Tom Scheinfeldt

Academic humanists way too often make the mistake of conflating the care with which they craft their works with the way that readers consume them.

Bell asserts, “When we interact with A.I., on the other hand, it is we who are driving the conversation.”

When we require Ph.D. candidates to master 200 books, do we really think the books are driving the conversation?

Opinion | A.I. Is Shedding Enlightenment Values

“When readers interact imaginatively with a book, they are still following the book’s lead, attempting to answer the book’s questions, responding to the book’s challenges and therefore putting their own convictions at risk.”

Is this true? Is this how we really read?

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/02/o...

Briefly Noted for August 3, 2025: Some Good News for the Humanities – Found History by Tom Scheinfeldt

For those of us in the humanities, the last 20 years have often felt like a siege. But maybe we’ve reached a nadir. Here are a few links that may provide a needed boost for the new semester.

#AI #HigherEd #humanities #DH #digitalhumanities

buff.ly/wruPQ47

ICYMI: 11 changes historians and archivists need to make in response to generative AI. Now with a new and improved reading list.

#dh #digitalhumanities #history #archives #ai #highered #pedagogy

foundhistory.org/2025/07/gene...

Yesterday I gave a talk on AI and archives at the Colby/Bates/Bowdoin Special Collections and Archives Staff Retreat. A lightly edited transcript and reference and reading list is on the blog.

foundhistory.org/2025/07/gene...

No Ding Decline Credit Cards - Experian With no ding decline credit cards you can apply with confidence to cards that won’t hurt your credit score if you’re not approved.

If we had a functioning Congress, credit reporting companies wouldn’t also be able to sell you debt

www.experian.com/lp/no-ding-d...

Come to think of it, it’s also in the interest of some extremely online humanities scholars.

The tech crowd is just desperate for a product that results in macroeconomic productivity gains, something they haven’t delivered since the 90s. It’s in the interest of the hype cycle to say AI will make reading and writing obsolete.

Reading anti-AI posts, it’s clear many people assume the point of a language model is to write *less.*

This is why they perceive a response like “writing is thinking” as a compelling critique.

But when models are used as interlocutors, I find the process actually involves *more* writing. +

The Secret to Looking Hot in 2025? Dress Like It’s 2005 The stripey polos, beaded necklaces, and knockabout sandals that dominated keggers circa The O.C. are all back—only revved up with a freaky new edge.

Perfect! I already do this.

www.gq.com/story/the-se...

The Secret to Looking Hot in 2025? Dress Like It’s 2005 - GQ

Photo of protest at LOVE Park in Philadelphia with City Hall in background.

Love Park in Philadelphia

The field of DH is indebted to @brettbobley.bsky.social‬, who has made an indelible impact on so many lives and careers, including mine. Brett founded and led the NEH Office of Digital Humanities with vision, insight, ambition, humor, and passion. And crocs. #ThanksBrett

We’re also seeking active humanities scholars (ABD or PhD) who need archival documents retrieved from repositories in NYC. You’ll receive free scans of the archival items you request and $500 for 8 hrs. of testing and design feedback during the month of July.

sourcery-dev.web.app/ambassadors?...

Our open-source Sourcery project is seeking current or recent humanities grad students or MLIS students based in NYC to serve as beta testers and community ambassadors. Compensation is $1,000 for ca. 40 hrs. of work from July 1-31. Apply by June 19!

sourcery-dev.web.app/ambassadors?...

❤️ NEH

There’s also a link there to the very first website I ever built way back in 1998 if anyone wants a laugh.

Yesterday I gave a talk at the Science Museum, London in memory of my friend and doctoral advisor, Jim Bennett.

foundhistory.org/2025/06/jim-...

Note to Democrats. Stop using the term “autocracy.” It may be more precise than “dictatorship” but it’s also more inscrutable and hoity toity. This is not how you bring ordinary people along.

It’s a tool. We know how to teach kids to use tool. Let’s … just teach them.

Live jazz at the Troubadour in London.

Jazz was made for the stage, rock for the studio. I have kids, so rock gets most of my listening. But when I do get out, this is hard to beat.

Killer domain name: Hot. Do tell.

Rhetoric really isn’t enough

Opinion | The Problems Democrats Don’t Like to See

“If Democrats are taxing people to build high-speed rail, that high-speed rail should exist; if they are taxing people to build electric vehicle chargers, those chargers should get built… “

Real power is doing things.

@ezraklein.bsky.social’s theory of power

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/o...

At least the cars are different. I’d kill for an affordable Audi estate

Taco Bell in Earl’s Court

This wasn’t true in 1999.

The clothes are the same, the food is the same, the hair styles are the same, the money (Apple Pay) is the same.

If you ignore the architecture and the accents, Kensington could be the Upper West Side.

I’m in England, where I lived in the late 90s and early 2000s, for the first time in (more than?) a decade. I’m struck by how NOT different it is than the U.S. these days.

Life lesson: You will never satisfy a dentist or a veterinarian. You will never floss enough or feed your pet healthily enough to avoid their stink eye, so stop stressing.