I’m experimenting with creating trancripts of AI research jobs (documentation, diagrams, session/step logs, human- vs. machine-time, token usage) for transparency & reproducibility.
Alan Liu
@alanyliu.bsky.social
I'm a professor in digital humanities & English at UC Santa Barbara. For public humanities, I founded http://4Humanities.org & co-founded https://center-humanities-communication.org/. My website: https://liu.english.ucsb.edu/
Paper: arxiv.org/abs/2609.23178 Code: github.com/Historical-A... Team: Ted Underwood, Ziliang Qiu, Laura K. Nelson @lauraknelson.bsky.social, Sarah Griebel @sgriebel.bsky.social, Edwin Roland @teddyroland.bsky.social, Wenyi Shang @wenyishang.bsky.social , Matthew Wilkens @mattwilkens.bsky.social.
Chronologic: Measuring Language Models' Ability to Represent the Past
Language models are appealing tools for research on the past. But to trust the evidence a model provides, researchers need to know whether its responses fit the period represented. Validation is chall...
arxiv.org
The changes in the latest update to Zotero (Zotero 10) are really enhancing my productivity. I’m especially impressed by the new advanced search, the ability to view/search multiple collections & libraries simultaneously, and batch-editing. (Info on Zotero 10: www.zotero.org/blog/zotero-...)
Zotero Blog » Blog Archive » Zotero 10
Zotero is a free, easy-to-use tool to help you collect, organize, cite, and share research.
zotero.org
A few people have asked for the syllabus from my grad seminar on Generative AI for social science -- just posted it here: statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2026/03/10/n...
New course on generative AI for behavioral science | Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social Science
statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu
I'm giving a talk on how regular folks can do some of this next Monday, based around what we found in terms of best practices for developing agentic frameworks over the past 2 years. www.infrastructurelives.eu/events/21-09...
I’ve recently been using gen-AI extensively for both humanities research tasks and for coding interactive interfaces reporting on various digital-humanities data models. /1
"Townsend said colleges and universities could address those concerns by making the skills students develop through humanities courses more explicit, including research, writing, and communication skills." bit.ly/4h7xZDg
bit.ly
#1) All parts of @adjb.co’s six-part series introducing the digital humanities are now up on his blog: www.adamdjbrett.com/blog/ I’m impressed by the quality and usefulness of this series, particularly by … (go to #2 in thread)
Alan Liu@alanyliu.bsky.social · 3mo agoJust out: part 1 of @adjb.co’s six-part blog series introducing & explaining the digital humanities, www.adamdjbrett.com/blog/dh-part.... Part 1 is quite good. I would assign it in an Intro to DH course.
Just published open-access: @sarahciston.com et al., *Inventing ELIZA: How the First Chatbot Shaped the Future of AI* direct.mit.edu/books/oa-mon.... @berrydm.bsky.social
Inventing ELIZA: How the First Chatbot Shaped the Future of AI
How the original ELIZA chatbot transformed ideas about AI and society’s response to them.As we reach the 60th anniversary of ELIZA’s public debut, Inventin
direct.mit.edu
Just out: part 1 of @adjb.co’s six-part blog series introducing & explaining the digital humanities, www.adamdjbrett.com/blog/dh-part.... Part 1 is quite good. I would assign it in an Intro to DH course.
Digital Humanities Part 1: What Are the Digital Humanities?
What the digital humanities are, where they came from, and why the definition debates still matter, from Father Busa's punched cards to Zotero and beyond.
adamdjbrett.com
I posted on arXiv.org the preprint of my “AI Virtue: What Is ‘Good’ Knowledge in the Age of Artificial Intelligence?” arxiv.org/abs/2607.01776, which is forthcoming in a double special issue of “MFS Modern Fiction Studies on “Cultural AI” in 2027.
