2023-01-26: 🙄
2023-01-24: In the healthy exodus from Twitter to Mastodon, Twitter’s unhealthy metrics of engagement should …
2022-12-26: Our kids just got home from college and we asked them to add anything to the shopping list that they …
2022-12-06: The 2022 Award for Outstanding Achievement in Whiteboard Writing goes to
2022-12-01: An interview with Christine McVie from 1987, from our Archives and Special Collections
2022-12-01: In my digital history class we used new AI tools to see how easy it would be to forge historical …
2022-11-29: Last night we started this year’s winemaking with some very nice-looking Pinot Noir and Syrah …
2022-11-15: An interesting study that uses a trained model to analyze Instagram posts from popular tourist sites …
2022-11-14: Checking out the beta over at post.news, where I am, unsurprisingly, @dancohen. (Thx …
2022-11-11: “I am under the table in case you have extra food”
2022-11-03: One-stop shopping in 2022: Amazon One-stop shopping in 1973: that one block of LA serving all of …
2022-11-02: fracti
2022-10-31: For years now my “tweets” (if you are reading this on Twitter) have been syndicated from …
2022-10-27: writer: “AI, turn this outline into an essay” ~10-page essay appears~ reader: “AI, turn this essay …
2022-10-23: “My children contributed nothing to this project and were not for them, I would certainly have …
2022-10-17: After a hiatus, I’m back with a new edition of my newsletter Humane Ingenuity: “Humane …
2022-10-16: Fall, the best season
2022-10-10: Sometimes Belle falls asleep while standing up with her head resting on my leg
2022-09-29: One of the most important books of the year is Margaret Burnham’s By Hands Now Known, a …
2022-09-28: Thrilled about @NortheasternLib’s new grant from the @SloanFoundation to study and develop effective …
2022-09-19: Just another manic Monday
2022-09-13: When you think about it, squirrels are always free soloing
2022-09-11: Finished bottling our 2021 vintage. Chardonnay, Pinot Noir rosé, Syrah, Zinfandel. Love the rosé’s …
2022-09-07: Really excited to be teaching again this fall after a long hiatus from the classroom. I’m …
2022-09-06: Convocation @Northeastern, welcoming the great class of 2026!
2022-08-29: Look at Belle when we told her that our kids were now off at college
2022-08-29: Seems like this was just last week, but it was 17 years ago. In the actual last week, we dropped our …
2022-08-17: It’s over a half-century old, but Philip K. Dick’s A Maze of Death remains the most brutal …
2022-08-12: It’s been a long week, here’s Belle stretching out in the last sunbeam
2022-08-11: I did enjoy my trip, {{airlineName}}!
2022-07-31: Dig if you will this printer
2022-07-28: This door inspired me to write a song, would you like to hear it
2022-06-22: Tired: UFO research Wired: Bigfoot research (@ Lake Quinault, Olympic National Park)
2022-06-20: Oregon Coast Trail gets an A+
2022-06-19: Tillamook Rock Lighthouse lit up by the sunset
2022-06-16: You look nice today, Oregon
2022-06-14: Visited the vineyard where the grapes we make wine from are grown. Peter, who is 80 and still …
2022-06-13: um, no
2022-05-31: I love my children, but I must report to the authorities that according to their senior yearbook …
2022-05-29: You look nice today, New Hampshire
2022-05-19: I should not have diced this onion
2022-05-15: Femme fatale
2022-05-13: Undergraduate commencement @Northeastern begins at Fenway Park
2022-05-13: Honored to meet Donna Shalala, honorary degree recipient @Northeastern commencement
2022-05-13: Rockin’ end to @Northeastern grad commencement at Fenway Park
2022-05-13: Commencement for graduate students @Northeastern
2022-05-13: Getting ready for my favorite new tradition @Northeastern—commencement at Fenway Park
2022-05-08: This year in Boston, spring will take place between the hours of seven and eight pm on Wednesday
2022-04-20: “I see you are trying to watch the game but I require attention”
2022-04-18: Intense three-runner battle at mile 20 #BostonMarathon
2022-04-18: Not sure I’ve ever seen as big a lead pack at mile 20 at the #BostonMarathon
2022-04-15: Just minted the afikomen as an NFT
2022-04-15: Just hid the afikomen on the blockchain
2022-04-08: Does anyone know if Midjourney is related to, or uses, DALL•E 2? I’m currently writing …
2022-04-01: Cooper, @Northeastern’s helpful campus dog, just gave me his business card
2022-03-16: Ok, which portmanteau are we going with for the convergence of Purim and St. Patrick’s Day? …
2022-03-16: New issue of my newsletter: “Humane Ingenuity 44: Bookwork and Cloud Labs” — …
2022-03-15: We’re hiring one or more faculty members in digital humanities here @Northeastern—join us!
2022-03-14: One of the great dividing lines in the history of technology is between Things With Clocks That …
2022-03-10: Ah, Boston in springtime
2022-02-14: The metaverse was actually created by The Cars in “Moving in Stereo”
2022-02-07: Our library robot has turned on romantic mode for Valentine’s Day
2022-02-06: “What made it clear that these two men were highly educated was the fact that they did not aim for …
2022-01-29: I survived the Blizzard of ‘78. I knew the Blizzard of ‘78. The Blizzard of ‘78 was a friend of …
2022-01-24: First issue of my newsletter for 2022: “Humane Ingenuity 43: Your Own Personal Paul McCartney” — …
2022-01-22: My family is launching our own cryptocurrency, bitcohen, so we can store our grievances on the …
2022-01-17: Was feeling pessimistic about 2022 until I heard that my kids’ school is staging a roller …
2022-01-15: Our 2021 grapes have all been pressed. On to malolactic fermentation.
2022-01-14: .@dferriero transformed the National Archives during his 12 years as Archivist of the United …
2022-01-01: Our first time making a Syrah. Grapes look amazing, especially considering they survived 110° heat …
2021-12-30: Our vocal hound has learned how to sing Roberta Flack’s “Where Is the Love?” when we ignore her
2021-12-23: I wrote a small ode to what @humcommons represents, for the Humanities Commons blog on their fifth …
2021-12-06: What this article about TikTok makes clear is that we should talk less about the “magic of …
2021-12-02: Slowly dawning on us that we adopted a kangaroo instead of a dog, not sure how we missed that
2021-11-25: Look at this turkey roasting
2021-11-22: New issue of my newsletter: “Humane Ingenuity 42: Not So NFT”—NFTs as a way to support—or …
2021-11-20: My theory of NFTs/DAOs/Web3: Because the tech is so aggressively decentralized and opposed to …
2021-11-20: I have a strong aversion to trendy manias, but have decided after much hesitancy to write something …
2021-11-16: All of our homemade wines will be available as NFTs.
2021-11-16: Very soon the 2021 harvest of Zinfandel and Chardonnay grapes from Sonoma and Washington arrives at …
2021-11-16: We are hiring an Accessibility and Online Learning Librarian @NortheasternLib, eligible for remote …
2021-11-13: Delighted to be on the platform today for the Covid-delayed but extra joyous commencement ceremony …
2021-11-12: Just published: Schools and Screens: A Watchful History, by my colleague Victoria Cain. “Why …
2021-11-06: Daylight Savings Time should end on December 31, and begin on January 1
2021-11-04: Interesting study: “Print bestsellers are longer, syntactically more complex and varied, and seem to …
2021-11-03: Nice try, green peppers
2021-11-02: Sunrise this morning was 🔥
2021-11-02: Good morning
2021-10-29: Mind blown by SceneCity’s generative cities and architecture, produced on the fly to your …
2021-10-28: Whenever I see a highly personal, curated collection of books being auctioned off, like Ricky …
2021-10-25: it’s late, where have you been
2021-10-22: New issue of my newsletter is out: “Humane Ingenuity 41: Zen and the Art of Winemaking” — The …
2021-10-22: On Yammer is a post called a yam?
