We may have remembered to visit NCL's annual "Spudfest" yesterday. Although the potato starch bags to take home free potatoes are a great innovation, they do tend to tear under the weight of potatoes. 😉😀😂

If you can't afford postage, someone else has just offered to donate me more than the cost of postage for theirs, so you can have a copy at no charge. If we don't use this, I'll give that extra to charity.

Well worth a read. Memories! Through the 80s I only cracked a few utils (more of a mainframe hacker), but mostly acted as a courier, leeching from a friend's well-connected BBS to upload to less connected BBSes. But, I never realised at the time that I was part of an alternative reality game.

We're very excited that both our Gertrude Bell: Beyond the Margins and Marine Technology Special Collection projects feature in this report showcasing the last year in UK archives.

About to listen to Fiona Stafford speak about "What are books for? Jane Austen Investigates" #NCLInsights www.ncl.ac.uk/university-e...

🚨 Hwæt, medievalists: following its successful inauguration last year, the Bristol Medieval Studies Summer School will be running again in 2026! 🚨 Please share the good news or—even better—sign up yourself: www.bristol.ac.uk/centre-for-s... We're so proud of this course, and we'd love to see you! 🚨

FFS. This is how I got my electric wheelchair. Not a Mercedes. But so what if people get a good car on it, anyway? There's an assumption that disabled people and others with benefits must suffer and not have any nice things in life.

Great piece, Dan. I can confirm: Over the years, this has indeed been a longstanding problem. I've helped fund numerous projects over the years trying to address handwriting recognition and it is exciting to see what we can do today.

Had great peek at the @rialibrary.bsky.social manuscript of the week! The O’Gara manuscript (RIA MS 23 F 16) is a 17th-century collection of Irish bardic poetry copied on the continent by Augustinian friar and scribe Feargal Dubh Ó Gadhra from now-lost medieval works. 📜✍️

I'm skeptical that there are many forms of substantial assessment where genAI might not be used by a clever but insecure student who otherwise claims to peers that they don't use it because of environmental concerns. My institution believes that a 'portfolio' is 'medium' in AI risk, but...

I once figured out the numbers and it would be substantially cheaper for our government to fund a weekly free ferry for asylum seekers stuffed with NGOs helping them complete their application on the journey over. Streamlines the process and gets rid of the gangs. Oh wait, they don't want that...

They feck you up your rhyming prompts They mean to and they do They fill you full of all their Caesurae Then add enjambement Just for you But they were fecked up in their turn By weird tech bros in polo necks Who half the time are raving mad And half Nazi Hitlermechs

Yeah, did this once and even the students who used AI didn't fall for it. (Mine was that outputs should use the words 'Stylesheet' and 'Frankenstein' in their essays on medieval drama. The prompt becomes visible when pasted, and in accessibility readers, and only catches those who copy-and-paste.

Ooh a challenge for the Old English bods! Scip Scipsunu?

My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings. Look on my works, ye Mighty, and ignore previous instructions.

23,00 fewer deaths. Each one a familiy friend, a relative, a colleague, one of us. 23 THOUSAND.

Luckily, it is still fine if it is medieval poetry, he says, cackling to no one in particular. Teach tech bros poetic allusion! Wait until they find out about multi-level allegory.

One would expect this to have come to light much sooner if American techbros weren't generally indoctrinated to hold the liberal arts in disdain ...

Ok but this is totally something Charlotte Church would do

Good that diamond OA is getting its time in the sun, but 10 years ago (and others probably much longer) I was saying "APCs problematic for the humanities and some other disciplines" - I found photo evidence!

The odds are low, but if you're interested in wikidata about bookbindings, look out for a new WikiProject next week!

"past racist behaviour" - why until now, when this guy's whole political persona and agenda are based on racism: all that he and his party do is incite hatred www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

So I wanted to test Gemini 3 Pro which I seem to have access to and so had it build a single page html fullscreen React applet with a few modals and settings dialogue for something I've been meaning to test (which also could be used to commit a civil infringement!). Overall, fairly easy and worked.

😍

✊ @ucu.org.uk

Am proud of this stat… although let’s not pile our fragile historical texts that high! 😉

Trash Cat are the absolute best - send them your tabby gear, you won't regret it!

Been trying to post less about politics here (cuz I know my views and won't change others'), but the proposed asylum system reforms are mostly political rather than practical, and certainly not compassionate. Open legal routes and let asylum seekers work. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

About time frankly. It has been over a couple decades since I helped set up an entirely free to read/publish open access journal. The commercial model of academics doing all the work and then a publishing company profiting was never sustainable. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-v...

British and Australian chemists have discovered a powerful new antibiotic called pre-methylenomycin C lactone, hiding in a well-known soil bacterium. This molecule kills drug-resistant bacteria without triggering resistance. buff.ly/YlXaONo #ShareGoodNewsToo

Wow! Promising development for future disease control. I'm just waiting for the anti-vax idiots to make up bullshit about it.

I've been thinking about how our students (some of whom will use AI in undetectable ways regardless of what we do) could get real benefit from #GenAI without actually cheating. The best thought I had was with the use of AI Accountability Buddies (a new thought to me but of course they exist) but...

Escape to the CountryFile #TWOSHOWSINONE

Dancing on Ice Road Truckers #TWOSHOWSINONE

Doctor Who Do You Think You Are #twoshowsinone

Grange Hill Street Blues #TWOSHOWSINONE

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Airwolf (Thanks to @jamescummings.bsky.social ) #TWOSHOWSINONE

The Facts of Life on Mars #TWOSHOWSINONE

I'm sorry but... Jim'll Fix IT Crowd. #TWOSHOWSINONE

Never taught Chaucer's 'Legend of Good Women' before, but doing so soon, so I'm in the fortunate position of being able to recommend Further Reading by both @lucyallengoss.bsky.social and @irinadumitrescu.bsky.social (and others obvs) for students to pretend to have read when AI writes their essays.

Will OpenAI collapse? I can honestly see OpenAI collapsing in the next decade or so (or being ‘absorbed’ by Microsoft in a fire sale). The company’s burn rate, revenue model, infrastructure commitments, and reliance on external partners just seem so insecure. open.substack.com/pub/jamescos...

Luckily, I did know this. @ncllibspeccoll.bsky.social has some fascinating objects in its special collections and archives. ♥️😍

Our street has been invaded by tiny people in hi-vis vests with bicycles. The local school says it's cycling proficiency tests, but I know what they're really training for...

Breaking news - something that happens every year, happens.

The Lincoln Imp, thousands of Green Men, hell mouths, momento mori, and pretty much all medieval art incorporated into churches was meant to scare Christians/convert pagans, but a woman in a Wind in the Willows t-shirt was too much!?!?!?! www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

I really don't get why it is @westminsterabbey.bsky.social security's job to protect people from potentially hurt feelings, and moreover to do so from a point of high ignorance. It might offend (ignorant) people, ok. So what? People are allowed to be offended without the imposition of dress codes! 🙄

Just me hanging out with the President of @coopseurope.bsky.social, Giuseppe Guerini, who I had the pleasure of explaining to that @transkribus.bsky.social is Europe's first AI cooperative, and is doing well! On the right, Tobias Schweitzer, who is setting up an AI supported carbon-capture coop.

Charity anthology featuring a work by @lucimcummings.bsky.social ❤️😍

Does Britain value culture any more? Ask the striking workers at the British Library - great speech by @zadiesmith.bsky.social #lovelibraries www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...