Mastodawn

If you missed #OpenEd2025 last week the #KnowledgeCommons lightning talk is now on KCWorks.

Publishing with Knowledge Commons and KCWorks https://works.hcommons.org/records/7wfx5-fys61

"During this session, we will demonstrate how Knowledge Commons can be utilized in the OER creation process by pointing to examples that have been published in various formats from across the platform. We will discuss how KC connects authors, audiences, and researchers, and makes knowledge available to the community. We will also discuss how our team has worked with our user community to cultivate open projects."

#openaccess #publishing #scholarlycommunications

Mark Carrigan Apr 7, 2025

The Ethical Grey Areas of Machine Writing in Higher Education

Once we start to examine how academics actually use conversational agents in real settings, it becomes harder to draw a clear distinction between problematic and unproblematic use. To entirely substitute machine writing for your own, while presenting it under your own name, would strike most as problematic. But this often has little relationship to how machine writing is drawn upon in practice, at least by academics, not least of all because substantive direction is necessary to produce outputs which aren’t generic or vacuous.

Unless you’re willing to explain to the machine what you want it to do, its capacity to meet your needs as an academic will be limited. The specific characteristics of academic work, the extremely specialized forms of output we are expected to produce for equally precise purposes, means that at least some engagement will be necessary in the process. At which point we are faced with confusion of distinguishing between fully accepted resources we draw upon in our intellectual work and those such as machine writing which are seen as potentially contentious. This is a question which Atwell poses very succinctly:

How does collaboration with others and using all the resources we now see as legitimate (the internet, research papers, colleagues work/advice) to do the best work we can, differ from utilising GenAI tools?

https://nationalcentreforai.jiscinvolve.org/wp/2024/08/08/do-you-feel-guilty-about-using-genai/

Through this framing, Atwell draws attention to what machine writing shares with other resources we might draw upon in our intellectual work. There are weaknesses to any resource, which we will ideally always review in light of our understanding of where it is limited. In this sense, machine writing could be seen as simply another resource amongst others. Atwell argues for a “symbiotic relationship where technological efficiency is balanced with human insight, creativity and ethical judgement.”

The challenge is that detecting machine writing is fundamentally unreliable. There will always be plausible deniability and an obvious cost to making accusations on the basis of false positives. The statistical “burstiness” and “perplexity” which a detector like GPT Zero uses are features which can be found in some writers at least some of the time. The formal character of academic writing and the specialized vocabulary in use means that it will tend towards moderate perplexity, in the sense that the word choices in a sequence will tend to be unusual relative to less specialized forms of writing.

As I’ve just demonstrated, academics are prone to using complex constructions which might be edited out of monographs but are likely to figure in journal articles. Obviously these conventions vary between disciplines and fields. I’ve often been struck by how different the writing styles are between the social theory journals which are my natural home and the computational social science and linguistics journals I increasingly explore due to my interest in GenAI. There are conventions which can be found in some fields which involve a low level of burstiness, such as presenting an argument as a sequence of propositions which could lead to a text being misdiagnosed as machine written. These are just examples from my own narrow experience to illustrate the complexity involved in identifying machine writing in scholarly publishing. The problem isn’t the detectors failing to measure features of the texts but rather that what they’re measuring varies across academic writing in rather convoluted ways.

If AI detectors were fully integrated into the workflows of scholarly publishing, it simply wouldn’t be possible to reliably infer the presence of machine writing in a fully automated way. There would need to be a conversation about what the AI detectors had inferred about the writing. Given there’s a widely acknowledged crisis of review in scholarly publishing, it’s difficult to see how this labor would be integrated into a system already struggling under the weight of submissions. Would already overburdened managing editors be expected to take up this role? Would it be delegated to the editorial board? What if the author simply denies the allegation?

