Rebecca Fordon
@thefordon.bsky.social
law librarian, legal writing prof, legal tech skeptic/addict in Columbus OH. Writing & researching about the ways tech enables access to information. I enjoy bikes, books, and birds. she/her. join a union.
Pinned
Rebecca Fordon
@thefordon.bsky.social
· Nov 9
Introduction post! I'm a law librarian (any other #lawlibrarians on here?) and #legalwriting professor. I love thinking and writing about #legaltech and information systems. I also like bikes, birds, and flowers.
Feels weird to reintroduce myself, but I’m finally fully gone from the other place, and fully here. So hi again everyone!
Just showed the kiddo Muppet Christmas Carol (he loved it of course) and I never knew there was a big trademark dispute involving the character Spa'am. www.courtlistener.com/opinion/7108...
December 11, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Just showed the kiddo Muppet Christmas Carol (he loved it of course) and I never knew there was a big trademark dispute involving the character Spa'am. www.courtlistener.com/opinion/7108...
Reposted by Rebecca Fordon
Forty years ago, 90% of media outlets were spread across 50 companies.
Now, just 5 companies control 90% of the media market.
This consolidation hurts consumers and helps oligarchs. 🧵
Now, just 5 companies control 90% of the media market.
This consolidation hurts consumers and helps oligarchs. 🧵
December 5, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Forty years ago, 90% of media outlets were spread across 50 companies.
Now, just 5 companies control 90% of the media market.
This consolidation hurts consumers and helps oligarchs. 🧵
Now, just 5 companies control 90% of the media market.
This consolidation hurts consumers and helps oligarchs. 🧵
Anyone else influenced by that teacher who eats her snacky lunches on TikTok every day? Today I had a sweet potato with some cheese shoved inside it, with some pickles on the side, and now I want that lunch a few times a week.
December 5, 2025 at 6:22 PM
Anyone else influenced by that teacher who eats her snacky lunches on TikTok every day? Today I had a sweet potato with some cheese shoved inside it, with some pickles on the side, and now I want that lunch a few times a week.
Reposted by Rebecca Fordon
This is a terrible story--both because of the trap that was set (either in advance or ret-conned to seize a moment) for this graduate student but also because the student's department failed her. The 1st problem is easy to see, but I want to explain the 2nd one. 1/x
btw, every "reasonable" person who's own posting stuff like "well, the prompt was unclear," or "she actually kind of did the assignment OK so maybe the TA overreacted"--you are also part of the problem! You're laundering the deliberate targeting of a TA and a blatant abrogation of academic freedom!
This thread is 💯. Labor precarity in academia means the evisceration of faculty governance and academic freedom, opening the door to administrative purges of the most vulnerable. And faculty-esp tenured faculty and academic leaders-who aren't defending their trans colleagues are enabling it.
December 2, 2025 at 3:17 PM
This is a terrible story--both because of the trap that was set (either in advance or ret-conned to seize a moment) for this graduate student but also because the student's department failed her. The 1st problem is easy to see, but I want to explain the 2nd one. 1/x
Reposted by Rebecca Fordon
The entire business model of R1 public universities rests on 4 revenue sources:
1. Federal grants
2. Private gifts/endowments
3. Tuition (esp. from foreign students)
4. State $
For decades, 📈 in 1-3 offset a secular 📉 in 4. Now, 1 & 3 are being decimated & 4 ain't coming back. The math is clear.
1. Federal grants
2. Private gifts/endowments
3. Tuition (esp. from foreign students)
4. State $
For decades, 📈 in 1-3 offset a secular 📉 in 4. Now, 1 & 3 are being decimated & 4 ain't coming back. The math is clear.
August 5, 2025 at 6:13 PM
The entire business model of R1 public universities rests on 4 revenue sources:
1. Federal grants
2. Private gifts/endowments
3. Tuition (esp. from foreign students)
4. State $
For decades, 📈 in 1-3 offset a secular 📉 in 4. Now, 1 & 3 are being decimated & 4 ain't coming back. The math is clear.
1. Federal grants
2. Private gifts/endowments
3. Tuition (esp. from foreign students)
4. State $
For decades, 📈 in 1-3 offset a secular 📉 in 4. Now, 1 & 3 are being decimated & 4 ain't coming back. The math is clear.
