A toxic US export—book banning—hits the UK. Same tactics, same titles, same cruelty.

The freedom to speak and to read is a fundamental principle of the United States of America. That is why we have joined together — parents, students, educators, library workers, authors, free expression advocates, booksellers, and publishers — to stand in support of our nation’s school-aged children and teens and in opposition to H.R. 7661. H.R. 7661, if passed, will compel nationwide book censorship. It confuses obscenity with identity and stigmatizes vulnerable young people, particularly trans children and teens, based on who they are. It will continue to drain funding from our already underfunded schools and libraries. And it will threaten the creativity and critical thinking that are vital to education in the U.S.

A core principle of democracy, freedom, and liberty is that the government does not choose what people get to read and who they get to be. This country has a long history of protecting our freedoms. H.R. 7661 goes against this. Together, we say that this bill goes against the U.S. Constitution, local self-determination, access to books, and a society that is welcoming for everyone, no matter who they are. Our schools deserve better than this. Our children and teens — all of them, without exception — deserve better than this. We urge the U.S. House of Representatives to vote NO on H.R. 7661 or, better yet, to not take it up for a vote at all.

We stand alongside over 100 grassroots and national advocacy organizations, publishers, booksellers, parent groups, and professional associations in opposition to H.R. 7661.

👉 Use this action center to urge your representative to vote NO. tinyurl.com/hapf2m9r #uniteagainstbookbans

“If passed, [HR 7661] will cause nationwide book censorship, limiting and removing access to titles and information, and stigmatizing vulnerable and marginalized children and teens and their families.”

Excited to see that you're dropping a new album

Shout out to whichever content designers and user researchers worked on GOV.UK's 'Apply for a passport service'.

I just renewed mine and it was *so* much less stressful than I expected. Much better than the last time I had to apply!

CGI Business Consulting Careers | Human Centred Design - Content Designer | UK Wide - Various, , United Kingdom CGI Business Consulting Careers | Human Centred Design - Content Designer | UK Wide - Various, , United Kingdom

Content designers: come and work with me!

Notes below. 🧵

cgi.njoyn.com/corp/xweb/xw...

The latest Working Draft of WCAG 3 is out today! w3.org/TR/wcag3/

In this version, we've:
- moved lots of requirements to “Developing” phase,
- wrote down how to test,
- mapped reqs to user needs (using DAF),
- split out 'applies when' and 'except when' to massively increase readability
1/2

My weird-looking cat is messing with my exam preparation

At this circus you have to check your skin at the door and walk in without it - but behind her mask the coat check girl has a favourite visitor. Coat Check Girl by Adan Jerreat-Poole.

My "my surveillance network doesn't enable mass surveillance" tshirt is raising a lot of questions that I can hear thanks to my surveillance network

Amid ICE’s violent crackdown, two publishing professionals will host an online auction featuring more than 500 items and services donated by members of the industry, to benefit Minnesotans and immigrants buff.ly/V1dQfDD

One.

I have one school visit scheduled for the 2025-26 school year.

Before the book banning movement and the politics of hate metastasized, I visited 40, 50, and 60 schools each year.

This regime of monstrous evildoers is actively trying to erase LGBTQ+ stories, identities, and humans.

Resist

Help displaced families in Mawasi Make a great change for the better: help relieve the suffering of displaced families in Mawasi, Gaza, who are facing hunger, thirst, and heat.

It´s Monday, let's begin this week by caring and helping the Mawasi project, a group of volunteers supporting their neighbours. chuffed.org/project/mawa...

a cartoon character says " we 've tried nothing and we 're all out of ideas " in front of a bookshelf Alt: Beatnik character says "we’ve tried nothing and we 're all out of ideas”

Ban Social Media if you’ve shown using Regulation (of companies/suppliers), Education (of children) and/or Socialisation (thru support of families and friends) does not work.

Otherwise it’s Simpsons’ Beatnik time.

Regulation (legal controls and checks on companies), Education (provision of good, trustworthy models and methods to children) and Socialisation (peer and family behaviours and support).

We didn’t ban children from accessing books. We created infrastructures to help them. The same can happen now

Man answering his phone on the train: Yes? Correct, I’m not at work (pause) I’m not going to answer that because I am not at work today. No, you’re going to have to ask someone who is. Goodbye.

I still can't get over them using "AI" for placeholder *text*. They're literally thinking of words, and instead of using those words as their placeholder, they're plugging them into the bullshit machine to get different words. It's like unplugging your space heater and setting it on fire for warmth.

Loving this advice on the line between decorative and informative images, from Considerate Content by Rebekah Barry:

"If an image aims to evoke a feeling, it is informative"

and "if you take [decorative images] away, the interpretation would be the same."

So helpful for dealing with edge cases 😃

Defend Our Juries - Exposing the corruption of democracy The aims of the Defend Our Juries campaign are:

I just donated to Defend Our Juries - Exposing the corruption of democracy.

A PSA to my peers looking for jobs right now:

Scammers are definitely aware of the job market right now, which super sucks.

Be cautious and pay attention to little details, validate before you provide personal information.

Whenever I see "use AI or get left behind" I remember this children's poem by Grigori Oster:

If you ever want to get
ahead of your peers,
Never chase after those
Who are currently leading.
In five minutes, disappointed,
they will run back this way,
Not having moved,
you will be in the lead.

Rededicating this poem in honor of the veterans of the Cloudflare outage

"meme" is short for memento mori

I got a message from him on Friday - keep an eye out for scams!

This is very much a breach of privacy and I hope/assume will lead to some therapists losing licenses.

Digital inclusion folks, do you have a first-timer's guide to using the internet handy?

This Mastodon poster needs one, to support someone through a very difficult situation.

Please let them know if you can help!

(I don't have more context, so can't answer questions)

aus.social/@coolandnorm...

I really enjoyed reading How to Embrace a Swamp Creature, and it's on my list of ttrpgs I really want to play with friends at some point 💚

3. They go, "Nah, disagree; get onboard, or piss off" and that's sort of that.

In that context, is there a positive vision of how designers might work *with* AI? (Because that's better than AI working without designers.)

OK, serious work-related question...

1. Organisations begin to think they don't need user-centred designers because "AI can do that". (Already happening.)

2. We say, "Ah, but you need designers because..." and give a ton of real, compelling reasons, from quality to ethics.

👀 @w3c.bsky.social WAI invites you to comment on the updated:
W3C Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 3.0 Working Draft

#WCAG #a11y

www.w3.org/TR/wcag-3.0/