Walk in on first day of work and I was greeted by fog. Auspicious!

free breakfast area at a hotel is such a weird, liminal space

✍️ New post from me > Maintaining Truth in a Generative AI Era thomaspadilla.substack.com/p/maintainin...

Must-read new post from @publicknowledge on a distinction that every hustler trying to get paid for AI training is trying to erase: the difference between fair use and piracy. publicknowledge.org/piracy-vs-f...

Our aim at DHNow is to provide as global a view of the DH landscape as possible. In this spirit, we would love to have more feeds and sources from Asia and Oceania. Please submit any sources you rely on: digitalhumanitiesnow... "

An update from The Public Interest Corpus from @thomaspadilla.bsky.social on our second workshop held at NYU Law School. Many thanks to @nyuengelberg.org for hosting us! www.authorsalliance.org/2025/08/13/t...

Too many favorites. The #90s were a great time to be in college, and I made a good choice by going to the Univ of Maryland-College Park. The one Republican kid in my English lit class dressed in head-to-toe black the day after Bill Clinton was first elected president. A few others... #HigherEd

In an anthro class in undergrad: We watched a doc on Hmong shamanic medicine, and one girl (who was a pill) started making a big fuss about the "savagery" of killing a cow. Another girl calmly interjected that she was Hmong that her mom+gma were shamans and explained the respect to the animal spirit

What is a favorite university memory? While waiting to deliver a talk at the University of Edinburgh (Fall 2019) I walked a path around a beautiful tree in front of the library. Through the surrounding foliage I noticed a man fully embracing the tree. He looked at peace. I thought that was nice.

In the CNI Interviews podcast episode "Building The Public Interest Corpus for AI & Computational Research" @dancohen.org & @thomaspadilla.bsky.social explain the development of a corpus for AI training using digitized materials from libraries, archives, & special collections. @educause.bsky.social

What is your idea of the most perfect song? For me it might be New Order's "Ceremony" or The Stone Roses "I wanna be adored". Immediately transports me.

I love how much conference usage of Bluesky I’m seeing at #DH2025 from afar! Feels like going back in time, to a better time.

The Library of Congress is looking for feedback on their amazing/unique "Selected Datasets" collection. You can see the collection here and the survey link is at the top of the page. www.loc.gov/collections/... Anyone interested in working with datasets check out the collection and take the survey.

Hey folks, if you can share this far and wide I'd appreciate it! What articles/white papers/etc. have you seen that document that cost of data releases intended for AI development? I'm thinking cost info on storage, access, compute, staff time, etc.

Greetings from San Francisco, where the AI biz dev continues to be drunk on domination and control

Thrilled at the publication of our @uclpress.bsky.social book, co-edited with @lisejaillant.bsky.social, Stephen Downie, Paul Gooding, Claire Warwick, & Katie Aske, with contributions from many great colleagues, incl. @thomaspadilla.bsky.social @nolauren.bsky.social @melissaterras.bsky.social +

After years of waiting, the time has come

am i the only on who with a strong aversion to wait wait dont tell me, every weekend errand, i feel like they are an omnipresent special torture

As someone who cares very much about higher education much of this concerns me. In particular this figure ....

Check out our new paper led by @srishtiy.bsky.social and @nolauren.bsky.social! This work brings together computer vision, cultural theory, semiotics, and visual studies to provide new tools and perspectives for the study of ~culture~ in VLMs.

"Community Stories: The Impact of the IMLS"

Honored to be interviewed by the SAA Committee on Public Awareness (COPA) for my work on IMLS Matters and my thoughts about the current attack on libraries and higher education. My short take is: "Ending IMLS would be a multigenerational disaster." archivesaware.archivists.org/2025/05/29/c...

International scientific collaborations that involve the US are complex now, but a good start is to assume you're collaborating with the 18c. The state is largely hostile to science. Economic theory is mercantilist. Travel is difficult. Research funding depends on the goodwill of quirky aristocrats.

I wrote a little bit about the Library of Congress - a place I care about deeply - given today's news: bcgl.substack.com/p/the-disman...

And for those who need insight into what IMLS funds and does bsky.app/profile/thom...

