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Len Scales.bsky.social

@lenscales.bsky.social

Historian of medieval Europe, especially Germany, Holy Roman Empire. Writing book about myths and memories of medieval emperors in Germany from the Middle Ages to the present day.

84 Posts134 Follower99 Folgt
Len Scales.bsky.social@lenscales.bsky.social · 15h ago

A bleak, powerful piece. www.theguardian.com/books/ng-int... Makes the important point that the classic humanities student essay, with its challenge to craft something substantial, considered, and your own out of words and ideas, a form now so compromised by AI, simply isn't really replaceable.

‘I hate what AI is doing to the minds and happiness of the young’: Katherine Rundell on the view from the classroom

Education is at a crossroads, argues the author and academic. Should we embrace new technology in the name of efficiency, or is it time to fight back?

theguardian.com

Dr. Jeroen W.P. Wijnendaele@drdragases.bsky.social · 2w ago

No longer content with pillaging intellectual work and dismembering our environment (already critically weakened), AI companies are now hellbent on destroying books galore including rare editions. Shut down these nefarious enterprises already.

AI labs buy, scan, shred millions of rare books

If you have retreated to physical books because the internet is too full of AI slop, bad news — now they’re shredding the books to feed their AI slop machines.

news.com.au

Steffen Hope@hopesteffen.bsky.social · 2w ago

As I'm currently in Stiklestad for a work trip, I got to see this wonderful twelfth-century door knocker from Stiklestad Church. It might have served as a sanctuary ring, & is an extremely rare survival of Norwegian medieval metalwork.

An iron door knocker attached to a wooden door from 1930. The knocker is in the form of a ring shaped like two serpents whose heads are biting the top of the ring, where it is linked to a metal plate with serrated edges - like a stylised sun or a lion's mane. At the bottom of the ring is the head of a man with a forked beard, the right-hand fork of which has been broken off or rubbed away. The serpents appear to emerge from the head's ears.
Jane Winters@jfwinters.bsky.social · 3w ago

Royal Historical Society open meeting (online) for historians working in universities, 4 Aug 2026 - ‘The crisis in UK higher education: the future for history’ www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-crisis.... It’s a definite sign of the times that places are almost gone.

The Crisis in UK HE: the Future for History

An open meeting for historians in UK higher education on what is needed to best support and protect the profession and discipline.

eventbrite.co.uk

Dr Vanessa@hpsvanessa.bsky.social · 3w ago

"don't cite what you haven't read" remains the basic entry level academic responsibility; & if your discpline "doesn't have that as a norm" then sorry, your discipline needs reforming for this new world. Citations are structural parts of trust and knowledge building, not trinkets or optional extras

Miles Klee 🦉@milesklee.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Academics and technologists are sounding the alarm about a growing crisis in scholarship as we know it: AI-generated citations of nonexistent papers that have infested real journals. Despite being fake, the sources are widely assumed to be authentic the more they appear in published literature.

Len Scales.bsky.social@lenscales.bsky.social · 4w ago

I love the local fountain (2007) reinterpreting the same event, for its humour and irreverence, with Henry lost in chasing birds while, out of shot, a young woman turns sadly away (kings have nothing to offer the common people) and a chronicler chews his pen, wondering whether even to bother.

Bild
Len Scales.bsky.social@lenscales.bsky.social · 4w ago

Henry I (d. 936) offered the crown by the Frankish nobility: Quedlinburg council chamber (1901). Echoes the Adoration of Christ by the Magi, though relocated under a ('German') oak, with Quedlinburg's fortified hill in the background.

Len Scales.bsky.social@lenscales.bsky.social · 4w ago

Henry I (d. 936) offered the crown by the Frankish nobility: Quedlinburg council chamber (1901). Echoes the Adoration of Christ by the Magi, though relocated under a ('German') oak, with Quedlinburg's fortified hill in the background.

Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte Halle (Saale)@landesmuseumhalle.bsky.social · 4w ago

Das monumentale Rundfenster im Ratssitzungssaal des Rathauses von Quedlinburg, das sogenannte „Krönungsfenster“ zeigt die sagenhafte Königserhebung Heinrichs I. am Quedlinburger Finkenherd. © LDA Sachsen-Anhalt, J. Lipták (1/2)

Das Bild zeigt ein rundes Fenster vor einem schwarzen Hintergrund. Der äußere Rand des Fensters zeigt eine gräuliche Ornamentik mit acht roten Zierelementen. Im Zentrum des Rundfensters zeigt sich die künstlerische Darstellung der Krönung von König Heinrich I. Im Zentrum steht dabei der König mit seiner Krönung um ihn herum zeigen sich mehrere Personen die sowohl stehen als auch knien.
Len Scales.bsky.social@lenscales.bsky.social · 4w ago

What I'm looking in vain for university leaders (and tbh some historians) to say is: 'Universities study (among other things) what it means to be human; and being human is partly experienced through the human past - *all* of it.' To my eyes, that's justification enough for what we - all of us - do.

Catherine-Rose Hailstone @caterose.bsky.social · 4w ago

New blog post to accompany the publication of my book. 📖 God, Demons, and Fear: Emotion, the Self, and Self-Control in Gregory of Tours is now available to purchase with @edinburghup.bsky.social euppublishingblog.com/2026/07/09/5...

5 things you never knew about Gregory of Tours - Edinburgh University Press Blog

Discover 5 surprising facts about Gregory of Tours, from fishing and stargazing to fear, faith, and confronting kings in the late sixth century.

euppublishingblog.com

Michael Lobel@mlobelart.bsky.social · last mo.

For those outside academia who are curious: as someone who has taught for ~25 years, many of us now face an existential crisis in assessing student work. Anything you haven't viewed a student actually writing down with their own hand is basically suspect; it's a shitty feeling, to put it bluntly

Andrew Heiss@andrew.heiss.phd · last mo.

woof ≈80% of assignments this summer term have essentially been just raw chatgpt/claude output, including assignments that required designing stuff in illustrator/affinity/canva. The battle is lost for asynchronous online courses.

Len Scales.bsky.social@lenscales.bsky.social · last mo.

The literal destruction of knowledge. Die Zerstörung - wortwörtlich - vom Wissen.

Daniel Bellingradt@dbellingradt.bsky.social · last mo.

Zur „Einverleibungstaktik der Tech-Konzerne“: Dass jetzt auch Antiquariate angezapft werden - manche schreiben: geplündert -, war logisch. Eine Urheberdebatte daraus als Schutzwall zu erdenken, ist weltfremd. Die großen Tech-Konzerne haben den größten Urheberklau der Menschheitsgeschichte … 1/2