2021-10-19: Checking out the new Macs (25 years ago)
2021-10-19: Good morning
2021-10-16: Fall’s the best
2021-10-13: Long day at work, dog missed me
2021-10-11: We’re at the base of Heartbreak Hill as usual for the Boston Marathon. Wheelchair racers on the …
2021-10-10: Covered the painful hilly part of the Boston Marathon route on my run this afternoon, and realized …
2021-10-09: Sometimes I imagine the missing quotation marks of Sally Rooney’s novels having lonely on-again, …
2021-10-09: Belle’s enjoying this gorgeous fall morning
2021-10-06: I have been informed by my daughter that today is National Transfer Money to Your Daughter Day. …
2021-10-05: The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia has digitized footage from 1933 of the last known …
2021-09-26: Local mushroom showing off
2021-09-25: I thought this rainbow at the Red Sox game was a sign we would beat the Yankees. I was wrong, but: …
2021-09-24: This library ladder is so sinuously elegant
2021-09-23: Absolutely gorgeous book of handmade paper
2021-09-22: Like you, I’ve listened to Earth, Wind & Fire’s “September” a thousand times and find it a …
2021-09-21: Whatever you do, do not challenge my sister’s dog to a staring contest
2021-09-20: And lo it was in the year of our lord 2021 that one could finally swipe right to delete and left to …
2021-09-13: I loved celebrating Eleanor Lurensky’s 95th birthday with her recently, and we are naming a nice …
2021-09-09: A new season of my Humane Ingenuity newsletter begins with a deconstruction of the act of seeing, …
2021-09-06: Cap and gown (and mask) are on for convocation @Northeastern — let’s do this
2021-08-27: Curbside Boston is on brand this morning
2021-08-26: Belle was wondering if it was too late to participate in #InternationalDogDay
2021-08-26: At work we have a cabinet for ideas
2021-08-22: Henri n’était pas mal à Boston
2021-08-22: After a summer hiatus, the third season of my Humane Ingenuity newsletter begins soon. If …
2021-08-22: I’m redesigning my website, and out of the thousands of WordPress themes, I just realized I …
2021-08-21: We just toured 8 colleges in 12 days, and I can report that the state of higher ed is hot, and …
2021-08-21: ~ Ennio Morricone spaghetti western music ~
2021-08-14: S/M/L
2021-08-13: Insomnia has many causes, but I did not realize that “art in the woods” is one of them
2021-08-11: Nice spot to write
2021-08-10: There should be a power ballad about finding a great bookstore in a small town.
2021-08-10: You look nice today, Lye Brook Falls, Vermont
2021-08-08: This is what happens when your dog has five very long legs
2021-08-08: This is my annual social media post kindly asking for recommendations of totally fun books, where …
2021-07-29: “All Hyped Up for HyperCard: Further Adventures with an Apple Legacy Format,” by Jacob Kowall and …
2021-07-29: Instead of using Spotify for music recommendations, try Afrika Bambaataa’s annotated vinyl …
2021-07-29: An update on the octogenarian inventor I wrote about in my newsletter a while back: There is now a …
2021-07-27: Hey all: We are excited to be adding a half-dozen awesome new people to our fine library over the …
2021-07-24: You look nice today, White Mountains
2021-07-18: Winemaking update: We bottled our first vintage of red wine! We’ve learned a lot over the last year, …
2021-07-17: A very rare edition of Shakespeare (thx @JeffreyShoulson)
2021-07-16: Old maps digitally transformed into 360° virtual panoramas, like this c. 1902 circular bird’s-eye …
2021-07-14: Just got tickets for the real summer blockbuster, James Turrell: Into the Light at Mass MoCA. Can’t …
2021-07-13: “Flip It Open,” new model for opening access to books from Cambridge: 1) initial retail period, w/ …
2021-07-11: Even without the mythology, I think we can agree that the achilles is a very poorly designed body …
2021-07-07: Belle’s look is how we all feel about the heat
2021-07-06: Apple Notes should reinvigorate the web by making it easy to publish notes to a personal website.
2021-07-06: “The Ebook Turns 50” — Project Gutenberg was founded fifty years ago, and until 2009 it remained the …
2021-07-06: This puppy in a backpack is currently touring our campus with prospective students, 14/10 would …
2021-07-05: Today’s hike
2021-07-05: Bottled our second batch of Chardonnay made from Washington grapes. Got all fancy with this one, …
2021-07-03: Belle meeting my sister’s dogs for the first time, after a very long pandemic wait
2021-07-01: Not sure I’ve ever been this soaking wet, but the @USWNT game against Mexico has been great fun so …
2021-06-28: New from @DPLA/LYRASIS: “The Palace Project is a new library-centered platform for digital content …
2021-06-26: Looks like I’ve hiked right into an old Star Trek episode
2021-06-16: Very strong 1983 vibes here
2021-06-15: Well done, sunset
2021-06-15: How do you add umami to PowerPoint
2021-06-15: Just had my last Covid test on campus. I think it’s my 67th test, thankfully all negative. Big kudos …
2021-06-12: The names of the judges at the Westminster Dog Show are just so good—they surpass what any novelist …
2021-06-08: Feeling very judged by the dog for watching the French Open
2021-06-07: % ./library-robot –engage-summer-mode –balloons=YES
2021-06-03: One of the great spots in Boston in the summer
2021-06-02: Great post by @TenuredRadical about doing historical research in a digital age, and how it has …
2021-05-30: Cute way to bring to an end the pandemic-era At Home section of the New York Times
2021-05-25: New issue of my newsletter: “Humane Ingenuity 39: A Circle of Keytars” — Combining video …
2021-05-24: Either there’s a shark in our house or Belle got into my sock drawer
2021-05-18: Big ebook news, and way to go @DPLA! “DPLA signs agreement with Amazon Publishing to make their …
2021-05-17: Podcasts about the history of pop songs are a fascinating example of how new genres emerge that fit …
2021-05-15: Finally warm enough to sit on the porch, but someone is rudely occupying all of the seating
2021-05-09: Incredible weekend at the @Northeastern commencement ceremonies at Fenway Park. At our final event …
2021-05-09: Bright sunshine for the second day of @Northeastern commencement ceremonies at Fenway Park #NU2021
2021-05-08: About to begin the first of our commencement ceremonies @Northeastern in Fenway Park. My lucky view …
2021-05-05: Y’all do realize that you can subscribe to most newsletters in a feed reader, thus turning them into …
2021-05-05: The string octet in front of my library played “Thank U, Next” when the graduating seniors marched …
2021-05-05: New issue of my newsletter: “Humane Ingenuity 38: The Vigoda Verification”—Science fiction as …
2021-05-05: Honored to be reading the names of graduating students today @Northeastern as they walk across the …
2021-05-03: Our library robot is also excited about graduation week @Northeastern
2021-05-03: It’s the start of graduation week @Northeastern and we’ve got our celebratory banner up on the …
2021-04-30: The London Library has published for the first time a list of the books that Charles Darwin borrowed …
2021-04-28: Between his first vaccine dose and his second, @glass has been experimenting with doubled images, …
2021-04-28: “Over the past year, academic libraries helped lead their institutions into the socially distant …
2021-04-28: At our all-staff meeting today, everyone shared their most embarrassing Zoom experience from the …
2021-04-28: If a single gray pixel NFT sold for over a million dollars, can you imagine how much the entire …
2021-04-26: It’s been so long since my kids went to school that they drove themselves this morning
2021-04-25: Today we bottled the white and rosé wines we made during Covid, and soon we will bottle the red …
2021-04-24: A moo wave classic
2021-04-23: Winemaking update: We seem to have successfully clarified our Chardonnay and rosé using bentonite …
2021-04-22: This post by @amandafrench and @nickicamberg about the volunteer network of @COVID19Tracking is …
2021-04-18: If you really think about it, dogs greet other dogs using the same process as dial-up modems
2021-04-15: Our new library robot is more Star Trek than Black Mirror
2021-04-15: I like the new graphics we have up in our library showing visualizations of how our lives have …
2021-04-08: In case you’re wondering what the gestation period is for a laptop, mine has a baby bump after …
2021-04-07: New issue of my newsletter: “Humane Ingenuity 37: Data and the Humanities” — Thinking about …
2021-04-06: Library Redensification Plan is my indie rock band name
2021-04-03: Good morning
2021-03-29: Every year, Passover offers an eternal lesson: Never eat matzo over your keyboard
2021-03-28: Great: The Louvre collections are now online! Also great: all metadata/descriptions are …
2021-03-24: Well this is great news: @ukglo is returning to revitalize the Flickr Commons, which she created and …
2021-03-22: We may have taken the “next big thing looks like a toy” shtick a bit too far
2021-03-21: Winemaking update: We are only a month away from our first bottling, and in preparation we got this …
2021-03-18: Vertical browser tabs, where have you been all my life
2021-03-17: New issue of my newsletter: “Humane Ingenuity 36: 15% Faster” — “Singin’ in the Rain” as …
2021-03-17: The LFT, or Library Fungible Token (pronounced “Lifty”), is an object, like a book, that through the …
2021-03-16: On the latest What’s New podcast, I talk to @JimMc_Grath, one of the curators of A Journal of …
2021-03-15: In addition to being showered with awards, I hope that the work of @COVID19Tracking is archived …
2021-03-14: We are down to just two: the stove and the microwave.
