sara m. b. simon
@sarambsimon.bsky.social
phd student in us history (quantification & government data, esp. vital statistics) • former newsroom software engineer & data journalist • she/her • chicago
smbsimon.github.io
smbsimon.github.io
Reposted by sara m. b. simon
looking for a good essay/article/ chapter on the distinctiveness of Chicago *culture* to plug a syllabus hole
fave portraits of the meaning, values, arts here? late c20 or c21 both useful
@imleor.bsky.social @alexhan.bsky.social @whetmoser.com @daniellamazzio.bsky.social @meredithshiner.com
fave portraits of the meaning, values, arts here? late c20 or c21 both useful
@imleor.bsky.social @alexhan.bsky.social @whetmoser.com @daniellamazzio.bsky.social @meredithshiner.com
December 9, 2025 at 4:37 PM
looking for a good essay/article/ chapter on the distinctiveness of Chicago *culture* to plug a syllabus hole
fave portraits of the meaning, values, arts here? late c20 or c21 both useful
@imleor.bsky.social @alexhan.bsky.social @whetmoser.com @daniellamazzio.bsky.social @meredithshiner.com
fave portraits of the meaning, values, arts here? late c20 or c21 both useful
@imleor.bsky.social @alexhan.bsky.social @whetmoser.com @daniellamazzio.bsky.social @meredithshiner.com
Reposted by sara m. b. simon
Let’s interview Sam Altman’s nannies about whether they’re using ChatGPT
December 9, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Let’s interview Sam Altman’s nannies about whether they’re using ChatGPT
Reposted by sara m. b. simon
PLEASE SHARE WIDELY
Hello, Bluesky!
We want to fund your research!
Check out our grants and fellowships!
Here: www.hagley.org/research/gra...
We want to fund your research!
Check out our grants and fellowships!
Here: www.hagley.org/research/gra...
Grants & Fellowships
Hagley invites serious researchers to apply for one of our grants to defray the costs of an extended stay intended to use our collections. Grants and fellowships are administered by the Center for the...
www.hagley.org
December 8, 2025 at 9:38 PM
PLEASE SHARE WIDELY
public transit for all
December 8, 2025 at 9:27 PM
public transit for all
Reposted by sara m. b. simon
Do folks have recommendations for good feminist STS discussions of biostatistics or stats in healthcare? I’m craving a good background to these applied methods while I’m taking MPH courses
November 22, 2025 at 4:03 PM
Do folks have recommendations for good feminist STS discussions of biostatistics or stats in healthcare? I’m craving a good background to these applied methods while I’m taking MPH courses
Reposted by sara m. b. simon
We're half a decade into studies finding that improving airflow in classrooms will reduce disease transmission enormously, and that bleaching surfaces etc. does very little. And yet nothing changes. Waves of flu and colds wash over schools, and the schools pretend it's an act of God.
The relative contribution of close-proximity contacts, shared classroom exposure and indoor air quality to respiratory virus transmission in schools - Nature Communications
The relative importance of close-proximity interactions, shared space and air quality to the transmission of respiratory viruses is not well understood. Here, the authors investigate this question by ...
www.nature.com
December 8, 2025 at 4:23 AM
We're half a decade into studies finding that improving airflow in classrooms will reduce disease transmission enormously, and that bleaching surfaces etc. does very little. And yet nothing changes. Waves of flu and colds wash over schools, and the schools pretend it's an act of God.
Reposted by sara m. b. simon
"A specific risk is that generative AI tools always produce an answer, even when the historical sources are incomplete or silent. ... If you received an archival reference or document description from an AI chatbot, please keep in mind that it may be inaccurate."
I wish a notice like this wasn't necessary.
www.icrc.org/en/article/i...
www.icrc.org/en/article/i...
Important notice: AI-generated archival references
www.icrc.org
December 8, 2025 at 12:17 PM
"A specific risk is that generative AI tools always produce an answer, even when the historical sources are incomplete or silent. ... If you received an archival reference or document description from an AI chatbot, please keep in mind that it may be inaccurate."
Reposted by sara m. b. simon
bad actors like wurman are why i think it is important to place the birthright clause in the full context of section 1 and section 1 in the context of both dred scott and the two decades of antislavery and abolitionist agitation and political thinking that proceeded it
The evidence is the text. All you have to do is read the Constitution.
