William Carruthers
@williamcarruthers.bsky.social
Lecturer in Heritage at a university near Colchester. ‘Flooded Pasts: UNESCO, Nubia, and the Recolonization of Archaeology’ out now with Cornell UP. Fellow, RHistS. https://williamcarruthers.co.uk
Just in case one of your students tells you they’ve used an LLM to ‘structure’ an essay…
Jane Rosenzweig@janerosenzweig.bsky.social · 4h agoTrying out the features in Claude for education. Join me as I see how it "helps" me write a research paper. My chosen topic: "AI and education". /1
Properly gone at the idea of having this awarded like a corporate award gigs in one of those massive but soulless business hotel ballrooms, with Romesh Ranganathan hosting.
Civil Service World@civilserviceworld.bsky.social · 5h agoBritish foreign intelligence agency ranked top in Europe in Ballon d'Or and Eurovision-inspired competition www.civilserviceworld.com/professions/...
It's OK for criminal ex-neo Nazis to run your bins is a hell of a line.
Anyway, buy my book etc. etc. cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501...
Flooded Pasts by William Carruthers | Paperback | Cornell University Press
Flooded Pasts examines a world famous yet critically underexamined event—UNESCO's International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia (1960–80)—to show how the project, its genealogy, and its...
cornellpress.cornell.edu
William Carruthers@williamcarruthers.bsky.social · 19h agoJust saw this and the lack of context in this (really flimsy) show that this review notes seems to me pretty emblematic of the Met’s display of Dendur, which hasn’t ever gone into much detail about how the temple got there (or the place where it came from): news.artnet.com/art-world/gi...
I've written about Neets for the LRB. It is odd listening to recent debates about this completely ignore the overwhelming fact of this current crisis, that it is one of inactivity, disability, mental ill-health and neurodevelopmental disorders (as I discuss) www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
William Davies · Young People Are Different: What do Neets need?
The majority of Neets are not looking for work, but living outside of the labour market and the education system,...
lrb.co.uk
Fortunately there's been a lot of attention in the press recently on the importance of thorough academic peer review and examination standards, so I'm sure the same newspapers doing that reporting will be calling for more funding for it 🙃
Owen Davies@odavies9.bsky.social · 20h agoAs thousands of research academics are made redundant the whole system of free/cheap peer review will collapse.
Just saw this and the lack of context in this (really flimsy) show that this review notes seems to me pretty emblematic of the Met’s display of Dendur, which hasn’t ever gone into much detail about how the temple got there (or the place where it came from): news.artnet.com/art-world/gi...
What's Going on With the Met’s Odd New Giacometti Show? | Artnet News
'Giacometti at the Temple of Dendur' at the Metropolitan Museum of Art has a feather-light premise. That seems to be the point.
news.artnet.com
It's also important to remember that PhDs aren't "published", technically. They are rarely perfect or free from errors (of thought, of fact. They should ofc be free from misconduct!). And the examination process (like peer-review) isn't looking closely for plagiarism either.
People realising once again how inconsistent PhD supervision and examination processes are
My 7yo just asked me why I have so many browser tabs open
actually no I wouldn’t. we generally agree that if there was a star system it’s now gone for structural reasons—for better (solidarity! unions! collectives!) and worse (no material support). I balked when a UP editor was described as a starmaker in the NYer b/c I don’t think that’s how it works.
Rebecca Colesworthy@rcolesworthy.bsky.social · 3d agoI would love to tell you I’m out there hustling to proactively find and nurture the next big academic talent but well (lol I really have to stop making myself unemployable on main)
Why do so many progressives want this? I just don't get it.
Al@btown85.bsky.social · 2d agoThe pressure on kids too! In Berlin they get divided after the 6th class (12). My eldest already under so much pressure (despite us trying to remove it) to do well in exams etc to ensure she’s at the gymnasium. Parents going nuts in regards to it. They’re 9!
