Humans and Technology
Originally published in the
Haliburton Echo and Minden Times.
About me
Educational and Professional Background
My education is in biology, forensic science, and librarianship. Some of the relevant areas I've worked in include online and continuing education, and as a public librarian focusing on technology. I'm currently employed in a tech related public sector job. I don't consider myself an expert, just an end user with some decent research and critical thinking skills.
Generative AI use
Humans and Technology is an opinion column written for the Haliburton Echo and Minden Times. I write a column every other week, and have up to 800 words to say what I want to say. The focus is on the impact of technology on our everyday lives.
The demographic I am writing for is the largely senior, rural, and low-tech or tech averse. My aim is to make complex topics a bit easier to understand without losing too much nuance.
Humans and Technology
I do not use generative AI in the writing or research of my columns. I edit them using bog standard spellcheck in Word, and my husband and my sister proofread them for me. I do use royalty free images from a variety of sources on this website. If I clock an image as being AI generated, I don't use it - but that's getting more difficult as these tools become better at things like image generation, and as the internet is flooded with that kind of content.
Learn more section and Correction log
The "Learn more" section at the bottom of each post are resources I read while researching and writing. This way, people who read my column can look at the same information I did and make up their own minds about the conclusions I've drawn.
The "Correction log" is there so that I can update my articles with any major changes or errors I've discovered after publication. Like most humans I'm not immune to making errors. Sometimes I'll use that section if there's an interesting update or a tangent that went unexplored.