have a massive impact on Europe-Asia (incl the Indian subcontinent and ANZ) air travel.

Do you like the work we do? Come and hang out with us. Call for International Doctoral Students: Funded Short-Term Research Visit at the Social Media Lab socialmedialab.ca/2026/02/24/c...

“The fact that Meta’s legal team appears to have come to this hearing in a trial over the dangers their systems cause equipped with invasive glasses that put jurors and others in the courtroom at risk is a bit on the nose.”

We enjoyed demoing the PERVADE Data Ethics Decision Support Tool, designed to support reflexive research ethics education, at @sigcse-ts.bsky.social in St. Louis. @vitak.bsky.social and @michaelzimmer.bsky.social got great feedback from #TS2026 attendees.

I am SHOCKED. Shocked I tell you!

Heading to @sigcse-ts.bsky.social in St. Louis with @vitak.bsky.social & @cfiesler.bsky.social to get feedback on the @pervade-ethics.bsky.social PERVADE Data Ethics Decision Support Tool, designed to support reflexive research ethics education. sigcse2026.sigcse.org/details/sigc... #SIGCSE #TS2026

Just saw the news about James Van Der Beek. Especially disheartening to see another Xennial dying from colorectal cancer far too young. Please pay attention to your body. Get checked out if something changes. Colonoscopies are really not that bad -- I know, I've had seven. Also, fuck cancer.

Over on threads someone just use ai;dr and we all need to adopt that right quick

::screams into the void::

Interested in privacy, law, policy, and technology? Consider submitting to our annual symposium on Contextual Integrity - deadline is Feb 13!

Join us at 12:30pm ET Thursday, 2/12, in the HCIL Lab (HBK 2105) or online for our weekly brown bag speaker series. We'll hear from Dr. Gabriel Kaptchuk on "On Using Differential Privacy" Visit hcil.umd.edu/bbl-speaker-... for more information.

Want to help people in Minnesota? The best place to start is: www.standwithminnesota.com You can donate money to people who need it, donate airline miles, send supportive messages, & read about other things to do to help or prepare your own community: www.standwithminnesota.com/actions-to-t...

1/ ProPublica collected handwritten letters in mid-January from children held at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, the same facility where 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos was taken. Hundreds of kids are still detained. We’ll let the children’s words speak for themselves. 🧵

Open your eyes people. Just because they don't have gas chambers doesn't mean these detention centers aren't concentration camps. If you were horrified reading accounts of the Nazis during WW2, you should be horrified now.

In his forthcoming book, Your Data Will Be Used Against You, George Washington University Law School professor Andrew Guthrie Ferguson explores how sensor-driven technologies, social media monitoring, and artificial intelligence can be weaponized against democratic values and personal freedoms.

Join us at 12:30pm ET Thursday, 2/5 , in the lab (HBK 2105) or online for our weekly brown bag speaker series. This week we'll hear from two researchers about their UIST papers! Visit hcil.umd.edu/bbl-speaker-... for more information

📢 CSCW is piloting a rolling submissions experiment. 🔸 More flexibility for authors 🔸 Emphasis on paper quality over deadline pressure 🧪 Important: Only a small number of papers will be invited to participate, and authors can nominate their work for possible selection. cscw.acm.org/2026/rolling...

Signal will never message you like this. If you get a message like this, SOMEONE IS TRYING TO HACK YOUR SIGNAL. DO NOT GIVE THEM THAT CODE.

From the NY Post. You know they are really scrambling when they are running "The gun was no angel" stories.

I finally returned a book to the university library today after renewing it every six months for the last 7-8 years. It was time. Be free Cambridge Handbook of Consumer Privacy. Be free!

UMD's College of Information is hiring lecturers in five areas: networking fundamentals, information design, security, programming and databases, and experiential learning. 3-3 load, $95k-$102k. I love working here. Asshole-free environment. Spread the word! Not on the committee but happy to talk.

I'm seriously considering buying this shirt and wearing it to every meeting I'm running from here on out.

Harrowing NY Times expose of the FBI, with some operational details of Minneapolis investigations & comments from ex-agents on the current federal occupation. The FBI is more fucked than you expect, which makes them less effective AND more dangerous. www.nytimes.com/interactive/... (gift link)

I'm hiring a senior policy analyst/counsel for the privacy & data team at CDT! "Inquire within"

Did you have a qualitative paper rejected from #chi2026? As you're revising for your next submission, check out this crowdsourced document containing common critiques of qualitative research and ideas for responding -- and add any new critiques you've encountered: docs.google.com/document/d/1...

If you, like me, know nothing about the US' history with Greenland, this was a solid primer: theconversation.com/us-military-...

NEW: 17 different models of Bluetooth headphones and speakers can be hijacked to play audio, eavesdrop thru mics, and in some cases even track your location—unless you install a patch, which many people don't. @agreenberg.bsky.social & @lhn.bsky.social w/ the scoop: www.wired.com/story/google...

👏 Fully agree 👏 We Reject the Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence for Reflexive Qualitative Research: journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

Attention graduate students! The 15th annual Communication & Technology / Mobile Doctoral Consortium is now accepting student proposals to participate at #ICA26 in Cape Town. Proposals are due 2 Feb. Please read the requirements closely. sites.google.com/view/2026ica...

If you were following along, here's the updated set of debate scenarios I plan to use in my surveillance studies class. There's five new ones for 13 total, spanning three main categories: government, law enforcement, and work/school. drive.google.com/file/d/1db7y...

Even if you've never heard of Tablo, you should listen to his podcast episode on resilience. Tablo has dealt with some real shit in his life and uses everyday stories from his life to describe how he developed resilience, as well as the importance of gratitude. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylrA...

More data isn't always better. Video data isn't irrefutable. The idea that video data 100% proves a crime was committed is ridiculous. But that is where we have arrived thanks to mass surveillance technologies. I also really appreciate this reflection from the woman at the end of the article.

Read Hannah's article first, then read this article about the FBI raiding her home today in search of "classified material." www.nytimes.com/2026/01/14/u...

Gift link to FBI-targeted Post reporter Hannah Natanson's sweeping look at how federal workers have been targeted by Trump. wapo.st/49BQBrh

Because sometimes you need a distraction from the world burning down, I wanted to share that one yr ago, I began speed puzzling. What is speed puzzling, you ask? Literally competing to complete a (usually 500pc) jigsaw puzzle the fastest. I've been tracking my progress & will now share some data. 🧵

I'm teaching a class on surveillance studies this spring and one of my favorite activities is class debates. Students pick from a list of statements I provide related to surveillance and either argue in favor or against of that statement in a standard debate. I'm looking to expand the topics...

We've removed the paywall from this guide so everyone can access it. 👇 Stay safe.