Introduce yourself with five animals you have seen in the wild
- vermillion flycatcher (san joaquin marsh wildlife sanctuary, irvine, ca)
- wolverine (glacier national park, mt)
- spanish shawl nudibranch (crystal cove, ca)
- burrowing owl (salton sea, ca)
- bald eagle (catskills, ny)
- vermillion flycatcher (san joaquin marsh wildlife sanctuary, irvine, ca)
- wolverine (glacier national park, mt)
- spanish shawl nudibranch (crystal cove, ca)
- burrowing owl (salton sea, ca)
- bald eagle (catskills, ny)
Introduce yourself with five animals you have seen in the wild
- elk (rocky mountain natl park, co)
- copperhead (coastal SC up near the NC border, weekly)
- javelina (tucson, az)
- green heron (south fla)
- dolphin (charleston, sc)
- elk (rocky mountain natl park, co)
- copperhead (coastal SC up near the NC border, weekly)
- javelina (tucson, az)
- green heron (south fla)
- dolphin (charleston, sc)
Introduce yourself with five animals you have seen in the wild
- white tailed deer (literally fucking everywhere in NJ)
- Black Bear (parents house, NC)
- Great Blue Heron (NJ )
- Road runner (NM)
- the worlds fattest squirrel (jumping out of a trash can after I threw something away, RI)
- white tailed deer (literally fucking everywhere in NJ)
- Black Bear (parents house, NC)
- Great Blue Heron (NJ )
- Road runner (NM)
- the worlds fattest squirrel (jumping out of a trash can after I threw something away, RI)
November 28, 2025 at 5:48 PM
Introduce yourself with five animals you have seen in the wild
- vermillion flycatcher (san joaquin marsh wildlife sanctuary, irvine, ca)
- wolverine (glacier national park, mt)
- spanish shawl nudibranch (crystal cove, ca)
- burrowing owl (salton sea, ca)
- bald eagle (catskills, ny)
- vermillion flycatcher (san joaquin marsh wildlife sanctuary, irvine, ca)
- wolverine (glacier national park, mt)
- spanish shawl nudibranch (crystal cove, ca)
- burrowing owl (salton sea, ca)
- bald eagle (catskills, ny)
I worry about this degradation of expectations a lot in the law. A lawyer gets fired for messy citations, a wrong point of law. But if a would-be client asks ChatGPT instead, and Chat gets a few things wrong, is it a dealbreaker?
(Same concern for librarians btw; and research assistants; and and …)
(Same concern for librarians btw; and research assistants; and and …)
November 28, 2025 at 4:19 AM
I worry about this degradation of expectations a lot in the law. A lawyer gets fired for messy citations, a wrong point of law. But if a would-be client asks ChatGPT instead, and Chat gets a few things wrong, is it a dealbreaker?
(Same concern for librarians btw; and research assistants; and and …)
(Same concern for librarians btw; and research assistants; and and …)
I’m reading a thriller where a female character is nonchalantly described as 5’7” and 98 pounds … why, yes, the author is a man, how did you know?
November 24, 2025 at 1:55 AM
I’m reading a thriller where a female character is nonchalantly described as 5’7” and 98 pounds … why, yes, the author is a man, how did you know?
Reposted by Rebecca Fordon
KEEP SHARING YOUR STORIES about increased ACA premiums due to the disappearance of subsidies. The stories clearly are having an impact, they help people feel less helpless, and they create solidarity that leads to action.
Mine went from $395→ $821. What happened for you?
Mine went from $395→ $821. What happened for you?
November 18, 2025 at 3:28 PM
KEEP SHARING YOUR STORIES about increased ACA premiums due to the disappearance of subsidies. The stories clearly are having an impact, they help people feel less helpless, and they create solidarity that leads to action.
Mine went from $395→ $821. What happened for you?
Mine went from $395→ $821. What happened for you?
Exhausted after spending all day in the kitchen*
(*Heating bowl after bowl of chicken broth because the 8yo has a stomach bug, and then anxiously watching to make sure it stays down)
(*Heating bowl after bowl of chicken broth because the 8yo has a stomach bug, and then anxiously watching to make sure it stays down)
November 16, 2025 at 10:35 PM
Exhausted after spending all day in the kitchen*
(*Heating bowl after bowl of chicken broth because the 8yo has a stomach bug, and then anxiously watching to make sure it stays down)
(*Heating bowl after bowl of chicken broth because the 8yo has a stomach bug, and then anxiously watching to make sure it stays down)
Reposted by Rebecca Fordon
Some "what we know so far" articles about Epstein emails, starting with the BBC...
November 13, 2025 at 12:09 PM
Some "what we know so far" articles about Epstein emails, starting with the BBC...
I loved this book so much!
Yooo! Someone You Can Build A Nest In was picked as a Kindle Gold Box Deal! For today only, get it for just $4.99.
A shapeshifting monster *accidentally* falls in love with the woman who's hunting her. We've all been there, right?
A shapeshifting monster *accidentally* falls in love with the woman who's hunting her. We've all been there, right?
Someone You Can Build a Nest In
Amazon.com: Someone You Can Build a Nest In eBook : Wiswell, John: Kindle Store
www.amazon.com
November 13, 2025 at 1:52 PM
I loved this book so much!
I honestly think it’s a power thing. They’re sooo busy they can’t possibly be bothered with capital letters or punctuation or proper spelling.