It is very difficult to conceive of how such a system could work in practice, at least in the context of scholarly publishing as it is currently organized. In the event it was enforced automatically, we would likely see an undesirable shift in the character of academic writing in order to minimize characteristics which lead text to be flagged by detectors. Furthermore, academics who wanted to ensure their machine writing could pass undetected could simply ask conversational agents to modify the features of the text to evade these measures. Asking ChatGPT or Claude to modify the perplexity and burstiness of a paragraph can be an effective way to grasp what these measures point to in practice, if these concepts remain abstract to you. But it also indicates how the very flexibility of conversational agents, the fact you can specify in great detail what kind of text you want to be produced, limits how effective these detectors can ever plausibly be.

In the absence of reliable detection, there has been a tendency to seize upon questionable evidence in the hope we might find some way of identifying machine writing. It was widely reported that ‘delve’ figured more heavily in machine writing by ChatGPT than in natural language. The original claim seems to come from a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) firm AI Phrase Finder, which offers a free tool to identify “common AI phrases” that might lead machine writing to be downgraded in search results. It invokes a dataset of 50,000 ChatGPT responses as evidence for this claim without providing any information about this dataset or how it was collected.

It’s odd that the ‘delve’ claim provoked so much attention online given that it only figured ninth on the list of ten most common ChatGPT words, beyond words like ‘leverage’ and ‘resonate’. I chose those words, fourth and sixth on the list respectively, because I used both of them in a short conversation before sitting down to write this section. This might reflect the peculiar conversations I often have, as well as the peculiar words I tend to use in them. But if you’re reading a blog post on academic writing and AI, then I suspect you share this peculiarity to the extent you’re more likely to write ‘captivate’ (#2), ‘dynamic’ (#7) and ‘delve’ (#9) than most ChatGPT users. The reason that ‘delve’ attracted so much attention is that tech guru Paul Graham, founder of the startup accelerator Y Combinator which launched the career of OpenAI’s Sam Altman, claimed confidently on Twitter that ‘delve’ was a sure sign of an e-mail being AI generated.

It’s a comforting idea that ChatGPT has red flags that give away its use, as if it were an initially overwhelming poker player whose tells we gradually identify as we proceed with the game. The problem is that we will never be able to infer confidently from those signs that what we are reading is machine generated. This is a state of affairs which is unsettling in its novelty, calling into question assumptions which would have barely been visible to us until recently.

These claims can still have an impact even if they lack a firm foundation. If scholarly publishers integrated AI detection into their workflows, I expect lists of words to avoid in academic writing would similarly circulate amongst academics, regardless of whether there were solid grounds to believe these would in fact be flagged. If we accept that we can’t conclusively know if a text has been machine generated, then it leaves us in an uncomfortable position. It is easy to see how paranoia could spread under these circumstances when we know that machine writing is circulating but we cannot establish where it is and who is producing it.

If we outsource ever increasing amounts of our writing to automated systems, which are by their nature epistemic blackboxes, how could we sustain trust in the knowledge we are producing? If we are unsure which academic writing is produced by other scholars and which is produced by machines, how will this change how we relate to what we read? How will we distinguish between the different forms which machine writing can take, ranging from skillful co-production through to lazy outsourcing, if we make such a distinction at all? Will we gravitate towards writing which feels authentically human, even if the markers we draw upon to inform such a judgment are liable to be intensely unreliable?

Whose writing will be imbued with the dignity of human authenticity and whose will be written off as machine generated, even when there’s no such machine at work in the process? There’s a risk that publication profiles which don’t match received expectations, particularly those by scholars who don’t match the hegemonic vision of an academic, might find themselves dismissed and repudiated on the assumption that machine writing explains the quantity or quality of what they have written.

Consider the forcefulness with which what are fundamentally intuitions of malpractice have been levied by academics, certain that a wrong has been committed, against their students. Now imagine that same forcefulness directed towards colleagues, inflected through the prevailing competitive individualism of the academy. The trawling of academic profiles, the nocturnal consulting of fundamentally unreliable AI-detectors, and the academic gossip liable to accompany existing vendettas when the legitimacy of a scholar’s writing can suddenly be called into question in a fundamentally unverifiable way.

