Today is a good day to follow news outlets that take a stand against Generative AI slop (this is a living document, please send recs!) go.bsky.app/8cn1XfT
Monica H Green
@monicamedhist.bsky.social
Medhist=medieval + medical history (https://hcommons.org/members/mhgreen2/). Focusing on Global Health. Open-access: The Black Death: The Medieval Plague Pandemic through the Eyes of Ibn Battuta, https://works.hcommons.org/records/n3h76-6dg78.
Abdul El-Sayed was outspent 9-to-1 by AIPAC and corporate Super PACs in the most expensive Senate Democratic primary of all time. Last night, he proved that organized people can beat organized money.
Here's a fabulous video demonstrating how beavers support wildfire resilience (sound on!), courtesy @emilyfairfax.bsky.social
Beavers and Wildfire: a stop-motion story by Emily Fairfax
YouTube video by Emily Fairfax
youtube.com
Quoting s'thing @cnygren.bsky.social & I are publishing soon: "the literacy argument is being made in advance of its necessity...it presumes a state in which those who are “AI illiterate” are disempowered, precisely in order to make an argument in favor of compulsory indoctrination in its use."
Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 14h ago“If it's this embedded in the world, then it needs to be embedded in the learning and in the coursework…”
"No university board has ever done more to undermine its status as a global entity than the Vanderbilt board in this declaration. Why would any foreign citizen work or study at Vanderbilt knowing that they can be dismissed for saying anything 'counter to American interests'?"
I published this in 2024 but I hear folks are craving reading lists, so here’s another.
Sonja Drimmer@sonjadrimmer.bsky.social · 2y agoIf you work on anything related to visual culture & want a primer on major issues emerging from the implementation of AI in this realm, here's a syllabus I wrote, structured around 7 terms: bias, extraction, augmentation, operation, so-called, categorization, power. www.artnews.com/list/art-in-...
More than 70 years after the kidnapping, torture and lynching of 14-year-old Emmett Till in Mississippi, a major new photography exhibit asks how the world would be different “If Emmett Till Lived.” If Till had lived, he would be just over 85 years old today.
New Exhibit Imagines Emmett Till’s Life If He Had Come Home Alive
The exhibit comes as the Trump administration escalates attacks on DEI and censors how history is publicly presented.
truthout.org
Scholarly organizations that put out substantive, member-focused newsletters are such a great thing. My admiration for the ICMA and Alice Sullivan, who is the current editor.
Thank you, Dr Smith, for showing what a commitment to integrity looks like! Congratulations on this recognition for your efforts.
I'm incredibly honored to be one of the inaugural winners of the Ctrl-Z award. The sequence of events preceding and following this retraction were harrowing (and are honestly still stressful), but I hope this will be an opportunity for more open dialogue about mistakes + self-retraction in science.
Retraction Watch@retractionwatch.com · 2d agoThe Center for Scientific Integrity is proud to announce the inaugural winners of the 2026 Ctrl-Z Award. Named for the universal keyboard shortcut for “undo,” the Ctrl-Z Award this year honors @cetaceanneeded.bsky.social and @katelaskowski.bsky.social for choosing transparency over reputation.
I was lucky to be invited by @bmj.com to be a Guest Editor for a series on COVID in the US For one paper, I commissioned my brilliant Duke colleague @keishabentley.bsky.social to lead an analysis on "Race, racism, & covid-19 in the US: lessons not learnt" Read it at www.bmj.com/content/384/...
Race, racism, and covid-19 in the US: lessons not learnt
Keisha Bentley-Edwards and colleagues argue that systemic racism and economic inequality are at the root of disparity in covid-19 outcomes and suggest how to distribute resources more equitably. The...
bmj.com
Trevon Logan@trevondlogan.bsky.social · 3d agoBy late Summer of 2020, COVID was the third leading cause of death for Black people in the USA. It’s like everyone has just forgotten that…
The design reflects the fact that I want every single sight-line in the office to show me something beautiful, something Black, something colorful, inspiring, life-giving. Reminders of where I've been, who I come from, who I work for and serve, the people who love me and support me, near and far..
