I’ve had some great responses to my survey so far, but would love to hear from more musicians/academics or anyone who regularly uses broadside ballad websites, especially if you were impacted by the closure of the Bodleian’s Ballads Online site. Thanks so much!

Esme (she/her)@esmegrace31.bsky.social · 6d ago

📣BROADSIDE BALLAD USERS!📣 If you use online databases of early modern English broadside ballads for any sort of research, please fill out my dissertation survey: forms.cloud.microsoft/e/TQrAhSLXkK I’m looking at the databases people use and the impact of Bodleian Ballads Online closing - thanks!

I’ve had some great responses to my survey so far, but would love to hear from more musicians/academics or anyone who regularly uses broadside ballad websites, especially if you were impacted by the closure of the Bodleian’s Ballads Online site. Thanks so much!

Esme (she/her)@esmegrace31.bsky.social · 6d ago

📣BROADSIDE BALLAD USERS!📣 If you use online databases of early modern English broadside ballads for any sort of research, please fill out my dissertation survey: forms.cloud.microsoft/e/TQrAhSLXkK I’m looking at the databases people use and the impact of Bodleian Ballads Online closing - thanks!

📣BROADSIDE BALLAD USERS!📣 If you use online databases of early modern English broadside ballads for any sort of research, please fill out my dissertation survey: forms.cloud.microsoft/e/TQrAhSLXkK I’m looking at the databases people use and the impact of Bodleian Ballads Online closing - thanks!

📣BROADSIDE BALLAD USERS!📣 If you use online databases of early modern English broadside ballads for any sort of research, please fill out my dissertation survey: forms.cloud.microsoft/e/TQrAhSLXkK I’m looking at the databases people use and the impact of Bodleian Ballads Online closing - thanks!

'What is perhaps remarkable about the Exeter cuts is that they are targeted at some of the university’s most successful departments, many of which turn over a profit even after they have made enormous and increasing contributions to the central university budget.' Read, rage and weep.

The Crisis in Britain’s Universities

The cuts that have been proposed at the University of Exeter demonstrates the crisis of purpose in Britain’s universities. Should not universities also be places to prepare for "eternal dwellings"?

johnheathershaw.substack.com

Technically, they’re Remains now.

Mark Chadbourn@chadbourn.bsky.social · last mo.

A fifth of Leave voters have died.

A petition has now been created by Exeter UCU against these measures. Sign it here: c.org/LF57sK7YfR This careless obliteration of HASS subjects is needless and so cruel to the fantastic staff at Exeter, and the wider devaluing of humanities & arts subjects within UKHE must be stopped.

Sign the Petition

Stop Redundancies at the University of Exeter

c.org

Ben Phillips@benphillips1989.bsky.social · last mo.

A statement from Exeter UCU branch @ucu.org.uk - please share far and wide.

Studying English at Exeter was the incredible experience it was because of the passionate, dedicated, and caring academics in the department. These cuts to English and other HASS departments are so awful and disheartening from a university that I thought valued arts and the humanities. Solidarity.

Ben Phillips@benphillips1989.bsky.social · last mo.

A statement from Exeter UCU branch @ucu.org.uk - please share far and wide.

“And winter’s gone away O” A May Day favourite 🌷🌷 youtu.be/Fe-WWMHQASg?...

'Till April is dead' Lisa Knapp Youtube

YouTube video by Lisa Knapp

youtu.be

If you want a new-found appreciation of early modern visual culture, teach yourself linocut and try and replicate famous woodcuts from the period. Here’s The Spanish Tragedy.

Beach curation 🐚

Gemini: 'I deeply regret the time and effort you spent searching for references that I fabricated. My ‘methodology’ was a series of errors and an attempt to cover those errors with more artificial information.' www.whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com/news/gemini-...

“My ‘methodology’ was a series of errors”: Gemini generates false records and fake screenshots of TNA website | Who Do You Think You Are Magazine

The Gemini LLM generates fake records and screenshots from the UK National Archives, a family historian has revealed

whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com

The Cambridge Companion to Folk Music edited by the brilliant Ross Cole is now officially published & out in the world - and I’ve got an essay in it! Buzzing 🐝 🐝 🐝

The medicinal power of being pummelled by the wind! 🌊

one of the coolest things about ChatGPT is how you can actually just never use it. you can fill your whole entire life with simply not once using it. it's incredible.

Super pleased to say you can now read my essay here! (featuring @angelcakepie2.bsky.social because I’m incapable of writing an essay that’s not about folk music in some capacity…) I hope anyone who reads it enjoys - I loved writing on this subject, and thanks to BOA for running the competition!

