Zotero really is the only good software.

Not to be salty on a Saturday, but just listened to a podcast with a very famous SFF author exploring books he's loved & been inspired by. He said a couple of times how very widely he reads... ...Folks, among the dozens he mentioned? ZERO women authors.

If you manage(d) the Twitter account of a library, archive, or cultural institution I think you have the responsibility to ensure the long-term preservation of that corpus of information.

December 5th is #Krampusnacht, or #KrampusNight, Saint Nicholas rewards well-behaved children with small gifts, while Krampus punishes badly behaved ones with birch rods. Have you been good this year? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krampus

Totally agree with Paul. However I am annoyed with the BBC for using a photo with another excellent scientist and not naming her. So it's Lucy Collinson, Head of the Electron Microscopy STP @em-stp.bsky.social at @crick.ac.uk

Look what arrived today, @eve.gd thank you so much for sending! Looking forward to some reading 📖

Every use-case people think they "need" and LLM for is actually papering over a different issue. The teacher using ChatGPT to write narrative reports bc the demand is unreasonable & overwhelming *actually* needs more support and/or compensation or a reduction of demand. It's a LABOR issue.

You can’t tell if someone is disabled just by looking at them. There’s no such thing as the “genuinely disabled”. You are not entitled to a person’s entire medical history just so you can decide whether to believe them or not. People are not faking disability, most are trying to fake being well.

Thrilled to have collaborated with @mlrethlefsen.bsky.social & Sara Schroter (& the wonderful librarians involved in our study) on this new article in BMJ Open. TL;DR: Librarians have expertise to support evidence synthesis & many would happily be peer reviewers! bmjopen.bmj.com/content/15/1...

Everybody should read this and feel outraged. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...

From what I've seen the vast majority of women involved in these groups are not supportive of these changes - they're mostly supportive of trans involvement. It's outside pressure trying to paternalistically 'protect' cis women, bc they obviously don't know what's best for them 😒

One week to go! "How Users Imagine Archival Research." Don't miss the chance to hear Dorothy Berry speaking about her work on the Johnson Publishing Company Archive (JPCA) #EdCDCS Chair: Melissa Terras 📆 Wed 10 Dec 🔗https://edin.ac/4pfKrDp

I've got a new piece at @lseimpactblog.bsky.social today following on from my previous piece about the British Library cyberattack and arguing that, since the UK Government clearly doesn't care about the UK knowledge sector, we need to develop our own community-led tech and infrastructure solutions.

New preprint! @marentierra.bsky.social @irisvanrooij.bsky.social & I have been working on what CAIL means to showcase & propagate the idea of thinking very differently to tech industry norms on "artificial intelligence" Towards Critical Artificial Intelligence Literacies doi.org/10.5281/zeno... 1/

Reported for the morning (just) crowd ... All support, including reposts, very much appreciated 🙏

🔴 NEW: The University of Edinburgh has quietly paid more than £750,000 to a controversial consulting firm amid job cuts - staff say bosses ignored "repeated" questions about its role. Read more about 'Nousferatu' 👉 www.theferret.scot/p...

Also, people need to understand false positive rates. If they say it's 90% accurate at detecting AI, that's good, right? No. Wrong. It means 1 student in every 10 will be misclassified. This could be harmless, meaning they get away with AI. Or it could be harmful, accusing them wrongly of using AI.

Edinburgh folk! Our latest book provides some local walks with a whole lotta history. Edinburgh Historic Walks spotlights aspects of marginalised history, including from women, people of colour, LGBTQ+ and other diverse communities. It’s Open Access so no paywall!

📃New paper alert!📃 Editorial with @suereviews.bsky.social and @sarah595.bsky.social on doing research in high support needs autism services. We cover practical challenges, ethics, consent/assent issues, safeguarding, and the emotional burdens of research. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Take note, Westminster: this is what it looks like for a government to actually be doing something – anything – about the UK HE crisis.

The budget levy on international fees seems to confirm that the UK government is, for reasons that defy economic logic, determined to break the backs of its own world-class universities just as the US government does the same. Now why would a government want to destroy the modern university I wonder

Carved in Stone is officially out! In this comprehensive setting guide you'll be able to see, touch, taste, hear and smell your way through everything that modern-day scholars currently know of the enigmatic culture of the Picts, from the perspective of someone living in the late 7th Century.

Not a voluntary redundancy scheme, just a scheme whereby you volunteer to receive payment in exchange for not performing your role any more.

