Jenny Waycott

Announcing ASSETS 2026 Call for Contributions. Technical papers are due April 22, experience reports and workshops on June 10, posters and demos and DC on July 1, and the SRC is due June 24.

Details at assets26.sigaccess.org/call_for_pap...

Please share widely.

If you want a good laugh, you will find Reuters' AI assistant pop up the minute you click on this link from Reuters about how AI assistants make widespread errors about the news

Help Me Find Missing Issues of Australian Personal Computer The Internet Archive is missing a few dozen issues of Australian Personal Computer magazine. I'm trying to find them.

got old issues of APC magazine lying around? give them to me so I can scan them for the internet archive - I made a list of the issues currently missing, share this post and maybe we can find them and complete the set

blog.decryption.net.au/posts/apc-ca...

Breaking: Embattled ANU vice-chancellor Genevieve Bell resigns Australian National University vice-chancellor Genevieve Bell has resigned from her position.

Australian National University vice-chancellor Genevieve Bell has resigned from her position.

Poll results to the question: When you are in your 90s, do you want a robot to keep you company? 68% said yes, 32% said no.

We asked the audience: When you are in your 90s, do you want a robot to keep you company? 68% of the 136 people who responded voted yes. Do you agree?

It was great to be part of this event last night. For some reason, we are not included in the list of speakers on the website, but @dr-akb.bsky.social and I had lots of fun presenting a provocation on robots as companions in later life. The robots were a surprise hit!

Black text on white background. Screenshot from ARC webpage updating us on changes, in response to community feedback, to their proposed modification to their grants system. This screenshot shows the main changes, listed on that webpage.

The ARC has “announced” an update on the proposed changes to its grant schemes.

Key changes, in response to “nearly 350” submissions” (!) on their proposal, are 👇

More here: www.arc.gov.au/news-publica...

I’m not ignoring your message – I’m overwhelmed by the tyranny of being reachable | Miski Omar In today’s culture, responsiveness is a proxy for care. But being in constant rotation, always logging into another version of myself? I’m tired A friend messaged me the other day. I saw it. I didn’t reply. A week later, I finally responded with the classic: Sorry for the late reply, just got to this. She called me out. You didn’t just get to this, she said. I saw the double ticks. Continue reading...

I’m not ignoring your message – I’m overwhelmed by the tyranny of being reachable | Miski Omar

Hmmm, the past "Future of..." events that I attended have been fantastic and I was looking forward to the "Future of Longevity" given how relevant it is to my research. I just hope there will be more diversity in the full lineup of speakers.

I waved my adventurous middle son off at the airport this morning as he embarks on a hiking and backpacking adventure, starting in Kyrgyzstan. The parenting books do not prepare you for this!

Opinion | Elon Musk’s Legacy Is Disease, Starvation and Death

"Elon Musk’s Legacy Is Disease, Starvation and Death" ... 300k dead children and counting. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/30/o...

Digital Storytelling with Older Adults (TALES) Co-Creating Innovations in Digital Storytelling with Older Adults

This is the first stage of our research on co-designing innovations in digital storytelling with older adults, which you can read about here: cis.unimelb.edu.au/research/hci...

My colleagues and I are conducting a survey to learn about people's experiences with life storytelling, particularly wrt the technologies used and thoughts on future innovations (e.g. AI) in later life storytelling and reminiscence. Please share: q.surveys.unimelb.edu.au/jfe/form/SV_...

I was Hitler’s neighbour: ‘If he’d known we were Jewish, we’d have been sent to Dachau’ In 1929, Edgar Feuchtwanger was five years old and living with his family in Munich when Adolf Hitler moved into a flat opposite. At first, his parents thought they were safe hiding in plain sight – until they weren’t The odds were against Edgar Feuchtwanger reaching the age of 100. He was born on 28 September 1924 into a time of poverty and political turmoil in post-first world war Germany. He was also born into a Jewish family in a society that was about to turn to National Socialism, an ideology that would ultimately be responsible for the murder of 6 million Jews. In 1929, when Feuchtwanger was five, something happened that made his long life even more unlikely. He got a new neighbour: Adolf Hitler. In October that year, Hitler moved into the grand second-floor flat at Prinzregentenplatz 16 in Munich. His previous flat, on the other side of the Isar, the river that divides Munich, had become too small. Munich to him was the “Capital of the Movement”, a title he awarded the city officially in 1935. From 1929 on he lived in nine rooms in this corner building, with its long balconies and baroque facade. His staff moved in with him, and, soon, devotees and high-ranking SS officers were flocking to the flats nearby. Diagonally opposite, at Grillparzerstrasse 38, with a direct view of Hitler’s flat, lived the Feuchtwanger family. Continue reading...

I was Hitler’s neighbour: ‘If he’d known we were Jewish, we’d have been sent to Dachau’

Hi #CHI2025 please help share or take part if you are interested and qualify.

And the view in the morning light 🤩

Beautiful sunset!

Current view from my hotel room in #Yokohama for #CHI2025

My #chi2025 conference got off to a great start yesterday with a workshop on technology mediated caregiving for aging in place. Lots of great discussions about privacy, autonomy, ethics, and centring human relationships in design.

Message describing travel plans: June to to Kyrgyzstan, then get buses and trains to southeast Asia passing through Kazakhstan, Mongolia and China on the way. Then southeast Asia until the end of this year. Then buy a nice bike and go bike packing around Europe for most of next year. Then November next year fly to Chile to do that walk, then stay in south America for a while and backpack there. Then maybe end up in the US. Come home end of 2027 if I can stretch my money that far.

19yo son: Mum, you worry too much!

Also:

I'm really looking forward to this workshop at ##chi2025. If you're attending chi and interested in research on ageing, care and tech please submit a position paper and join in the discussion.

Photo of a coastline with blue sky and some clouds.

Little penguin near grass and rocks

A little penguin hiding in the trees

Penguin spotting in Burnie tonight. Lovely way to start my annual Tasmania holiday.

My holiday reading has had a very good start with this gem from Imbi Neeme. Quirky characters, an entertaining story, and nostalgia for 1990s house sharing in Melbourne. Lots of fun. Highly recommended. www.penguin.com.au/books/kind-o...

ACM CHI Workshop on Aging in Place Call for Participation A growing recognition of the potential of assistive technologies for supporting older adults requires understanding aging and caregiving perspectives, as well as the cultural f...

Calling for papers for our CHI 2025 workshop on aging, caregiving, & technology. Submit a position paper or interest statement to discuss how tech, including AI, can support caregiving for older adults. Details: sites.google.com/view/chi2025... #AginginPlace #Caregiving #chi2025

So disappointed to have missed out this year - last minute cancellation due to covid 😷 Sounds like it's been a great conference.

People shouldn't use AI to assist in research or writing because AI is like Jordan Peterson. It has the vocabulary, and it can arrange words into conclusions that seem coherent and even insightful at first glance, but on closer inspection they turn out to be utter bollocks.

Screenshot of a tweet from the ARC saying they’ll announce DP25 grant outcomes tomorrow (Tuesday 26 Nov).

ARC says they’ll release the Discovery Projects 2025 outcomes tomorrow.

Recently, outcomes announcements have tended to happen at/around 11am Canberra time.

My bot will pick up the announcement in RMS’s database and post immediately.

Good luck!

PSA ALERT: major metro hospital in Melbourne triggered escalation of COVID settings back to highest level today. Outbreaks of Covid in wards & community led to upgrade of mask requirements.
Also high levels of gastro.
Masks back on again but only after infecting staff & patients.
Complete PH failure