How do you prove you’ve not used machine writing in your work? Unless you’ve effectively self-surveilled and “human marked” your work, to use GPTZero’s (2024) terminology, there’s no way to prove this negative. You might establish on the balance of probability that you have plausibly written what you claim to have written, but to even find yourself in the position where this is under issue would itself be unpleasant.

#higherEducation #journals #malpractice #peerReview #plagiarism #review #scholarlyCommunications #scholarlyPublishing #writing

Do you feel guilty about using GenAI? - Artificial intelligence

Have you ever felt like you were cheating when using GenAI tools like ChatGPT or Copilot 365? You’re not alone, I’ve heard this a lot recently, but let’s unpack why this might not be the case. Traditionally when I start a new piece of work, particularly when it is something I have never done before […]

Artificial intelligence

Lisa Schiff Dec 6, 2024

Just read "Before Progress. On the Power of Utopian Thinking for Open Access Publishing" (https://culturemachine.net/vol-23-publishing-after-progress/jeff-pooley-before-progress/) by @jpooley -- very inspiring! #openaccess #scholarlycommunications #future #publishing

jeff pooley before progress

Vol 23 Publishing After Progress Before Progress. On the Power of Utopian Thinking for Open Access Publishing Jefferson Pooley University of Pennsylvania <a href=” target=”_blank&#82…

Culture Machine

Lisa Schiff Sep 13, 2024

Hi Everyone. Two great new positions are open at @crossref --Director of Technology and Director of Programs & Services: https://www.crossref.org/jobs/ I'm on the Board and would be happy to speak with anyone about the organization and these opportunities! #jobs #scholarlycommunications #openscience

Jobs - Crossref

Help us achieve our mission to make research outputs easier to find, cite, link, assess, and reuse. We’re a small but mighty group working with over 20,000 members from 160 countries, and we have thousands of tools and services relying on our metadata, which sees over 2 billion queries every month on average. We are fully remote and have 49 staff spanning California to Hong Kong and we all like to interact with and co-create with our engaged community.

www.crossref.org

v_i_o_l_a Aug 25, 2024

new "New Books Network" book interview #podcast in library science: Michael LaMagna talking with Monica Berger about "Predatory Publishing and Global Scholarly Communications" https://newbooksnetwork.com/predatory-publishing-and-global-scholarly-communications #PredatoryPublishing #ScholarlyCommunications

Monica Berger, "Predatory Publishing and Global Scholarly Communications" (ACRL, 2024) - New Books Network

New Books Network

NASIG Aug 7, 2024

⏰ Just a reminder: The NASIG Autumn Virtual Conference Call for Proposals is open until August 19th! If you haven't submitted your proposal yet, there's still time to share your ideas and research. Don’t miss out on this opportunity! More details here: https://nasig.wordpress.com/2024/07/11/nasig-autumn-call-for-proposals-2/

#NASIGAutumn #CallForProposals #VirtualConference #ScholarlyCommunications

NASIG Autumn Call for Proposals

We are pleased to announce that the NASIG Autumn virtual conference is scheduled to take place online October 15-17, 2024, and the call for proposals is now open. We are accepting propo…

NASIG Blog

Laura J. Wilkinson Jul 26, 2024

From @investinopen

Report: The state of open infrastructure grant funding https://investinopen.org/state-of-open-infrastructure-2024/sooi-grant-funding-2024/

Webinar recording: State of Open Infrastructure Community Conversation: Grant Funding https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4CQdG-xjuM

#ScholarlyCommunications #OpenInfrastructure #GrantFunding

The state of open infrastructure grant funding

Introduction At IOI, our work to increase investment in open infrastructure (OI) relies on a deep understanding of how infrastructure is funded and by whom. Since 2020, we've studied, analysed, and published our findings about the funding landscape for OI for research and scholarship. We recognize that grant funding is

Invest in Open Infrastructure

NASIG Jul 12, 2024

🚀 Calling all innovators and thought leaders! The #NASIGAutumn Virtual Conference Call for Proposals is now open!

