Ethan Plaut
@ethanplaut.bsky.social
Research: Disconnection, tech refusal & beautiful, broken media. Sometime coder & dusty journo. Now Aotearoa NZ, always Chicago, formerly Stanford, SF, Phnom Penh, Fukui. Silence when I can. Music when I can't. Tangata Tiriti, Jew, he/him.
ethanplaut.com
ethanplaut.com
Pinned
Ethan Plaut
@ethanplaut.bsky.social
· Apr 29
Surveillance on Exhibit: Using Problematic Technology To Teach About Problematic Technology | Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
doi.org
🚨 New Pub! 🚨 Our augmented reality museum installation about data surveillance & rights in Aotearoa NZ used by 128,000x visitors over 2 yrs — we interviewed visitors & present conclusions on how to get the public thinking about problematic technologies!
doi.org/10.1145/3706...
#OpenAccess #chi2025
doi.org/10.1145/3706...
#OpenAccess #chi2025
Proposed new laws in Australia would require workplace surveillance to be reasonable and proportionate, incl. 2 weeks notice of surveillance + new restrictions on workplace AI and automated systems used to allocate work, giving unions power to investigate those systems
States crack down on workplace surveillance
NSW and Victoria get tough with bosses.
ia.acs.org.au
November 24, 2025 at 7:29 PM
Proposed new laws in Australia would require workplace surveillance to be reasonable and proportionate, incl. 2 weeks notice of surveillance + new restrictions on workplace AI and automated systems used to allocate work, giving unions power to investigate those systems
there is no cloud
Study shows state and local opposition to new data centers is gaining steam
“As political resistance builds and local organizing becomes more coordinated, this is now a sustained and intensifying trend,” the authors of the new study wrote.
www.nbcnews.com
November 20, 2025 at 3:04 AM
there is no cloud
Reposted by Ethan Plaut
Was thrilled to help consult for this fantastic John Oliver segment on the tragic plight of U.S. public media and why, if we hope to be a democracy, we still need public media for so many things that commercial media will never provide. Deserves a wide viewership. www.youtube.com/watch?v=yknM...
Public Media: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
YouTube video by LastWeekTonight
www.youtube.com
November 17, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Was thrilled to help consult for this fantastic John Oliver segment on the tragic plight of U.S. public media and why, if we hope to be a democracy, we still need public media for so many things that commercial media will never provide. Deserves a wide viewership. www.youtube.com/watch?v=yknM...
Reposted by Ethan Plaut
new paper by Sean Westwood:
With current technology, it is impossible to tell whether survey respondents are real or bots. Among other things, makes it easy for bad actors to manipulate outcomes. No good news here for the future of online-based survey research
With current technology, it is impossible to tell whether survey respondents are real or bots. Among other things, makes it easy for bad actors to manipulate outcomes. No good news here for the future of online-based survey research
November 18, 2025 at 7:16 PM
new paper by Sean Westwood:
With current technology, it is impossible to tell whether survey respondents are real or bots. Among other things, makes it easy for bad actors to manipulate outcomes. No good news here for the future of online-based survey research
With current technology, it is impossible to tell whether survey respondents are real or bots. Among other things, makes it easy for bad actors to manipulate outcomes. No good news here for the future of online-based survey research
gotta bring bring Bumpsy and Bumptious back
[browsing OED to procrastinate boxing up my academic life for the latest restructuring]
[browsing OED to procrastinate boxing up my academic life for the latest restructuring]
![bumpkin, another form of BUMkINI (in a ship).
Bumpology.
Humorous.
ff. BUMP
after words in -ology.
The (alleged) science of
bumps; ' phrenology
So Bumpo sopher [after
pirilosopher, one who is learned in bumps,
7834 GEN. 1
THOMPSON Exerc. (1842) III. 414
The argu-
ment is a specimen of the same defective bumpology.
Englishman's Mag
I Feb.
general principles of
x886
Pall Mall G. 23 Aug. 4/2 Phrenology,
scientific.
able bumposopher that ever discoursed † Bumpsy, a. Obs. exc. dial.
Also bumsie.
[?f. BuMp sb. or vbl] Tipsy, intoxicated.
IIX TARLETON Fests (1844) 8, i being a carousing, drunk so long to the watermen that one of them was bumpsie.
I630 J. TAYLOR (Water P.) Epigr. Whs. 11.
264/2 Strait
staggers by a Porter or a Carman, As bumsie as a fox'd flapdragon German.
Bumptious (bompfas), a. [A humorous for-mation, suggested perh. by BuMP sh. or v., and words in -tious, like fractrous.
(Not in Craig
1847, nor in any earlier Dict.)] Offensively self-conceited; self-assertive. (colloq. and undignified.)
