Theo

Theo

@earthowned.bsky.social

Scholarly Communications Manager in the award winning Library Research Support team at the University of Edinburgh. Will talk about Open Research/Science, running and whimsical fluff.

412 Followers 682 Following 245 Posts Joined Nov 2023
1 day ago
A bicycle cable lock cut in half lays forlornly on a cobble stone ground serving as a blunt reminder to the unwary to lock your bike properly.

Someone is having a bad day.

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1 week ago
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You're not exactly FDR.

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1 week ago

I had the misfortune to work in this building for 10 years and luckily moved out last week. The building is rotten to its core!

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2 weeks ago

'For example, in Edinburgh, the university sector's contribution is reckoned to be equivalent to ten Commonwealth Games as the University generates £7.52 billion per year to the UK economy compared with £740 million over seven years by the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth games'.

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2 weeks ago

Five women authors by whom I’ve read (and loved) at least five books:
Anne Leckie
Martha Wells
Ursula Le Guin
Naomi Novak
Genevieve Cogman
(I found this more difficult than expected and must do better. My new reading challenge for 2026 is to read only women authors)

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2 weeks ago
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No shortcuts to research information citizenship - Digital Science Being open isn't enough - true "research information citizenship" requires a robust, genuinely open research infrastructure.

"For open infrastructure, the burden of AI harvesting is existential...a swarm of AI scrapers mirror entire collections, the cost of being open rises sharply...degraded performance for legitimate users, polluted metrics, staff time diverted to firefighting" www.digital-science.com/blog/2026/02...

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2 weeks ago

Academics write research papers, then give them to publishers for free. They them expect Libraries to buy subscriptions to read the content, to pay article processing charges, to buy access to citation databases and now AI tools? Absolutely not indeed!

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3 weeks ago

I read ‘curiosity driven’ as an attempt to pretend academic freedoms are not being impinged.

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3 weeks ago

I’ve not looked at any online socials for a while but checked in today to see what’s going on. First thing I see is someone mocking something I wrote online. No thanks, I think I’ll go back to watching the skiing.

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3 weeks ago

Just this week, I had to crank up the bot protection on some of our journal platforms. "AI" bots are putting huge stress on open infrastructure in ways that organisations simply can not afford.

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3 weeks ago

Thanks - I appreciate the solidarity. It’s non-stop pressure with limited resources.

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3 weeks ago

Sorry for the typos. I wrote this text in haste and will update when I get back in the office.

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1 month ago

I normally use the ScotRail website/app for travel within Scotland as that has more reliable info. Even then rail travel is a mess when different companies are involved (LNER etc)!

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1 month ago
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a man in a white shirt is making a funny face and saying , `` khaaa ! '' Alt: Captain Kirk shouting ` khaaaaaaaan ! '' From the best start trek movie - Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

This is me watching BingBot flood my #OpenAccess repository causing it to crash for the 1000th time in a few days.

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1 month ago

📚 We are proud to announce the release of "Teaching for Digital Futures": our guides and resources to help educators teach digital, data, and AI literacies in the classroom, in one Edinburgh Diamond-published book series ⬇️

@edfuturesinstitute.bsky.social
@morayhouse.bsky.social

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1 month ago
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We are starting off 2026 with a brand new book series from @dataschools.bsky.social!

Teaching for Digital Futures provides practical resources to help educators confidently teach digital, data & AI literacies.

There are currently four books for you to read & share!

books.ed.ac.uk/edinburgh-di...

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1 month ago

UoA 9 never fail to give me a ball ache!

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2 months ago
Man doing a star jump on an empty beach Orange bike propped on a kerb next to a road running through a green park with hills in the background

People say Hogmanay in Edinburgh is the best, but I tend to prefer New Years Day where I was able to cycle round a park with an extinct volcano in the morning and mess around on a near deserted beach in the afternoon.

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2 months ago
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That's a wrap!

Edinburgh Diamond is officially out of office until 5th January 2026.

We have had a wonderful year, working with incredible editors and authors from @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social and beyond!

Here's to 2026 – may Diamond Open Access continue to strengthen! 💎

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2 months ago
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a drawing of a laptop that says ' i love open source ' on it ALT: a drawing of a laptop that says ' i love open source ' on it

A huge welcome to Simon Bowie (@simonxix.com) – the new technical developer working on Edinburgh Diamond & our External Open Hosting Service.

We are big fans of the work Simon has done with Copim & other open access & open source communities, and very much look forward to our next chapter together!

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3 months ago

We're hiring! We have 2 jobs advertised: Library Engagement Lead and Operations Manager, deadline Tues 6 January 2026. Links:

openjournalscollective.org/static/engag...
openjournalscollective.org/static/opera...

Come work for a major new international organisation funding #openaccess publishing!

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3 months ago

Well done! That’s a quality public service announcement.

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3 months ago
Manchester skyline at night, with several tower blocks looming over the city partially lit up with white and red lights

I’m having a pretty good week so far. Started off in Manchester meeting up with librarian colleagues from across the globe. Met the impressive @deradam.bsky.social in real life (who rescued me from a lift). Only more day at work then it’s a long weekend off.

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3 months ago
Book cover that shows the Scott Monument in Edinburgh within an arch window shape, and a light green background.

Edinburgh is known for its stunning architecture and winding streets, but there's more to its history than meets the eye.

'Edinburgh Historic Walks: A Summary of Hidden Histories' provides self-led walking routes that enable the recovery and recognition of lost narratives in Edinburgh’s history.

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3 months ago
Heritage Collections Research Fellowships | IASH

the call is now open for our next round of @iashedinburgh.bsky.social Heritage Collections Research Fellows! - find out more here:

www.iash.ed.ac.uk/heritage-col...

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3 months ago

Karma in action 🤭

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3 months ago

It is SUCH a pain to encounter pavement-parked vehicles when in my wheelchair. Drives me round the bend.

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3 months ago
A lid of jam jar with black background and gold writing saying “Stute- Bristol England, A family business”. An unfortunate crumb has landed on top of the U to make the handwritten text look like it is saying shite.

Apparently it’s not shite to be Scottish today, but the jam is. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 ⚽️ 🇩🇰

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4 months ago

I do love seeing your Tri adventures on Strava!

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4 months ago

I love it! "Go to Funder Jail" 😂

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