Hey, Boston-area peeps! Upcoming lecture at Boston Public Library (Central branch): David Walker's Declaration of Independence (with Dr. Leon Jackson). (I do not know if it will be live-streamed or recorded.)

Here begins a little thread about all the chapters in my new book Shakespeare in the Kitchen! (to be updated sorta daily until I make it all the way through)

Hey folks, you know how I’m always telling you that the most cost effective way to buy a UP book is almost always direct from the publisher with a discount code? Well here you go (good through 5/31)

Good decision and statement! 👏👏 "(...) preserving the integrity and reliability of the ACL proceedings is our responsibility and these measures are necessary to uphold the standards of our community and to ensure that the work published remains a credible resource for future scientific inquiry."

Look at the copyright violations and identity theft. Look at the energy wasted to generate this slop. Look at the violations of trust and cultivation of a generalized hermetics of suspicion. Look at the disregard for editors’ labor. Consider what is basically a DDOS on peer review.

An academic reports on multiple AI-generated papers being submitted to various journals in her name, and some science guy’s response is: NBD, as long as you don’t get blacklisted by the publishers. People’s selfish responses to these ecological crises continue to floor me.

Only two days until #BHLDay2026. Join us for a glimpse of what BHL can become and how biodiversity literature can be transformed into data, connections, and something that can be built upon in entirely new ways. 🧪 📖 🌱 🌏 🔗 Full program and registration: about.biodiversitylibrary.org/get-involved...

By acquiescing to demands that we cede class time to tutorials in the use of commercial products we are stealing from our students the opportunity for advanced intellectual development in the subjects we were hired to teach and destroying the future of our fields embodied by those students.

Today we launch Read More Books, a semi-regular Commonplace series featuring @kawulf.bsky.social asking authors five questions about their new book. We kick off with @johngmarks.com and his fascinating study of the long fight over Washington's legacy of slavery.🗄️ commonplace.online/article/read...

Hey, #Boston friends! I'll be giving a talk on David Walker at Boston Public Library on 21 May, and I'd love it if you were able to join me! The talk is free, and you can sign up at the link below! 🗃️

Planned some cataloguing today, but didn’t expect to (re)discover this uncatalogued early 17th‑century specimen sheet comparing the same liturgical text in different type setting, with annotations noting the number of sheets required with that specific type and corresponding cost for printing!

Please do not use AI to review a scholarly manuscript. I absolutely do not care what Claude or whoever thinks about the rise of emu farming in Omaha 1850-1864. I asked you because I care what you think about it.

When given sources in their context window to 'work' from, LLMs just can't help but output obvious plagiarism due to their lack of a theory of mind. It takes so much work to make it look like it's doing more than just summary-shaping the input, students may as well just write the essay themselves.

🥳 Introducing PDR Press Minis — beautifully produced, pocket-sized editions of public domain texts. Our first three titles are on pre-sale now at 25% off — $9 each, or all three for $33 inc. shipping: publicdomainreview.org/shop/pdr-pre...

Next week I'm hosting a virtual event w/ biographer Carla Kaplan & two of her research assistants on her new book about Jessica Mitford & doing archival research w/ RBML's Jessica Mitford Papers. Will be an interesting discussion! You can register at: library.osu.edu/events/troub...

Hello! I'm glad this is making the rounds, as sometimes it feels as if we're pretending the so-called hallucination problem has gone away. It hasn't. It won't. But more importantly, this poses a particularly pernicious harm for education that I think is not well understood. So, a short thread...

to all who celebrate...

It doesn't matter what other powers they nominally have on paper, including lawmaking. A legislature that doesn't control the checkbook is impotent, and an executive who does is a tyrant.

Isn’t it weird how “AI literacy” being pushed on students isn’t about learning how it works, the cost of how it works, learning to spot disinformation, media and tech literacy. But instead is just “employers will like it if you get it to write your emails :)”

April fools only works when reality isn't this stupid.

Ends today! Go forth and buy some books!

