cfiesler

cfiesler, 10 months ago to random

and then a 700 billion dollar company launched a social media app without the ability to add alt text to images

cfiesler, 9 months ago to random

Academics, I beg you. Please put copies of your published papers on your website, arxiv, whatever. Not only because it's great for the broader world beyond academia (who can't get behind paywalls at all) but it just took me 15 minutes to try to figure out how to log in to some particular database to get a copy of a paper. I don't even like the 3 minutes it takes to log into the ACM DL versus copying a title into google. Follow copyright rules but you can almost always post SOMETHING somewhere.

cfiesler, 5 months ago to random

As a reminder, if you are a teacher, do not use AI detectors. This piece mirrors what I've heard from a LOT of students on social media (panicked students commenting on my AI videos, with no reason to lie). In my opinion, whatever utility you're getting out of a way to catch cheating is not worth the risk of even one false positive. Especially the potential for systematically biased false positives. https://www.thedailybeast.com/ai-written-homework-is-rising-so-are-false-accusations

cfiesler, 1 year ago to random

We ( @bkeegan @MattNicholson @blakeley ) are researchers at University of Colorado Boulder conducting a survey about social media platform migration. If you are at least 18 and have used Twitter and/or Mastodon you are eligible to share your experiences with leaving (or choosing not to leave) Twitter and/or joining (or choosing not to join) Mastodon. You can optionally provide your email address to enter a drawing for a $75 gift card. Please boost! Survey link: https://cuboulder.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3BLXjcmBmKpyR2S

cfiesler, 8 months ago to random

The comments on my women in computing videos just keep on coming, and today it was someone who says he's been in IT for 30 years and has "never, ever" met a woman who has shown any interest in computers.

I seriously didn't know how to respond except to say that it's okay, not everyone meets women. Because what other explanation could there possibly be?!

cfiesler, 6 months ago to random

A TikTok about Amazon's new $9/month medical service for Prime members has AMAZING comments (in a "laughing through your tears about the U.S. healthcare system" kind of way). A selection:

"I delayed my CPR by 3 days and got a $1 digital credit, can't wait to use it!"

"Got my liver on prime day. Even bought 'used, like new' and saved a bunch."

"I just dropped off my bloodwork at Kohl's."

"Baby came nine months early with same day delivery!"

cfiesler, 1 year ago to random

Just saw a TikTok from a woman explaining how when she was 12 she learned HTML so she could make Neopets websites and then (legitimately not realizing that this might be bad) creating a fake login page to trick people into giving her their account passwords. She says she had no idea why this was wrong until her dad caught her.

This is the best example I've ever heard of the "you can do a lot of damage with a little bit of code" re: why ethics should be part of learning intro programming.

cfiesler, 9 months ago to random

This article on is an excellent deep dive on known AI harms, via profiles of women who should have been listened to long before everyone started talking about ChatGPT. https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/women-warnings-ai-danger-risk-before-chatgpt-1234804367/

cfiesler, 10 months ago to random

An update to my article from November, mentioning now how Twitter alternatives are doing.

I really do think that Twitter does feel like watching a shopping mall go slowly out of business.

(Also Mastodon is still my personal favorite out of this list.)

https://theconversation.com/metas-threads-is-surging-but-mass-migration-from-twitter-is-likely-to-remain-an-uphill-battle-209367

cfiesler, 1 month ago to random

I would really love if every time I post something about AI bias on the internet I didn't have to (a) defend my credentials ("do you even code bro?"); (b) justify that yes, I know how AI works, and yes, I know what training data is; (c) clarify that more than one thing can be a problem at the same time (e.g., tech AND society); and/or (d) deal with people who insist racism has to be intentional.

cfiesler, 7 months ago to random

I think this is such an interesting and important study. The findings aren’t surprising (that LLMs are reproducing debunked race-based medicine) but it has really obvious implications given eagerness for medical uses of chatbots. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41746-023-00939-z

cfiesler, 2 months ago to random

I seriously don't understand how it's possible that I just see news story after news story that could have been made up by a group of undergrads I asked to imagine things that might obviously go wrong with generative AI. https://themarkup.org/news/2024/03/29/nycs-ai-chatbot-tells-businesses-to-break-the-law

cfiesler, 1 year ago to random

a useful map for conference planning https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/may-anti-trans-legislative-risk-map

cfiesler, 7 months ago to random

So you know those science communication publications that write accessible articles about research?

