One of the more sensible comments in the first phase of “ChatGPT can ace our assessments! The entire system is compromised! We must revert to in-person unseen exams at once!” panic was that, if a sophisticated auto-complete app can perform well in student assessments, it’s because we’ve been assessing students on their ability to imitate […]

Woken by yelling cats – two to be let outside, one wanting breakfast – from very strange dream, A and I raiding offices of history magazine to get back some vital bit of evidence that would, erm, enable me to finish a short article on the reception of the Elder Pliny in 18th-Century Somerset. I […]

Normal spam works on the basis of volume: send out umpteen thousand emails with offers for different things, and even at a 0.1% response rate you can hope to turn a profit. Academic spam is a bit more tailored, at least going to the trouble of trawling a few databases – we are all, I […]