I needed something really smart to read tonight. Here's something neat for folks doing #GlobalMiddleAges work: journals.plos.org/plosone/arti... #Trans-SaharanTrade #MedievalSky #AfricanHistory
![An excerpt from de Palaminy et al. 2026 on the sources of Fatimid gold coins found in the Caesarea hoard:
"The number of Early Islamic single gold coins and hoards discovered in excavations over the past decades has grown exponentially, particular those minted during the Fatimid period (10th-11th c.) [65]. As a result, numismatic research has made impressive advances with publication of a detailed corpus of these coins [66,67]. In 2015, a hoard of 2,668 gold coins of this period, one of the largest hoard of its kind ever discovered in the Eastern Mediterranean (weighing 7.5 kg), was found in a shipwreck in the ancient harbor of Caesarea, Israel [68]. Now housed in the Coin Department of the Israel Antiquities Authority in Jerusalem, this assemblage offers a rare and valuable case study for gold provenance research. It presents two major advantages: it is both “sourced” and “sealed.” First, its archaeological context is securely known—unlike coins in most numismatic collections, which mostly derive from undocumented donations. Second, having remained underwater for nearly a millennium, the hoard has not been subject to post-depositional processes such as reminting, recycling, or forgery, nor chemical cleaning, preserving the original metallurgical composition of the coins."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:twqucin7jqhlteuk37lqltr7/bafkreibzcoyh5bpeslilvhnwgxc2nqdykzrv6aflfveyod4ftkprnev5ly)
It requires expertise to be able to say, “I do not know the answer to that question, and that is becauae thus far scholarly consensus is that we do not have the knowledge needed at this time to answer that question.” Sometimes “I don’t know” is a far more rigorous answer than people might think.
I've got a lot of sources about live in the rural Alps (1250-1600) that I want to make publicly accessible. But before I do so, I'd like to try & make it more difficult for AI-scrapers to gobble them up. Anyone have any ideas or tips? #skystorians #medievalsky #envhist #animalhistory #earlymodern
![The dataset consists of a collection of over 1'600 sources, that were gathered and analysed for the research project “Living Landscapes: Environmental Adaptation and Resource Management by the Alpine Population, 1400–1550” [...].
This project investigates the rural Alpine region from Valais to Tyrol and South Tyrol during the Late Middle Ages up to the beginning of the Early Modern Era to shed light on how people and animals lived in and used alpine spaces and how the natural environment, in turn, influenced their lives. These questions are explored through an examination of the collective and communal use and management of space and resources, with a focus on the closely interlinked topics of transportation, livestock husbandry, and the Alpwirtschaft, which were of paramount importance to Alpine communities. The research project also looks at social and environmental history more broadly including topics like intra- and inter-municipal conflicts and cooperation, labor practices, the acquisiton and transmission of knowledge in village communities and human-animal relationships.
[...] The dataset and the collections created from it are an extensive and representative selection of relevant sources from all source editions and archival holdings used in the research project. Their publication not only serves as a reference for the dissertation resulting from the research project but is also intended to provide other researchers with easy access to the project’s research data and the interesting sources from the rural Alpine area. [...]
Detailed descriptions, summaries, copies, images, and/or transcriptions are available for all sources, which, due to factors such as the amount of work required to prepare them for publication, image rights, and similar considerations, cannot be published at this time.
However, this information can be requested and shared on a case-by-case basis and all interested parties are encouraged to reach out](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2s6j77pqfowb2qrdn7ddza2j/bafkreibllq4idkqojvsfpdfdd3yjrtseag4ybbvog5s5w4tow35icat6ta)
![These are collections of sources (or rather the corresponding information), which contain the themes that are mentioned in title of the collection. More information on these themes, collections and their significance can be found in the dissertation. They have been published indivually on Zenodo to ensure clarity and to facilitate efficient access:
Sammlung Amtszwang [obligation of villagers to assume an office if elected, wether they wanted to or not] Version 1.0.0, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.21722273
Sammlung Auenschutz [protection of river meadows] Version 1.0.0, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.21722479
Sammlung Bluembsuech [grazing in forests] Version 1.0.0, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.21722604
Sammlung Feuerprävention [fire prevention] Version 1.0.0, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.21722703
Sammlung Gemeine Arbeit [communal work duties] Version 1.0.0, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.21722764
Regarding this topic, as well as the important role of women in carrying out communal work tasks, see: Meier, Joschka Sergej: Toil and Trouble: The Labour, Duties and Rights of Women in Alpine Communities in the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Period. In: Journal of Medieval History 52/3 (2026): 331-352, here p. 339-346. DOI: 10.1080/03044181.2026.2616283.