2021-03-14: How many clocks or devices that display the time do you have left that need to be manually changed …
2021-03-11: I’m on the quad…or am I?
2021-03-10: I feel seen
2021-03-09: Really nice springtime vibe on campus today @Northeastern
2021-03-08: Perfect together: @dpla + @wikimedia: “In our first year, [DPLA] uploaded over 1.25 million …
2021-03-07: Today’s hike
2021-03-04: New issue of my newsletter: “Humane Ingenuity 35: Bounded and Boundless” — A collection of unusual …
2021-03-04: Incredible update to Zotero (beta): fantastic built-in PDF reader with many annotation features; …
2021-03-02: Find polar bears in remote camera feeds from Hudson Bay, and then decide where they rank in the …
2021-03-02: We rarely speak w/ people beyond our social circles, but doing so can bridge divides through shared …
2021-03-01: The length of our dog’s legs singlehandedly destroys the theory of intelligent design
2021-02-25: A question to ponder: Is cultural output better if it is paid for by direct subscriptions to …
2021-02-23: The latest NASA videos have a nice Space: 1999 vibe
2021-02-22: Digital art sold as “authentic” using a blockchain/NFT is the latest version of a concept …
2021-02-21: Don DeLillo’s White Noise reads very differently after the experience of the last year.
2021-02-17: You look nice today, New Hampshire
2021-02-16: On the What’s New podcast from @NortheasternLib, I talk with @julia_flanders and Sarah Connell …
2021-02-12: New issue of my newsletter: “Humane Ingenuity 34: Making Data Physical” — Representing data in the …
2021-02-11: I believe we’ve reached Peak Winter
2021-02-09: This good piece by @austinkleon, “Blogging as a Forgiving Medium,” is just as much about forgiving …
2021-02-09: Winemaking update: After our apparent success pressing the Zinfandel grapes we got from California, …
2021-02-07: The year is 2057. In Super Bowl LXXXIV, Tom Brady throws a touchdown pass to Gronkbot 3000, winning …
2021-02-07: Snow Belle
2021-02-04: Is a sentiment that is autocompleted still a sentiment?
2021-02-02: Larry’s interviews with Prince, one right after Prince brought down the house in 1981 with a …
2021-02-02: This week on the What’s New podcast from the Northeastern University Library, I spoke with …
2021-02-01: 1 year ago @Northeastern launched its Covid-19 task force, making us one of “The Colleges That Took …
2021-01-29: New issue of my newsletter: “Humane Ingenuity 33: Bring Back the Color” — Why the objects around us …
2021-01-25: For our next What’s New podcast, I interviewed a music critic who interviewed Prince, Bob Marley, …
2021-01-25: Barry White on the backlash against disco music and discos in 1979: “People put titles on …
2021-01-25: Shalanda Baker, Prof. of Law, Public Policy and Urban Affairs @Northeastern, has joined President …
2021-01-19: To start 2021 with some fresh ideas and discoveries, I spoke with three award-winning graduate …
2021-01-17: Great idea: The Science Museum (UK) used its digitized collection, API, and log of web pages with …
2021-01-14: New issue of my newsletter: “Humane Ingenuity 32: Faint and Loud Signals”—Relax in a virtual …
2021-01-13: Morning
2021-01-10: Quincy Jones predicts the future of music and technology in 1984 (quoted in @matoswk75’s very good …
2021-01-03: This weekend’s reading, via @audreywatters/@hackeducation, was @bjfr’s Failure to …
2020-12-31: Last hike of the year; good summary of 2020’s mood
2020-12-31: This chance encounter with a joyful tiny ballerina seems like a good omen for 2021
2020-12-30: Consider this: In 24 hours, works that were published in 1925 will have a brighter digital future …
2020-12-26: Novice winemaking update: We ran a chromatography test overnight to see if the bacteria we added to …
2020-12-26: I saved The 99% Invisible City: A Field Guide to the Hidden World of Everyday Design for holiday …
2020-12-24: A Christmas Eve edition of my newsletter: “Humane Ingenuity 31: An Adaptive Painting” — The tale of …
2020-12-18: Our library (Snell Library @Northeastern) is celebrating its 30th anniversary. In 1990, the campus …
2020-12-15: Helping an elderly relative with an operating system upgrade today, I thought of Michael …
2020-12-15: On this week’s @podcastwhatsnew from @NortheasternLib, @JoannaRadin, @DanBouk, and I talk …
2020-12-12: Morning
2020-12-05: We spent this snowy day pressing our grapes. Started with 200 pounds of grapes, which gave us 20 …
2020-12-04: This morning @lorcanD reminded me of this great visualization of mega-regions in North America and …
2020-12-02: Hold me closer
2020-12-02: Old me: Hahaha, Charles Babbage thought he lost a quarter of his brainpower to organ grinders. New …
2020-12-01: Entering the workplace after college is always difficult and awkward for young people, and it can be …
2020-12-01: “The lesson of the web is that people, given the choice between the freedom of operating and …
2020-11-30: New issue of my newsletter: “Humane Ingenuity 30: Escape Disappointment With Your Machines”—Another …
2020-11-30: We’ve got a great (virtual) event coming up @NUlabTMN @Northeastern, Dec 11, 1-2:30pm EST: …
2020-11-29: We have reached the “punch-down” stage of our winemaking, which is the only time it’s ok to punch …
2020-11-25: The latest Cohen Clan Covid Challenge: converting 200 pounds of grapes from a vineyard in Sonoma …
2020-11-23: New on my blog: “When We Look Back on 2020, What Will We See?”—The record of 2020 lies largely in …
2020-11-21: So goth to endow a bat colony for a couple’s 50th anniversary
2020-11-21: Today’s hike
2020-11-21: One important lesson of the Covid Tracking Project is that we should have more data sets created, …
2020-11-20: “For life scientists, the freezer is the archive.” —Joanna Radin, with a very chewy thought on the …
2020-11-20: Today at noon EST, I’m moderating a panel on “Data Histories of Health,” feat. profs Joanna Radin …
2020-11-19: Love the new fire pits all over campus @Northeastern
2020-11-17: What is the German compound noun for a social network’s embarrassing desire to copy another social …
2020-11-14: Belle has that lazy Saturday morning vibe
2020-11-12: A new podcast series from @CLIRnews on “the effects of climate change on cultural memory and why, …
2020-11-10: Timely new @podcastwhatsnew from @NortheasternLib: “The Great News Divide”—I talk w/ @meg_heckman of …
2020-11-07: Today’s hike
2020-11-07: A little late, fortune cookie
2020-11-06: Here @Northeastern we have many highly interdisciplinary joint appointments for faculty (and joint …
2020-11-02: I have been reminded by my phone that four years ago today I was in the National Library of Latvia
2020-11-02: On my evening run I stepped on a yard sign that was thrown into the road, and it flipped up and …
2020-11-01: New issue of my newsletter is out: “Humane Ingenuity 29: Noticing the Neighborhood”—an exploration …
2020-10-31: Good morning
2020-10-29: Great to see this terrific updated design for the DPLA Exchange, an ebook market built by libraries, …
2020-10-28: Look at what I have to deal with when I’m trying to work in the evening
2020-10-28: All these months later, I still don’t know how to smize
2020-10-28: All these months later, I still don’t know how to smize
2020-10-27: I really enjoyed this book and its amazing tale of how Jewish families from Baghdad ended up in …
2020-10-26: A couple of weeks ago I enjoyed being on a CNI panel with @pmhswe and Tom Hickerson to discuss …
2020-10-23: Fall is here, so I’ve had to up my outdoor social distancing game
2020-10-22: Our dog has a new friend and he’s a total goofball
2020-10-18: Today’s hike
2020-10-14: late in the day my zoom calls start to feel like this
2020-10-13: Know thyself, @nytimes
2020-10-13: Hound is confused about this headless horseman
2020-10-13: If you have ever wondered what the World Health Organization does, how it operates and is funded, …
2020-10-13: Looking forward to participating in CNI’s “Reflections on Libraries and Digital Scholarship …
2020-10-12: New issue of my newsletter: “Humane Ingenuity 28: Cornucopia of Cleverness”—making GIFs from …
2020-10-09: Well done, sunset
2020-10-07: Fall
2020-09-29: The 1st episode of the 4th season of the What’s New podcast from the Northeastern University …
2020-09-26: Today’s hike
2020-09-26: The evolution of museum wall labels: text audio tour number prompt QR code THIS
2020-09-25: The fourth season of our What’s New podcast starts next week with conversations about climate …
2020-09-24: caption this
2020-09-15: New issue of my newsletter: “Humane Ingenuity 27: Reopening Time”—Uzbek textile tech/art; can lit …
