Laura O'Brien
@niathena.bsky.social
Academic librarian @ Wellesley College. I read / post about #DigitalHumanities, #library #InformationLiteracy
Also at @[email protected] on 🐘
Also at @[email protected] on 🐘
Reposted by Laura O'Brien
I don’t think this is an overstatement, though I’m happy to hear corrections—the current generation of college graduates do not remember a moment when a tech innovation made their lives richer—They’ve only known the corporate internet, where every change further exploits people for the bottom line
May 11, 2026 at 1:47 PM
I don’t think this is an overstatement, though I’m happy to hear corrections—the current generation of college graduates do not remember a moment when a tech innovation made their lives richer—They’ve only known the corporate internet, where every change further exploits people for the bottom line
This is enshittification (yes it's a "free" account, but I'm paying in data). Why is a "secure digital environment" even necessary in this context? help.oclc.org/Discovery_an...
February 23, 2026 at 3:23 PM
This is enshittification (yes it's a "free" account, but I'm paying in data). Why is a "secure digital environment" even necessary in this context? help.oclc.org/Discovery_an...
Reposted by Laura O'Brien
the discourse on what jobs are acceptable to replace with generative AI reveals a lot about what we think of other people's jobs
January 9, 2026 at 6:48 AM
the discourse on what jobs are acceptable to replace with generative AI reveals a lot about what we think of other people's jobs
Reposted by Laura O'Brien
I agree that we don’t already know how to teach “AI literacy” well. But I also think literacy is too modest a goal. College students should graduate knowing how ML works; it’s liberal knowledge analogous to RNA or trig, not search-engine skills or Excel. And we do know how to teach it in that way.
Opinion | Stop Pretending You Know How to Teach AI
Colleges are racing to make students ‘fluent.’ One problem: No one knows what that means.
www.chronicle.com
December 14, 2025 at 4:05 PM
I agree that we don’t already know how to teach “AI literacy” well. But I also think literacy is too modest a goal. College students should graduate knowing how ML works; it’s liberal knowledge analogous to RNA or trig, not search-engine skills or Excel. And we do know how to teach it in that way.
Reposted by Laura O'Brien
Instead of regurgitating the bromide that LLMs are just "autocomplete on steroids" (even by people who know better), maybe we can actually engage in some public education. The problem with genAI is better expressed through a classic computer science concept, known as SYMBOL GROUNDING. 🧵
August 12, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Instead of regurgitating the bromide that LLMs are just "autocomplete on steroids" (even by people who know better), maybe we can actually engage in some public education. The problem with genAI is better expressed through a classic computer science concept, known as SYMBOL GROUNDING. 🧵
Reposted by Laura O'Brien
New this morning, a Comment I contributed to Nature Computational Science on the interaction between large language models and the humanities. 🧪 🤖 #MLSky
rdcu.be/etk07
The link above will be open-access for a month — plus, I'll reply to this post with a link to a permanently open preprint. +
rdcu.be/etk07
The link above will be open-access for a month — plus, I'll reply to this post with a link to a permanently open preprint. +
The impact of language models on the humanities and vice versa
Nature Computational Science - Many humanists are skeptical of language models and concerned about their effects on universities. However, researchers with a background in the humanities are also...
rdcu.be
June 25, 2025 at 12:58 PM
New this morning, a Comment I contributed to Nature Computational Science on the interaction between large language models and the humanities. 🧪 🤖 #MLSky
rdcu.be/etk07
The link above will be open-access for a month — plus, I'll reply to this post with a link to a permanently open preprint. +
rdcu.be/etk07
The link above will be open-access for a month — plus, I'll reply to this post with a link to a permanently open preprint. +
Reposted by Laura O'Brien
Hi 📚 friends! I wrote a reflection article for the latest issue of the Journal of Library Administration. It's about my experiences with applying the lessons of slow librarianship to management:
Slowing Down in Library Management: A Perspective from a Branch Campus
Academic library administrators at branch campuses face a variety of issues at both the local level and within their larger institutions. In such busy environments, the lessons of “slow librariansh...
