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ialja.bsky.social
Improving tech & education with imagination, innovation, and inclusivity. Rethinking the stories we tell in tech and elsewhere. 🏳️‍🌈 (She/they) ℹ️ https://ialja.com 💬 https://blog.ialja.com/ 🌳 ✨ 💻
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Our latest @tethix.bsky.social Newmoonsletter brings you the 𝗘𝗺𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗵𝘆 𝗠𝗮𝗽 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗘𝗻𝗱 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀 and an invitation to not just let it go (in the words of wise Elsa ❄️), but to make space for things that bring us joy & hope in these dark times 🌱 tethix.substack.com/p/empathy-fo...

If you need a break from existential dread, take a deep breath, shake off any anger or stress you might be feeling right now, and join @m3metix.bsky.social & I as we help each other co-regulate and explore collective futurecrafting. You're not alone 💜 🎧 tethix.substack.com/p/collective...

A bit of humour and playfulness is often helpful to start challenging yet crucial conversations about the kind of world we want to live in. Do we want to save the AI or take a step back and image a better world for our children? Decisions, decisions … #SaveTheAI

A good reminder: “AI needs the Web to remain a viable place where uncountable numbers of characters are transacted daily.” hedgehogreview.com/web-features...

Nobody can save the world on their own, but you don’t have to. Citizens across the world are stepping up, working across communities, countries and continents to make a difference. Will you join the collective in 2025? medium.com/citizen-coll... #citizencollective #peoplepower #CommunityAction

“We don’t need any more irony-poisoned hot takes or cathartic, irreverent snark. We need to collectively decide what kind of world we actually do want, and what we’re willing to do to achieve it.” #WorldTok

This one is for all EU citizens: we need 1 million signatures to make psychedelic-assisted therapies available & affordable in Europe. Sign, share & learn more at: www.psychedelicare.eu

In Paris listening to the fifth talk in a row on global AI risks to humanity, and not one mention yet of runaway AI energy demand pushing us over the climate brink

“... we urge policymakers, industry leaders and all stakeholders to acknowledge the true environmental costs of AI, to phase out fossil fuels throughout the technology supply chain, to reject false solutions, and to dedicate all necessary means to bring AI systems in line with planetary boundaries.”

Trying out @bluescreen.blue short-form video client and reposting a video from #WorldTok to bring a bit of calm into your feeds.

Loving this post, we need to still make space for goodness or else we'll be consumed by the darkness. Not ignoring facts and reality, just making sure we also have space for imagining different stories. quantumsocialchange.substack.com/p/oh-my-good...

Amidst the darkness, kindness still grows in between the cracks, even in enshittified places like TikTok. Here are some of my reflections of the kindness & calm witnessed on #WorldTok in the past couple of weeks: blog.ialja.com/2025/02/04/n... We can still imagine a better future together! 💜

A good example of how it's worth exploring alternative providers that are making more responsible choices, such as using AI models with a lower carbon footprint. It would still be interesting to see additional data on inference costs (the footprint of actually using the model).

Thinking about this classic recently, which is available free here: monoskop.org/images/d/df/...

Don't buy into the myth that "accessibility is only about adding alternative text to images." Alt text is important, of course. But there is so much more to accessibility, including headline structure, functional controls, color contrast, link text, plain language, and more.

The brief shutdown of TikTok in the US allowed many of us to start connecting under the hashtag #WorldTok and having calmer conversations about our lives. We're now starting to explore BlueSky as an alternative platform. Here's a Starter Pack to help us find each other: go.bsky.app/MasFBbc

In the latest Newmoonsletter, @m3metix.bsky.social and I reflect on our journey so far, and explore how play can match the absurdity of current end times. It's precisely because sh*t is getting very real that we need to Play_ & fill in the blanks with our dreams and hopes, with our imagination. 🌱

AIxDesign is hosting a “Slow AI” festival in Amsterdam and May and they’re kickstarting the funds to live stream it! If you can spare some Euros you can get in on the livestream! www.kickstarter.com/projects/aix...

The reason “cute winter boots” is taking off isn’t because it’s some secret code (the code has already been revealed and all of MAGA tiktok has made videos on it) it’s bc using product-focused language allows users to circumvent algorithmic downranking. They’re hijacking TikTok’s e-commerce push.

GitHub Is Showing the Trump Administration Scrubbing Government Web Pages in Real Time https://buff.ly/4jpMP8p

“Follow people who are engaged in your community, follow people who are engaged in helping others, follow people who are posting pictures of their new puppy because puppies are awesome, follow artists making cool weird shit, follow people who are creating new stages.” buttondown.com/monteiro/arc...

They want us confused and lost. They want us alone and disconnected. So I will connect more. I will take care of myself better. I will ground myself. I will rest. I will pour into myself in my community. I will love and allow myself to be loved.

Excited to announce this new article, a comprehensive review of recent research on post-growth — the science of wellbeing within planetary boundaries. Published in the Lancet Planetary Health with a brilliant team of authors. www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Also: “Elon is a genius.” yet “He got a bit excited.” Believe them when they tell you who they are and what they want to do…

Just started reading it as well, highly recommended. We are definitely in an imagination crisis, we can’t just wait for somebody and fix stuff for us. We gotta remember how to collectively dream & imagine a world that works for is, not just the billionaires!

Looks like the 12hrs “ban” might have been of a major censorship system update. US content criticizing Trump is also being removed or flagged. For US users, TikTok doesn’t look like the same app today. And the rest of us realize we’re probably next & discussing alternatives…

We’re looking for beta testers! Here’s how it works: 📱 Create a short video 🦋 Post the video to BlueSky ✨ Tag @skylight.social We’ll reach out with an invitation to join the beta!

The TikTok ban, the Musk Twitter takeover, the Facebook moderation policy changes, the Republicans’ rapidly intensifying crackdowns on speech... let these be the proof you needed to move anything you care about online to a space you control. Digital sovereignty is more important than ever.

Think before you engage. I think all Meta websites & apps should come with a warning like this.

As I said, the democrats keep giving this man easy wins 🤦🏾‍♀️

It’s nearly impossible to explain to non disabled people the hope we had at the beginning of the pandemic. Hope for inclusion & accommodation. For better awareness & treatment of chronic illness. Having that hope ripped away and replaced with increasing ableism, eugenics & hatred? Its devastating

… and the drama is already back. TikTok is out of maintenance mode in the US. And Trump hasn’t even been inaugurated yet, this is going to be such a long year for all of us 😫

TikTok without US people is quiet – nobody is shouting! –, but also friendly and weird like Eurovision. We’re all realizing how much US content we’ve been consuming. And for some reason all the local ads are gone as well? 🤔

The real impact of the TikTok ban is skewing the political discourse further to the right. And that is extremely dangerous. Via @taylorlorenz.bsky.social www.usermag.co/p/the-great-...