I got an email recently from one saying "We are interested in featuring your research in an upcoming issue of our magazine" and "Would you be available for a 10-minute exploratory phone call?"

I responded by asking what the publication's business model is.

And of COURSE the (very long) response boiled down to "we will charge you $2000 to publish this article."

What a grift.

cfiesler, 5 months ago to random

Happy Public Domain Day! Disney's Steamboat Willie, the first appearance of Mickey Mouse, is now officially in the public domain - a day many thought might never come. Because I can, I've shared the entirety of the short film on YouTube, with a voiceover of me explaining public domain in the context of our favorite corporate Mouse. :) #publicdomain #publicdomainday #steamboatwillie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnGL55VOj_4

cfiesler, 15 days ago to random

I couldn't stop thinking about the Meta AI chatbot that made up a human experience in a parenting Facebook group - so I wrote about why online communities are for people, not chatbots. Decades of social computing research tells us that information seeking in online communities is as much about shared experiences and human connection as it is about getting an answer. Maybe generative AI shouldn't be everywhere doing everything. https://theconversation.com/ai-chatbots-are-intruding-into-online-communities-where-people-are-trying-to-connect-with-other-humans-229473

cfiesler, 10 months ago to random

Do y’all remember Computer Engineer Barbie, the world’s worst computer engineer? Starring in the world’s most sexist children’s book? With all the discussion about Barbie, I realized it’s been almost a decade since that controversy blew up and I went viral for this feminist remix. (“Now with less sexism!”) https://caseyfiesler.com/2014/11/18/barbie-remixed-i-really-can-be-a-computer-engineer/

cfiesler, 8 months ago to random

I find it weird that the press releases and headlines around the new capabilities for ChatGPT are that it can "see" and "hear." We don't tend to describe facial recognition tech as "seeing" or the voice memo app on your phone "hearing" in this like anthropomorphized way.

cfiesler, 8 months ago to random

If you want to feel old, TikTok UX research has got you covered.

cfiesler, 9 months ago to random

I posted a video on Instagram about women in computing, and the misogynist trolls are out in force! But I've discovered that the best response to the (dozens of) comments from men I've received along the lines of "CS isn't toxic for women" or "no one is keeping women out of CS" is: "Oh it's so great to see a woman in CS who has had such a positive experience comment on my post!"

cfiesler, 10 months ago to random

Do you have a chronic health condition and post about it online? We are recruiting participants for a research study about privacy concerns and strategies. To learn more and to contact us about participating: https://internetruleslab.com/chronic-illness-study And please share with relevant communities!

cfiesler, 1 month ago to random

In honor of discovering that I've apparently had a Wikipedia page for a few months, I decided to tell the story of why I'm not a Wikipedian (a story I told Jimmy Wales lol) and this seems like the kind of thing that might interest you all: https://www.instagram.com/p/C5i1r68Lyk-/

Though TL;DR if you don't want to watch a four minute video, my attempt to increase coverage of children's literature on Wikipedia was met with exactly the kinds of gatekeeping acrimonious jerk behavior you might expect.

cfiesler, 9 months ago to random

It is 2023 and in the past 24 hours at least a dozen men have said to me some variation of "women just don't like computers."

I don't think this is even all trolling. I think they genuinely think this. And will cite "actual women I've talked to" as a source. Where are those actual women, are they in the room with us now?

cfiesler, 1 year ago to random

peak AI hype is James Cameron thinking he needs to wait to see where real AI is going before making a new Terminator movie https://movieweb.com/james-cameron-working-on-new-terminator-movie/

cfiesler, 9 months ago to ai

Hi all! I don't know if I have any teacher friends on here (though if not maybe you know teachers!) but I'm trying to collect questions about AI (especially ethical/social implications) from kids and teenagers that I can answer. I have a feeling they will have very good questions that everyone can learn from. :) So help me out and share this with someone who might be talking to kids about this stuff? #ai #teachers https://forms.gle/61g8iSYswEZtZZGe9