www.tandfonline.com
July 10, 2025 at 1:27 PM
Hi 📚 friends! I wrote a reflection article for the latest issue of the Journal of Library Administration. It's about my experiences with applying the lessons of slow librarianship to management:
"When people write things drawing on ideas I recognize from the literature without citing them, I feel a kind of rage because either they think their idea is novel due to not doing the reading or they know their idea is not novel and they have elected to pass it off as so."
brandon taylor is usually right (don't tell him) but this essay on how research in literary study works should be on everyone's intro to graduate studies syllabus this fall & spring blgtylr.substack.com/p/amateur-hour
amateur hour
research for amateurs
blgtylr.substack.com
July 11, 2025 at 2:01 PM
"When people write things drawing on ideas I recognize from the literature without citing them, I feel a kind of rage because either they think their idea is novel due to not doing the reading or they know their idea is not novel and they have elected to pass it off as so."
Reposted by Laura O'Brien
To put it another way—no one in power in 2025—not politicians, not tech oligarchs, not business tycoons—seem in the least concerned that AI might challenge them or our power structures—& that is an important media history distinction we should notice & learn from, practically & intellectually (3/4)
July 1, 2025 at 4:10 PM
To put it another way—no one in power in 2025—not politicians, not tech oligarchs, not business tycoons—seem in the least concerned that AI might challenge them or our power structures—& that is an important media history distinction we should notice & learn from, practically & intellectually (3/4)
Reposted by Laura O'Brien
Very curious if yr turning on the PRIMO AI research assistant or not. Today I heard about 2 big academic library systems + one big university library saying *no* & not turning it on. I'd love to see what the landscape looks like.
Is your library turning on PRIMO ai research assistant? Why/why not?
Is your library turning on PRIMO ai research assistant? Why/why not?
May 2, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Very curious if yr turning on the PRIMO AI research assistant or not. Today I heard about 2 big academic library systems + one big university library saying *no* & not turning it on. I'd love to see what the landscape looks like.
Is your library turning on PRIMO ai research assistant? Why/why not?
Is your library turning on PRIMO ai research assistant? Why/why not?
Reposted by Laura O'Brien
An interesting question in a students’ reflection on "format" across book & digital media. With books, we have associations of prestige with particular formats—is the same true for file formats? To put it simply, are some file formats—consciously or subconsciously—"fancier" than others?
May 5, 2025 at 1:51 PM
An interesting question in a students’ reflection on "format" across book & digital media. With books, we have associations of prestige with particular formats—is the same true for file formats? To put it simply, are some file formats—consciously or subconsciously—"fancier" than others?
Reposted by Laura O'Brien
Thiiiiis. I want things like “vaccine uptake high enough for herd immunity” and “public transit”, and I literally cannot provide them for myself.
I keep coming back to this pithy 1854 statement by Abraham Lincoln about “the legitimate object of government,” which the Trump administration is undermining by offloading to individuals tasks, including life or death matters, that are more effectively, efficiently and fairly done collectively.
May 1, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Thiiiiis. I want things like “vaccine uptake high enough for herd immunity” and “public transit”, and I literally cannot provide them for myself.
Reposted by Laura O'Brien
That last question — when we are in the position to rebuild, what will we need to have? (when, not if!) — is one I arrived at after listening to a team I’m on trying to figure out what to do about our grant funding being rescinded. It’s really the question that is keeping me going.
April 15, 2025 at 12:07 AM
That last question — when we are in the position to rebuild, what will we need to have? (when, not if!) — is one I arrived at after listening to a team I’m on trying to figure out what to do about our grant funding being rescinded. It’s really the question that is keeping me going.
Now that I've used bluesky for liveposting a conference, can I say that I love that it *requires* me to include alt text before posting media? Accessible by design!
Conference accessibility reminders: use the mic, add alt text to images posted here or on other social media, stick to timings so people get proper breaks.