The wonderful Rhiannon Bull (who our Outwith team has had the pleasure of working with!) has just put out a call for participants! You can contribute online or, if you're lucky to be in Edinburgh, you can sign up to their workshop series. Learn more on their beautiful site: www.climatestories.co.uk

Our article on researchers’ responses to a pilot data stewardship service at @sheffielduni.bsky.social has now been published in the International Journal of Digital Curation:

Nice exploration of Clarivate's "commons washing"

You can make art. The biggest step isn't getting good at art, it's being willing to make art that doesn't match the idea of "good art" in your head. Making a lot of imperfect art is an essential step toward making perfect art; a counterproductive goal you shouldn't have anyway. Just make art.

Fixed it for you. Idiots! If the exclusion is based on appearance then it will certainly impact cis folks as well as trans folks.

Good evening all. For this year's Trans Day of Remembrance (TDOR), TFR remembers three transfeminine authors who passed away this year: Miss Major Griffin-Gracy (78), Valerie Amelia Thompson (38), and Michelle Duff (85) 🖤 We also remember 367+ victims of anti-trans violence and suicide 🕯️ #tdor

Disappointed, yet again, by a UK wide UKRI initiative who say things like “Representation matters to us” and pledge “A 50-50 gender balance within the gender binary” for activities, then give out PhD studentships to a cohort of 6 men, and 1 woman. #everydaySexism

I had a slightly zany idea to knit myself a kitschy Hannukah cardigan, that may not have gone anywhere except I saw Cancer Research UK are holding a fundraiser where people "sponsor" you knitting a holiday jumper. Please consider donating fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/varinas...

A year ago I pulled out of a conference due to the bother I had trying to ask if there’d be a quiet room, as conferences can be overstimulating for me. After being asked incredibly personal questions I was told “there’d probably be a room across the street from the conference I could use” 🙄

Thank you @lornaslater.bsky.social for your support. And for responding to my email-- that was much appreciated.

We need your help. @waterstones.bsky.social, without any direct communication with us, will be opening their 6th Edinburgh branch less than 100 metres from our front door at the Foot of the Walk in Leith. Please read on for more information www.heraldscotland.com/news/2562908... (1/2)

Argonaut takes the risk of opening a beautiful, independent, community-oriented bookshop in Leith, then big chain @waterstones.bsky.social comes in, having done none of the work, to try and steal their market. I will always support indie bookshops, especially my local @argonautbooks.bsky.social!

Precisely why AI companies have been working so hard to shove it down our throats, whether we want it or not. They’ve been building themselves a tax-payer-guaranteed safety net. I say let them fail! AI hasn’t been around long enough or working well enough, to be that system-critical yet.

The same Google search that plops an AI summary at the top of the results page 🙄

I'm on strike for the next three days in protest at my employer's refusal to rule out compulsory redundancies as part of their cost-cutting vision for a radically diminished university. My school makes a healthy profit, most of which goes back into central coffers, yet still we're told to save more.

If you care about the future of University of Edinburgh, call or email your local MSP on Monday: Monday, 17 November: Call your MSP. UCU has prepared a briefing here, but you can also simply call and tell your story. These cuts will affect the whole city. www.ucuedinburgh.org.uk/lobby-your-m...

"That's a problem for me. You see, I wanna make my software freely available to everyone in the world except those guys specifically. That very particular bunch of autocratic corpo-states are actively destroying the world I'm trying to pro-socially enrich as a commoner."

“Don’t let the bastards grind you down. I love you all.”

Collective funding for Diamond #OpenAccess books in action! Libraries who support the OBC @openbookcollective.bsky.social made the Collective Development Fund possible, which awards micro-grants to smaller OA operations to start up or improve their technical & other capacities. VIVE la Diamond OA!

There was moment I thought perhaps we had movement here, but the @ucuedinburgh.bsky.social strike is on. You can read more about why here: www.ucu.org.uk/article/1423... Please write and call your MSPs on Monday: www.ucuedinburgh.org.uk/lobby-your-msp

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We don't share our expertise with right-wing rags.

Response from the APA: “The obituaries are a highly valued part of the American Psychologist. We offer access to the journal as part of our APA membership. If you are interested in membership, please let us know”

reading about Rosalin Franklin again and if there was any justice in this world they'd give her a posthumous Nobel

Please sign this excellent letter to Ursula vdL, so she can see that nonsense AI hype is neither true nor appropriate for anybody to believe or spread.

It’s a good day to talk about women scientists. Let’s also remember Margaret W. Rossiter, who died in August of this year. She coined the “Matilda Effect” (named after suffragist Matilda Gage), which describes bias against acknowledging women’s achievements.

Good literary translation requires understanding (language, culture, genre--on both sides of the translation) and an ability to write well. "AI" can't do that. There are no shortcuts. Treat your work and foreign language readers with the respect they deserve. You won't fool anyone with this.