2020-09-12: Just found this mysterious junction box in our old house. I think it’s for the 1930 Graybar …
2020-09-11: ominous word usage trend
2020-09-08: By some cosmic synchronicity, @ayjay’s new book Breaking Bread With the Dead: A Reader’s Guide to a …
2020-09-08: I’m a firm believer that every library reopening brings a little light back into our world. We’re …
2020-09-06: Today’s hike is very on-brand for 2020
2020-08-31: For the curious, here’s @Northeastern’s very efficient high-volume testing center, where students …
2020-08-30: nice try, murder hornets
2020-08-25: Guess who went into the office all day today for the first time in months, and guess who stayed home
2020-08-21: OPENING SCENE: Interior shot of a empty library. The late summer sun blazes through the window. …
2020-08-16: How are reliable info/stats sites like @COVID19tracking going to handle national and state testing …
2020-08-15: A+ design and typography on this manhole cover
2020-08-15: This weekend’s reading 📚
2020-08-07: Stéfan Sinclair was brilliant and did so much groundbreaking work in digital humanities, but most of …
2020-08-06: 2020
2020-08-04: New issue of my newsletter: “Humane Ingenuity 26: Considerate Over Clever”—Photography exhibit about …
2020-08-02: As required by Massachusetts law, this is an official notification to the general public that my …
2020-07-30: Just a reminder that we are filling several positions in the Northeastern University Library, and …
2020-07-30: Nice historical artifact we discovered while sorting through some of our books: a 1949 edition of …
2020-07-27: I would like a Dogme 95 sports channel
2020-07-19: I’ve been going over my notes on digital history from 2003-2005, including some of these early …
2020-07-19: If you want to know how much the web has changed in the last two decades, here was the top Google …
2020-07-15: Dear future historians: High school and college yearbooks often go to press months before the end of …
2020-07-15: New issue of my newsletter is out: “Humane Ingenuity 25: Out of Body Experiences”—The view out of …
2020-07-14: Tonight’s reading
2020-07-14: The new “Together” mode in Microsoft Teams is like a Borges story about a lecture.
2020-07-10: The marshmallow test, except with a hound and an ice cube on a hot day
2020-07-07: Wear a mask and let dog be your copilot
2020-07-06: Evening
2020-07-02: Afternoon
2020-07-01: Evening
2020-06-30: Evening
2020-06-29: New issue of my newsletter: “Humane Ingenuity 24: Witness and Withness”—how libraries/archives can …
2020-06-29: Morning
2020-06-27: And these neighbors have decided to go straight to Halloween. I get it.
2020-06-27: Over a hundred days in and things are finally getting weird in the neighborhood. One of our …
2020-06-24: Much wisdom here from @jenorr on her blog about our forthcoming necessarily imperfect fall school …
2020-06-24: If you could use five minutes of pure fun and incredible talent, may I recommend this video of the …
2020-06-23: For teens doing their best to social distance, this summer is a brutal marshmallow test, but instead …
2020-06-21: Evening
2020-06-19: Long article in the Chronicle of Higher Ed on what campuses will look like in the fall, from …
2020-05-28: How is this comfortable?
2020-05-19: New issue of my newsletter: “Humane Ingenuity 23: Reframing Time & Saving …
2020-05-16: When my mask is dangling around my neck I like to pretend I’m Dr. Fink
2020-05-15: Fellow library directors: I’ve found this IFLA page on reopening strategies/techniques …
2020-05-13: Just stretching
2020-05-06: Truth really is stranger than fiction
2020-05-01: New issue of my newsletter: “Humane Ingenuity 22: More Creative Reuses”—re-enacting works of …
2020-04-28: Possession is nine-tenths of the law
2020-04-25: My method for delivering packages safely to my mother is now indistinguishable from the handoffs …
2020-04-24: A reminder that the Digital Public Library of America has thousands of high-quality ebooks in EPUB …
2020-04-24: In the alternate timeline, my kids would have gotten their driver’s licenses today. ☹️
2020-04-23: Time Machine Quarantine would be an amazing band name
2020-04-22: Just realized that today was my 40th day of isolation = a quarantine. Next up, in 10 days: a …
2020-04-22: I remain confused by the operation of our dog’s legs
2020-04-21: On the latest What’s New podcast from the Northeastern University Library, my conversation with Moya …
2020-04-21: Most of today’s good pop songs would be great pop songs if Bernard Edwards played bass on …
2020-04-19: New issue of my newsletter is out: “Humane Ingenuity 21: Functional and Eternal”—learning …
2020-04-12: These faux-reos are non-gebrokts
2020-04-07: New issue of my newsletter: “Physical Distancing, Social Cohesion”—The first archives of COVID-19; a …
2020-04-07: On the latest What’s New podcast from the Northeastern University Library, I talk with Steve …
2020-04-06: Life hack: Step 1: Find a photo of an idyllic place you would like to relocate to. Step 2: Use that …
2020-03-31: Pro tip: If you are an author (or other copyright holder) and want to make your books widely …
2020-03-30: We have been at home so long that our dog is offering free hugs
2020-03-25: New issue of my newsletter is out: “Humane Ingenuity 19: Credit Where Credit Is Due”—more on …
2020-03-24: My guest on this week’s What’s New podcast from the Northeastern University Library is …
2020-03-23: If the rest of the school year is canceled, my kids will have only made it through three-quarters of …
2020-03-23: I needed to talk about and listen to something that was not virus-related, so I called a …
2020-03-23: Along with my colleague in the history dept @Northeastern, Victoria Cain, I was interviewed by the …
2020-03-22: Today’s print edition of the New York Times had no sports scores or league standings, I assume for …
2020-03-22: Regarding our refrigerator, we have reached the “use all parts of the buffalo” stage.
2020-03-21: Since “going out” now means “walking around my neighborhood,” I’m trying to notice something new …
2020-03-21: “Ignaz Semmelweis, who in the 1840s invited the ridicule of his colleagues by suggesting that …
2020-03-20: My colleague’s bunny is the world champion of sheltering in place
2020-03-20: Disease outbreak map by Dr. Seuss, 1943. (via the David Rumsey Map Center)
2020-03-18: Next-level social distancing in Boston
2020-03-18: New issue of my newsletter is out: “Humane Ingenuity 18: Closing Time”—what it’s like to have to …
2020-03-17: The only thing more excited about my working from home than my dog is the fan on my computer.
2020-03-17: Of course it’s snowing on St. Patrick’s Day, because this is the worst movie script …
2020-03-16: For those wondering if the internet can handle all of this, Kanopy, a provider of streaming media to …
2020-03-16: oh i see u are trying to work from home
2020-03-16: Kudos to the 50 university presses, nonprofit and commercial publishers who are providing unlimited …
2020-03-16: First day of our library’s staff all working from home after we tapered off staffing last …
2020-03-14: Yes, Isaac Newton made breakthroughs in math and physics during dark times, and he also …
2020-03-10: In these times, I recommend reading Frank Snowden’s The Conquest of Malaria: Italy, 1900-1962, which …
2020-03-10: While we panic about the coronavirus, the long-term existential threat remains: climate change. On …
2020-03-08: If I can stop touching my face, my dog should be able to stop eating sponges.
2020-03-05: For some reason I cannot get the bridge of “Sweet Caroline” out of my head: ”Hands, touching hands, …
2020-03-02: Our leggy dog is ready to shelter in place
2020-03-01: Highly recommended in these times: Start learning a new language. It makes you concentrate regularly …
2020-02-27: This crossword better not be like the November 5, 1996 crossword, New York Times. I am still angry …
2020-02-27: Wanda Strauven’s detailed history and media archaeology of the earliest animated GIFs is …
2020-02-27: Newspaper delivery used to be pretty cool
2020-02-26: New issue of my newsletter is out: “Humane Ingenuity 17: All THAT and More”—Early modern QR …
2020-02-26: New on my blog: “More than THAT”—my reflections on the genesis and flourishing (and now sunsetting) …
2020-02-25: Let us reflect on how complete and generous the Smithsonian’s release of millions of images …
2020-02-25: On the latest @podcastwhatsnew: “How Tariffs Made Modern China”—from the First Opium War to …
2020-02-13: “No, I didn’t eat your pillow, why do you ask?”
