Currently doing some marking. A reminder to everyone involved in archives and collections: digitisation is not preservation. If I digitise a box of records and put the files on a USB stick I haven't preserved a thing. It's all about what you do with the files post-digitisation. #archives #digipres

On my way to the airport, bound for Sydney and the Australian Society of Archivists conference.

One day I would like to see an honest report on someone dying. "They were a bit of a jerk. They probably didn't deserve to die, but they did tend to rub people up the wrong way."

My new website is live! It's a work in progress, with lots I still want to do, but after many years my last site became completely non-functional so this is the first step: mikejonesonline.com #archives #history #historian #consultant #GLAM #academia #website

This from the Conversation today. I have a different view to the author on what constitutes 'compelling'.

I have all my old CDs ripped and sometimes put the lot on shuffle to see what comes up. Tonight: Skinny Puppy.

My new website is live! It's a work in progress, with lots I still want to do, but after many years my last site became completely non-functional so this is the first step: mikejonesonline.com #archives #history #historian #consultant #GLAM #academia #website

A description from 1901 of the Federation ceremony in Sydney, noting that the pavilion had seating for "some of the most prominent people in the public life of Australia, with their wives and friends." 🙄

If Scrivener had Zotero integration I would absolutely use it as my primary tool for writing. Without it, everything just gets too fiddly and I end up back in Word.

The Trump ballroom. Complete with extra high windows to ensure a good view when the people start building a guillotine outside.

AMaGA's ASSEMBLY initiative invites you to complete a short survey exploring collaborative research in the Australian museum and gallery sector. It takes around 5–10 minutes and will help us build a clearer picture of what's happening across the sector: anu.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

This looks like a job for @drrwel.bsky.social

Ping @colourfulhistories.bsky.social

At the 'looking up historical weather data so I know what the day was like' stage of writing.

Stumbled across Kiddle 'facts for kids' today. If your kids want to know more about 19th century governors of Tasmania—and I know mine do—this is the site for you. #history #Tasmania

There, fixed it

This is an absolutely amazing piece of work - the ABC spent five years (!) working on this interactive feature that brings together First Nations oral histories spanning 65,000 years www.abc.net.au/news/deeptim...

lmao at the idea of having any gaps in my bookshelves FOOLS I HAVE NO SPACE FOR YOUR WHIMSY

OMG, a JOB! UNSW Canberra is looking for Level B and Level C positions in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences! Check out the job ad here: external-careers.jobs.unsw.edu.au/cw/en/job/53...

History brains trust: does anyone know if flight logs exist for Mascot Airport in the 1930s, and if so where they are? I know that a plane landed there at 7:52pm on Tuesday, 7 November 1933 and I want to see if I can confirm the name of the pilot.

If you want to know more about our use of handwritten text recognition software (Transkribus) on the wills project, tune in on Zoom next week 👇 All welcome (not just postdocs!). #EarlyModern 🗃️ #DigitalHumanities #HTR #CitizenScience

Reading a news report from 1932 on the secretary of the British Museum lamenting the loss of a "great body of social history of the most curious kind." His suggestion? Concealing microphones and talkie cameras in the bars of country pubs and other places to capture the life of the people.

A must listen episode about linking Pacific Islander culture and stories and GenAI: AI ethicist Dr Karaitiana Taiuru poses a powerful question: "What do we do when our stories aren't our stories anymore?" Please share. #AI #colonisation #intellectualproperty #theft #digitalhumanities

Looking at archival documents from the Photographic and Cinema Branch in the 1930s. This summing up a candidate for a job: "he is a young man of good appearance and address; while definitely an artistic type he is well balanced and capable, with some force of character."

This just happened again and it really drives home the extent to which scholarly orgs could build great bridges with museums/historical sites by figuring out how to help them get access to scholarly materials. Those places might, in turn, help support those orgs with people and money.

This but an entire country’s economy lol

Can you help us boost this signal? UTS colleagues are doing a governance project to talk back to the consultant led 'reform' of their university. Please repost!! UTS people please have your say! docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

5yr old in the car on the freeway this morning: I just saw a truck I call big red. One I call big red, and one I call big greeny. And one I call fuckface.

One of the real joys of writing online is when you see someone also find the value in something that you have shared, and runs with farther it in a way new to you. Hugh Rundle’s insights on Google Search’s adoption of Ai snippets is a good read! www.hughrundle.net/did-you-mean/

Important research here from Joel Barnes tracing the origins of philanthropic wealth in Australia. How should institutions reckon with these legacies? theconversation.com/the-dixson-f...

Recently the 2025 Ethics Index Report (EIR) for Australia was released. A major finding, although not unexpected, is that ‘AI has surged to become the third most pressing ethical challenge and is now ranked as the second most difficult future development to ethically navigate’.

#PhD research callout! I am seeking History teachers in NSW for a short interview about NSW History 7-10 syllabuses. If you have taught History in NSW and are interested, please enter your details into this form. forms.office.com/r/cvf5QfLrLb Ethics approval: H16788 Please share!

As someone who is a) an archivist and historian, and b) generally works from home, I basically live in jeans and t-shirts, hoodies, cardigans, and caps. So today when I had to wear a suit and dress shirt to a meeting, I felt like a teenager who had borrowed his dad’s clothes for a job interview.

from the latest print edition of ‘The Onion’

If anyone had doubts about the predatory nature of for-profit genealogy services, now you don’t. They’re insipid data machines that seek to capitalise our archival resources right into the ground at the expense of the institutions who curate and safeguard them.

If you’re on academia dot edu, let me suggest that you strongly consider deleting your account.

1/At Macquarie Uni we are losing 50% of our units in my faculty. This is on top of cuts in 2020. We estimate by next year my faculty will be teaching 80% fewer subjects than pre Covid. Disciplines being cut do not have declining enrolments. @jennaprice.bsky.social @michaelwestbiz.bsky.social

My spelling is pretty good, but one word I can never get right first time is 'manoeuvres'.

Flinders University has abolished the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences. Another destructive restructure is about to happen.

Absolutely horrific concepts for the university sector from Bill Shorten, now VC of the University of Canberra. A vision for the utter decimation of higher education

North Melbourne

This is the Ad that #Newscorpse initially pulled despite that it was already paid for by the Jewish Council of Australia. #Newscorpse deny they pulled it, saying it was delayed due to internal processes. Sounds like BS, I’m pretty sure they don’t want ppl to see it. Plz share.

I assume Sussan’s war on dependency will extend to the $14.9 billion of annual subsidies to major producers & users of fossil fuels? And end the dependency of wealthy property investors on annual tax breaks of $12bn? Or is she just talking people with disabilities?

Ta-Nehasi Coates is doing a lot of things with this essay, but one of the most important is fearlessly using examples of anti-trans hate to describe Charlie Kirk's politics. The contrast between his choices and those of other writers for major legacy outlets is revealing.

The Australian Creative Histories and Futures Project is running a survey to investigate data use across the arts and culture sectors. If you're a researcher, artist, or GLAM worker you might like to give your feedback: https://unsw.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_78qwtk2SZhWOoku #glam

Genevieve Bell’s resignation as ANU vice-chancellor is a microcosm of the governance crisis at Australian universities www.crikey.com.au/2025/09/12/g...

Hey hey, ho ho, Julie Bishop has got to go. #ANU

“ANU urgently needs new direction and new leadership – one that restores its focus on research, education, and the free dissemination of knowledge.” Our ANU’s statement on the VC’s resignation 👇 drive.google.com/file/d/1e3Lh...