Doing some of my favourite kind of research: surveying periodicals. The ones I'm looking at are usually bound up with other random titles, leading to some wonderful chance encounters!

Truly facile, awful analysis by Nick Robinson normalising hate speech by 'ordinary people' and equating it with free speech. The boiling point is too many of Britain's commentators unthinkingly wading in the toxic swamp of X and believing it is what passes as normal.

Happy World Narcolepsy Day! I was first diagnosed with the condition almost a decade ago, and it's been great to see the work done by Narcolepsy UK to raise awareness in the past few years. I'd love to hear from fellow narcoleptics on here!

Rich discussion about #PublicHistory in the UK. Katie Carpenter, Anna Maguire, David Geiringer, and Julia Laite in History Workshop journal academic.oup.com/hwj/advance-...

36 mo postdoc / research fellow position in Philosophy, History, and/or Social Studies of the Life Sciences in the STS dept. at Technical Universtiy of Munich, apps due Oct 31: #histphil #histsci #histSTM www.sts.sot.tum.de/en/sts/arbei...

Probably worth me directing people to Max's story from back in May, again. 🧪 cen.acs.org/biological-c...

A very welcome repeat of this landmark 1992 series which also led to a BFI book of the same name. One of its researchers, Stephen Bourne, would be quick to point out it depended heavily on exploratory research of BBC files. You couldn't do that now.... www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

What's new in #DH text analysis land/CLS that I should assign this autumn to MA students? (Historical, literary, cultural, info studies all welcome.) While I want to introduce new methods, I want to emphasize that methodological novelty isn't the only path. (We don't start for another month 😅)

In case you missed it yesterday... #waccampaign

Asking for a friend: has anybody been asked by a publisher to sign an AI licensing clause as part of a book contract? Did you consider saying no? The ones I’ve seen so far look very vague

We'll be launching a book inspired by Peter's research on 26th September in Cambridge. Sign up for tickets here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/democratis... @camhistory.bsky.social @cammbhw.bsky.social

Our campaign for the continuation of independent access to the BBC Written Archive Centre is highlighted this morning by Vanessa Thorpe in The Observer. Her article, with excellent contributions from David Kynaston and Ian Greaves, outlines the issue with clarity. observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

This is not only a serious issue for historians and not only a serious issue for academics (although it is that). It's a development that's also deleterious for the GLAM sector, for example, and part of a much larger trend nationally and internationally to restrict and dismantle access to archives.

‘… social historian David Kynaston, told The Observer he suspects “a serious scandal is unfolding” John Wyver, Ian Greaves, Erica Wagner and others on the growing battle to prevent damaging changes to the BBC’s priceless behind-the-scenes archives:

The Call for Papers for 'Talking Records: Pollution in the Archive', a symposium at The National Archives in London, 4 December 2025, is now open! Submission deadline: Friday 19 Sept See the CFP and details about bursaries for speakers here: orlo.uk/Z8StS #envhum #envhist

I reviewed Eli Erlick's new book Before Gender for @womenshistoryrev.bsky.social: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... This was the smoothest production process of all time and I'm grateful to see a venerable women's history journal making space for trans history!

"the new AHRC funded Community Hub, which will support inclusive, community-led research across the UK GLAM and heritage sectors ... The ‘Spaces, Places and Belonging’ Community Hub will offer three grant schemes - Seed Corn Grants, Skills Bursaries, and Project Grants" tinyurl.com/tnacommunity...

He was very good in person with his trans fans too. Growing up going to SF cons, I met many trans people before I even knew what trans meant. I gave my parents very little they needed to accept in their child, so they had lots left over for everyone else. 😉 www.thepinknews.com/2021/08/06/t...

The BBC Written Archives Centre has changed its access policy for researchers: we will no longer be allowed to see documents not previously vetted. This is a *huge* blow to historical and media research in the UK. About 1/3 of my PhD research would have been impossible under the new rules!

Graduate outcomes and incomes as well as course satisfaction in History are all actually strong. Suggesting that Humanities degrees are not 'career-related' is simply bizarre. 2/2

My book 'Magic Rays of Light: The Early Years of Television in Britain' can be pre-ordered from Bloomsbury here, currently with discounts on the hardback, paperback and e-book versions. Publication 8 January, just ahead of the centenary of television in Britain. www.bloomsbury.com/uk/magic-ray...

Join us in signing and sharing this petition to prevent layoffs of over 400 people (both academic & professional services staff) at Lancaster University. We are all at risk and it's a scary time.