2020-02-12: New issue of my newsletter: “Humane Ingenuity 16: Imagining New Museums”—A future museum’s …
2020-02-11: As part of Northeastern University Library’s partnership with the Boston Public Library to …
2020-02-11: On the latest What’s New podcast, a history and analysis of life hacking—why do some people go …
2020-02-03: New issue of my newsletter is out: “Humane Ingenuity 15: Close but Not Quite”—How to find jazz …
2020-01-28: New issue of my newsletter is out: “Humane Ingenuity 14: Adding Dimensions”—The Library of …
2020-01-28: New research shows that infants have many innate concepts, including ones related to physics, math, …
2020-01-20: I used to find the Blue Screen of Death to be disconcerting on giant screens in public places, then …
2020-01-19: Really like a German compound noun I heard Patricia Williams use in a talk last week: Waldeinsamkeit …
2020-01-17: For those in the Boston area: To commemorate the centennial of the passage of the 19th Amendment, we …
2020-01-16: Patricia Williams pushing back against the problematic mental state of our age of smartphones and …
2020-01-14: New issue of my newsletter: “Humane Ingenuity 13: The Best of Both Worlds”—Historians are no …
2020-01-14: On the first What’s New podcast of 2020, I talk with Jessica Silbey about her forthcoming book, …
2020-01-13: How are books like breakfast cereal? The ones that are on eye-level shelves in libraries are taken …
2020-01-11: I don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows
2020-01-09: Kate Eichhorn’s keynote at the Coalition for Networked Information meeting in December, “Forgetting …
2020-01-06: From a distance I took this photo of a family at sundown, and now I really wish I had their contact …
2020-01-06: Eye-opening survey by @ianmilligan1 reveals the changing practice of historians: Over 90% now use …
2020-01-05: I like how my web host, @reclaimhosting, has a server for installing new software called “Fugazi,” …
2019-12-28: “What will the new decade bring? Ducks, I hope.”
2019-12-25: As the father of boy-girl twins, I consider Star Wars to be an extended metaphor.
2019-12-23: Winter at its most beautiful is more beautiful than any other season.
2019-12-19: World’s greatest holiday gift: my colleague Deb Smith’s 2020 calendar featuring her bunnies, Ella …
2019-12-18: Toilet-paper ribbon-cutting ceremony to open new bathrooms in our library today. In related news, I …
2019-12-17: On the final What’s New podcast of 2019: a trio of young researchers and their innovative work …
2019-12-16: Look at this beautiful new gadget I just put on my desk
2019-12-12: A new issue of my newsletter is out: “Humane Ingenuity 12: Automation & Agency”—can we …
2019-12-11: Belle is having thoughts
2019-12-11: Current status: I have been invited to a “Ride with the Rabbis” spin class.
2019-12-08: The moon is perched right on top of the Boston Commons Christmas tree
2019-12-05: It was a pretty punk move. I was paid $50 that December.
2019-12-05: Whenever I see a “Best of the Decade” piece, I am reminded of when I was an intern at Spin in 1989, …
2019-12-04: New issue of my newsletter is out: “Humane Ingenuity 11: Middle-Aged Software”—what can we learn …
2019-12-04: Some good things going on at our library this week (aside from, or to help with, the stress of final …
2019-12-03: Inequality has many deeply troubling effects on individuals and society, but one that is spoken of …
2019-12-02: I love this note about how Nobuyuki Siraisi designed the 1979 version of the New York City subway …
2019-11-25: New issue of my newsletter is out: “Humane Ingenuity 10: The Nature and Locus of …
2019-11-22: The universe is filled with great imponderable mysteries, such as the fact that these three songs …
2019-11-19: On the latest What’s New podcast, we look at the mysterious and complex nature of human sight—“How …
2019-11-18: Here at @NortheasternLib we have an opening for an Engineering Librarian, who will design …
2019-11-12: The view from Northeastern’s library is spectacular right now
2019-11-12: New issue of my newsletter is out: “Humane Ingenuity 9: GPT-2 and You” — The act of reading in …
2019-11-11: I think GPT-2 says less about artificial intelligence and more about how human intelligence is …
2019-11-10: Teaching your kid how to drive is like being in a movie about a video game in which losing means you …
2019-11-05: New issue of my newsletter Humane Ingenuity is out: “Ebooks: It’s Complicated”—what went wrong with …
2019-11-05: On the latest What’s New podcast, we go inside CERN and the Large Hadron Collider with …
2019-11-04: Belle has gotten good at blocking the stairs so you have to pet her.
2019-10-30: Belle is concerned about the giant spider and dragon that have appeared on our neighbor’s porch
2019-10-30: As the dean of a library, the possibility of a raccoon invasion is why I got a coonhound this year.
2019-10-29: “You choose the web you want. But you have to do the work.” —@brentsimmons (Yep.)
2019-10-25: Fall has reached the Post-Impressionism stage
2019-10-22: My sister’s dog is so droopy he melts into the rug
2019-10-22: New issue of my newsletter is out: “Humane Ingenuity 7: Getting Weird with Technology to Find …
2019-10-22: On the latest episode of the What’s New podcast from the Northeastern University Library, I …
2019-10-20: Fall symmetry
2019-10-20: Belle is enjoying a nice fall morning
2019-10-16: Picked up a copy of @hodgman’s Medallion Status for my flight today and I’m sorry to report that it …
2019-10-16: Love this initiative from @AV_DiscoTech et al.: the Memory Lab Network, putting …
2019-10-15: This week my “Humane Ingenuity” newsletter comes to you from the Digital Library Federation forum, …
2019-10-14: My favorite slide from the first day of #DLFforum
2019-10-13: Fun airport security line this evening on my way to #DLFforum: Doris Kearns Goodwin was right behind …
2019-10-12: “Go thou my incense upward from this hearth”
2019-10-12: Walden Pond
2019-10-11: Given that there are now over a half-million podcasts, and visibility is largely dominated by big …
2019-10-10: I know this is hard to believe, but there is a dog in this photo, camouflaged with the floor
2019-10-08: New issue of my newsletter Humane Ingenuity is out—more on the use of AI/machine learning in …
2019-10-08: On the latest What’s New: supply chain expert Nada Sanders, who explains why many CEOs (like …
2019-10-02: Our hound puppy now has a distinctive three-note bay that rivals the NBC chimes.
2019-10-01: I was on The Agenda on TVO Monday with two other academics to talk about “The Lost Art of Reading,” …
2019-09-27: My iPhone just autocorrected “weekend” to “Weeknd” we are doomed
2019-09-26: My teenage daughter just watched her first live television show.
2019-09-26: Cormac McCarthy’s tips on how to write a great science paper (broadly applicable and not just for …
2019-09-25: New issue of my newsletter Humane Ingenuity is out, featuring a bit of a love letter to Micro.blog; …
2019-09-24: This week on the What’s New podcast: How ballet dancers communicate spatial information to …
2019-09-23: The technology of the printing press with moveable type arose during Leonardo da Vinci’s lifetime; …
2019-09-19: If you want to get away from the world/social media, I wholeheartedly recommend Northeastern’s …
2019-09-18: Some good notes and links from @mia_out about a workshop this week on museums and artificial …
2019-09-18: We’re hiring a project archivist to work on the Civil Rights & Restorative Justice …
2019-09-17: I met Cokie Roberts when Carla Hayden was sworn in as Librarian of Congress, and chatted with her …
2019-09-17: The third issue of my newsletter Humane Ingenuity is now out, on using artificial intelligence in …
2019-09-16: 10 points to the University of Chicago for having “Is a hot dog a sandwich?” as one of their …
2019-09-16: The third issue of my Humane Ingenuity newsletter, which will cover in depth the use (and potential …
2019-09-15: Boston suburbs have an M. Night Shyamalan vibe today
2019-09-11: After 9/11, Ruth Sergel and Here is New York set up a private booth so that people could record …
2019-09-10: A corollary is that the remaining online venues that bring me agita, not joy, are free.
