What HE managers fail to understand is that in the context of the Humanities, ‘employability’ isn’t teaching coding or carpentry, but skills around writing, presenting, reasoning, evaluation, analysis, research etc. In an 80% service economy, these are the skills that fundamentally matter.

There is a certain bleakness in finding hope where one expected certainty.

📅 Save the date! The University of Stavanger, invites you to a symposium entitled: Freedom of Expression in Times of Genocide 🗓 Wed. Nov 12, 5–7:30 pm | Sølvberget, Stavanger & online Speakers include: Sindre Bangstad, Raz Segal, Zoé Samudzi, Maha Abdallah & Martin Shaw More details to follow.

Medieval techniques to preserve mental health? Sage advice here (and a wonderfully written post). "Tao seemed forever struggling with the dilemma between living freely but poorly and working in the government but unhappily. Besides resorting to alcohol, Tao dealt with such struggles with poetry."

The best slow TV ever. www.nrk.no/kultur/flytt...

At my good colleague @markusmindrebo.bsky.social’s book launch at the @unistavanger.bsky.social Library today. Women, Politics, and Social Networks in the Sagas of Norwegian Kings. Congratulations on the book, Markus!

Step into the heart of Medieval Baghdad—right from your phone. 📜 Uncover rich, immersive history 🦅 Explore 9th century Baghdad 📱 Experience it all for free, anytime, anywhere Launching today for free: the Discovery Tour App – Medieval Baghdad #AssassinsCreed

We have a cover for Ancient Egypt in Video Games! Out either late 2025 or early 2026 - will post a link with contents once it’s up on the DeGruyter website. I’m very excited that this is soon out in the world!

29th August is the feast of the Beheading of John the Baptist. Here Salome is depicted doing a spectacular sword dance! ⚔️ Bodleian Library MS. Auct. D. 2. 6; 'The Littlemore Anselm'; f.166v @bodleian.ox.ac.uk

"This book is a must-read for both medievalists and gamers." - @medievalists.bsky.social The Middle Ages in Computer Games by @robehoughton.bsky.social offers the most comprehensive analysis and discussion of medievalist computer games to date. Learn more 👉 buff.ly/XnzZx0z #medievalsky

It’s an unimaginable amount of money. He could have bought two - maybe even three - Warhammer armies.

a university is not for generating profit, it provides cultural enrichment via weird little gremlin people who love visigoths or haikus, and very occasionally a scientist who figures out faster than light travel

So does that mean it’ll develop crippling depression and a bunch of debt

There's another very kind review of The Middle Ages in Computer Games out on @gamevironments.bsky.social from @markusmindrebo.bsky.social. There's also a bunch of important articles on peripheral religions in games in this issue which are well worth a look. doi.org/10.48783/gam...

Look even *if* AI could do the job of a historian, I still wouldn’t trust it. My research is on how elites used the past as a political tool and tried to control historic narratives. I wouldn’t trust tech companies and their connections to right wing governments to not rewrite the past.

The Call for Papers for our strand on the Middle Ages in Modern Games for next year's @imc-leeds.bsky.social is now open with the conference theme of 'Temporalities'. Please circulate to any interested parties. Deadline 17 September. Text here: middleagesinmoderngames.net/announcement...

Universities messed up by not getting rid of student evaluations after the wave of peer reviewed scholarship about their issues and before evals became a culture war item. This could have been done a decade or more ago and betrays a stunning lack of imagination in capitalist ed sector

Indeed, there is evidence from randomized controlled trials of large introductory classes, that student course evaluations are negatively correlated with how well students learned the material. maa.org/math-values/...

If the marketing team is struggling to understand what universities do and are for, they can read this by a former Warwick professor, HoD, research centre founder/director and PVC. 3/3

5. ‘We earnestly forbid all heathen practices. Namely the worship of idols, heathen gods, & the sun or the moon, fire or water, springs or stones or any kind of forest trees, or indulgence in witchcraft …’ #law #medieval Can’t help but think did we lose something when we stopped worshipping nature?

The fascinating secular Laws of Cnut were issued after seizing the throne of England. They intended to cement his power and reassure his subjects, largely repeating laws of earlier kings. Full of insights into medieval life. To share with you, I aim to post a law a day in sequence #medievalsky 1/2

It is really really sinking in for me the degree to which LLMs are the ultimate expression of right wing anti-intellectualism. Its proponents are literally mocking the idea that anyone would ever want to learn anything, know anything, develop any actual skill, or have a thought of their own.

Roderick and I are "speaking" together on Norse medievalism in games!

The third and final day of #MAMG25 is about to begin! Head over to our website to check out the programme, and read two days of great papers, and our first panel for today, Fantasy Medievalism in The Witcher, will start in just 10 minutes at 10am (UTC+1)! middleagesinmoderngames.net/announcement...

Our Asynchronous Conference is starting in less than an hour! Come and join us for three days of papers about all aspects of the Middle Ages and Medievalism in games of all sorts!