April 14, 2025 at 12:44 PM
Now that I've used bluesky for liveposting a conference, can I say that I love that it *requires* me to include alt text before posting media? Accessible by design!
Reposted by Laura O'Brien
When my students ask me "what was the most significant change in the last 100 years?" they always expect me to say "the Internet" or "space travel." But most Americans fundamentally don't understand either "some of your siblings will die young" or "women are pregnant or nursing for 1/2 their lives."
i don't think most people today have any real idea what things like child mortality pre-vaccines really meant.
i have friends who have lost two children. they have been permanently altered by that experience.
that was basically everyone until 100 years ago.
i have friends who have lost two children. they have been permanently altered by that experience.
that was basically everyone until 100 years ago.
April 14, 2025 at 4:34 AM
When my students ask me "what was the most significant change in the last 100 years?" they always expect me to say "the Internet" or "space travel." But most Americans fundamentally don't understand either "some of your siblings will die young" or "women are pregnant or nursing for 1/2 their lives."
SRO in Data-Driven Approaches to Historical Collections at #BostonDH25 - first up is Digital Engagement with Art Collections with Peter Botticelli from Simmons
April 11, 2025 at 5:05 PM
SRO in Data-Driven Approaches to Historical Collections at #BostonDH25 - first up is Digital Engagement with Art Collections with Peter Botticelli from Simmons
Reposted by Laura O'Brien
Cognitive dissonance is the humanities being at the same time both a useless waste of time and an imminent threat to the government.
April 4, 2025 at 12:55 PM
Cognitive dissonance is the humanities being at the same time both a useless waste of time and an imminent threat to the government.
Reposted by Laura O'Brien
My Slate piece on the widespread NEH grant cancellations is live. So much gratitude to everyone who took the time to talk with me these past few days while fighting fires on every side.
#humanities #highered #neh
slate.com/news-and-pol...
#humanities #highered #neh
slate.com/news-and-pol...
Say Goodbye to Small-Town Libraries and Museums, Thanks to Trump’s Latest Cuts
The NEH budget is tiny. The loss is huge.
slate.com
April 10, 2025 at 9:45 PM
My Slate piece on the widespread NEH grant cancellations is live. So much gratitude to everyone who took the time to talk with me these past few days while fighting fires on every side.
#humanities #highered #neh
slate.com/news-and-pol...
#humanities #highered #neh
slate.com/news-and-pol...
After some technical difficulties, next up at #BostonDH25 is
"AI, Open Scholarship and Access to the Human Record", from Greg Crane, Sarah Abowitz, Alison Babeu, Peter Nadel, Charles Pletcher (Tufts University); James Tauber (Signum U); Clifford Wulfman (Princeton).
"AI, Open Scholarship and Access to the Human Record", from Greg Crane, Sarah Abowitz, Alison Babeu, Peter Nadel, Charles Pletcher (Tufts University); James Tauber (Signum U); Clifford Wulfman (Princeton).
April 11, 2025 at 3:02 PM
After some technical difficulties, next up at #BostonDH25 is
"AI, Open Scholarship and Access to the Human Record", from Greg Crane, Sarah Abowitz, Alison Babeu, Peter Nadel, Charles Pletcher (Tufts University); James Tauber (Signum U); Clifford Wulfman (Princeton).
"AI, Open Scholarship and Access to the Human Record", from Greg Crane, Sarah Abowitz, Alison Babeu, Peter Nadel, Charles Pletcher (Tufts University); James Tauber (Signum U); Clifford Wulfman (Princeton).
Reposted by Laura O'Brien
Reupping this starter pack for a new era of scarcity in #dh cc #bostondh25
Hey @elotroalex.bsky.social and @roopikarisam.bsky.social! 👋 Happy Friday! I made a starter pack for #minicomp folks, but I'm sure I left people out. Any suggestions for additions? go.bsky.app/L2Zas63
April 11, 2025 at 2:15 PM
Reupping this starter pack for a new era of scarcity in #dh cc #bostondh25