The BBC news right now is about the increase in metal detecting finds, especially in Norfolk, thanks to ‘how easy’ finding treasure is. The message is, loud & clear, to buy a detector, get out & dig for surprises, cash to be made etc. Not a thing about reporting it FFS

Today’s Critical Digital Media & AI module class is about creativity, AI and automation. It’ll be really interesting to hear how my students feel about the prospect of the world of work in their AI saturated futures

🚗BEEP BEEP🚗 Reminder that next Tuesday (18 Nov) Dr Rachel Moss @menysnoweballes.bsky.social will be giving the annual Carantes Samain talk online, this time on the extreme right and medievalism! See the link below about how to RSVP. All are welcome! Fáilte roimh chách! carantes.org/2025/10/15/o...

Haven't posted much about OGS Crawford for a while, so here's something from Crawford's WW1 days. He saw out the war as a PoW in Holzminden alongside the likes of James Whale, director of two of my all-time favourites "Bride of Frankenstein" and "The Old Dark House". Sadly, OGSC never mentioned...

My book with Andy Bartlett - an STS analysis of Bigfooting - is now out and available to order at www.routledge.com/Bigfooters-a... If this is of interest, I would really appreciate it being shared. Thank you.

One of the many side effects of so many university redundancies across the UK is that we are all hyper-vigilant every time a Big Announcement or Big Meeting drops. Academia = Anxiety

From the 1st web page to today’s sprawling internet, the web has reshaped how we live. 🌐 Hear Sir Tim Berners-Lee & Brewster Kahle on the Future Knowledge #podcast discuss the web’s rapid growth & why preserving it matters for generations to come. 🎧 futureknowledge.transistor.fm/episodes/bui...

My colleague Marie-Theres Fojuth has advertised a fully funded 3-year PhD Fellowship in Museum Education @unistavanger.bsky.social with the «Into the Fjords: Blue Museums as Arenas of Learning about Vulnerable Ecosystems (FJORDS)» project. Perfect for Scandinavian-speaking #envhum #envhist people!

Just been invited to the launch event of a report considering the 'future of the UK's research system' where they will be considering the creation of disruption labs named after Ada Lovelace and the report will be introduced by a panel of five men

We are featured in over 50 news outlets today: PhD student David Mahoney's research using web archives, @archive.org, to measure historic website emissions, offering a new method and open-source code for analysing & highlighting online environmental impact. www.energylivenews.com/2025/11/11/c...

1/ The US Government has quietly removed a memorial to Black soldiers who died in World War II from the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, South Limburg. The move follows a complaint from the right-wing Heritage Foundation to the American Battle Monuments Commission. ⬇️

It is the most glorious autumn morning in the Waveney Valley, with red kites and buzzards screeching above the marshes. I’ve trod in far too much cow shit for a woman with brand new boots on, chased a truculent chicken and made friends with a Suffolk Punch called Gifford. Life is wonderful today

If you’re anywhere near #chester after work on Tuesday, come and have a wander around our Experts Pub Trail. Seven of the ppl who know most about our history and archaeology waiting for you to join them for a cosy chat! #rowvember www.heritagechester.co.uk/event-detail...

"Now on ITV: 'Peer Review' - hosted by Mary Beard. 15 senior academics locked in Piddleston College, Bantshire University seek to find which of them is actually Reviewer Number 2"

Well this is awful news: tinyurl.com/yr65mjkx 'All modern language and music courses are being suspended for new students at the University of Nottingham.' Nottingham friends: please be assured that we will join you in protesting against this decision in the strongest possible terms. Solidarity.

Compulsory team teaching on every module is perhaps the biggest ever threat to the quality of teaching in UK universities. It causes chaos on the ground for timetabling, ruins course coherence and turns lecturers into permanent supply teachers. It is pedagogically incoherent… 1/

This is quite the introduction to AI & the notion of creativity, worth watching this trailer if you want to give yourself a nervous twitch. Post Truth is the first feature-length completely AI-generated documentary, directed by gen-AI artist Alkan Avcıoğlu from Türkiye. youtu.be/hvKgCCynmXA?...

Tomorrow I’ve been asked to deliver a session on ‘creativity and AI’ which currently consists of me screaming no into a black void. Wish me luck

Today’s 3rd year module on critical digital media & AI is about algorithms & opacity, taking in global experiences of prejudice-built-in to media platforms. Drawing from this book, essential reading

"Matthew Goodwin wants us to worry about a ‘new elite’ of media workers and academics, not the actual elite of billionaires — like his backers. " #Reform #politics #woke morningstaronline.co.uk/article/f/fi...