1803 MAD. D'ARBLAY Diary & Lett.VI. 324 No my dearest
Padre, bumptious! no I deny the charge in toto. I821 CLARE Vill. Minstr. I. 36 The bumptious serjeant struts before his men.. And look as big as if King George himsen. 1847-78 HaLLIwELL, Bumptious, proud, arrogant. Var.dial.
1857 C. MAxwELL Lett. in Life x. (1882) 295 Buckle's History of Civilisation—a bumptious book, strong positivism, emancipation from exploded notions, and that style of thing.
Hence Bumptiously adv., Bumptiousness.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:iiaclrkg2ynzmgml4gjycp35/bafkreib5moea4mk573gfypjz6kuk5noje7gumdo5hkopkicyrr2wvffci4@jpeg)
November 18, 2025 at 3:31 AM
gotta bring bring Bumpsy and Bumptious back
[browsing OED to procrastinate boxing up my academic life for the latest restructuring]
[browsing OED to procrastinate boxing up my academic life for the latest restructuring]
Reposted by Ethan Plaut
Had a great time consulting with the “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” team over the past couple months, and they kindly gave my book a shoutout during the episode.
November 17, 2025 at 4:33 AM
Had a great time consulting with the “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” team over the past couple months, and they kindly gave my book a shoutout during the episode.
happy 14th anniv. to all who celebrate the greatest academic listserv email of all time
![Screenshot of email reading:
Date: Mon, 14 Nov 2011
Subject: [cultstud-i] Whales
Hi,
Just wondering if someone had written something interesting on the question of why we love the whales so much.
Thanks](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:iiaclrkg2ynzmgml4gjycp35/bafkreib2obvotydjipflq3mziuhkxevzvnghyhim6zptbem7hzpgrq6xme@jpeg)
November 15, 2025 at 4:58 AM
happy 14th anniv. to all who celebrate the greatest academic listserv email of all time
🍿 [cracks knuckles] 🍿
Universities in 'battle of the century' with journal publisher Elsevier
One New Zealand university told its staff all universities in New Zealand and Australia would "lose some degree of access" to the publisher's 1600 titles from the start of next year.
www.rnz.co.nz
November 14, 2025 at 7:02 PM
🍿 [cracks knuckles] 🍿
Reposted by Ethan Plaut
ouroboreos
oh wow that’s crazy
oreos with bits of
of oreos. in them
Real Bits of Oreos
oreos with bits of
of oreos. in them
Real Bits of Oreos
November 13, 2025 at 10:13 PM
ouroboreos
computer and information science undergrad and grad enrolments in the US have dropped 7.7% and FIFTEEN PERCENT respectively
Report: College Enrollment On Track To Increase For 3rd Straight Year
A preliminary report finds that total enrollment at colleges and universities increased 2.0% this fall, powered largely by a 2.4% increase in undergraduate enrollment.
www.forbes.com
November 12, 2025 at 7:52 PM
computer and information science undergrad and grad enrolments in the US have dropped 7.7% and FIFTEEN PERCENT respectively
Reposted by Ethan Plaut
!Stop Press! Article on bias in digitised newspaper collections: ’Whose News’, in the new journal of @comphumresearch.bsky.social by Kaspar Beelen, @jonhistorian61.bsky.social, @kmcdono.bsky.social and me. See blog for summary & 🧵 1/7
Article doi.org/10.1017/chr....
Blog is.gd/2IFc30
#dh #c19 🗃️
Article doi.org/10.1017/chr....
Blog is.gd/2IFc30
#dh #c19 🗃️
Whose news? Critical methods for assessing bias in large historical datasets | Computational Humanities Research | Cambridge Core
Whose news? Critical methods for assessing bias in large historical datasets - Volume 1
doi.org
November 11, 2025 at 4:05 PM
!Stop Press! Article on bias in digitised newspaper collections: ’Whose News’, in the new journal of @comphumresearch.bsky.social by Kaspar Beelen, @jonhistorian61.bsky.social, @kmcdono.bsky.social and me. See blog for summary & 🧵 1/7
Article doi.org/10.1017/chr....
Blog is.gd/2IFc30
#dh #c19 🗃️
Article doi.org/10.1017/chr....
Blog is.gd/2IFc30
#dh #c19 🗃️
Reposted by Ethan Plaut
Man Wouldn't Have Worn Costume To Work If He'd Known He Was Getting Laid Off
October 31, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Man Wouldn't Have Worn Costume To Work If He'd Known He Was Getting Laid Off
Reposted by Ethan Plaut
Preliminary data from @umich.edu survey on student AI use for class.
Most rarely/sometimes use AI & always follow class policies, but think others frequently use AI & only sometimes follow policies.