December 7, 2025 at 7:09 PM
bad actors like wurman are why i think it is important to place the birthright clause in the full context of section 1 and section 1 in the context of both dred scott and the two decades of antislavery and abolitionist agitation and political thinking that proceeded it
Reposted by sara m. b. simon
Incredible book, if you haven’t seen it. I think about the “technologically precocious boy” all the time.
December 7, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Incredible book, if you haven’t seen it. I think about the “technologically precocious boy” all the time.
lots of great stuff in here
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December 7, 2025 at 6:10 PM
lots of great stuff in here
Reposted by sara m. b. simon
My sense now is that a conversation we need to be having across various technological regimes is what intentional opting out looks like in a social form where opting in to various tools is compulsory or coerced.
December 7, 2025 at 3:03 PM
My sense now is that a conversation we need to be having across various technological regimes is what intentional opting out looks like in a social form where opting in to various tools is compulsory or coerced.
Reposted by sara m. b. simon
“Farid says that he now counsels students to not go into AI research, because of the “frenzy” in the field and the large volume of low-quality work being put out by people hoping to better their career prospects”
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Artificial intelligence research has a slop problem, academics say: ‘It’s a mess’
AI research in question as author claims to have written over 100 papers on AI that one expert calls a ‘disaster’
www.theguardian.com
December 7, 2025 at 9:45 AM
“Farid says that he now counsels students to not go into AI research, because of the “frenzy” in the field and the large volume of low-quality work being put out by people hoping to better their career prospects”
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Reposted by sara m. b. simon
I spoke with Any Lucía López Belloza, the Babson College student who was on her way to surprise her family for Thanksgiving when ICE deported her.
"My 5-year-old sister still believes that I might go home for Christmas," she tells me.
www.thecut.com/article/any-...
"My 5-year-old sister still believes that I might go home for Christmas," she tells me.
www.thecut.com/article/any-...
I Wanted to Surprise My Family on Thanksgiving. ICE Deported Me Instead.
How the Trump administration turned a college freshman’s life upside down.
www.thecut.com
December 5, 2025 at 4:28 PM
I spoke with Any Lucía López Belloza, the Babson College student who was on her way to surprise her family for Thanksgiving when ICE deported her.
"My 5-year-old sister still believes that I might go home for Christmas," she tells me.
www.thecut.com/article/any-...
"My 5-year-old sister still believes that I might go home for Christmas," she tells me.
www.thecut.com/article/any-...
Reposted by sara m. b. simon
Impossible to understand the tech leader zeal for humanoid robots unless you realize their homes are filled with human staff whose presence makes them, in a basic way, uncomfortable. They want servants without the trace of subjectivity.
December 6, 2025 at 7:50 PM
Impossible to understand the tech leader zeal for humanoid robots unless you realize their homes are filled with human staff whose presence makes them, in a basic way, uncomfortable. They want servants without the trace of subjectivity.
Reposted by sara m. b. simon
It's simple — @propublica.org workers should not be replaced by artificial intelligence. Our contract proposal specifically says that generative artificial intelligence ("GAI") should not be used to replace employees. Management struck out this entire section in their response to our proposal.
December 3, 2025 at 9:46 PM
It's simple — @propublica.org workers should not be replaced by artificial intelligence. Our contract proposal specifically says that generative artificial intelligence ("GAI") should not be used to replace employees. Management struck out this entire section in their response to our proposal.
Reposted by sara m. b. simon
I’ve been thinking about the intellectual and affective labor involved in reading AI Generated student papers. I’m forecasting a little of the proposal that @cnygren.bsky.social and I advance in a piece that’ll be out soon but here’s where I’ve personally landed (o speak for myself not for us both):
December 4, 2025 at 11:21 PM
I’ve been thinking about the intellectual and affective labor involved in reading AI Generated student papers. I’m forecasting a little of the proposal that @cnygren.bsky.social and I advance in a piece that’ll be out soon but here’s where I’ve personally landed (o speak for myself not for us both):
Reposted by sara m. b. simon
My public health peeps, I’m in a bunch of Facebook mom groups and see lots of posts from moms who are not anti-vax but choose to delay their kids’ vaccines significantly.
What’s a good article I can share with them to explain that some delays mess with vaccine efficacy?
