Scott Pryor

I'd watch a muppet show movie where the muppets infiltrate an academic conference.

I think I might take one of these "under 20 minutes" AI skills courses the UK Govt. seems very keen on everyone doing and live-post it here... Maybe we can all learn something together! The press release sends me to aiskillshub.org.uk/aiskillsboost/ - let's go and see!

Our paper on the mysterious Devonian organism Prototaxites has now finally been published! See the paper here (www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...) and our explainer thread below!
Prototaxites reconstruction by Matt Humpage

New report warns about the fragile future of bookshops in Wales Gosia Buzzanca A major new report has revealed the extraordinary role Wales’s bookshops play in sustaining local communities, nurturing culture and strengthening the Welsh language. At the same time, ...

A major new report has revealed the extraordinary role Wales’s bookshops play in sustaining local communities, nurturing culture and strengthening the Welsh language

Italian voice actor Carlo Bononi was the voice of all of the characters on Pingu. A trained clown by trade, he used a theater technique called grammelot, which consists of "speaking" in a mix of babbled gibberish noises. He improvised all the voices live and unscripted.

Sponsored places for the Copim Conference 2026 - Copim Copim is offering a minimum of three sponsored places to this year’s conference ‘Exploring the future of community-led open access books’. Find out more in th…

Do you work in a UK HE library? Are you early-career? Would you like a sponsored place to attend the Copim Conference at the end of February?

Find out how to apply for these sponsored places, which are offered in memory of our beloved friend and colleague, Elaine Sykes: buff.ly/sbU2eRP

#OAbooks

If I were a politician planning to defect to another party, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t do it while The Traitors was on.

Do you produce an Actual Play?
Do you want it to be available to the public in 10+ years?

Upload to the Internet Archive! I made a checklist to walk you through it, and to help us coordinate.

How to Spot AI Hallucinations Like a Reference Librarian The verification tricks that would make fact-checkers weep with joy.

Librarians are wonderful. “Use AI to explore. Use libraries to verify. Use your brain to evaluate.”

It's New Year, so time to look back and forward. These are 10 things I think we need to recognise in 2026. It’s a response to what I think are profoundly damaging mistaken assumptions I’ve heard and read from practitioners, journalists, and analysts in 2025. Warning: very long🧵

Baxter Dury on stage in Bristol

Cracking Baxter Dury gig in Bristol last night. Ears still ringing.

This is terrifying.

"[AI agents] can... infer a researcher's latent hypotheses and produce data that artificially confirms them."

...

"We can no longer trust that survey responses are coming from real people" -@seanjwestwood.bsky.social

Tawny owl

Six weeks ago, I picked up a year-old tawny owl with a broken leg off the main road near our home and dropped him off at our nearest vet.

After a few days, I received one of the most bizarre phone calls I’ve ever had, asking “So when are you coming to pick up your owl?” 🧵

It’s a beautiful hypnotic installation and the artist’s name is Céleste Boursier-Mougenot.

SFA@30: The thirty greatest Super Furry Animals songs as voted for by fans Leon Barton It’s now thirty years since Wales’ greatest, most unique band released the ‘Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllantysiliogogogochynygofod (In Space)’ EP on the Ankst label. SFA quickly…

It's now thirty years since Wales' most brilliantly unique band Super Furry Animals released the 'Llanfairpg (In Space)' EP. To celebrate, Leon Barton enlisted the help of a selection of prominent Furry fans to compile the 30 greatest SFA songs

"During a period of major economic challenges for the UK’s higher education sector, the N8 statement highlights the unsustainable nature of the current publishing ecosystem and calls for alternatives that are financially viable, transparent, and aligned with the values of open research."

Just a week left! The only way to get a book is through the Crowdfund...

THANK YOU so much for all the support with this! So chuffed that people want to see Valleys communities represented 😍

Carpanini's Cardiff Arms Cafe, Treorchy

All purchase details www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/valleys-ph...

Amazing new exhibition at the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery in Swansea: Tigers and Dragons, looking at Mother India and Mother Wales, and the colonial history, through the most astounding artworks. It's running for 6 months, so no excuse not to go! Amazing watching Nikhil Chopra do a live installation1/3

a dog is sitting in front of a sink with its eyes closed and says phew ! ALT: a dog is sitting in front of a sink with its eyes closed and says phew !

#Eurovision

Ministers reconsider changes to UK copyright law ahead of vote Exclusive: Proposals to introduce opt-out system of copyright rules no longer preferred option amid criticism from creative industries Ministers are rethinking changes to copyright law before a vote in parliament next week, in a further concession to artists, the Guardian has learned. A source close to Peter Kyle, the technology secretary, said proposals to introduce an opt-out system of copyright rules was no longer his preferred option but one of several being given consideration. Continue reading...

Ministers reconsider changes to UK copyright law ahead of vote

can't remember who I'm quoting here, but: the most disappointing moment of the 90s was hearing the rest of Spaceman by Babylon Zoo

Via Jennifer Lynch. Hollywood Forever Cemetery. That’s a hell of a gravestone.

AI bots are destroying Open Access There's a war going on on the Internet. AI companies with billions to burn are hard at work destroying the websites of libraries, archives, ...

There's a very demoralizing thread on the code4lib list where all the libraries describe how they're getting hammered by AI crawlers who behave basically like bot-nets trying to DDoS servers. (Along these lines: go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2025/03/ai-b... ) 1/2

How to start a conversation with a cat in seven different countries...

7. Pss-pss-pss (England)
6. Kiss-kiss-kiss (Finland)
5. Pish-pish-pish (Iran)
4. Mee-mee-mee (Myanmar)
3. Minou-minou-minou (France)
2. Ming-ming-ming (Philippines)
1. What’s new pussycat, whoa, oh whoa (Wales)

Elicit: The AI Research Assistant Use AI to search, summarize, extract data from, and chat with over 125 million papers. Used by over 2 million researchers in academia and industry.

We now subscribe to @elicit.com - an advanced AI tool that allows you to use natural language to quickly and easily find and analyse journal articles.

Information on how to create an account so you can access all the features is available here: xerte.cardiff.ac.uk/play_22575

OPINION: A librarian's summary of, and response to, the Clarivate announcement - UKSG Siobhan Haimé takes a look at detail the Clarivate announcement and its practical (and possibly unintentional transformational) effects.

Like everyone else - I have some thoughts on the Clarivate announcement: tinyurl.com/35jxfnwc

Not just a change in the model, but a representation of a larger shift in the landscape, and the dangers of monopolies and market consolidation - threatening the core mission of libraries globally.

Digging Through the Stacks: A Library Music Primer How the rise of mass media catalyzed a unique, utilitarian subgenre.

Lovely Bandcamp article on Library Music - with tracks from Broadcast and Keith Mansfield :) daily.bandcamp.com/lists/librar...

Deadline: 7th March, 2025
Finding the Calm in the Chaos
This year's online WHELF Colloquium is ‘Finding the Calm in the Chaos’. We’d like to focus on how we are adapting to change to improve our services during what is a really challenging time.
whelf.ac.uk/whelf-colloq...

Sunset over a refinery in Port Talbot, UK

Sunset over Port Talbot.

Save The Prince Charles Cinema The iconic Prince Charles Cinema in London’s West End future is under serious threat! We are beyond disappointed that our landlords Zedwell LSQ Ltd and their ultimate parent company Criterion Capital...

#SaveThePCC

Some of you may have read about the situation regarding our new landlord wishing to add a new redevelopment break clause, with only 6 months notice to our lease.

For now, we're simply asking you all to share & sign the petition below;

you.38degrees.org.uk/p/princechar...