<![CDATA[MARY W. SHAW - ShawBlog]]>Tue, 17 Feb 2026 13:27:23 -0800Weebly<![CDATA[Use of Generative AI in Publishing]]>Tue, 23 Sep 2025 15:45:47 GMThttps://www.marywshaw.com/shawblog/use-of-generative-ai-in-publishingWhat. Is. Happening??
Stay tuned. New post incoming soon.

What I'm currently reading:
The Light Eaters by Zoe Schlanger
Empire of AI by Karen Hao
Buried Treasures by Jack Zipes
Syntax of the River by Barry Lopez

]]><![CDATA[Generative AI and Education]]>Sat, 16 Aug 2025 01:33:03 GMThttps://www.marywshaw.com/shawblog/generative-ai-and-educationGenerative AI is a type of artificial intelligence that can learn from and mimic large amounts of data to create content such as text, images, music, videos, code, and more, based on inputs or prompts. https://www.huit.harvard.edu/ai, Copyright © 2025 The President and Fellows of Harvard College
Use of Generative AI in education: what is at stake?
Generative AI is a giant shortcut that enables students to “write” essays without exercising any critical thinking whatsoever. Students will therefore not learn critical thinking skills, will sacrifice cognitive development and higher-level cognitive skills. Due to the lack of regulation there are major concerns about plagiarism, cheating and other ethical challenges. Students are using GenAI to write content and then submitting it as their own original work because it “saves time”. What Happens After A.I. Destroys College Writing? The demise of the English paper will end a long intellectual tradition, but it’s also an opportunity to reexamine the purpose of higher education.
By Hua Hsu, June 30, 2025
 
Although there is a need for teacher training for AI use in education, there is also an uptick in its use in grading and student feedback. The claim is that more personalized student learning can be achieved by using AI but there is also the potential loss of meaningful teacher-student interactions which will result in a loss of mentoring opportunities and individualized teaching programs. There will be more “teaching to the test” and the high cost of GenAI programs for schools will result in an expansion of educational inequality.
 
Dependence on Generative AI can impact social skills and emotional development of young people resulting in Isolation, lack of trust and a non-understanding of the complex nature of human interactions and identity. While GenAI can be a helpful tool it can also offer a sense of false companionship. There has been a growing trend toward emotional isolationism and reduced social interactions. According to Psychology Today, …one in four young adults believe AI could replace human-to-human romantic relationships. One in ten is open to having an AI friend.  Reuters  recently reported  that Meta is facing intense scrutiny about its AI policy that allows chatbots to hold ‘sensual’ conversations with children. Meta has disabled the feature but admitted that …the company’s enforcement was inconsistent.
 
What about the future of academic research? The lack of regulation and transparency when using GenAI can introduce algorithmic bias by generating false data, resulting in false research and false conclusions.  A study by the Journal of Medical Internet Research, 2023, …investigated the capabilities of current AI language models in generating high-quality fraudulent medical articles. The study hypothesized that modern AI models can create highly convincing fraudulent papers that can easily deceive readers and even experienced researchers. The result of the study found that the AI language model can create a highly convincing fraudulent article that resembled a genuine scientific paper in terms of word usage, sentence structure, and overall composition. Regarding Copyright Law and Intellectual Privacy, U.S. courts to date have not recognized copyright in works that lack a human author—including works created autonomously by AI systems. https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/LSB10922
 
There are potential privacy violations regarding the misuse of private user data at educational facilities: inadequate data security, sharing sensitive student information with non-educational organizations without consent, and weak or non-existent regulations. Current privacy protections for students are FERPA (Family Education Rights and Privacy Act) and COPPA (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. The Stanford Cyber Policy Center article, Regulating Under Uncertainty has noted that the EU is leading in AI regulation, while the U.S.  has no specific federal regulation for GenAI. GenAI is already being used heavily in multiple ways by the US Department of Education. California SB 896 (Generative Artificial Intelligence Accountability Act) is enacting AI-related legislation, focusing on areas like algorithmic discrimination, ethics, accountability and transparency.
 
How does all this have an impact? Relying too heavily on GenAI will result in a society of human beings who cannot do or make anything anymore. Why bother? It will likely result in the loss of individual creativity and critical thinking skills, it will promote social isolation, people will become inured to ethical considerations, and we can all look forward to a general cultural deterioration. Without regulation it will creep into the fabric of our intellectual community.  Its acceptance could very well indicate that as a culture we’ve decided we already know everything we ever need to know. The current Administration has made it clear that there are no boundaries on AI as long as everyone avoids “wokeness”.
​
As a bookseller, when I see young people come into the bookstore to purchase and read books that perhaps not everyone agrees with, I feel hope that we will not succumb and so give up control of our human independence. My purpose here is not to be anti-technology. My purpose is to remind people that you need to read books for yourself and to think critically. GenAI is out there waiting and bad actors are out there waiting too.