Perceptions of misuse ≠ reality
Misperceptions may provide implicit permission for misuse.
Most rarely/sometimes use AI & always follow class policies, but think others frequently use AI & only sometimes follow policies.
Perceptions of misuse ≠ reality
Misperceptions may provide implicit permission for misuse.
November 10, 2025 at 8:28 PM
Preliminary data from @umich.edu survey on student AI use for class.
Most rarely/sometimes use AI & always follow class policies, but think others frequently use AI & only sometimes follow policies.
Perceptions of misuse ≠ reality
Misperceptions may provide implicit permission for misuse.
Most rarely/sometimes use AI & always follow class policies, but think others frequently use AI & only sometimes follow policies.
Perceptions of misuse ≠ reality
Misperceptions may provide implicit permission for misuse.
$13 Billion projected investment in new undersea cables from 2025-2027
How A Million Miles Of Undersea Cables Power The Internet — And Now AI
Subsea fiber-optic cables are the world’s information superhighways with over 95% of the world’s international data traveling through them. This not only includes communications like email and video c...
www.cnbc.com
November 11, 2025 at 7:19 AM
$13 Billion projected investment in new undersea cables from 2025-2027
Reposted by Ethan Plaut
Life is extremely kiki right now and I would really like it to be just a little more bouba
November 10, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Life is extremely kiki right now and I would really like it to be just a little more bouba
Reposted by Ethan Plaut
A great piece by @kattenbarge.bsky.social, with a powerful note from @mariahlwellman.bsky.social that the radicalisation of women and girls has flown under the radar because girly content online = make-up = ✨trivial✨, and yet it so clearly, clearly isn’t.
www.teenvogue.com/story/womano...
www.teenvogue.com/story/womano...
The 'Womanosphere' Is Coming for Teen Girls
How beauty and wellness influencers are part of a misinformation ecosystem pushing traditional values on girls.
www.teenvogue.com
November 7, 2025 at 10:26 PM
A great piece by @kattenbarge.bsky.social, with a powerful note from @mariahlwellman.bsky.social that the radicalisation of women and girls has flown under the radar because girly content online = make-up = ✨trivial✨, and yet it so clearly, clearly isn’t.
www.teenvogue.com/story/womano...
www.teenvogue.com/story/womano...
Reposted by Ethan Plaut
Reposted by Ethan Plaut
A link to my new book cover and table of contents. www.upress.umn.edu/978081669906...
The Inattention Economy
Revealing the unheralded contributions of women of color to the foundation and development of the digital economyThe Inattention Economy challenges the wides...
www.upress.umn.edu
November 7, 2025 at 1:22 AM
A link to my new book cover and table of contents. www.upress.umn.edu/978081669906...
Reposted by Ethan Plaut
From player pianos to ChatGPT, every generation fears its machines will colonize human experience. Yet we always find ways to reclaim them. I talked with Andrew Keen about why our bodies have always been technological—and who gets to design that change.
🎧 keenon.substack.com/p/why-our-fe...
🎧 keenon.substack.com/p/why-our-fe...
Why Our Fear of Technology Is Nothing New—And Why That Should Give Us Hope: From Cuckoo Clocks to ChatGPT
Episode 2606: Vanessa Chang on the promise of The Body Digital
keenon.substack.com
November 6, 2025 at 12:32 AM
From player pianos to ChatGPT, every generation fears its machines will colonize human experience. Yet we always find ways to reclaim them. I talked with Andrew Keen about why our bodies have always been technological—and who gets to design that change.
🎧 keenon.substack.com/p/why-our-fe...
🎧 keenon.substack.com/p/why-our-fe...
Reposted by Ethan Plaut
BusinessDesk has a fantastic (and rare) for a data journalist in New Zealand. The Herald and BusinessDesk are separate publications, but whoever is in this role will work with me on projects like Budget day visualisations 1/2
careers.nzme.co.nz/jobs/6697721...
careers.nzme.co.nz/jobs/6697721...
Data Journalist - BusinessDesk - NZME
Join BusinessDesk as a Data Journalist—break market-moving stories, visualise insights, and set the global benchmark for data-driven reporting.
careers.nzme.co.nz
November 5, 2025 at 8:41 PM
BusinessDesk has a fantastic (and rare) for a data journalist in New Zealand. The Herald and BusinessDesk are separate publications, but whoever is in this role will work with me on projects like Budget day visualisations 1/2
careers.nzme.co.nz/jobs/6697721...
careers.nzme.co.nz/jobs/6697721...
Tāmaki cops breathalysing morning commuters 👀
November 5, 2025 at 10:59 PM
Tāmaki cops breathalysing morning commuters 👀