Not to go on about it, but I’m at the town where my in-laws live in the northeast US, which is the location of an astonishingly wealthy small liberal arts college. The difference between this and most of the British higher ed system right now is incredibly depressing.
Very good @samfr.bsky.social post on the risks around technical specialisation at 14 and why the focus should be on employer behaviour and stopping free riding samf.substack.com/p/burnhams-f...
To take the toughest question "were school closures worth doing?" The government did not want to do it, it was not a default response, and at least the first time it was against an apocalyptic backdrop. It was a choice that, as much as I hate him, Matt Hancock did not do lightly.
I see some people are reading this post as being about Exeter but it’s referring to the University of Hertfordshire. And that’s Owen’s point. Less coverage about the axe falling there but it’s equally sad.
Owen Davies@odavies9.bsky.social · 4d agoSo a whole lot of my talented Humanities colleagues are now unemployed as of today. A lot of understandable concern over Exeter. But for over two decades my Hums colleagues were in the top quartile for their research contribution to society. History top 10. Now gone with only a national whisper.
deadline to submit proposals for this conference on "histories of anti-tourism" is tomorrow, august 3rd
Rick Jobs@richardivanjobs.bsky.social · last mo.Kristin Semmens (U Victoria, BC) and Emily Bereskin (Technical University, Berlin) have recently begun a research project on "Histories of Anti-Tourism" and are currently organizing a series of events on the theme, seeking participants. 🗃️ Link to CFP: www.tu.berlin/cms/nachrich...
I lost a lot of colleagues to redundancy on Friday
reading the bookforum review of Middlemen and I expect that the scholarly publishing equivalent of the agent is the freelance developmental editor. if conglomeration drove the rise of the agent, austerity drove the rise of the latter—the editor who actually edits, helps w/ the proposal, etc.
An accurate film would spend about 5-10 minutes with the lead character struggling to remember *how* to use the microfilm viewer, finally spools it in and turns it on, but then it's upside down so they have to start over again.
Evan@evansmithhist.bsky.social · 3d agoI can suspend my disbelief while watching film in most respects except for when people use microfilm to look at old newspapers AND QUICKLY LAND ON THE EXACT PAGE THAT THEY ARE LOOKING FOR. Without slowly scrolling through countless pages, without having to nudge the image or adjust the contrast.
- We need to learn lessons but without grounding those in who was right or wrong during 2020-2023 - it isn't a point-scoring exercise but a how do we do better - and that does mean looking at the balance of harms, but we need to do so calmly without vitriol - Long covid is definitely a thing 5/n
So a whole lot of my talented Humanities colleagues are now unemployed as of today. A lot of understandable concern over Exeter. But for over two decades my Hums colleagues were in the top quartile for their research contribution to society. History top 10. Now gone with only a national whisper.
God, the Covid ‘school closures were wrong’ argument is ridiculous: no one knew what was happening! Everyone was terrified! Do people not remember this?!
This is good and I think expands on this all coming from a particular US place (not necessarily a British one at this point, actually)
Patrick Iber@patrickiber.bsky.social · 4d agoReading the classics in the original Greek and Latin was part of the standard education for British and then American elites; in the 1950s, when the Great Books curriculum was being put together at the University of Chicago, it was explicitly imagined as a democratic cultural project
People will argue about this piece, I'm sure (especially the parts about, essentially, 'positive' forms of disruption). But the wider arguments do seem like the future.
Wonkhe@wonkhe.bsky.social · 4d agoThis week on Wonkhe: Donna Whitehead makes the case that successful universities in the next decade will be those who were most willing to adapt and transform
Ignore the Russell Group-fixated headline. The universities with the largest declines are: Lincoln Bishop (down 51.4%), University for the Creative Arts (down 50.5%), Norwich University of the Arts (-40.4%), Falmouth University (-35.1%) and Goldsmiths, University of London (-30.0%). 1/2
Russell Group universities take £10m teaching grant hit - Research Professional News
Funding allocations confirm impact of £51m cut to Strategic Priorities Grant
researchprofessionalnews.com