Web page I made collecting copies of all Bluesky threads I recently posted describing our Critical Infrastructures and Digital Humanities book (Debates in DH series): alanyliu.org/wp-content/u... @uminnpress.bsky.social
Critical Infrastructure Studies & Digital Humanities — Bluesky threads
alanyliu.org
Delighted to see my chapter, "Understanding Multilingualism in Digital Humanities Infrastructures," (eds. Alan Liu, Urszula Pawlicka-Deger, James Smithies) published in Critical Infrastructure Studies & Digital Humanities! OA 📖 dhdebates.gc.cuny.edu/read/critica... #DigitalHumanities #MultilingualDH
dhdebates.gc.cuny.edu
Alan Liu@alanyliu.bsky.social · 4mo agoAnnouncing the release of the online, open-access edition of _Critical Infrastructure Studies & Digital Humanities_ (in Debates in DH series): dhdebates.gc.cuny.edu/projects/cri.... Editors: Alan Liu, Urszula Pawlicka-Deger, James Smihties @jamessmithies.bsky.social). Print ed. appeared January 2026
My own “infrastructural manifest” for the Debates in DH book on Critical Infrastructure Studies and Digital Humanities: dhdebates.gc.cuny.edu/read/critica... (The “Download” button opens HTML version of a spreadsheet)
Alan Liu@alanyliu.bsky.social · 4mo agoA first-of-its-kind feature of _Critical Infrastructure Studies & Digital Humanities_ is the inclusion of authors' "infrastructure manifests": dhdebates.gc.cuny.edu/read/critica...
Another of my early experiments in the creative/critical use of hypertext: my Lytotard Auto-Differend, liu.english.ucsb.edu/lyotard-auto...
Feeling elegiac tonight. Reread my “Hacking the Voice of Shuttle” essay on life & death of my VoS website. Like mourning a dear, intimate pet that I spent hours each day caring for. Open-access manuscript: escholarship.org/uc/item/3345...
From Kyle Booten’s Chap 19, “Subjective Functions: How Should Humanistic Research Be Quantified?” in _Critical Infrastructure Studies & Digital Humanities_ (p. 335 in print ed.) dhdebates.gc.cuny.edu/read/critica... @uminnpress.bsky.social
Sylvia K. Miller in Ch18, “Imagining a Future of Multimedia E-books,” in _Critical Infrastructure Studies & Digital Humanities_ draws up an infrastructural roadmap for publishing digital scholarly books that integrate multimodal materials dhdebates.gc.cuny.edu/read/critica... @uminnpress.bsky.social
Beginning of @tinkeringhuman.bsky.social & @miriamposner.com’s Ch 17, “Digital Humanities from Below: Speculating on Solidarity Infrastructure” in _Critical Infrastructure Studies and Digital Humanities_ (p. 315 in print ed.) dhdebates.gc.cuny.edu/read/critica... @uminnpress.bsky.social
From Puthiya Purayil Sneha & Saumyaa Naidu’s Ch. 16, “Online Feminist Publishing and Content Creation as Feminist Infrastructure in India,” in _Critical Infrastructure Studies and Digital Humanities_ (p. 306 in print ed.) dhdebates.gc.cuny.edu/read/critica... @uminnpress.bsky.social
From Lucie Kolb’s Chap. 15, “Making Infrastructure Writable,” in _Critical Infrastructure Studies and Digital Humanities_ (p. 297 in print ed.) dhdebates.gc.cuny.edu/read/critica.... @uminnpress.bsky.social
U Minnesota Press's Spring 26 catalog, listing our new Critical Infrastructure Studies & Digital Humanities (in Debates in DH series), eds. Alan Liu, Urszula Pawlicka-Deger, @jamessmithies.bsky.social): z.umn.edu/spring26. Table of contents: www.upress.umn.edu/978151791608... @uminnpress.bsky.social
I had fun writing alt-text for this image of the cover of the new _Critical Infrastructure Studies & Digital Humanities book (in Debates in DH series) I co-edited. See alt-text of the image. (Book description & contents here: www.upress.umn.edu/978151791608...) @uminnpress.bsky.social.