Norwich Castle, c.13th Century graffiti of woman wearing a wimple. Standing in front of this, you almost feel that nothing more than a blink separates you from the moment it was scored into the rock. #StoneHeadSunday

The UUK briefing on the government White Paper includes "Plans to create a new market monitoring function, allowing government to consider capacity in both higher education and research". Cool, cool, sounds great

Returning to address Reviewer 2 & 3 comments this week after a hiatus of 5 months has me crying ‘what do you want from meeeee’ at my laptop. Reviewer 1 remains a mensch

This week! Make sure to register online!

A question for historians of Labour history: found my great-grandads memoirs in my dad’s papers. GGD was a Barnsley miner but also apparently stood as Labour councillor & was heavily involved in regional politics & miners union before/after WWI. Where do I start to groundtruth these memories?

This is UK HE. This is the Russell Group. This is UUK. This is the tip of the iceberg.

This is wild. The speakers they objected to are the local city councillor and the local MP whose ward/constituency include the university! One has to wonder if they were so keen to invoke Prevent because one of the speakers was Muslim? Absolutely Shellard-levels of bullying on display here.

New: 'How to Get Ahead in Archaeology...' by Heather Keeble doi.org/10.11141/ia.... It explores the role that book reviews in British periodicals played in establishing the public credibility of archaeologists as the discipline was in a state of flux & undergoing processes of professionalisation

AWS going down in perfect timing for my class tomorrow on platform power. This module practically writes itself

And what’s left in the aftermath of all these HE redundancies ends up being 80% cracks, 15% wallpaper & 5% rot

University of Derby proposes more than 200 redundancies. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

'It is the third consecutive year the university has announced job cuts, having confirmed a reduction of 40 roles in October 2024 and 100 in November 2023.'

My first day on campus & seeing other humans since my dad departed. I cry spontaneously, so this will be an interesting day to teach

excellent illustration of the total lack of care, governance and boundaries in technology

Well this is bleak

It’s World Mental Health Day and I’m seeing a lot of messaging about ‘talking helps’ but no acknowledgment of the failure of services to actually talk to. The NHS mental health services still clinging on are shambolic, or downright dangerous, & workplace support is a facade, or privatised

UK Universities cut 12,000 jobs, more on the way. 40% of Unis in financial crisis. Major exporter destroyed by successive govts Obstacles for foreign students. Low fees in England, lack of govt funding. £267bn student debt. Home student numbers down. How will the UK compete with other nations?

This #WorldMentalHealthDay it's crucial to remember that precarious, broken, or otherwise toxic environments cause or worsen mental distress. They also undermine our efforts to care for one-another. Although in challenging times that's exactly what we have to do. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

1. On political gaslighting. Yesterday Jenrick defended his comments on Handsworth by lashing out at 2 pieces of work I was centrally involved with to imply it's people like me who are divisive, not him...

Join your union. Make a stand. Get involved.

Looking forward to discussing how to research the far right safely in academia at the @vox-pol.bsky.social report launch. The report is by @antoniavaughan.bsky.social, with the event hosted by @lizzypearson.bsky.social

Dad’s funeral is tomorrow. Then I go back to work. I’m not ready for either, emotionally, spiritually, mentally

Now would be a great time to check out this BBC radio 4 series on the far right and racism in Britain by the amazing Camilla Schofield. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

New paper out with @dasalgon.bsky.social: “Far-Right Agenda Setting: How the Far Right influences the Political Mainstream” doi.org/10.1017/S1475676525100066 #openaccess in @ejprjournal.bsky.social🧵

There's an app for this, from @sarahgiblin.bsky.social www.whenn.com

Sorting out dad's digital legacy is proving to be a bigger task than expected for the internet footprint of an 81 year old man. Do any of us really plan for our digital accounts after death? This is a useful resource to kick off a conversation: digitallegacyassociation.org/for-the-publ...

Sorry, we can't afford to give you your real-terms pay cut.

This is grim. Solidarity with my Muslim brothers and sisters. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

@zackpolanski.bsky.social : "We need to not conflate the Jewish community & the ongoing genocide in Gaza.. you can both be absolutely clear that antisemitism & Islamophobia in our country is totally unacceptable & you can stand against the genocide & our govts complicity.." Well said Zack.