So, um... this is bad. Really bad. I looked at the letters that were translated by the AI, and the very first one I found was almost entirely hallucination. Thread:

Forthcoming new book by Ann Blair on authorship & collaboration, from @princetonupress.bsky.social: 👀 📗 press.princeton.edu/books/hardco... #EarlyModern #HistBookChat

if you were unable to attend Erin McGuirl's Winship Lecture, "No Modern Publishing Without Women" at Houghton Library, the recording is now live! 📜 www.youtube.com/watch?v=arCs...

March 17: One of my favorite holidays, Evacuation Day, marking the end of the eight-year British occupation of Boston. This year marks the 250th anniversary of their departure. #heyheygoodbye #nokings

Killing people and destroying things “just for fun” is psychopathic behavior and even saying it is something only a psychopath would do and every U.S. news organization should be shouting that from the rooftops. Editors: Rise to the challenge of truth-telling or make room for someone who will.

Look at the great poster the U of Connecticut made for me--incorporating the witty trade card of Elizabeth Griffin, mid #18thc London map & printseller. Immodest of me--but I believe my talk (3/26, 4pm) will be live-streamed, so pls let me know, farflung Bsky pals, if you'd like more info'.

Obviously, NEH grants never should have been clawed back in the first place, DOGE is a lot of crap, and all grants should be reinstated, but if you want to feel PARTICULAR rage about how half-assed and cruel the whole process is, read the AI rationale for terminating the TEAMS METS grant

Huge NYT article on the back story of those two weeks in March/April 2025 when DOGE illegally terminated hundreds of NEH grants. Gift link!! www.nytimes.com/2026/03/07/a...

What coders lose by relying on AI. From our event with the University of Washington Office of Public Lectures. (with @emilymbender.bsky.social)

"you need to learn how to use gAI or you'll get left behind!" counterpoint! the absolute fastest way to render yourself unemployable is to build your skillset around a tool that does your thinking for you, that everyone has access to, and that one company can change or take away at any time

It's that time! lithub.com/announcing-t...

Democrats MUST insist on a vote on an Authorization of Military Force (an AUMF) for Trump’s war in Iran. My friend @kaine.senate.gov is leading the charge on a War Powers Resolution (WPR) that I support. But it's not a substitute for an AUMF. 1/ A 🧵on the difference. It's important.

"We recognize the pitfalls of AI but we are going to use it anyway" is not exactly a critical approach to education...

This. The outcome of NEVER demanding accountability.

We need to rein in this President. That starts with the Senate passing Tim Kaine’s War Powers Resolution immediately. It should have been brought to the floor before this President sent troops into harm’s way with no explanation or plan.

The idea of a legislative body representing the population having the ability to check the ultimate power of a country’s leader sounds really neat. Someone should write that down.

FWIW, this is sec. 2(c) of the War Powers Resolution:

Friendly reminder: This is all unconstitutional.

It would be cool to have a legislature that acted to defend its own constitutional prerogatives and, maybe as a treat, the interests of the people it represents too.

-Zero Congressional consultation or approval. -Zero preparation of public for need/consequences of war. -Zero evidence of thought about "OK, what might the other side do?" Next month. Next year. -Zero mention of anti-nuke agreement Trump voided, or Trump claim last year that nukes "obliterated."

We had a deal with Iran to ensure limits on its nuclear capacities. Trump ended that deal. Now he says that sending our young people off to fight and potentially lose their lives for this country is just a ‘cost of war.’ This is the cost of his broken promises. No war with Iran.

How many times are lawmakers going to stand by and let this man violate the constitution and endanger the world? Eleventy million? Is that what they’re aiming for?

Shoutout to my amazing colleagues at Cambridge & Birmingham on the 'Small Performances' project into John Baskerville's typographic punches - today is released a @camdiglib.bsky.social collection of imagery of the punches. Check it out! cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/collections/...

THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS

but also, it's not that good at summarizing

A note to provosts, deans, university presidents, etc.: Most people think AI sucks-- not just in its current iteration, but conceptually. People are smart enough to realize this will not bring human liberation, but will move us in the opposition direction. Stop being so gullible.