2019-09-10: I’ll write about this in a future issue of my newsletter, but it has struck me recently that the …
2019-09-10: My favorite RSS feed right now is Stereogum’s “The Number Ones,” which is going deep on every …
2019-09-10: If you’re new to the What’s New podcast, you can subscribe in your favorite podcast app …
2019-09-10: The third season of the What’s New podcast starts today, with my conversation with Christo …
2019-09-10: Subscribe to the Humane Ingenuity newsletter to get every issue delivered straight to your inbox. …
2019-09-10: While you are waiting for Apple to unveil new gizmos, you can read the second issue of my new …
2019-09-09: Northeastern University is also seeking a full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty member with a …
2019-09-09: ICYMI: We’re doing a faculty cluster hire in digital humanities here at Northeastern …
2019-09-07: Belle and her extra-long legs are having a lazy Saturday
2019-09-04: JR’s digital mural at SF MOMA, featuring over a thousand San Franciscans, is pretty incredible, and …
2019-09-04: Today I’m launching a newsletter on technology that helps rather than hurts human …
2019-09-01: Just finished reading Tom Rachman’s The Imperfectionists and loved the way it traced the rise and …
2019-08-28: We’re hiring a Research Data Analyst at the Northeastern University Library to join our …
2019-08-26: The old hotel where I’m staying makes you feel at home with some nice touches from The Shining
2019-08-24: Can’t I just enjoy my Saturday morning coffee?
2019-08-23: A proto-VOIP conference call from 1978, oddly featuring a Dan Cohen. (via David Crotty)
2019-08-19: A glorious excerpt cabinet. (This one happens to be Leibniz’s. From the book Paper Machines: About …
2019-08-15: Taxonomy!
2019-08-13: Australians have made millions of corrections to the rough text generated by the digitization of …
2019-08-13: In case you’re wondering how scholars access articles at a large research university, …
2019-08-12: Great to see the return of the NetNewsWire RSS reader and its commitment to the open web. I …
2019-08-11: Still confused by the size and function of Belle’s legs
2019-08-06: Who’s a good hiking companion? Belle’s a good hiking companion
2019-08-04: There’s this sign for the “OCR World Championships” nearby and I had to google it to make sure that …
2019-08-02: Pretty sure this covered bridge is actually a time portal
2019-08-02: Every sign on this trail sounds like an amazing Johnny Cash song
2019-08-01: Over @kottke, a sampler of recent writing on how algorithms are draining serendipity out of our …
2019-07-30: With Boris Johnson assuming the office of Prime Minister of the U.K., we’ve got a rebroadcast and …
2019-07-29: This is like finding out that Abbey Road is an actual road
2019-07-26: Starting in November, Macmillan will let each library system, including those that serve millions of …
2019-07-25: I have successfully completed the mandatory parent training class so that I can teach my twins how …
2019-07-25: Using computer vision to analyze the visual style and composition of Bewitched and I Dream of …
2019-07-24: A bald eagle has moved into our neighborhood
2019-07-23: I told her to sit
2019-07-23: New on my blog: “Engagement Is the Enemy of Serendipity”—a seemingly minor change to the New York …
2019-07-22: Recording a podcast today with a human/robot movement scientist, I asked if she could train a robot …
2019-07-21: Free local history talk
2019-07-19: Nearby lake looking nice this evening
2019-07-18: Good series on the Space Age and the race to the moon this week on News@Northeastern, which includes …
2019-07-17: Was the “Use the Force” moment at the end of Star Wars, when Luke switched off the computer and went …
2019-07-16: On our second rebroadcast + update of the summer, @podcastwhatsnew revisits an interview with an …
2019-07-16: Kind of sad to see music and theology as lacking relationships with other fields in this …
2019-07-16: Kudos to @jjkaraganis and @clured for this incredible update to the @opensyllabus site, now with …
2019-07-16: Here are the 50 most-assigned authors in economics courses in the United States (three are women).
2019-07-16: Here is the new and improved Open Syllabus project site I mentioned earlier, now live: …
2019-07-16: The Open Syllabus Project is undergoing a major upgrade, now with over 6 million college syllabi and …
2019-07-16: Screenshot of the FrameMaker book-writing software for NeXT computers, 1989 (via @moritz)
2019-07-15: just another manic monday
2019-07-15: “From 1982 to 2017, the share of Americans with bachelor’s degrees who had read even one work of …
2019-07-15: The percentage of American adults who have read a book in the last year has fallen to its lowest …
2019-07-13: Of course my local Little Free Library has a copy of Practical SGML
2019-07-12: “Data Beyond Vision: experimental physical representations of humanities data” (via @suttonkoeser, …
2019-07-11: The Digital Library Federation 2019 Forum schedule is now up and there’s still time to …
2019-07-11: The Apollo 11 command module looks pretty cool in the lobby of my library. (Thanks, Smithsonian, for …
2019-07-11: Wally Grotophorst analyzed DNS queries to see how many academics were routing around paywalls for …
2019-07-10: Wondering what my fellow Micro.bloggers make of Darius Kazemi’s “Run Your Own Social”
2019-07-09: Also note that most government records are already digital, as I explained in my piece on the Obama …
2019-07-09: That’s a fairly bold transition to electronic records that some may have been missed during …
2019-07-09: Under a new directive from the Office of Management and Budget and the National Archives and Records …
2019-07-03: For a deeper dive into the Touch This Page exhibit and these tactile systems (including the many …
2019-07-03: The latest 99% Invisible podcast covers tactile reading systems for the visually impaired from the …
2019-07-02: Does anyone else’s dog gnaw on its own foot when a chew toy isn’t available?
2019-07-02: Spoiler alert on the Hydro-Pneumatic-Pulsating-Vacuo Engine
2019-07-02: Yes please, I want to read this proposed book by @robotnik on the most notorious fake perpetual …
2019-06-26: This summer we’re rebroadcasting a few of the What’s New podcast episodes in which there …
2019-06-25: I cannot believe the New York Times app got rid of swiping between sections. What a bad and …
2019-06-25: My puppy has become an extra large praying mantis
2019-06-24: Send someone an e-postcard from the largest collection of postcards in the United States, thanks to …
2019-06-21: From the excellent Apollo 11 exhibit at the Houghton Library, the first published photograph of the …
2019-06-16: Been thinking a lot about this too since receiving my personalized story from @robinsloan’s …
2019-06-16: “Recently, I used an AI trained on fantasy novels to generate custom stories for about a thousand …
2019-06-13: The first in a series of posts by @msmollyebrown @NU_Archives about the incredible Boston Globe …
2019-06-12: Hey everyone, we have two great positions available at the Northeastern University Library: 1) …
2019-06-11: X-Dog: Red Avenger
2019-06-10: Great to see @kfitz generously thinking aloud about her next book project, which seems like it could …
2019-06-08: OMG the story I just received in the mail, generated by @robinsloan’s AI program based on my …
2019-06-07: I’m still at work but I see that my dog has eased into the weekend
2019-06-06: New on my blog: “On the Response to My Atlantic Essay on the Decline in the Use of Print Books …
2019-06-06: Interesting: A new report from the British Library outlines five possible options for “a single …
2019-06-05: John Wihbey's Recommendations to Journalists for Countering Misinformation Some good concrete suggestions from @wihbey for countering misinformation in the media if you are a …
2019-06-04: I’m sure I’m not the only one who wishes that Apple had named their version of Google Street View …
2019-06-04: 100 years ago, on June 4, 1919, the U.S. Congress passed the 19th amendment, granting women the …
2019-06-03: Excited to receive an AI-generated story from @robinsloan’s coding/fiction wizardry, esp. …
2019-06-03: My first walk across the Richard Serra-esque bridge that now connects the library with the …
2019-06-03: May you all find a love like my puppy has with a sock she found in the park.
2019-06-01: This from Samuel Johnson should be the epigraph for every book, not just those by @ayjay.
