Andy Hodder

When You’re an ‘Expert’ Reviewing Students’ Work on Grammarly — But You Didn’t Know It The platform offers users AI-generated feedback under the names of scholars by drawing on their accessible publications. Some academics are unsettled.

I stand by what I said in this article: "Look, nobody enters academia to get rich, but I think business models that are built on basically extracting other people’s work without attribution or consent are fundamentally predatory".

cc @janerosenzweig.bsky.social @hpsvanessa.bsky.social @ceaubin.com

I have seen a lot of cursed stuff in my time in academia but this is among the *most* cursed.
Grammarly is generating miniature LLMs based on academic work so that users can have their writing ‘reviewed’ by experts like David Abulafia, who died less than two months ago.

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How to Organize Safely in the Age of Surveillance From threat modeling to encrypted collaboration apps, we’ve collected experts’ tips and tools for safely and effectively building a group—even while being targeted and tracked by the powerful.

News you can use, from the @wired.com security team (who are the best in the biz).

They asked technologists, activists, aid groups, and cybersecurity experts for guidance on how to organize and collaborate in an age of surveillance. Here’s the result:

BREAKING 🚨 | Reform announce plans to legalise discrimination.

Plans include scrapping the Equality Act, which would legalise discrimination against a worker if they were a woman, disabled, black, pregnant or gay.

'Staggering' damage to Minneapolis: City estimates toll of Operation Metro Surge

More: https://bringmethenews.com/minnesota-news/staggering-damage-to-minneapolis-city-estimates-toll-of-operation-metro-surge

You’ve got the music in you!

How AI Can Support Your Research Efficiency Automate routine or repetitive tasks, freeing up more time for experiments, analysis, and discovery. Creativity Spark new ideas, explore alternative approaches, or generate first drafts to move past the “blank page.” Clarity Translate complex data, technical language, or lengthy findings into clear summaries for colleagues, partners, or broader audiences. Organization Turn research notes, articles, or meeting discussions into structured summaries, action items, or literature maps. Accessibility Develop research outputs that are more inclusive and easier to share with collaborators, students, and the wider UNB community.

Nothing to see here other than a university telling its research community that AI can appropriately be used to "generate first drafts."

unbcloud.sharepoint.com/sites/AI-at-...

Birmingham bin workers vote to extend strikes past May elections and into September Council workers and Job & Talent workers more determined than ever to secure fair deal

🚨 BREAKING: Birmingham bins strikers vote 100% to keep striking right through the summer.
That will be another summer of chaos for workers & residents & a whole year of @bhamcitycouncil.bsky.social failing to even negotiate. The bin workers and people of Birmingham deserve better!
cutt.ly/Vtnp52HC

More Unions Are Saying ‘ICE Out’ More unions across the country are taking a stand against Immigration and Customs Enforcement since the January 23 mass strike in Minneapolis and the January 24 killing of Alex Pretti, an intensive ca...

"More unions across the country are taking a stand against Immigration and Customs Enforcement since the January 23 mass strike in Minneapolis and the January 24 killing of Alex Pretti, an intensive care nurse and union member."

The Board of Governors decided, unilaterally, that no published textbook in the field of sociology could be used in compliance with the law for an Intro to Sociology class. None. Victor: There's not a single existing textbook on the market that could be used that would qualify under state law? Zachary: Correct. Victor: I'm sorry, that's kind of funny. Like, the absurdity of not a single sociology textbook getting past the censors. I mean, it makes me kind of proud of our colleagues, but...

I do want to shout-out my fellow sociologists, who have collectively created a discipline so woke that not a single one of our introductory textbooks can make it past Florida's censors.

Great work everyone.

This is huge. Tenure was axed in the UK by Thatcher for political reasons in 1988, and since then UK academics have gradually completely lost control of their entire sector.

Tenure is the bedrock of what *real* academic freedom means, not the right-wing 'you must platform fascists version' /1

The Upjohn comms team upgraded the Labor Leverage Ratio site a bit. Making it easier to interact with and get the info you want in the form you want.
www.upjohn.org/labor-levera...

1.82 American employees quit their jobs in Dec for each employee fired, per today's @usbls.bsky.social #JOLTS data.

This #LaborLeverageRatio, which proxies for labor bargaining power in jobs, declined slightly from rising firings (=layoffs + discharges) & stable quits
www.upjohn.org/labor-levera...

It is quite the theme tune!

FindAPhD : PhD Studentships to support doctoral research in the Arthur Scargill Archive at the University of Sheffield at University of Sheffield Apply for a PhD: PhD Studentships to support doctoral research in the Arthur Scargill Archive at the University of Sheffield at University of Sheffield

Three scholarships for PhD in Arthur Scargill Archive - quite the opportunity. Believe me when I say that I am sure that some of the stuff in here will be quite the eye-opener! (if the good stuff hasn't been already shredded or slapped with an embargo)

Live: Man shot by federal agent in south Minneapolis this morning, witnesses say More than a hundred protesters and observers have gathered near E. 26th Street and Nicollet Avenue.

There’s video floating around. You don’t want to watch it.

