Living in Naarm on the stolen land of the Wurundjeri peoples.
I’m a professor at the University of Melbourne and Deputy Director of the Centre for Cities there. Researching political dissent, spatial justice, cities at night, homelessness, graffiti and street art. I’m from Scotland, and I miss it, but I love Melbourne too…
She/they
#NoBots
https://findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/profile/1280-alison-young
Ted Chiang argues that #ChatGPT and other AI text generators essentially create blurry JPGs of all the text on the web … and covers the implications for writers.
What I like about this essay: no “Art is over” or “AI is our savior” sentiments. Just clear, lucid thinking.
https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/chatgpt-is-a-blurry-jpeg-of-the-web
@IvyLilacs not yet - thanks for the tip!
@damonyoung I’m going back to in person language classes in Japanese as of this week. I think Duolingo sometimes makes me feel more competent than I am ! It’ll be interesting to see how it goes.
Watched #okja the other night and then rewatched #oldboy yesterday - reactivating my deep love of Korean cinema #film #koreanfilm #Koreancinema
@damonyoung me too… I’m at 919 days, practising Japanese, Italian and French. Congratulations !
Me: ok, no need to completely revise the topics, readings and materials in my subject, it all worked really well last time.
Also me: hey, I think I’ll completely redesign the topics, readings and materials in my subject!
Result: I’m spending this week redesigning my subject.
It would an unspeakable outrage if the National Library of Australia was forced to close down the Trove digital archive from June 30 because of lack of government funding. #auspol #SaveTrove https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2023/jan/06/national-library-of-australias-free-digital-archives-may-be-forced-to-close-without-funding
TIL there's a technical name for why ideas happen in the shower: the "default mode network" is a pattern of brain activity, measurable using fMRI, that happens when we're unfocussed. When the brain goes into idle mode (reduced activity), this part of the brain actually becomes *more* active. What does the default mode network do? Research is ongoing, but part of it definitely seems to be making connections, which is associated with curiosity and creativity.
The Australian Homelessness Monitor 2022 report revealed that the rate of homelessness is increasing faster than Australia’s overall population growth.
The monthly average of people using homelessness services rose by 8% from 2017-18 to 2021-22, nearly double the increase in Australia’s population over that same period. https://www.launchhousing.org.au/ending-homelessness/research-hub/australian-homelessness-monitor-2022
@BrentToderian thank you for posting this.
“In #Finland, the number of homeless people has fallen sharply. Those affected receive a small apartment and counselling with no preconditions. 4 out of 5 people affected make their way back into a stable life. And all this is CHEAPER than accepting homelessness.”
Make sure everyone understands this — It’s costing us far too much to NOT provide housing and supports to those who are homeless.
@joannaholman oh wow, I did not know that.
@lauren oops! 😁😉😂
In other news, Australia's Lord Mayor of Melbourne is frustrated that QR codes placed around the city to report graffiti have been vandalized by overlaid alternate QR codes leading to a hip hop culture documentary on YouTube. Oops!
@joannaholman it’s a super powerful novel from a terrific essayist who was herself one of the most interesting voices on the bird site (so I’ve always wondered if the central character, who is so famous for her ‘portal’ contributions, is Lockwood herself)… #bookstodon
I learned about two fascinating new material culture journals!: Material Intelligence, feating issues on copper, rubber, linen, and oak; and Tatter, focusing on cloth, with issues on isolation, earth, and the color blue
“You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read.” - James Baldwin
