Dr Belinda Barnet

@manjusrii@mstdn.social
1.6K Followers
1.2K Following
349 Posts
Snr Lecturer digital media at Swinburne Uni, author, researcher, chicken whisperer. Also on Bluesky @manjusrii.bsky.social
Blueskyhttps://bsky.app/profile/manjusrii.bsky.social

'Canopy' (2025)

Another Tassie Myrtle pic because why not - I honestly couldn’t get enough of these trees shooting out of the surrounding landscape with their gnarly moss-covered branches

This was taken in the morning as the sun rose & cut through the fog that had blanketed the area the night before

#landscapephotography #dalegphoto #Australia

Iconic Melbourne sight: A phalanx of hot air balloons passing so close to your house at 7am that you can hear the flame and see the excited faces of people in the basket

(Do they ever crash into stuff?)

@manjusrii

You might appreciate:

In 2011 a brilliant young programmer called Aaron Swartz had hell rained upon him by the US government when he tried to crack this system open. We remember. I remember.
Research should not be hidden behind for-profit paywalls. Universities should not have to pay $30 million for work we’ve done for free.

The irony here is that academics don’t just write the articles for free—we also referee and edit for them for free. Something is deeply broken.

“New Zealand's eight universities spent $30-million a year on journal licences and about half of that sum went to Elsevier.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/578897/universities-in-battle-of-the-century-with-journal-publisher-elsevier

Universities in 'battle of the century' with journal publisher Elsevier

One New Zealand university told its staff all universities in New Zealand and Australia would "lose some degree of access" to the publisher's 1600 titles from the start of next year.

RNZ

Good on them.

"We are finally drawing a line in the sand," minister for digital affairs Caroline Stage said.

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/denmark-follows-youth-social-media-ban/lkxhu8y02

'The world is watching': Denmark follows Australia's youth social media ban

As the deadline looms for tech platforms to comply with Australia's youth social media ban, Denmark has announced a similar policy.

SBS News
But we definitely need to talk about Roblox
Very glad Reddit is being included—it is not a safe place for kids and never has been. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11-04/reddit-and-kick-added-to-child-social-media-ban/105971750
Reddit and Kick added to child social media ban

Reddit and Kick will be included in the world-first social media ban for children under 16, which begins next month.

ABC News

“The birth of Grokipedia has been welcomed by several right-wing figures, including hardline Russian ideologue Alexander Dugin.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10-29/elon-musk-new-ai-generated-site-grokipedia-to-rival-wikipedia/105945318

Elon Musk launches new AI-generated site Grokipedia to rival 'left-biased' Wikipedia

Billionaire Elon Musk has launched a new AI-generated site to compete with online encyclopedia Wikipedia, which he has accused of being "extremely left-biased".

ABC News