The sixth Middle Ages in Modern Games Asynchronous Conference on the themes Globalities and Regionalities will take place from 4 to 6 June. The papers (written and video format) will be accessible on our website middleagesinmoderngames.net We hope you can join us!

"After more than 100 years in storage, the original serpent's head from the Oseberg Ship will be displayed to the public for the very first time." New upcoming exhibition at the Museum of Cultural History: www.khm.uio.no/english/news...

It's been released! And it's shiny! It happens in academia every day, but it's a bit surreal to suddenly have published a whole book. www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi...

Today’s trip: Raby mere #Wirral. Raby is recorded in the Domesday book. From Old Norse rá and býr = ‘settlement at a boundary’. Ancient boundaries often followed the line of waterways. It is suggested that the lake marked the southern limit of viking territory in the Wirral. #medievalsky #cheshire

It can't be all doom and gloom. There have to be rays of sunshine sprinkling down on these trying times. Don't stop fighting Just take breaks Somebody somewhere Needs flowers tonight

We can't save the world with games, but we can be part of why it is worth saving. We can't save the world with art, but we can brighten it. We can't save the world with play, but we can be a reminder of our humanity. We can't save the world with joy, but we can be a reprieve before the fight.

I believe Tolkien said it best

Heart-patterned Viking Age weight for #Valentine’s Day. From Mere, #Cheshire. It is lead with gilded copper alloy decoration on top. It bears an Irish style design with opposing scroll patterns. It is 22.07g used for weighing goods for #trade #medievalsky #viking

We're delighted to open the Call for Papers for the sixth Middle Ages in Modern Games Asynchronous Conference: Globalities and Regionalities (3-6 June 2025). The themes are 'Globalities' and 'Regionalities' with deadline 3 May. Details below and here: middleagesinmoderngames.net/announcement...

Just out: I'm interviewed here by Metal Hammer alongside Einar Selvik from Wardruna and JB Christofferson from Grand Magus about heavy metal's love affair with the Vikings. This was great fun to do! www.loudersound.com/features/why...

Todays vikingism: a somewhat disgruntled tabby cat dressed up - in armour and winged helmet - and photographed as the shieldmaiden Brünnhilde, seemingly in the style of Wagner's opera cycle 'Der Ring des Nibelungen'. Photos by Adolph Weidhaas, 1936. Library of Congress, ppmsca.51533/ppmsca-83927

Cover ✔ Publication date ✔ Webpage ✔ Pretty thrilled about this. The result of 7 years of academic blood, sweat and tears at this point.

Word of the Day is ‘uhtcearu’ [ucht-kay-aru, with the 'ch' as in the Scottish ‘loch']: Old English for ‘the sorrow before dawn', when you lie awake in the darkness and worries crowd your mind.

The HGN has worked with HISTOLAB to create a video tutorial, Video Games in the History Classroom, exploring how teachers might use games to engage their students. It uses @charlesgames.bsky.social Attentat 1942 & Svoboda 1945: Liberation as examples histolab.coe.int/activities/t... #gamingthepast

This year, we've got a whole 172 pages worth of scholarship on medievalist games! This conference never ceases to impress me. So glad to be part of the team! #gamingthepast

Just in time for Christmas, the proceedings of The Fifth Middle Ages in Modern Games are out now! They includes a vast range of short articles dealing with a plethora of subjects relating to the medieval world and medievalism in games of all sorts. issuu.com/theuniversit...

The excellent Middle Ages in the Modern World conference is back next year, and we're taking a strand on Medievalist Games! We've got a particular focus on 'Temporalities'. Call for Papers deadline 10 January for event 24-26 June at Kings College London. middleagesinmoderngames.net/announcement...

Yesterday I got to lay eyes on the one and only Codex Regius Poetic Edda. This little book is by far the most valuable book in Iceland, and arguably for the whole of Northern Europe. It was written during the 1270s and it is the sole source of so much that we know about Norse Mythology.

@markusmindrebo.bsky.social, Arturo Mariano Iannace, and @robehoughton.bsky.social have been putting the finishing touches to this year's Middle Ages in Modern Games Conference Proceedings. It's out next month, but here's an idea of the scale of the volume...

Thomas Hylland Eriksen var en av dem som gjorde akademia til et strålende sted å få henge rundt i. Raus og skarp. Hans siste essay var i avisa denne uka. Kommer til å savne dem, og ham www.morgenbladet.no/ideer/2024/1...

If you're not already following @midagesmodgames.bsky.social and you're at all interested in medieval history and medievalism in games of all sorts then you're going to want to give them a follow. They've got a stream of publications and calls for paper coming up in the next month or so.

Social Media must be overthrown and replaced by Social Persia, which will in turn be conquered by Social Macedonia.

Hedgehog Time! Marginal illustration from a 16th-c. Book of Hours (searchworks.stanford.edu/view/14155302).

Boydell have 60% off hardbacks with code BB060 just now. If you're dead set on a hard copy of The Middle Ages in Computer Games (or any other academic text I suppose), then this makes the price more reasonable. boydellandbrewer.com/978184384729...

It seemed a decent time to start moving to the new place. Good to see many familiar faces here already.