News feed will be updated continuously. No paywall.

www.startribune.com/ice-raids-mi...

Why Canada needs better data on strikes, unions and other labour issues Canada does a poor job of gathering labour relations information. In a period of rising inequality and renewed workplace conflict, stakeholders need better data.

At a time when official statistics are under political pressure elsewhere, Canada has an opportunity & a responsibility to strengthen its own commitment to open, reliable labour relations data. Adam King & I explain why:

theconversation.com/why-canada-n...

#cdnpoli #canlab

Local Council By-Elections: 2025 in Summary In 2025, 678,122 votes were cast over 350 local authority contests. 197 council seats changed hands, and all percentages are rounded to the ...

Council by-elections: 2025 in summary

CON 18% (-25 cllrs)
LAB 17% (-90)
LDEM 20% (+18)
REF 25% (+98)
GRN 10% (+6)

RMT to demonstrate against Driver Only Operation on East West Rail in New Year Rail union RMT, will stage a demonstration at 9am on Monday 5 January outside Marylebone station in opposition to plans to introduce Driver Only Operation (DOO) on the new East West Rail line.

RMT to demonstrate against Driver Only Operation on East West Rail in New Year

Rail union RMT, will stage a demonstration at 9am on Monday 5 January outside Marylebone station in opposition to plans to introduce Driver Only Operation (DOO) on the new East West Rail line.
rmtunion.org/49qgds7

Danish postal service to stop delivering letters after 400 years PostNord’s decision to end service on 30 December comes after fear over ‘increasing digitalisation’ of Danish society

Danish postal service to stop delivering letters after 400 years

For help with attribution and sourcing, Grammarly is releasing a citation finder agent that automatically generates correctly formatted citations backing up claims in a piece of writing, and an expert review agent that provides personalized, topic-specific feedback.

Screenshot from Grammarly's demo of inserting a post-hoc citation. https://www.grammarly.com/ai-agents/citation-finder

It is not "attribution and sourcing" to generate post-hoc citations that have not been read and did not inform the student's writing. Those should be regarded as fraudulent: artifacts testifying to human actions and thought that did not occur.
www.theverge.com/news/760508/...

AI Is Inventing Academic Papers That Don't Exist -- And They're Being Cited in Real Journals Academic articles from authors using large language model are creating an ecosystem of fake research that threatens human knowledge itself.

Do not cite an academic paper unless you’ve read it

Closing out my year with a journal editor shocker 🧵

Checking new manuscripts today I reviewed a paper attributing 2 papers to me I did not write. A daft thing for an author to do of course. But intrigued I web searched up one of the titles and that's when it got real weird...

Santas and elves rob Montreal grocery store to ‘give food to the needy’ Group called Robins des Ruelles later said in statement stunt was intended to highlight cost of living crisis Dressed in red suits and backed by masked elves, a group of Santas marched into a Montreal supermarket, loaded their bags with thousands of dollars worth of groceries and disappeared into the night. The bandit Santas later released a statement saying the food would be distributed to the needy, and saying the Robin Hood-style stunt was intended to highlight the spiralling cost of living crisis that has pushed basic necessities increasingly out of reach for ordinary Canadians. Continue reading...

Santas and elves rob Montreal grocery store to ‘give food to the needy’

Winter stress: spot the signs and know your rights | RCN Magazine | Royal College of Nursing Seasonal pressures can cause stress levels to rise. Here's how to recognise the signs and access support

Our analysis shows that, for nursing staff, stress-related illnesses accounted for nearly a quarter of the 7 million days lost to sickness in 2023.

Explore our latest magazine feature for advice on recognising the signs of stress and accessing support – particularly during winter. ⬇️

As of this morning 4,500 Starbucks workers are on strike. Don’t cross their picket line.

No Starbucks. NO Starbucks gift cards!

Don’t hold back, swearing can boost performance by lowering inhibitions, study finds Researchers at Keele University find swearing can help people feel focused and confident and frees them to ‘go for it’ It may not be in keeping with the festive spirit, but if you find yourself dropping the F-word while wrestling a Christmas tree up a flight of stairs, scientists say you could be on to something. A study has found that swearing can boost physical performance by lowering inhibitions and pushing the brain into a “flow state”. “In many situations, people hold themselves back – consciously or unconsciously – from using their full strength,” said Dr Richard Stephens, a psychologist at Keele University who led the research. “Swearing is an easily available way to help yourself feel focused, confident and less distracted, and go for it a little more.” Continue reading...

Don’t hold back, swearing can boost performance by lowering inhibitions, study finds

One and only #StrikeMap featured in today’s Daily Mirror mapping all the @bma.org.uk resident doctors strikes.

See here: mirror.co.uk/news/politic...

#NHSstrike #DoctorsStrike #ResidentDoctorsStrike

Patients warned to expect disruption as doctor strike begins British Medical Association members started the 14th walkout over pay in England at 07:00 on Wednesday.

Resident doctors UK start #strike with @bma.org.uk

Demanding higher pay and better conditions

#solidarity You and all health and all care workers deserve quality collective agreements for quality work

Success

@epsu.bsky.social
@strikemap.org
@labournetgermany.bsky.social