What’s a good article I can share with them to explain that some delays mess with vaccine efficacy?
December 3, 2025 at 6:56 PM
My public health peeps, I’m in a bunch of Facebook mom groups and see lots of posts from moms who are not anti-vax but choose to delay their kids’ vaccines significantly.
What’s a good article I can share with them to explain that some delays mess with vaccine efficacy?
What’s a good article I can share with them to explain that some delays mess with vaccine efficacy?
the one (1) grad seminar i'm taking this term has had weekly short creative writing assignments in addition to the standard academic readings & final term paper, and let me just say, from the student perspective, more of this please!
December 3, 2025 at 6:23 PM
the one (1) grad seminar i'm taking this term has had weekly short creative writing assignments in addition to the standard academic readings & final term paper, and let me just say, from the student perspective, more of this please!
Reposted by sara m. b. simon
A 6-year-old boy is missing after ICE arrested him and his dad in NYC last week and shipped them off to separate facilities. www.thecity.nyc/2025/12/02/i... @thecity.nyc @gwynnefitz.bsky.social
ICE Arrested and Separated Chinese Father From 6-Year-Old Son, Advocates Say
The father and son were detained at an ICE check-in on Nov. 26, advocates say. The son’s location is currently unknown, while the father is being held at an upstate ICE facility.
www.thecity.nyc
December 2, 2025 at 5:42 PM
A 6-year-old boy is missing after ICE arrested him and his dad in NYC last week and shipped them off to separate facilities. www.thecity.nyc/2025/12/02/i... @thecity.nyc @gwynnefitz.bsky.social
Reposted by sara m. b. simon
i keep reading "it's giving tuesday" and reading it the wrong way.
December 3, 2025 at 12:42 AM
i keep reading "it's giving tuesday" and reading it the wrong way.
Reposted by sara m. b. simon
Once again, ILL remains the purest representation of scholarly community. I use it so much I often write little notes back and forth with the librarians when I’ve borrowed a lot from their library. It’s the closest you can get to those old penpal schemes and I love it.
Requested a book through ILL over break. It arrived today. Libraries man.
December 2, 2025 at 10:56 PM
Once again, ILL remains the purest representation of scholarly community. I use it so much I often write little notes back and forth with the librarians when I’ve borrowed a lot from their library. It’s the closest you can get to those old penpal schemes and I love it.
Reposted by sara m. b. simon
In the early stages of working on a syllabus for a first-year zine history class & would be grateful for any recommendations for activities & assignments (beyond zine making, obviously). Thanks!
December 2, 2025 at 5:47 PM
In the early stages of working on a syllabus for a first-year zine history class & would be grateful for any recommendations for activities & assignments (beyond zine making, obviously). Thanks!
Reposted by sara m. b. simon
Nayra Guzmán was 15 days post C-section — going to see her baby in the NICU — when she was taken to Broadview and held in custody for about 34 hours.
She slept on a bench and barely got food. She couldn't pump.
Her story is a rare window into the growing detention of pregnant & postpartum people.
She slept on a bench and barely got food. She couldn't pump.
Her story is a rare window into the growing detention of pregnant & postpartum people.
Her baby was in the NICU. She was in ICE detention.
Before Trump took office, postpartum immigrants were rarely detained by ICE. Nayra Guzmán was detained while her 15-day-old baby was in the NICU.
19thnews.org
December 2, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Nayra Guzmán was 15 days post C-section — going to see her baby in the NICU — when she was taken to Broadview and held in custody for about 34 hours.
She slept on a bench and barely got food. She couldn't pump.
Her story is a rare window into the growing detention of pregnant & postpartum people.
She slept on a bench and barely got food. She couldn't pump.
Her story is a rare window into the growing detention of pregnant & postpartum people.
i have wanted to do this for years and finally got my act together in time
December 1, 2025 at 8:47 PM
i have wanted to do this for years and finally got my act together in time
Reposted by sara m. b. simon
Over the weekend I posted a little gift guide of rad artists, Chicago folks, and other things I like a lot. dansinker.com/posts/2025-1...
All Rad, No Bad | dansinker.com
dansinker.com
December 1, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Over the weekend I posted a little gift guide of rad artists, Chicago folks, and other things I like a lot. dansinker.com/posts/2025-1...