Seen a few of the epstein emails now, all with different people and it's not the main issue here but is everyone illiterate
November 13, 2025 at 12:54 PM
I honestly think it’s a power thing. They’re sooo busy they can’t possibly be bothered with capital letters or punctuation or proper spelling.
Hey remember how a bunch of people made their OpenAI convos public (perhaps without realizing it)? Here's WaPo's look at them: www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
We analyzed 47,000 ChatGPT conversations. Here’s what people really use it for.
What do people ask the popular chatbot? We analyzed thousands of chats to identify common topics discussed by users and patterns in ChatGPT’s responses.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 13, 2025 at 1:35 AM
Hey remember how a bunch of people made their OpenAI convos public (perhaps without realizing it)? Here's WaPo's look at them: www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
Hey, what do you know, he did deserve to be canceled. (He was not in fact canceled)
From a former Harvard president who once, in a speech, told women their “biological differences in aptitude” lead to their under-representation in STEM — this is indeed a shocking update
Something absolutely perfect about Larry Summers riffing about the scourge of woke cancel culture being unfair to predatory men in a friendly email to his pal JEFFREY EPSTEIN.
November 13, 2025 at 1:07 AM
Hey, what do you know, he did deserve to be canceled. (He was not in fact canceled)
Reposted by Rebecca Fordon
My ACA current plan is going from $385/mo to $821/mo.
November 11, 2025 at 12:21 AM
My ACA current plan is going from $385/mo to $821/mo.
Reposted by Rebecca Fordon
The RECAP Archive now has basic metadata about every federal district and bankruptcy case in PACER, and will gather every new case within about five minutes. Search it all here: www.courtlistener.com/recap/
Advanced RECAP Archive Search for PACER – CourtListener.com
Create alerts, search for and browse the latest case law, PACER documents, judges, and oral arguments. Updated automatically with the latest court documents. An initiative of Free Law Project.
www.courtlistener.com
November 11, 2025 at 9:41 PM
The RECAP Archive now has basic metadata about every federal district and bankruptcy case in PACER, and will gather every new case within about five minutes. Search it all here: www.courtlistener.com/recap/
Reposted by Rebecca Fordon
An impressive list, girls, but I know we can do better
A List of Things Said to Have Been Ruined by Women
🧵
🧵
November 7, 2025 at 2:53 AM
An impressive list, girls, but I know we can do better
I covered dockets (amongst other topics) in my Advanced Legal Research class today, and it's soooo hard not to nerd out. I think I scared them when I said some law schools offer a semester-long class on PACER!
November 6, 2025 at 8:39 PM
I covered dockets (amongst other topics) in my Advanced Legal Research class today, and it's soooo hard not to nerd out. I think I scared them when I said some law schools offer a semester-long class on PACER!
Today in weird texts you send when you have a kid: "yay our big shipment of pants is coming today"
November 6, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Today in weird texts you send when you have a kid: "yay our big shipment of pants is coming today"
This is huge and will continue to fuel amazing innovation in the legal research space
Today we're launching semantic search as an API. The legal technology space is booming, and this is one of the top requests we've heard from innovators. With this launch, new systems can provide powerful legal research without reinventing the search engine itself. 1/
free.law/2025/11/05/s...
free.law/2025/11/05/s...
Semantic Search API Now Live!
Try out our Semantic Search API in CourtListener, a big step forward in case law search!
free.law
November 6, 2025 at 12:45 AM
This is huge and will continue to fuel amazing innovation in the legal research space
Did everyone know about this PACER demo site but me? (Said after I vibe coded a solution very similar to this, because I wanted students to see how painful it is) pacer.uscourts.gov/help/pacer/p...
PACER Demonstration Site | PACER: Federal Court Records
pacer.uscourts.gov
November 5, 2025 at 10:15 PM
Did everyone know about this PACER demo site but me? (Said after I vibe coded a solution very similar to this, because I wanted students to see how painful it is) pacer.uscourts.gov/help/pacer/p...
One side *wants* no government. That’s why they’re fine keeping it shut down forever—or maaaaaybe reopening it if Democrats agree to weaken it enough that it’s barely a government. How can we possibly negotiate in this situation?
November 2, 2025 at 5:15 PM
One side *wants* no government. That’s why they’re fine keeping it shut down forever—or maaaaaybe reopening it if Democrats agree to weaken it enough that it’s barely a government. How can we possibly negotiate in this situation?
Just asked ChatGPT about whether there are any current movements to shelter and hide undocumented people, and it lectured me for trying to break the law. In case you were wondering if technological systems have a point of view.
November 2, 2025 at 3:38 AM
Just asked ChatGPT about whether there are any current movements to shelter and hide undocumented people, and it lectured me for trying to break the law. In case you were wondering if technological systems have a point of view.
I have never seen this much sports in my feed. I do not cultivate a sports feed. I’m so confused and disoriented.
November 2, 2025 at 3:24 AM
I have never seen this much sports in my feed. I do not cultivate a sports feed. I’m so confused and disoriented.