{"id":125420,"date":"2026-02-27T20:39:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T20:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/125420\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T20:39:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T20:39:08","slug":"front-lines-the-pennsylvania-gazette","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/125420\/","title":{"rendered":"Front Lines \u2013 The Pennsylvania Gazette"},"content":{"rendered":"

When he emailed me the draft of this issue\u2019s cover story, \u201cHyper Text<\/a>,\u201d senior editor Trey Popp called it \u201ca dispatch from the front.\u201d He interviewed more than a dozen students and a few faculty members, sat in on classes, and otherwise immersed himself in getting a sense of how AI is working its way into the classroom and being used to help master concepts, conduct research, and write papers, etc. He also heard students describe their hesitations and questions about the technology, both in terms of their work on campus and in pursuing their future professional goals: the line between tool and crutch, and the fear of being tripped up by AI\u2019s unreliability, among other issues.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hardly worth noting that Penn students can be extraordinarily reflective and articulate, but I was still struck by how insightful their comments were\u2014many from participants in the freshman seminar, \u201cHow Is AI Changing Higher Education?\u201d that Trey visited multiple times through the semester.<\/p>\n

I tend toward a doomy view of AI, so a comment by the mathematician and Andrea Mitchell University Professor Robert Ghrist, who has thoroughly embraced the use of AI in his teaching and beyond, was especially clarifying as a counterweight. He compared it to the advent of microscopes and all the new things they made it possible to see. \u201cI believe we are at a similar moment\u2014not for categories of life, but for categories of intelligence, maybe categories of consciousness,\u201d he told Trey. And eventually, \u201cwe\u2019ll get used to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

While it might not destroy us all, AI may yet deliver the final blow to the dictionary industry, finishing the job that search engines started a couple of decades ago. In his recent book, Unabridged: The Thrill of (and Threat to) the Modern Dictionary, Stefan Fatsis C\u201985 mixes a history of the premier US dictionary maker, Merriam-Webster, and the industry overall; his experience embedded with the firm\u2019s dwindling staff of lexicographers; and additional reporting that reveals the challenges facing the field and the value of dictionaries\u2019 essential work tracing language development.<\/p>\n

I talked with Stefan about Unabridged in an interview that accompanies an excerpt from the book, titled \u201cPaper Record<\/a>.\u201d That piece takes a look back to the analog age, paying tribute to the firm\u2019s \u201cConsolidated Files,\u201d in which decades worth of word discoveries and debates among Merriam staffers\u2014an estimated 16 million items in all\u2014have been preserved on slips of paper. (But for how much longer remains to be seen.)<\/p>\n

Also in this issue, \u201cA Degree Too Late<\/a>\u201d highlights the first women to be awarded degrees in architecture from Penn. The most prominent figure among them\u2014Lin Huiyin [\u201cThe Story of Liang and Lin<\/a>,\u201d Nov|Dec 2019]\u2014was awarded her degree posthumously by the Weitzman School in 2024, which sparked a further investigation. Authors Sidney Wong and Annie Liang-Zhou GFA\u201926 (Lin\u2019s great-granddaughter), who have clearly combed the archives, share the stories of some other pioneers.<\/p>\n

And in \u201cThe Eye of Denise Scott Brown<\/a>,\u201d Jon Caroulis traces the life and career of the iconic planner and architect, with special attention to the influence of her photography. A recent book, Encounters, brings together some 400 images from the 1950s through the 1970s, several examples of which are included in the article.<\/p>\n

\u2014John Prendergast C\u201980
Editor<\/p>\n

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