Ben Lyall 💾

youtube.comHouse Standing Committee on Petitions | 11/05/2026YouTube video by Australian Parliament House Streaming Portal

11 May

Replying to @benlyall.bsky.social

Audio of my evidence in this Parliamentary Inquiry is at this timestamp on the livestream recording: www.youtube.com/live/tWwmO77... Big ups to the parliamentary staff, committee secretariat and committee members for managing these hearings as well as caring about the future petitioning ✨

Ben Lyall 💾 reposted

Jeff Sparrow

@jeffsparrow1.bsky.social

I have a long piece at @theconversation.com about AI and the university theconversation.com/friday-essay...

theconversation.comFriday essay: AI is devastating higher education, but the system was already brokenAI is a project of the powerful, implemented in the name of an efficiency that has nothing to do with the good, writes Jeff Sparrow.

11 Aug

it me #census

3 Aug

widgets are so back

3 Aug

ordinary folks love to have passive engagement with the nyse

18 July

the absolute terror of being the foreground to someone's middle-distance stare 🥶

businessinsider.comAI glasses have a new hater: LordeLorde criticized AI glasses during a festival sponsored by Ray-Ban. The jab came right before Blackpink's Jennie, a brand ambassador, took the stage.

14 July

gettem

14 July

this stairwell overlooking richmond station is gagging for a mission impossible -esque chase sequence

abc.net.auAre smart glasses cool now? - ABC listenSmart glasses — like dumb glasses with added computing power — have been around for well over a decade, without ever reaching broad commercial success in Australia. But this time the tech's had an AI ...

13 July

Hello! 🥸 Last week I had the pleasure of joining ABC RN's 'Life Matters' to chat about the latest push on smartglasses by Meta. Have a listen to the podcast here👂⤵️ www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...

theconversation.comWhat do people think about smartglasses? New research reveals a complicated pictureViews differ between owners and non-owners of smartglasses. But both groups agree the technology can help people.

13 July

At the top of the segment, I touch on some research from a few years ago. You can read more about that in The Conversation here 🥸⤵️ theconversation.com/what-do-peop...

3 June

eleven linkedin notifications and not one meme 🥺

Ben Lyall 💾 reposted

Alex Beattie

@drlxbt.bsky.social

29 May

Long weekend coming up!! Will you doomscroll or keep working? Get a screen time horoscope and look into your future... www.savingscreentime.com/tools/screen... @katemannell.bsky.social @binarythis.bsky.social @digitalchildau.bsky.social @maxsoar.bsky.social @courtneyaddison.bsky.social

abc.net.auVandals cut down road signs in protest against lower speed limitPolice believe changes to speed limits on country roads in Victoria have led to vandalism including new road signs being cut down.

27 May

"Vandals saw off road signs in protest against reduced speed limits on Victorian roads [...] A petition started by residents who oppose the changes [to speed limits] has been tabled in the Victorian parliament." www.abc.net.au/news/2026-05...

27 May

These region-specific petitions are common at state level (compared to federal). They target the relevant level of government while spotlighting a highly localised issue. The vandalism aspect sits easily alongside the permitted form of action in the story - but isn't something to overlook...

27 May

It continues to fascinate me how the permitted and non-permitted forms of civic action inform each other. This is yet another example of petitions as protest, as recruitment tool, as personal flag-planting, and dog-whistling on social and political issues.

26 May

Urgently divest from all "corpmanteau" (corporate portmanteau - yes, two can play at this game). Instructure and Explorance have already ruined my month.

youtube.comHouse Standing Committee on Petitions | 11/05/2026YouTube video by Australian Parliament House Streaming Portal

‼️I'm going to be speaking at a Parliamentary Inquiry related to petitions later this morning (11:15am). Catch me on the stream here 🎥 www.youtube.com/live/tWwmO77...

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onlinelibrary.wiley.comPolicy & Internet | PSO Journal | Wiley Online LibraryDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, some groups and individuals rearticulated state power through conspiracy theories. Despite their fringe status, conspiracy theory beliefs can directly animate citizen's ...

This stems from a case study on how conspiracism appeared and operated in petitions during the COVID-19 pandemic. There, in short, it seemed possible to appropriate the system and egg-on communities/beliefs without having workable requests for change: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Very excited (nervous) to talk about this important but overlooked piece of participatory democracy in Australia! It's also a significant part of my research horizon and the subject of an under-review funding application... so watch this space 🤞

youtube.comHouse Standing Committee on Petitions | 11/05/2026YouTube video by Australian Parliament House Streaming Portal

‼️I'm going to be speaking at a Parliamentary Inquiry related to petitions later this morning (11:15am). Catch me on the stream here 🎥 www.youtube.com/live/tWwmO77...

aph.gov.auSubmissionsSubmissions

My submission earlier this year highlights how the system may currently overlook contemporary digital communication quirks. These include callbacks to past petitions, DIY hashtagging, and emoji use: www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentar...

