The way we communicate with machines can make work more efficient or more exhausting. In today’s factories, the key is for technology to learn to understand us so that collaboration between people and robots becomes a reality. The real challenge is not just producing faster, but doing so in a more human way. Although the […] … learn more→

Scientific publishing relies on peer review as the mechanism that maintains trust in what we publish. When we read a journal article, we assume experts have rigorously scrutinised it before publication. This crucial system is currently under severe strain. We conducted a comprehensive study of Australian academic journals and their editors – surveying 139 editors and interviewing 27. […] … learn more→

For most young people, learning about social and political issues doesn’t start with a textbook. It starts with a phone. While debates intensify about whether to impose a social media ban on under-16s in the UK, it’s important to consider how social media can be a route for learning as well as potential harm. Young people aged […] … learn more→

The Middle Ages often appears as a dark period for women: cloistered in obscure monasteries or subject to their husbands, they were supposedly kept away from power and any form of written culture. This cliché, like many others about the so-called Dark Ages, emerged during the Renaissance and developed within the Enlightenment. However, during the […] … learn more→

Although universities remain keen to tackle inappropriate uses of generative AI (GenAI) by students, it is becoming increasingly clear that we need to talk much more openly about academics’ (mis)use of these technologies. Many Research Whisperer readers might have begun to hear stories of GenAI being used to write academic papers and research proposals, to analyse […] … learn more→

Claims that artificial intelligence (AI) is on the verge of surpassing human intelligence have become commonplace. According to some commentators, rapid advances in large language models signal an imminent tipping point – often framed as “superintelligence” – that will fundamentally reshape society. But comparing AI to individual intelligence misses something essential about what human intelligence is. […] … learn more→

I’ve been thinking about all the writing that I need to get done this year. There’s three book contracts, yes three, and a host of papers which are undoubtedly going to need revising. Looking at all this unfinished work, I feel that familiar academic mixture of determination and dread. I know exactly what needs to […] … learn more→

When the World Wide Web went live in the early 1990s, its founders hoped it would be a space for anyone to share information and collaborate. But today, the free and open web is shrinking. The Internet Archive has been recording the history of the internet and making it available to the public through its Wayback Machine since 1996. Now, some of […] … learn more→

In the Phaedrus , Plato tells us that Socrates distrusted the written word. He believed that committing knowledge to writing would weaken memory and discourage dialogue. Writing, he warned, is inferior to debate because it cannot respond. It only creates an appearance of wisdom, not genuine wisdom. The parallel with AI is clear. We now have systems […] … learn more→

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is now a reality in higher education, with students and professors integrating chatbots into teaching, learning and assessment. But this isn’t just a technical shift; it’s reshaping how students and educators learn and evaluate knowledge. Our recent qualitative study with 28 educators across Canadian universities and colleges — from librarians to engineering professors […] … learn more→