2019-06-01: In the Letters to the Editor section of @TheAtlantic, readers of my essay on the decline in the use …
2019-05-30: One of my favorite things we used to do at the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media was …
2019-05-29: Good overview from Cliff Lynch of the ways that the privacy of readers (of ebooks, online articles, …
2019-05-28: For more on the idea of “collective collections” of books that I mentioned in @TheAtlantic, see …
2019-05-26: My latest piece for @TheAtlantic looks at the hidden and steep decline in the use of books within …
2019-05-25: Can’t wait to read Cut/Copy/Paste, the forthcoming book by @whitneytrettien on 17th-century …
2019-05-23: I was walking through Central Park today and thought I hallucinated this but it’s still on my phone
2019-05-21: Chronicling America, the initiative to digitize historic American newspapers (sponsored by the …
2019-05-21: The best and most up-to-date article I’ve read on the possibility and challenges of storing …
2019-05-19: In a parallel universe, the game company Milton Bradley became a trillion-dollar tech company after …
2019-05-17: Nice evening in Boston, finally
2019-05-17: Single purpose electronic devices from the 1980s are my jam, like this lottery number picker I found …
2019-05-15: My middle-aged neck would like to know how this is a comfortable resting position
2019-05-14: TIRED: The New York Times “Gen X” feature. WIRED: @ftrain’s funny/sad bildungsroman of nuclear …
2019-05-13: Playtime with my puppy is indistinguishable from BASIC programs in which the last line is always …
2019-05-13: “What’s New Season 2 Wrap-up” — looking back on the diverse topics we covered this …
2019-05-13: Thinking about writing a (nonpolemical) piece on college students wanting to be around books but …
2019-05-11: Beautiful morning for hounding around
2019-05-09: Tomorrow @Northeastern: “About Face: The Changing Landscape of Face Recognition” — conference on the …
2019-05-08: Pupdate: legs now too long to fit on the ottoman
2019-05-08: This post by @ayjay on the typos and other errors you find after publishing a book is so incredibly, …
2019-05-08: My niece @person_1123’s clever and fun game, Situations, where players co-create an absurd …
2019-05-06: Over 50 years ago, a student borrowed Alice in Wonderland from our library and never returned …
2019-05-03: 2019 Northeastern University commencement!
2019-05-01: Bipedal tree
2019-05-01: More May Day Morris dancing near the University Church this morning in Oxford
2019-05-01: Morris dancers celebrating May Day at dawn this morning in front of the Bodleian Library
2019-04-30: Johann Remmelin, A Survey of the Microcosme, 1695, with numerous 3D flaps
2019-04-30: A printed sheet of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, reproduced on a Bodleian letterpress in …
2019-04-29: Having dinner with some fellow librarians at the Divinity School in the Bodleian Library in Oxford. …
2019-04-26: I’ll be at the Bodleian library next week and can’t wait to see two exhibits, one …
2019-04-26: Fascinating talk by @phonedude_mln on the hidden and disturbing instabilities of web archives, with …
2019-04-24: Want to be at the intersection of digital scholarship, important community and newspaper archives, …
2019-04-24: It’s nice to see some new deals between libraries and journal publishers that account for both …
2019-04-22: It has finally happened, I have been Kondoed by my offspring
2019-04-22: Me: “Could you run some errands with me?” My daughter: “Running errands with you no longer brings me …
2019-04-21: There are no meals during Passover—only constant noshing. —Yiddish proverb
2019-04-20: Squirrel!
2019-04-18: Y’all do know that Google Drive can OCR PDFs, right?
2019-04-17: “The principles for a Shared Digital Europe, a proposal for a new framework for thinking about the …
2019-04-16: “The abundance of data from large scientific experiments, such as earth observation programs, radio …
2019-04-16: As the tense process of Brexit winds on, I talk with Mai’a Cross (@keapuolani), Professor …
2019-04-16: And here’s maybe the most evocative image of Notre Dame I found via @dpla: what looks like a …
2019-04-16: Here’s a customized search for images of Notre Dame cathedral, from the oldest to most recent, …
2019-04-16: “Oh, is this your chair? Are you sure? Maybe it could be my chair.”
2019-04-15: And if you haven’t read his trilogy on slavery, starting with The Problem of Slavery in Western …
2019-04-15: David Brion Davis was a groundbreaking and great historian, but you wouldn’t have known it from his …
2019-04-15: #BostonMarathon
2019-04-15: Whoa the finish of the men’s race is going to be crazy with 15 runners within 5 seconds of each …
2019-04-15: Worknesh Degefa in the lead by two minutes (!) at the base of Heartbreak Hill #BostonMarathon
2019-04-11: I am only now realizing that it is National Pet Day. Here is my dog Belle sleeping.
2019-04-11: Thanks so much to everyone who contributed to our library today—still time to drop a small (or big) …
2019-04-11: If I could time travel to 1982, I would definitely buy an Apple computer from Sherman Howe
2019-04-11: Prince, with Sheila E. and Cat, 1987
2019-04-11: Metallica, 1984
2019-04-11: Hall & Oates, 1982
2019-04-11: Donna Summer, 1981
2019-04-11: Devo, 1980
2019-04-11: Anyhow, some other fun things from our Boston Phoenix archive to follow.
2019-04-11: I was looking through our archive of the Boston Phoenix today, and the topic of their comedy column, …
2019-04-11: BONUS OFFER: If we get 50 donations of any size ($5 is a-ok with me) from the distant lands of the …
2019-04-11: Hey all, if you like some of the things that come out of my library, including the What’s New …
2019-04-10: More on the design and functionality of that “next-generation paper,” and how the prototype travel …
2019-04-10: Prototype of a new kind of paper that has Bluetooth embedded in it—books made of this paper can …
2019-04-09: I am confused, Denver
2019-04-09: New by me @TheAtlantic: “Obama’s Presidential Library Is Already Digital”—When the record of a …
2019-04-08: “Why You (A Humanist) Should Care About Optical Character Recognition” by @ryancordell #cni19s
2019-04-08: Really looking forward to hearing @kfitz talk about her book Generous Thinking, live at #cni19s. …
2019-04-06: OUT: Betting on the Final Four IN: Betting on your dog’s DNA test
2019-04-06: “I’m sorry, this couch is taken”
2019-04-05: We’ve just added banks of these portable chargers, which can power a laptop and several devices, to …
2019-04-04: New to me, from the Touch This Page symposium on tactile reading systems, which we’re hosting …
2019-04-02: oh, hello
2019-04-02: On the latest What’s New podcast, my guest is the vice-chair of the International Committee …
2019-04-02: Loving our new, and very meta, laptop stickers
2019-03-29: “I’m on the couch. I’ve got my bone. Do I look like I want to take a walk?”
2019-03-26: I remain confused about our new dog’s oversized legs, but she’s a cute octopus.
2019-03-25: Delighted we are hosting a conference on how to enable and pursue digital scholarship, a joint …
2019-03-22: All of these phishing scams are going to make it hard for me when I actually need my staff to send …
2019-03-20: “Has the emergence of facial recognition technology proven that surveillance technology has finally …
2019-03-20: Alyssa Loyless on how to create a highly detailed model of York Minster cathedral through …
2019-03-20: For the 30th anniversary of the World Wide Web, I spoke with @KyleKCourtney, legal scholar …
2019-03-17: My daughter is trying to convince me that I’m a robot
2019-03-13: Finished a book chapter and a couple of long-ish blog posts this week and, as always, it feels good …
2019-03-13: “Robin Sloan’s Fusion of Technology and Humanity”—in which I look at why @robinsloan abandoned a …
2019-03-11: I’m eating ice cream straight from the container and my daughter just asked me if I was going …
2019-03-10: “Presidential Libraries and the Digitization of Our Lives”—My deep dive into the analog and digital …
2019-03-08: Our last two dogs were dachshunds, so Belle’s legs are hilarious
2019-03-06: Read an abandoned draft of the 1st chapter of @robinsloan’s novel Sourdough and have some …
2019-03-05: On the latest What’s New podcast, “How College Students Get the News,” we dig into the …
2019-03-04: We’ve got a little room left for those who would like to attend the @cni_org/@ARLnews Digital …
2019-02-28: “Kathleen Fitzpatrick’s Generous Thinking” — my review of @kfitz’s important new …
2019-02-25: Let’s ditch our smartphones for phones from 1983
2019-02-22: Start of the 2019 baseball season! @RedSox vs. @Northeastern
2019-02-19: .@davidlazer tracked down a representative sample of 16,000 Twitter users from across the political …
2019-02-15: There’s a good section in Linda Colley’s Britons, for instance, on how early …
2019-02-15: Opportunity traveled farther on Mars during its lifetime than most people traveled from their …
2019-02-14: I believe my puppy is now teething
2019-02-13: If you haven’t had a chance to listen to last week’s @podcastwhatsnew, “Seeking Justice …
2019-02-13: With the addition of a letterpress lab, an exhibit on tactile writing systems, our wide variety of …
2019-02-12: I’ve been introducing my new dog to other dogs in the neighborhood, but her favorite new friend is a …
2019-02-12: “February 12, 1809, and Wikipedia’s Evolution”—Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln were both born on …
2019-02-12: One more from @Huskiana
2019-02-12: Loving the trays of type @Huskiana (nice combination of Futura Bold and old letterpress tech)
2019-02-12: At the launch of @Huskiana, @Northeastern’s new letterpress lab, the brainchild of @ryancordell. So …
2019-02-12: Does anyone know how to reset the PRAM on a coffee machine?