If you have groundbreaking ideas, research, or insights to share, we want to hear from you. Don’t miss this chance to contribute to our dynamic conference lineup.

For more details, check out the most recent post on the NASIG Blog: https://nasig.wordpress.com/2024/07/11/nasig-autumn-call-for-proposals-2/

#CallForProposals #VirtualConference #ScholarlyCommunications

NASIG Autumn Call for Proposals

We are pleased to announce that the NASIG Autumn virtual conference is scheduled to take place online October 15-17, 2024, and the call for proposals is now open. We are accepting propo…

NASIG Blog

petersuber Jul 9, 2024

Plum job for the right person.

Associate Vice Provost for Collections & #ScholarlyCommunications at the #UPennsylvania.
https://wd1.myworkdaysite.com/en-US/recruiting/upenn/careers-at-penn/job/Van-Pelt-Library/Associate-Vice-Provost-for-Collections---Scholarly-Communications_JR00092582

I don't think I've ever seen a #ScholComm job at this level. Direct a team of 90 staff. Salary range, $110.8k - $240k.

Associate Vice Provost for Collections & Scholarly Communications

University Overview The University of Pennsylvania, the largest private employer in Philadelphia, is a world-renowned leader in education, research, and innovation. This historic, Ivy League school consistently ranks among the top 10 universities in the annual U.S. News & World Report survey. Penn has 12 highly-regarded schools that provide opportunities for undergraduate, graduate and continuing education, all influenced by Penn’s distinctive interdisciplinary approach to scholarship and learning. As an employer Penn has been ranked nationally on many occasions with the most recent award from Forbes who named Penn one of America’s Best Large Employers in 2023. Penn offers a unique working environment within the city of Philadelphia. The University is situated on a beautiful urban campus, with easy access to a range of educational, cultural, and recreational activities. With its historical significance and landmarks, lively cultural offerings, and wide variety of atmospheres, Philadelphia is the perfect place to call home for work and play. The University offers a competitive benefits package that includes excellent healthcare and tuition benefits for employees and their families, generous retirement benefits, a wide variety of professional development opportunities, supportive work and family benefits, a wealth of health and wellness programs and resources, and much more. Posted Job Title Associate Vice Provost for Collections & Scholarly Communications Job Profile Title Associate Director, University Library B Job Description Summary The University of Pennsylvania Libraries invites applications for the position of Gershwind & Bennett Family Associate Vice Provost for Collections & Scholarly Communications. This senior strategic leadership role, reporting directly to the H. Carton Rogers III Vice Provost and Director of Libraries, is pivotal in overseeing a wide array of outward-facing services. These encompass academic and student engagement, research services, community engagement, collection strategy, scholarly communications, and the administration of eleven departmental libraries and centers that serve professional schools and specific subject areas. Central to supporting the diverse academic needs of the Penn community, this role strategically enhances the Libraries' support for research, teaching, and publishing. The Associate Vice Provost for Collections & Scholarly Communications develops and nurtures relationships across campus with faculty, academic leaders, and students to understand and support their research and educational goals, fostering partnerships that enhance the library's role as an integral component of the university's academic fabric. The incumbent not only extends the Libraries' reach in support of the broader university but also actively engages with the broader Philadelphia community and maintains a strong program with libraries in the School District of Philadelphia. With administrative oversight of a substantial $30 million collections budget, the role is responsible for stewarding the Libraries' world-renowned collections of 9.8 million print and electronic volumes and a vast array of digital resources. This includes leading strategic planning to develop and maintain useful and enduring collections that robustly support Penn’s research, teaching, and outreach missions. Moreover, the incumbent will be a key figure in shaping the local and global scholarly communications ecosystem, advocating for open access, and implementing innovative publishing solutions that promote the broad dissemination of Penn’s scholarship. This role involves high-level decision-making that influences the library's strategic direction and integration into the larger academic strategy of the institution. A significant aspect of this position involves the administration of eleven departmental libraries and centers, each catering to the unique academic demands of professional schools and specific disciplines. The Associate Vice Provost for Collections & Scholarly Communications will oversee the alignment of these libraries with the strategic goals of the university, ensuring they effectively contribute to the academic success of their respective communities. This role entails working closely with library directors, heads, and staff to enhance services, optimize resource allocation, and integrate these libraries seamlessly into the broader Penn Libraries system. Directing a team of 90 staff, the Associate Vice Provost for Collections & Scholarly Communications is not only a key figure in library management but also pivotal in strategic planning processes at the University. This position offers a unique opportunity to shape the future of library collections at one of the nation’s leading research institutions. The ideal candidate will be a visionary leader who is committed to advancing library services to campus, enhancing academic and community engagement, and ensuring that the Penn Libraries continue to meet the highest standards of academic support and resource stewardship. Job Description Responsibilities Academic Engagement: Lead and innovate in academic support services by working closely with faculty and students to enhance research and learning outcomes through targeted library services and resources. This includes overseeing a team of subject librarians dedicated to meeting the specific needs of individual schools and departments. Collection Strategy: Oversee the strategy, development, and management of the Libraries’ print and digital collections, aligning with institutional objectives and priorities. Administer a substantial annual budget of $30 million for collections and scholarly communications, ensuring strategic allocation and expenditure. Lead long-range planning to develop and maintain enduring, accessible collections and information resources in support of Penn’s research, teaching, and outreach mission. Scholarly Communications Advocacy: Champion scholarly communications and partner with Penn faculty and governance bodies. Engage in national advocacy and exert influence on the scholarly publishing ecosystem. Libraries & Spaces Administration: Direct the operation and outreach of thirteen specialized libraries, centers, and commons, serving various professional schools and subject areas, including the Fisher Fine Arts Library, Penn Museum Library, Levy Dental Medicine Library, Chemistry Library, Math/Physics/Astronomy Library, Veterinary Medicine Libraries, Albrecht Music Library, Lippincott Library of the Wharton School, Center for Global Collections, Holman Biotech Commons, Education Commons, and Weigle Information Commons. Collaborative Initiatives: Represent Penn in collaborations with various library consortia and professional organizations. Lead initiatives with peer institutions to further the Libraries' and the University’s interests. Community Engagement: Develop and implement strategies for engaging with the broader Philadelphia community, including collaborations with the School District of Philadelphia and local organizations to promote educational initiatives and public programs. Staff Leadership and Development: Provide leadership and direction to a division comprising 90 staff members, including professional and support staff. Foster a culture of excellence, collaboration, and continuous improvement across all areas of responsibility. Qualifications Required: Master’s degree in Library Science from an ALA-accredited institution or equivalent in a relevant field and a minimum of 10 years related experience or equivalent combination of education and experience. Extensive leadership experience with a track record of successfully supporting a teaching, learning, and research enterprise, and engaging diverse academic communities. Demonstrated expertise in managing large-scale research collections and budgets in a research library setting. Visionary in the development and execution of scholarly communication strategies Strong record of collaboration with academic and external partners. Proven leadership skills with the ability to manage, inspire, and advocate for large and diverse teams. Excellent communication and collaborative skills. Minimum 5 years managerial experience. Preferred: Prior fundraising experience. Experience managing or working in a departmental, satellite, or campus library. Application Requirement: A Cover Letter and Resume/CV are required to be considered for this position. Please upload your Cover Letter where it asks you to upload your Resume/CV; multiple documents are allowed. Job Location - City, State Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Department / School University Library Pay Range $110,850.00 - $240,000.00 Annual Rate Salary offers are made based on the candidate’s qualifications, experience, skills, and education as they directly relate to the requirements of the position, as well as internal and market factors and grade profile. Affirmative Action Statement Penn adheres to a policy that prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, creed, national or ethnic origin, citizenship