Discourse probs belongs in this convo tbh

For the Monday morning crowd: a 🧵on how to appeal your NEH grant termination. Please share with NEH grantees. I also summarized in a shareable google doc, available here: docs.google.com/document/d/1...

What examples do we have from other countries whose Federal funding systems have collapsed? How they were impacted? How they adapted if at all? Closest comparison I can think of is the consequence of BREXIT for UK orgs no longer able to access EU funding, though I gather that is changing ...

We're working hard to share the stories of #NEH grantees across the country and their incredible work. Please send more our way! In the meantime, check out this article and tool "IMLS Matters" imls-matters.github.io/imlsmatters/ We continue to stand in solidarity with our #IMLS colleagues.

"This way of understanding the United States and our place in the world has a dark track record. It is unsurprising that one of the first casualties of the attack on IMLS has been tribal libraries." Powerful series of stories collected by @thomaspadilla.bsky.social on why the IMLS matters.

✍ New contribution from me, "No Longer Serves the Interest of the United States: The Terminated Work of the Institute of Museum and Library Services" at Katina Magazine ✍ katinamagazine.org/content/arti...

This #NationalLibraryWeek, celebration must come with action. 📚 Libraries are under threat—from book bans to budget cuts. ⚠️ Now, federal funding via IMLS is at risk. Here's how you can help ➡️ imls-matters.github.io/imlsmatters/ #SaveIMLS

🚨 Funding is being cut for the California Digital Newspaper Collection! The state budget for next year zeroes out all funding, which would put the entire site offline permanently. Please fill out comments - sbud.senate.ca.gov/members/subc... - abgt.assembly.ca.gov/sub-committe... Sample text ⬇️

Generous and essential wisdom from @kaythaney.bsky.social!

I have been on a number of advisory boards in my career but I haven't seen much advice shared on how an organization/ project should best leverage the wisdom of their advisory board. What advice would you all share for leaders seeking support from their advisory boards during these trying times?

False savings and messing with the historical record… “ it is not at all clear how DOGE can save $1M per year by replacing 14,000 digital magnetic tapes”

This is so important! Many people are unaware of the massive impact IMLS funding has, especially for museums and libraries in low income and rural areas. Most libraries are the only FREE place that communities are able to gather, learn, play, and access resources.

I also want to note the work that associations did at the time to back Kaufmann, libraries, and patron privacy. @arl.org , SLA, and RLG statements are provided at that URL. Among these associations only ARL remains. It is essential that we continue to invest in our associations.

AI preservation is an unaddressed challenge. New work from me on "Preserving AI" at Inside Higher Ed. www.insidehighered.com/opinion/view...

I was thinking about prior attacks on libraries today and the bravery that librarians and their associations have shown. May we all have the courage of Paula Kaufmann. An excerpt of her testimony before Congress in the late 1980s below. files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED3...

A few tips for NEH grantees: 1) if you've spent money on an awarded grant but have not yet drawn down the funds, make sure to submit the paperwork to drawn down funds ASAP. 2) the NYTimes article suggests that "DOGE" might cancel awards. If you receive an email from DOGE cancelling your NEH award,

Fellow #ACRL2025 colleagues, please consider submitting a story of IMLS impact! 🙏

The response to this effort has been very inspiring! Currently we are at ~20 submitted stories, would love to get to 100 by the end of the week! Please consider submitting an IMLS story and share with your colleagues.

Great idea. Great stories. Great set of services at risk.

IMLS Matters. Read the stories (reload gets a new story). imls-matters.github.io/imlsmatters/ Tell your story. docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... From @thomaspadilla.bsky.social at Author's Alliance. #SaveIMLS

Advocacy alert: @humanitiesall.bsky.social has learned that DOGE is targeting the NEH "with the aim of substantially reducing its staff, cutting the agency’s grant programs, and rescinding grants that have already been awarded." Tell your officials you support the NEH: p2a.co/DdtlGIT

Big thanks to Thomas for putting this together. Reposting this with some emojis for the various feeds. 📜 📚💙 #AcademicSky

Like many others I am dismayed by the effort to end IMLS. I know IMLS matters to so many people. I put together the following site to collect and share stories of how "IMLS matters" to people. Please consider submitting a story. forms.gle/MAocZZMsoUu7... imls-matters.github.io/imlsmatters/