2019-02-10: Google hasn’t paid much attention to Google Books for years, and it’s really starting to show.
2019-02-08: There are no scarier words in the English language than “I have just registered my kid for …
2019-02-05: I just love this evocative book in @zetamathian’s office. It’s the 2nd volume of …
2019-02-05: 1000s of African Americans were murdered as the civil rights movement arose—a brutal continuation of …
2019-02-05: Read a story aloud and have it illustrated on the fly with art from @metmuseum (uses the Met’s 300K …
2019-02-04: Registration is now open to everyone (not just members of the Association of Research Libraries or …
2019-01-31: Like all responsible dog owners, we already have a hundred nicknames for our new pup, including …
2019-01-31: I mentioned this talk when I saw it in December, and the video is now available: an incredibly blunt …
2019-01-30: Sure, those two guys made it across Antarctica, but many of us survived the journey to get our mail …
2019-01-28: If you haven’t had a chance to listen to the latest What’s New podcast on tactile reading, it’s …
2019-01-22: On the latest What’s New podcast, I talk with @SariAltschuler about the fascinating origin and …
2019-01-20: #LunarEclipse
2019-01-17: We have another opening @ClubSnell: Global Campus Outreach & Online Learning Librarian — come …
2019-01-17: Delighted that we will be hosting a conference on 3/25-26, sponsored by the Coalition for Networked …
2019-01-14: Meanwhile, “In a truly landmark development, the Open, Public, Electronic and Necessary (OPEN) …
2019-01-14: We may have mistakenly adopted a kangaroo instead of a hound
2019-01-10: Ever have that nagging feeling you’re being watched?
2019-01-10: Next Wednesday evening, January 16, I’ll be a panelist at “Conversation in Civic Innovation: …
2019-01-10: The first What’s New podcast of 2019 is with Dan O’Brien, author of the new book The Urban …
2019-01-08: 911 is for emergencies, but many cities now have 311 for citizens to report issues and request …
2019-01-07: Coming later this month to @ClubSnell: “Touch This Page! Making Sense of the Ways We …
2019-01-06: Say hello to Belle, a hound we just adopted from a rescue.
2019-01-03: Not-to-be-missed exhibit: “Empresses of China’s Forbidden City,” currently at the Peabody …
2018-12-30: For New Year’s Eve, the British Library has a tutorial on how to party like it’s 999
2018-12-29: Mark Twain: “A copyright term of an author’s life and 50 yrs will satisfy any reasonable …
2018-12-28: The U.S. Potash Company commissioned Ansel Adams to make a photographic portrait of their Carlsbad, …
2018-12-28: Love this photo of Georgia O’Keeffe taken by Ansel Adams (at the MFA Boston Ansel Adams exhibit)
2018-12-28: Spent this week doubling down on going back to the indie web. Finally moved everything to the great …
2018-12-27: Indeed, that software interpolation makes the parallels between They Shall Not Grow Old and The …
2018-12-27: .@tcarmody is of course right about the general problem(s) with Peter Jackson’s They Shall Not …
2018-12-26: I didn’t realize that the government shutdown includes the National Endowment for the …
2018-12-24: Snowboarding on Christmas Eve is the new Chinese food on Christmas
2018-12-23: Good tip (and lede)
2018-12-22: The full cold moon is out tonight, so bright it’s almost like the sun
2018-12-18: My Own Personal Stonehenge is also my favorite Johnny Cash cover song
2018-12-18: Today is the day of my own personal Stonehenge, when the sun sets perfectly into a notch between two …
2018-12-18: Researching fonts for the visually impaired for a show on multisensory reading I’m recording with …
2018-12-17: Hey all, we’re looking for a Marketing & Events Coordinator in our fine library @ClubSnell …
2018-12-17: A project by @dasmiq, newly funded by @NEH_ODH, will compare multiple digitized copies of books to …
2018-12-14: The jokers in my library’s fabrication lab made me a little something out of wood
2018-12-10: David Rosenthal’s summary of where Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies (and blockchain technology in …
2018-12-10: “Bitcoin’s Academic Pedigree: The concept of cryptocurrencies is built from forgotten ideas in …
2018-12-10: Alan Jacobs has launched a newsletter, to which I insta-subscribed. I also recommend his latest …
2018-12-10: Hidden in Cliff Lynch’s opening keynote at #cni18f was the premise of a science fiction book …
2018-12-07: You look nice this evening, Boston
2018-12-06: “By centralizing your writing, photos, and other web pages at your own domain name, you can control …
2018-12-06: Finals are here, so bubble wrap has returned to our library. (Stress reduction dogs are coming next …
2018-12-06: You can read my piece and nine other perspectives on this great milestone on the Europeana 10th …
2018-12-06: “The Past, Evenly Distributed: Europeana at 10” — It was an honor to be asked by @Europeanaeu to …
2018-12-05: Idea: pumpkin spice latke
2018-12-05: “Why an Age of Machine Learning Needs the Humanities,” by @Ted_Underwood
2018-12-05: Meet the Axolotl, or Mexican walking fish. If hurt, it automatically regrows the wounded area, and …
2018-12-04: Thirty years ago I took a course with Elaine Pagels, “Spiritual Autobiography.” Tragically, her …
2018-12-04: On the latest episode of the What’s New podcast, I talk to three young researchers who are …
2018-12-03: A conference on imaginary maps from Thomas More’s Utopia to J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle …
2018-12-03: We’ve got another opening at the Northeastern University Library: Digital Metadata and Ingest …
2018-12-03: “At best the Internet Archive has collected 0.39% of the web.” @edsu reminds us, with @bergisjules, …
2018-12-01: My niece Noa Chazan has launched a very cool and fun card game on Kickstarter that has echoes of …
2018-11-23: My in-laws have had a productive year writing books
2018-11-21: We are having turkey tomorrow, but we are also having a large brisket, and I swear by the sous vide …
2018-11-21: Next step in going indie with my social media: Goodbye, Instagram, hello indie photo sharing. (With …
2018-11-21: We have two openings @ClubSnell @Northeastern right now, with more to come soon: Web Developer: …
2018-11-20: Speaking of books, for some reason I felt that I should read Yuval Noah Harari’s new book (somewhat …
2018-11-20: Looking forward to reading Jason Farman’s new book Delayed Response: The Art of Waiting from the …
2018-11-20: Congrats to Hillary Chute, a colleague here @Northeastern, for having her book Why Comics? selected …
2018-11-20: On the latest episode of @podcastwhatsnew: “Bridging the Academic-Public Divide Through Podcasts” — …
2018-11-20: As part of my ongoing separation from centralized social media, you can now follow me on Mastodon …
2018-11-20: This year I’m buying all of my holiday gifts from the 1981 Sears Wish Book
2018-11-18: I accept the challenge
2018-11-06: Hey all, we’re looking for a WordPress/Web Developer to join our friendly, collaborative …
2018-11-06: BONUS: If you listen after the credits, Gov. Dukakis recounts how he met his wife Kitty while …
2018-11-06: On today’s special Election Day episode of the What’s New podcast, I’m joined by Michael …
2018-11-06: My favorite vote button in @amhistorymuseum’s extensive collection (found via @dpla)
2018-11-05: My candid conversation with three-term governor and 1988 Democratic presidential nominee Michael …
2018-11-04: I know I am being sonically manipulated, but yes, I will buy more groceries when Earth, Wind & …
2018-11-04: New on my blog: “Bridging the Academic-Public Divide Through Podcasts”—my keynote at the Sound …
2018-11-01: There’s been a lot of concern about “deep fakes,” using machine learning to fabricate …
2018-10-31: Speaking of podcasts, a reminder that I’ll have three-term governor and 1988 Democratic presidential …
2018-10-31: I believe the Sound Education conference at Harvard, for educational audio producers & …
2018-10-30: As part of our Neighborhood Matters series @ClubSnell, we’re screening a documentary today on …
2018-10-29: Harvard’s Library Innovation Lab has finished digitizing 360 years of American case law, and …
2018-10-28: Borges jokes are my coping mechanism
2018-10-28: They have every car imaginable