Category: Critical Perspectives
-
Digital Plastic as a framework for Critical AI Literacy
The concept of “digital plastic” in generative AI highlights its characteristics: cheap, malleable, ubiquitous, and persistent. This framework promotes critical AI literacy through classroom strategies, encouraging purposeful use, awareness of implications, and fostering critical judgement in synthetic media creation.
-
OpenAI Has Come for Education
OpenAI’s recent partnership with Instructure’s Canvas Learning Management System furthers its aggressive entry into education. While claiming to support students and teachers, I’m worried about the effectiveness of its tools like study mode and Agents, which fail to remotely address pedagogical needs. OpenAI has come for education, and I think we should be concerned.
-
The Right to Resist
A recent open letter calling for educators and academics to resist AI has divided the education community. But we should be directing our anger at the right people, and not at one another.
-
Publish (on your) Own Site Syndicate Elsewhere
With growing dissatisfaction about the state of the internet, I spent a few months in 2025 digging into things like the fediverse (Mastodon etc.), self-hosting, and other ways of reclaiming the internet from companies like Google. On my travels, I came across the term POSSE, which stands for Publish (on your) Own Site Syndicate Elsewhere.…
-
The Narrow Web
In 1989, Tim Berners-Lee created the World Wide Web at CERN, establishing principles like decentralisation, non-discrimination, and universality. However, by 2025, the internet has devolved into a “Narrow Web,” dominated by major platforms, characterised by centralisation and discrimination. To reclaim the open web, users should prioritise independent websites and open-source solutions.
-
Digital Plastic: Miraculous substance or graceless slop?
Is GenAI a magical, miraculous substance that “democratises creativity”? Or is it just graceless slop? Developing Critical AI Literacy means interrogating the design of AI systems.
-
AI and the Death of Communication
This article explores the impact of AI and digital platforms on human communication, cautioning against the misinformation and superficial truths proliferating online.
-
The Myth of Inevitable AI
Technological advancements, like electricity and AI, often appear inevitable, yet their development has been shaped by historical choices and market forces. This article suggests that while AI technology is becoming ubiquitous, we must resist the narrative of inevitability, retaining our agency to question and critique its influence on society.
-
Resist, Refuse, or Rationalise – Just don’t Roll Over
Towards the end of 2024 there was a noticeable uptick in AI critique from educators and academics. It seemed as though the initial shock of ChatGPT had finally worn off, and people were beginning to grapple with the bigger-picture concerns of GenAI beyond “it’s that thing that students are using to cheat”. Of course, there…
-
More From the Fence: Articles For and Against AI in Education
A few weeks ago I wrote an article explaining why I’m still on the fence with AI, and refuse to tip entirely into either refusal or full adoption. In this post, I’m pulling together some of the most read articles on this site from both sides of the fence, to add a little weight to…