British Online Archives (BOA)@boapublishing.bsky.social · 9mo ago

BOA is delighted to announce the recipients of our 2025 Undergraduate Essay Competition! To read the three winning essays and two highly commended entries, you can visit our Articles page here: buff.ly/TKssPD8

‘Real friendships felt mythical to me’: On autism, reading and growing up

‘Real friendships felt mythical to me’: On autism, reading and growing up

Some people liken autistic girls to an iceberg. Personally, I prefer the analogy of a rotten log: overturn any one of us and there’ll be…

medium.com

I’ve written a new piece: Why Are Artists Leaving Spotify? A Guide for Listeners. Low payouts, AI slop, Daniel Ek’s €600m weapons investment — the “Spotify exodus” is real, and listeners have choices. Read here... www.jonwilks.online/blog/why-art...

Why Are Artists Leaving Spotify? A Guide for Listeners — Jon Wilks

Artists are leaving Spotify over low payouts, AI slop, and military ties. Here’s why it matters and how you can support them elsewhere.

jonwilks.online

Really interesting piece by Jon Wilks - I’ve recently cancelled my Spotify subscription and moved platforms. While other streaming services are by no means perfect, at least my money isn’t directly funding causes I disagree with. Recommend this to any artists/listeners thinking of ditching Spotify!👇

Jon Wilks@jonwilksmusic.bsky.social · 11mo ago

New piece: Life After Spotify: What Musicians Lose — and What They Gain. A field report for any musicians wrestling with leaving Spotify — the playlist trap, the illusion of “discovery,” and what you really gain by stepping away. www.jonwilks.online/blog/life-af...

I know all the news is terrible right now, but it really is wretched to see our brilliant city museum targeted by thieves. www.devonlive.com/news/devon-n...

Exeter museum broken into as thieves steal valuable items

It is believed two people forced entry into the museum

devonlive.com

Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery@rammuseum.bsky.social · 11mo ago

RAMM will be closed today. If you have pre booked an exhibition ticket, we will be in touch.

Absolutely DELIGHTED to tell you that #thedaddy has been nominated for this year’s MERCURY PRIZE!!!!!! About time, Dad! You total BELTER! 🐟🐟🐟👑👑👑🕺🏻🕺🏻🕺🏻🌟🌟🌟 Congratulations team: Ben Seal, Liz, Chris Salt, Kairen Kemp, Jon Wilks, Tim Youster and Dan Macdonald! #transformmethenintoafish

When asked who her patient was apologising to, Hoyland shrugged and responded: “Her teeth, I suppose.”

Dentist forced to remind sobbing autistic woman that having a cavity is not a moral failing

An autistic woman was today rendered inconsolable at a routine dental checkup by the assessment and diagnosis of a small cavity that may require a filling.  Dental hygienist Karen Hoyland, 34,…

thedailytism.com

this iconic advertising copywriter named Kathy Hepinstall Parks died over the weekend and I wanted to share something from her website I thought Bluesky would like

Glad to see BBC News picking up this story about AI generated music being released on real artists’ Spotify/YouTube pages. So odd and really quite disturbing!! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

'AI slop': Musicians on the mystery of fraudsters releasing songs in their name

Artists on the mystery of being targeted by fraudsters releasing

bbc.co.uk

Esme (she/her)@esmegrace31.bsky.social · last yr.

The sinister weirdness of GenAI continues… Phenomenal folk musician Emily Portman has had A WHOLE ALBUM OF AI MUSIC released under her name without her knowledge - with plausible song titles & even cover art, all AI generated without her consent and attributed to her on streaming platforms! 1/2

Stop doing this! Whoever is paying @timeshighered.bsky.social‬ for story after story is also funding environmental vandalism on a catastrophic scale. This isn't journalism, it's naive ethical bankruptcy - and intellectually and pedagogically obtuse.

Times Higher Education (THE)@timeshighered.bsky.social · last yr.

#GenAI is not just for students. Isabel Fischer outlines draft principles to help assessors use AI responsibly in #marking and feedback. www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/how-s...

🎉 40,000 women have signed - and we’re not stopping here. We’re united in rejecting discrimination against the trans and non-binary community. We refuse to let our voices be used to divide. This is our moment — and we’re heading for 50,000...and beyond! 🚀💥 📢 Here’s how you can help us get there...

Lottie Fitzgerald, 35, from Southsea, has developed a strong attachment to a blue studio pottery mug she was given last Christmas. She reports that she is beginning to feel intensely anxious about the effect on other mugs that she owns.

Autistic woman worried her mugs have realised she has a favourite

An autistic woman is facing an ethical dilemma over her preference for drinking out of one particular mug, it has been revealed. Lottie Fitzgerald, 35, from Southsea, has developed a strong attachment...

thedailytism.com

The sinister weirdness of GenAI continues… Phenomenal folk musician Emily Portman has had A WHOLE ALBUM OF AI MUSIC released under her name without her knowledge - with plausible song titles & even cover art, all AI generated without her consent and attributed to her on streaming platforms! 1/2

What is the charge? Walking a path? A succulent salt path?