Ben Lyall 💾 reposted

Crikey

@crikey.com.au

crikey.com.auThe way the Albanese government is regulating AI reflects its misunderstanding of the technologyTreating AI like a 'productivity' tool with some privacy risks is like treating the steam engine as a faster horse.

AI is closer to electricity or the internet than ordinary software. Treating it as a productivity app with some privacy risks is like treating the steam engine as a faster horse. www.crikey.com.au/2026/05/07/a...

8 May

psst 🤫 canvas needs you more than you need canvas ✊

The Australian Sociological Association (TASA)

8 May

cookie clicker but its academics refreshing canvas

Ben Lyall 💾 reposted

@sociologyaustralia.bsky.social

journals.sagepub.comDisplaying family on the DNA platform - Giselle Newton, Ashley Barnwell, Romy Wilson Gray, 2026Direct-to-consumer DNA platforms are significant yet overlooked social media platforms through which millions of users worldwide shape their identities. DNA pla...

Recent open access article by TASA members Giselle Newton & Ashely Barnwell et al.: Displaying family on the DNA platform

this lil canvas turd is my new sleep paralysis demon

maybe it will all be worth it if the canvas / instructure debacle finally revives aca-twitter on bluesky 🥺

choose your fighter 🙄

5 May

what stage of capitalism is eighty dollar bucket?

5 May

wait they shouted the quiet part

30 Apr

convinced timtam is in the early stages of a subtle yet hostile takeover of the beauty industry

25 Apr

how I describe my local village cinema

30 Mar

introduced students to the ancient social media phenomenon of "facebook official" relationships today... ...it received the cringe it deserves

25 Mar

funny one from Word given the current clime

@katemfitzgerald.bsky.social

11 Mar

whelp

Ben Lyall 💾 reposted

Emily van der Nagel

@emvdn.bsky.social

10 Mar

Hello Bluesky friends, I wrote a book about OnlyFans that is coming out SOON. Would you use this book as a set reading in your course/unit/subject? Would you like an inspection copy? Let me know! I'm thinking media studies (especially social media/internet studies), sociology, gender studies etc

Ben Lyall 💾 reposted

Kate FitzGerald

6 Mar

So glad to see this article finally out! I loved working with this team and it was a great opportunity to develop qualitative methods for generative AI research. I feel this is an important contribution that we are currently expanding on in a multilingual context, so stay tuned! ✍️ 🖥️

QUT Digital Media Research Centre@qutdmrc.bsky.social

New article alert! “Just Asking Questions”: Doing Our Own Research on Conspiratorial Ideation by Generative AI Chatbots is now available to read open access! This study examined how a selection of popular chatbots responded to conspiratorial prompts.

cogitatiopress.com“Just Asking Questions”: Doing Our Own Research on Conspiratorial Ideation by Generative AI Chatbots | Article | Media and CommunicationKatherine M. FitzGerald, Michelle Riedlinger, Axel Bruns, Stephen Harrington, Timothy Graham, Daniel Angus

4 Mar

google maps pinhole designers:

17 Feb

damn, chicken crimpy has taken another size hit

doi.orgVolunteerism as Civic Education: Recommendations for University-Led Volunteer CoursesHigher education institutions often seek to integrate student volunteering with their community identity and course curricula. Focused on a newly designed course grounded in volunteerism and combin...

📜 ‼️ In our recent paper, Laura Woodbridge, Zareh Ghazarian and myself reflect on the development of a new volunteering-led course. Read @ Journal of Political Science Education below ⤵️

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In the context of a large institution with domestic and international students, the paper offers reflections on the value of the concept of ‘volunteerism’ to navigate the mixed incentives for universities as places for education, individual self-development, and civic engagement.

lens.monash.eduRebuilding civic confidence in AustraliaAs Australia grapples with social polarisation and youth disengagement, civic education has re-emerged as a critical line of defence for democratic resilience.

TL;DR(?) A short summary of this work is published (Monash Lens) We frame our work around the broader need to for universities to catch young people up on key civic skills and political knowledge ⤵️

📜 ‼️ In our recent paper, Laura Woodbridge, Zareh Ghazarian and myself reflect on the development of a new volunteering-led course. Read @ Journal of Political Science Education below ⤵️