- cooperative grazing practices
- hay regulations
- how long cut lumber may sit unused
- numerical alp rights
- horses in Raetia
- areas to protect livestock against the sun and insects
- wolves and bears
-provisions to put rings into pig's noses
- sheep
-rights to seek refuge from snow and storms with livestock
- pigs
- laminitis prevention
- condemning profit at the expense of the community
- scales
- ways which were only used during winter
- literally winter livestock, the amount of animals someone could feed with their own produce
- access to water for livestock
- communal) breeding animals
- water hygiene
Due to character limits I unfortunately can't provide alt text for the entirety of what's visible in the picture](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2s6j77pqfowb2qrdn7ddza2j/bafkreic5vdwhoatvsg5nmgp3spvbunhughldjfgij7kvyah4duoq2jqqdm)
Joschka Meier@josserme.bsky.social · last mo.Too hot to think or write, so I worked on publishing the dataset of my research instead. Turns out it's pretty chunky! 1'000+ pages of sources about life in the Alps from the 13th to the 17th cent. Hope it'll help others, so that they don't have go through as many editions & archives as I did
41 #Manuscripts from the #Vatican this week, even while we were busy at #DH2026 www.wiglaf.org/vatican/2026... Includes a bunch of (anti-)papal conclaves, illustrated botanical texts, Vegio on Old St. Peters, a 12th C Ceremoniale, another French Alchemical text and more! #MedievalSky #Skystorians
Vatican Manuscripts Added Week 30 of 2026
A more active week for digitizing with forty-one manuscripts added to the repository. These were split between Barb.lat, contributing twenty-nine, and Ott.lat adding twelve. At the right side is p.9...
wiglaf.org
Here? There? St. Louis of Toulouse is everywhere! Learn about the saint and his relics in this episode. #medievalsky
More people died from heat between April 1, 2026 thru July 19, 2026 than in the ten entire preceding years combined
Sky Marchini@sky.skymarchini.net · 5d agojesus. www.dw.com/en/germanys-...
I never thought that I would have to write this piece about my university. But after weeks of demonstrating privately to senior managers that their case is based on a false prospectus, that their data are inaccurate and their claims misleading, there was little choice. substack.com/@lucasamin/n...
Inside Britain's university crisis
As teaching staff face job loss, their bosses have netted pay rises and bought advice from a “vampiric” management consultancy, writes Prof. John Heathershaw of the University of Exeter
substack.com
Would you trust someone to accurately model future financial projections if they messed up so badly with the analysis of data they already have?
Brilliant from my colleague John in Politics at Exeter. democracyforsale.substack.com/p/inside-bri... #DefendExeterUni If you want to see a snapshot of the errors in @exeter.ac.uk UEB's analysis of teaching capacity see the next one 1/2
Inside Britain's university crisis
As teaching staff face job loss, their bosses have netted pay rises and bought advice from a “vampiric” management consultancy, writes Prof. John Heathershaw of the University of Exeter
democracyforsale.substack.com
I'm back! Each Friday night, I write a briefing on what happened in US science & higher ed. 🧪 July 31 (Year 2, Week 31) - student visas, asylum cases & ICE surge at airports - "Golden Age" & Vanderbilt reports - kangaroo courts, grant terminations & so much more buttondown.com/liminalcreat...
Year 2, Week 31
Jul 11-31, 2026 – the abracadabra of it all
buttondown.com
First, this is fantastic. Second, it gives the lie to the idea that people need to “learn” how to use AI given that it’s become compulsory. What lurks behind the notion that people need tutorials in it is that AI “education” is just a how-to in avoiding its hazards. The real education is this ⬇️
jessamyn@librarian.bsky.social · 5d agoI work at a public library. People who want to use AI seem to have no trouble doing so. People who don't want to use AI have a harder time. I crowdsourced and then finalized this document "How to disable or avoid intrusive AI" and then gave it a short URL: notoai.org Please pass along if it's useful
Be in a state that allows the morning after pill. Dead serious.
19thnews@19thnews.org · 5d agoFor generations, students chose colleges based on factors like their academic reputation, tuition costs or social scene. But in today’s divided nation, politics has emerged as a rising influence on where young people pursue higher learning.
This petition to stop the redundancies at University of Exeter is still open for signatures: www.change.org/p/stop-redun...
Sign the Petition
Stop Redundancies at the University of Exeter
change.org
July 30, 762 CE: The founding of Baghdad. The date and topography of the city were determined by astrologers & architects hired by the Abbasid caliph Al-Mansur, thus the city itself has a horoscope (such a Leo). 🌟 Read Ali Olomi’s essay on this (edited by myself and Stephanie Wong for Public Books).
Baghdad: The Once and Future City of Stars - Public Books
The city testifies to the vast intellectual curiosity of medieval Muslims, and the splendor they translated from astrology into their designs.
publicbooks.org
That day when I was looking through a 14th-century romance. First impression: That's not a very good stag, is it... Closer look: OMG LOOOOOL #medievalmanuscripts
Given that we are all upset today about Anthropic-shredding-books, I’ll add that I address this here, and it’s part of the same infrastructure threatening the preservation and profession of history but people don’t want to talk about that if the same industry is paying for their research.
Sonja Drimmer@sonjadrimmer.bsky.social · last wk.“AI has become a blunt instrument in the enterprise to impose precisely this form of sanctioned ignorance about America’s past...Taken together, [Trump’s & Musk’s] plans amount to a one-two punch, history in the hands of the corporate state.” My latest on AI & history: www.salon.com/2026/07/28/t...