This but for academic writing. I'd offer: 1. Pay attention to your affective experience of visiting the archive. There's good stuff there! 2. Don't be scared of storytelling. 3. Speculation can absolutely be a valid research method.

A major new resource by a wonderful team that will be essential for anyone teaching, and researching, South Asian histories of Britain. A huge congratulations and thank you for making this wonderful, and much needed, site a reality! #skystorians

Join us for the launch of Democratising History: Modern British History Inside and Out on 26th Sept. The book is publishing in August, will be #OpenAccess and is published in association with @ihr.bsky.social. uolpress.co.uk/book/democra... Launch details 👇

On Friday, Sept 26th, we'll be marking the retirement of @petermandler.bsky.social as Professor of Modern Cultural History at @camhistory.bsky.social with the launch of 'Democratising History: Modern British History Inside and Out', published by @uolpress.bsky.social. (Free) tickets available!

We are hiring! Fully tenured associate professorship in environmental history! We are looking for someone who can be a strong contributor to the history group, to a new #envhum related MA program (if all goes well), and to @greenhouseuis.net. #envhist

#HistGender #QueerHist hivemind - I think I recall a PhD student working on the history of police/law enforcement and gay men in the UK in the late-20thc(?). Does this ring a bell for anyone?

I stumbled upon lovely lonely pyramidal orchid yesterday on @magdalenoxford.bsky.social’s Addison’s Walk!

Do you have a fabulous MA student who is interested in the 1990s? Send this fully-funded 4 year AHRC doctoral studentship their way. They'll get to work with me (yay?) and the fabulous @jessamycarlson.bsky.social (yay!) www.swansea.ac.uk/postgraduate...

OMG, the @ihr.bsky.social has uploaded a bunch of old interviews with historians on their youtube channel and I'm now deeply invested. Summer treat for #SkyStorians! Look at this interview with E.P. Thompson by an embryonic Penelope Corfield!

Amazing correction in the Telegraph.

I’d love to know what this word salad from the Guardian about the OFS free-speech nonsense actually means for universities in practice. www.theguardian.com/education/20...

The reason they didn't release it? A study that showed 30% of users would use ChatGPT less if the output was watermarked (and therefore verifiably AI-generated). If the benefits of GenAI are so great, the worst outcome is that people continue to use it in secrecy!

A reminder that OpenAI developed a tool to detect AI-generated content with 99.9% accuracy, but have chosen not to roll it out. We can argue about the pros/cons of AI, but I think Universities should be lobbying hard for this in the interests of academic integrity www.wsj.com/tech/ai/open...

I genuinely think part of the ‘raw milk’ mania is coming from people who simply don’t know what pasteurisation is or why it’s done, and this is why history and heritage education matters.

IT'S A COMIC BOOK, YOU STUPID ROBOT PIECE OF SHIT.

Happy 12 May to all who celebrate: always an important date on the #20s30s calendar.

Is ChatGPT bad for the environment? Rather than focusing on individual generative AI use, more transparency is needed from AI companies on the climate impact of developing their models, writes @samgilb www.bennettinstitute.cam.ac.uk/blog/is-chat...

Dr Carla Hayden was a truly great Librarian of Congress. It is an outrage that she has been sacked - a national shame on the United States. I had the pleasure of knowing her and working with her - she’ll continue to do good in the next phase of her career whatever that is.

In moments like these, Wikipedia talk pages never fail to disappoint

🚨 Important thread! Please share🚨 A vital research resource that many of us have used, the BBC Written Archives, is proposing to seriously restrict access to materials.

Selwyn college proudly state that they are a Living Wage Employer. None of these salaries meet the threshold of the Living Wage Foundation. They should lose accreditation immediately

should add that the salary is EVEN LOWER if you haven't finished your PhD yet.

“A Protest” - a drawing by a Southport schoolgirl in 1929, raising awareness about the effect of ships’ oil on sea birds. Published in the RSPCA’s magazine “The Animal World”

No one wants or needs this!

Next is @maxlong.bsky.social's “Photography versus the Pest”: Shell Chemicals, Visual Media, and Pesticides in Postwar Britain: mediaenviron.org/article/1237...

Also, exhorting once again to respond to the consultation: www.gov.uk/government/c... going until 23rd Feb

NEW POST: On the making of Passport to Pimlico, and the radical political edge at the heart of the film, evident from earlier versions of it. All reposts much appreciated. #filmsky #skystorians 🗃️ #polisky

Call for survey participation: Secondary school teachers in English schools who teach aspects of the British empire: this Oxford/UCL research project would love to have your insights by end of February. Find out more about this research & access the survey link from: portraitemb.co.uk . Pls repost.