status, age, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected class. Special Requirements Background check required after a conditional job offer is made. Consideration of the background check will be tailored to the requirements of the job. University Benefits Health, Life, and Flexible Spending Accounts: Penn offers comprehensive medical, prescription, behavioral health, dental, vision, and life insurance benefits to protect you and your family’s health and welfare. You can also use flexible spending accounts to pay for eligible health care and dependent care expenses with pre-tax dollars. Tuition: Take advantage of Penn's exceptional tuition benefits. You, your spouse, and your dependent children can get tuition assistance here at Penn. Your dependent children are also eligible for tuition assistance at other institutions. Retirement: Penn offers generous retirement plans to help you save for your future. Penn’s Basic, Matching, and Supplemental retirement plans allow you to save for retirement on a pre-tax or Roth basis. Choose from a wide variety of investment options through TIAA and Vanguard. Time Away from Work: Penn provides you with a substantial amount of time away from work during the course of the year. This allows you to relax, take vacations, attend to personal affairs, recover from illness or injury, spend time with family—whatever your personal needs may be. Long-Term Care Insurance: In partnership with Genworth Financial, Penn offers faculty and staff (and your eligible family members) long-term care insurance to help you cover some of the costs of long-term care services received at home, in the community or in a nursing facility. If you apply when you’re newly hired, you won’t have to provide proof of good health or be subject to underwriting requirements. Eligible family members must always provide proof of good health and are subject to underwriting. Wellness and Work-life Resources: Penn is committed to supporting our faculty and staff as they balance the competing demands of work and personal life. That’s why we offer a wide variety of programs and resources to help you care for your health, your family, and your work-life balance. Professional and Personal Development: Penn provides an array of resources to help you advance yourself personally and professionally. University Resources: As a member of the Penn community, you have access to a wide range of University resources as well as cultural and recreational activities. Take advantage of the University’s libraries and athletic facilities, or visit our arboretum and art galleries. There’s always something going on at Penn, whether it’s a new exhibit at the Penn Museum, the latest music or theater presentation at the Annenberg Center, or the Penn Relays at Franklin Field to name just a few examples. As a member of the Penn community, you’re right in the middle of the excitement—and you and your family can enjoy many of these activities for free. Discounts and Special Services: From arts and entertainment to transportation and mortgages, you'll find great deals for University faculty and staff. Not only do Penn arts and cultural centers and museums offer free and discounted admission and memberships to faculty and staff. You can also enjoy substantial savings on other goods and services such as new cars from Ford and General Motors, cellular phone service plans, movie tickets, and admission to theme parks. Flexible Work Hours: Flexible work options offer creative approaches for completing work while promoting balance between work and personal commitments. These approaches involve use of non-traditional work hours, locations, and/or job structures. Penn Home Ownership Services: Penn offers a forgivable loan for eligible employees interested in buying a home or currently residing in West Philadelphia, which can be used for closing costs or home improvements. Adoption Assistance: Penn will reimburse eligible employees on qualified expenses in connection with the legal adoption of an eligible child, such as travel or court fees, for up to two adoptions in your household. To learn more, please visit: https://www.hr.upenn.edu/PennHR/benefits-pay The University of Pennsylvania's special character is reflected in the diversity of the Penn community. We seek talented faculty and staff who will constitute a vibrant community that draws on the strength that comes with a substantive institutional commitment to diversity along dimensions of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, religion, disability, veteran status, interests, perspectives, and socioeconomic status. Grounded in equal opportunity, nondiscrimination, and affirmative action, Penn's robust commitment to diversity is fundamental to the University's mission of advancing knowledge, educating leaders for all sectors of society, and public service. The University of Pennsylvania prohibits unlawful discrimination based on race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, creed, national or ethnic origin, citizenship status, age, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected class.