From Ch. 14, “Resisting BYOI (Bring Your Own Infrastructure) in Digital Humanities Learning Spaces” by @kshpatel@mastodon.social, Ashley Caranto Morford, & Arun Jacob dhdebates.gc.cuny.edu/read/critica..., in _Critical Infrastructure Studies & Digital Humanities_ @UMinnPress@mastodon.social
![Text excerpts from Ch. 14, “Resisting BYOI (Bring Your Own Infrastructure) in Digital Humanities Learning Spaces” by Kush Patel, Ashley Caranto Morford, and Arun Jacob (Pedagogy of the Digitally Oppressed Collective), in _Critical Infrastructure Studies & Digital Humanities_ (pp. 277, 278 in print ed.):
"We have crafted a fictional creative writing piece—a Twine narrative (discussed later in this chapter)—based on our own lived experiences but set within fictional institutions and using fictional technological platforms…. Our Twine narrative is set at the beginning of the global Covid pandemic and consists of a series of email chains. Readers follow the experiences of faculty, staff, students, and precarious workers at postsecondary institutions in India, the United States, and Canada as they navigate changes to educational processes and organize their activities through online infrastructures…."
"In the accompanying reflection that follows the Twine story, we provide a rationale and analysis of the creative piece involving three concepts: responsibilization, crisortunity a crisis situation presenting the opportunity for someone to gain something], and digital infrastructural otherwises. With each of these concepts, grounded in specific sociotechnical realities, we reflect on the possibility of reimgining infrastructure to enable more care-filled and just teaching, learning, and organizing…."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:focvijs2anjmlfqlrxcumphd/bafkreifuwl44vbl5pfqpxudgt5srojx4sgfowpitp5j6yhdpcg5qkmz7lu)
From Ch. 14, “Resisting BYOI (Bring Your Own Infrastructure) in Digital Humanities Learning Spaces” by @kshpatel@mastodon.social, Ashley Caranto Morford, & Arun Jacob dhdebates.gc.cuny.edu/read/critica..., in _Critical Infrastructure Studies & Digital Humanities_ @UMinnPress@mastodon.social
For the last section of Critical Infrastructure Studies & DH on “Reenvisioning DH Infrastructure” (beginning with Ch 14) we sought briefer pieces that are speculative, creative, or playful, including through visual & interactive means. dhdebates.gc.cuny.edu/read/critica... @uminnpress.bsky.social
From Darren Wershler’s Chap. 13 (“Scrounging”) in _Critical Infrastructure Studies & Digital Humanities_ dhdebates.gc.cuny.edu/read/critica... (p. 260 in print ed.) @uminnpress.bsky.social
@bestqualitycrab.bsky.social @mikejonesphd.bsky.social Toby Burrows & Ann Borda: see this article cited in @timelfen.bsky.social's reply, whose argument of "generativity" vs "reliability or reproducibility" is tangent to yours in "Reproducibility &Contestation in Humanities Digital Infrastructure"
Tim Elfenbein@timelfen.bsky.social · 4mo agocc @inter-apero-bility.bsky.social @marcellaflamme.bsky.social
Very impressed by @edinburghup.bsky.social’s “AI Policy” for authors: edinburghuniversitypress.com/publish-with.... Best I’ve run into so far, though I’ve not searched systematically. (Given changefulness of AI, though, the page could usefully be dated and versioned.)
AI policy - Writing your book - For authors
edinburghuniversitypress.com
Excerpts from Verhoeven et al., Ch 12 (“Reproducibility & Contestation in Humanities Digital Infrastructure”) in _Critical Infrastructure Studies & Digital Humanities_ dhdebates.gc.cuny.edu/read/critica... @bestqualitycrab.bsky.social @mikejonesphd.bsky.social @uminnpress.bsky.social