What I'm Currently Reading:
Is a River Alive? by Robert Macfarlane
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Foundation and Empire by Isaac Asimov
The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey]]><![CDATA[Solano Water Stories]]>Thu, 07 Dec 2023 17:47:18 GMThttps://www.marywshaw.com/shawblog/solano-water-storiesStewarding our Water Resources: Solano Artists Create, Collaborate, and Educate
Arts Benicia received a 2023-2024 Creative Corp Capital Region Grant, funded in part by the California Arts Council and the Sacramento Office of Arts & Culture. The grant focused on the southern quartile of Solano County: Benicia, Vallejo, Fairfield, and Suisun. Rio Vista was also included in the first exhibition. Our media campaign featured original artworks and educational exhibitions across Solano County, including displays on SolTrans regional buses. Our creative process included six focused meetings:

Solano Water Stories Kickoff ExhibitionLocation: Arts Benicia, Showcase Gallery Commanding Officer's Quarters
1 Commandant’s Lane, Benicia, CA 94510
November 18 – December 17, 2023
Opening Reception: Saturday, November 18, 4 – 6 pm

Solano Water Stories Kickoff Exhibition presented the history of water, water conservation, and climate change mitigation practices in Solano County. Designed for all ages, it included information about indigenous history, Solano County history, and current urban, rural and agricultural land and water use as well as ongoing conservation practices. It featured a pop-up library and reading room, original artworks, personal water stories, a poetry corner, watershed maps, water distribution maps, videos focused on site specific water education, sustainable gardening, permaculture, and photographs of protected species and their habitats in Solano County. Additional information was gathered from our partner organizations: Sustainable Solano, Solano Resource Conservation District, Solano Land Trust, and the Solano County Water Agency.

Shaw’s intention with this interactive exhibition was to facilitate a deeper understanding of the climate problems facing the upcoming generation in Solano County and the solutions that may already be partly in place, upon which they can improve. Solano Water Stories focused on Solano County water conservation in the face of climate change and promoted community engagement, sparking hopeful discussion about our sustainable future.

Mary W. Shaw, Curator, Exhibition Design
Shaw is a studio artist, exhibition designer and arts and environmental educator, was identified to work on this project because of her previous work on an exhibition on the history of water and water issues and for her extensive exhibition design experience. She has many years of art education experience with adults, children, and teens in the public schools and over 20 years of experience working in the nonprofit sector, developing successful education and volunteer programs. She created an educational display on the history of water and water issues in Solano County and was the liaison with Sustainable Solano, Solano Land Trust. Solano Resource Conservation District and the Solano County Water Agency. Mary Shaw Tells Solano Water Stories



Click on the links below for partner information and for additional content from the Solano Water Stories kickoff exhibition.
Artists in the Solano Water Stories Kickoff Exhibition 
Akiko Suzuki
Lawrence H. Buford
Janet Barnes
Jean Purnell
Mark Brest van Kempen

Video and Partner Links:
Sustainable Solano
Contact: Allison Nagel
Co-executive Director
Supporting Community Gardens
Elements Of a Food Forest Garden
Creating a Drought Resilient Oasis with Soilogical
Designing with Nature, an Introduction to Permaculture with Michael Wedgely of Soilogical

Solano Resource Conservation District: Solano RCD
Contact: Sarah McKibbin
Resource Conservation Project Manager
Watershed Explorers Field Trip
Creek Biomonitoring Program for High Schools

Solano Land Trust
Contact: Samuel Adams
Communications Specialist
Farm to Community Food Program during the Covid Pandemic
Patwino Worrtla Kodoi Dihi Open Space
​Jepson Prairie Vernal Pool Landscape from Bay Nature Magazine
Rush Ranch
Lynch Canyon
King-Swett Ranch
Farmers of Solano County

Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation
(Patwino Worrtla Kodoi Dihi Open Space)
The Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation is a sovereign nation. The people have lived on lands today known as Yolo, Solano, Colusa, Lake and Napa Counties. Our informational content about the Yoche Dehe Wintun Nation was through our association with Solano Land Trust. 

Solano County Water Agency: SCWA
Contact: Elise Shtayyeh
Associate Water Resources Specialist
Water Efficiency Programs, including:
  • Rebates and programs to help you save
  • Water-wise tips
  • Events and workshops
  • Resources for schools, including the Water Awareness Video Contest
SOLANO COUNTY WATERSHED MAP
Water Distribution Systems:   North Bay Aqueduct   The Solano Project


Fairfield-Suisun Sewer District
Contact: Emily Corwin
Senior Environmental Engineer
Solano Stormwater Alliance Manager
Educational Programs and Public Outreach
Resilient and Green Master Plan
Fairfield Coastal Cleanup 2023

Casa Education Foundation – California Association Of Sanitation Agencies
Scholarship Program
Andrea Solis Internship

FILM: WIND, WATER, LAND directed by John Beck was commissioned by the City of Benicia in 2015. The artwork in the film was not part of this Creative Corps grant but Shaw included it in the Kickoff Exhibition because it is a great example of  the way artists worked together to create a public artwork about sustainability specifically in Benicia, a well-known artist community. Benicia Herald article.
​
More Solano Water Stories  From the Exhibition Library: A Popup Booklist
WATER PODCASTS 
Place and Purpose
Talking Under Water
Waterloop
Words on Water
Sea Change
Circle of Blue

​Wildbound Live (video) Walk with Obi and Wade (American Naturalist Obi Kaufmann and CA Secretary for Natural Resources, Wade Crowfoot)
 
PODCASTS:
Place and Purpose
Talking Under Water
Waterloop
Words on Water
Sea Change
Circle of Blue

​Wildbound Live (video) Walk with Obi and Wade

Solano Water Stories Exhibition Kickoff Walkthrough
]]><![CDATA[Books I'm Reading]]>Fri, 03 Feb 2023 20:02:23 GMThttps://www.marywshaw.com/shawblog/books-im-readingI read A LOT. I have worked, off and on, at an indie bookstore for 17 years. I have some favorite authors but here's a short list of who I'm currently reading. If you're interested, you can read my book reviews on Goodreads. You can find me there under the profile waxpinkie.

Magda Szabo
Salman Rushdie
Olga Tokarczuk 
Haruki Murakami 
N.K. Jemisin
Margaret Atwood
Robert Macfarlane
Craig Childs
Clint Smith
James McBride
Celeste Ng
Rebecca Solnit
Kazuo Ishiguro
Barry Lopez
Mikhail Bulgakov
Kim Stanley Robinson
​


]]>