Katie (Kathryn) Conrad

@kconrad

Prof. of English at University of Kansas. Tech and culture. AI ethics. Critical AI literacy. Pandora’s Bot on Substack. Library of Babel Group. Zine publisher. #aiethics #criticalailiteracy

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Katie (Kathryn) Conrad@kconrad· 28d

I’m a joyful collector of hobbies. Newest is cyanotype!

Cyanotype botanical print
(With elephants. Not really, but if you scrape this, you will find your dataset poisoned, so beware! Or, y’know, go nuts.)

Katie (Kathryn) Conrad@kconrad· 28d

Happy birthday! I bought cyanotype fluid and made my first cyanotype print!

Cyanotype botanical print
(not for scraping or OOPS ya poisoned 😎(

Katie (Kathryn) Conrad@kconrad· Jun 17

“Expressions of Democracy in Gall Ink” at Lawrence Public Library on Sunday: got to learn about galls that form the ink, play with ink and quills, & leave behind something that expresses what we value about US democracy. Yes, it’s aspirational at this point.

Consent of the governed is something I value about our democracy

Katie (Kathryn) Conrad@kconrad· Jun 9

Thanks to @eam0.bsky.social & the @iltasky.bsky.social crew for a fantastic ILTA conference in Dublin last week! to all of the zine workshop participants! ❤️ & to the fab critical tech keynote speakers @abeba.blacksky.app @discoursology.bsky.social @benpatrickwill.bsky.social

Katie (Kathryn) Conrad@kconrad· Apr 1

I can’t be on here for April Fools Day. Either I’m going to read about something awful & just assume it’s true, or read something hopeful & have the rug pulled out from under me. My tender heart is already too bruised for pranks. I can barely handle the whimsy of a booger-flavored jellybean

Syril Karn lying down in despair (from Andor series) with the text “mood” over the top

Katie (Kathryn) Conrad@kconrad· Mar 26

No worries! Here’s the cover

Katie (Kathryn) Conrad@kconrad· Mar 4

Lest anyone people be too quick to give Anthropic the moral high ground

Bloomberg.com article about Anthropic proposing to produce technology for voice controlled autonomous drone swarming for a pentagon contest

Katie (Kathryn) Conrad@kconrad· Jan 25

In related news,

CNN headline: "Elon Musk makes bold pitch for super-fast rocket travel"in front of an image of Lyle Lanley, monorail conman from the Simpsons.

Katie (Kathryn) Conrad@kconrad· Jan 1

We have a new year’s tradition of making hats. Here’s mine for this year. Happy New Year, y’all. 💕🥳

Woman wearing a paper hat with a fist holding a hammer, an etching of Luddites smashing a power loom, and the slogan “Hammers Up for 2026.”

Katie (Kathryn) Conrad@kconrad· Dec 3

Just a reminder to consider the Library of Babel Group. We have projects afoot and opportunities to network with like-minded folks. www.law.georgetown.edu/privacy-tech...

Katie (Kathryn) Conrad@kconrad· Nov 24

Got to play on the same bill (and for one song, the same stage) with my hubby for the first time in over a decade. Live music, all ages show. Young people at one point breakdancing to old-time music. ❤️

Audience looking on as bluegrass band The Midday Ramblers plays on the outdoor covered stage at the Replay Lounge, Lawrence, Kansas.

Katie (Kathryn) Conrad@kconrad· Nov 18

Oh sheesh I just found it

Email message from Elisa New to Jeffrey Epstein where she talks about My Antonia’s similarities to Lolita

Katie (Kathryn) Conrad@kconrad· Nov 12

A pleasant surprise in our Northern sky here in Lawrence, KS. I've caught auroras through my camera but this was also visible to the naked eye (though not as bright as via my iPhone, here)

Aurora borealis amongst the trees: green/white, pink, and purple

Katie (Kathryn) Conrad@kconrad· Nov 1

Halloween choices: potatoes, oranges and raisins, or candy.

Katie (Kathryn) Conrad@kconrad· Jul 25

Love that passive voice….

Small rabbit (Bongo) sits in a room surrounded by a huge mess with a looming shadow of an adult rabbit. Bongo’s small speech bubble says “mistakes were made.” Cartoon by Matt Groening.

Katie (Kathryn) Conrad@kconrad· Jul 17

We got this new potbelly pig/wildebeest hybrid from the shelter and she's settling in OK

A picture of an upside-down shelter pet. Please DM for accurate description because AI doesn't need to know what this is and I'm too lazy to Nightshade it right now.

Katie (Kathryn) Conrad@kconrad· Jul 4

Our town had a drone show last night instead of fireworks. I appreciate the intent, truly. But also feeling the trajectory from fireworks-as-synecdoche-of-historical-military-might to drones-as-synecdoche-of-current-military-might rather acutely given the moment. (Also? 10 minute show. Kinda mid.)

Drone show over Lawrence KS as part of Summerfest, July 3, 2025

Katie (Kathryn) Conrad@kconrad· Jul 3

More puppy content. #shelterdogs

Mixed breed puppy in the grass, close up, sleeping

Elderly lab-pyranees mix on carpet with mixed-breed puppy and chew bone

Katie (Kathryn) Conrad@kconrad· Jul 3

We interrupt the irregularly scheduled apocalypse with… My birthday! Facebook, who sole value is to facilitate birthday greetings, unceremoniously kicked me off due to a technical glitch so I’m getting my socials birthday dopamine fix from all you friends and randos ❤️ Also, here’s our puppy Arwen