Ian Milligan
@ianmilligan1.bsky.social
Professor of History and founding Director of the School of Social, Historical and Political Research at the University of Waterloo. Posts in a completely personal capacity.
"Come to Canada, we're a stable, serious, non-politicized place to do science." (And then we name the program after an overt partisan) A future government looking to cut research funding now gets to frame it as scrubbing Liberal branding. Why hand them that? OK, soapbox put away now.
Ian Milligan@ianmilligan1.bsky.social · 5d agoImpact+ hardly rolled off the tongue, and there's some logic to name our new research chairs after Eddie Goldenberg. But, to be honest, I am not sure about naming core programs after a Liberal Party insider/lobbyist. www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...
Awkward, thought I was the only person on the floor of my building as it's the Friday afternoon before a long weekend. Anyways, my new sound bar works nicely and the colleague down the hall now knows how much I like Radiohead.
Impact+ hardly rolled off the tongue, and there's some logic to name our new research chairs after Eddie Goldenberg. But, to be honest, I am not sure about naming core programs after a Liberal Party insider/lobbyist. www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...
Academic recruitment program renamed to honour Liberal stalwart Eddie Goldenberg
Late Chrétien aide lobbied for research chair program as a way to bring top Canadian scholars home and attract foreign talent
theglobeandmail.com
And we have floors … and walls! Only six more weeks to go. Moving out of our first two-month AirBnB for a few weeks of suitcase living and temporary apartment hopping. It’ll all be worth it.
Ian Milligan@ianmilligan1.bsky.social · 2mo agoSo when the renovation company said “y’know, you don’t want to live in your house,” they weren’t exaggerating!
The new office is getting there! The books are unpacked and the meeting table arrived today.
The local newspaper did a write-up of our reorganization here at the @uwaterloo.ca. I think it did a good job of capturing things, even if I am biased as I was quoted in it as well. www.therecord.com/news/waterlo...
Why the University of Waterloo dismantled 15 departments
University leaders say the sweeping reorganization will encourage collaboration, create new academic opportunities and better prepare students for a rapidly changing world.
therecord.com
Picked this up at our (increasingly empty-shelved) local bookstore yesterday. Interesting how so many of the problems of Canadian democracy seem relevant for university leadership as well. Something in Canadian culture?
Congratulations to @marnieh-w.bsky.social on publication of her "History and Artificial Intelligence", title no. 37 in the @universitypress.cambridge.org series Elements in Historical Theory and Practice. Available for free download till August 6! www.cambridge.org/core/element...
History and Artificial Intelligence
Cambridge Core - Global History - History and Artificial Intelligence
cambridge.org
From the Globe and Mail: "California winemakers cheered Mr. Trump’s tariff announcement, saying that they have suffered a US$357-million drop in exports to Canada since 2024." Bummer, I used to like California wine. 🙄 www.theglobeandmail.com/world/us-pol...
Trump escalates trade war against Canada with threat to impose 50% tariffs
White House estimates the new levies would affect about 5 per cent of exports to the U.S., with no exemptions for USMCA-compliant goods
theglobeandmail.com
My son has made us go to the Jays game two hours early - cool for him to be like a few meters from his current childhood heroes.
"Sovereignty comes with responsibilty." 🙄 I know this is just the schoolyard bully getting the reaction they want to get, so I should probably just roll my eyes and ignore it.
Global News@globalnews.ca · 3w ago"If Canada will not manage its forests to prevent these fires, the United States will look elsewhere, and act on our own, to protect our people,” said a group of U.S. lawmakers. globalnews.ca/news/1196860...
It’s a convection oven outside (feels like 43!), but there’s an ice cream stand on my walking commute home. 🎉
I’ve been absolutely devouring this book - a gripping real-world engineering horror. It’s a sad case study of an organization making shockingly-bad decisions.
It's a miracle, but two hours of free time this morning and I've actually written 800 original words.
My son is at a Jays game - I am here with my daughter - and he has managed to both get a signed ball from a player before the game AND a player in the bullpen tossed him a ball too. Life goals of a nine year old achieved today!
Woah, the Brooklyn Smutty Book Club has fallen in love with digital preservation. Who woulda known!!
Took two hours today to pack up my old AVP office. I moved in with 18 boxes of books and am moving out with 22. Gotta do some downsizing. It is hitting me that I only have ten days left in my role. 🥲
We had an HVAC failure and when I wore shorts to my 33 degrees office, people still acted as if I'd broken a taboo. And I'm an all-powerful AVP!* www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0... * sarcasm very much intended
So when the renovation company said “y’know, you don’t want to live in your house,” they weren’t exaggerating!
We are stuck public charging our EV for a week - it’s eye opening. First charger I went to was out of service, despite being listed as active on Google Maps (thanks UW!). Second charger tho is super fast. So that’s cool! Gaining over 800km an hour.
Perk of the AirBnb during renovations: top-notch walk home from work.
Stunned by the news of the passing of Raúl Pacheco-Vega. I mostly knew him through online interactions, but was fortunate to get to meet up with him live as well. He was such a generous and friendly person.
Rachel Navarre@rnavarre.bsky.social · 2mo agoFor non- Spanish speakers, this is announcement of the passing of Raúl Pacheco Vega. It doesn’t say when or what happened, but comments on his work and how generous he has been to colleagues not just at his home institution but around the world.
Our full-gut reno is coming up next week and we’ve been selling/storing everything - so now I have a house full of chairs. Maybe we will have our family dinners on moving boxes!
Just waited two hours to get into the line for passport controls at CDG. Some poor kid next to me peed his pants after waiting for two hours, and I gotta admit, the sheer “I don’t care” affect of the passport control security folks to his poor mom was remarkable.
what is the datafied web? how to study it? and reimagine it? we chat in @internethistories.bsky.social ✨ jonathangray.org/2026/05/18/d... with @nannathylstrup.bsky.social @carolingerlitz.bsky.social @sebgiessmann.bsky.social @silvertje.bsky.social @ianmilligan1.bsky.social @valeriesch.bsky.social
article on “the datafied web” in Internet Histories
An article on “the datafied web” that I co-authored has just been published in the Internet Histories journal.
jonathangray.org
This July I'm starting as inaugural Director of the new School of Social, Political, and Historical Research at Waterloo. Seven former departments – Anthropology, Classical Studies, History, Philosophy, Political Science, Religious Studies, and Sociology & Legal Studies – coming together.
I do not envy people trying to find a middle path on AI inside humanities depts. It’s not only that the scene is polarized, but that the “middle paths” are hard. Becoming Colonial Williamsburg is coherent; doing cultural AI is coherent; teaching students to do close reading with AI seems tricky. +