Megan Gooch

A round copper-coloured coin with a figure of a man ice skating in the centre

A round copper-coloured coin with the words 'for the use of trade' written around the edge and ornate initials 'GS' in the centre

As today marks the opening of the 2026 Winter Olympics, we are sharing this late 18th century coin featuring an ice skater on the reverse.

It is a private 1/2 penny token struck by Gamaliel Skidmore (c.1775–1822).

The bursary application form is now live!

Apply before noon (GMT) Monday 9 February:
app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/oxford/dig...

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#digitalhumanities

Gloucestershire coin thief jailed a year after going on the run Clinton Brown disappeared during his trial for the theft of £500,000 of rare coins from a dealer.

Numismatics in the news today www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Interiro view of the Weston Library showing various layers of wall and glass windows. The bottom floor houses rows of books on shelves

Looking up in the Weston Library. 🆙

(You always spot a new detail)

The Digital Humanities @ Oxford Summer School is seeking feedback from its alumni.

Participation takes 10–15 minutes and responses are anonymised.

app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/oxford/dho...

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Treasury to cover Bayeux Tapestry loan to UK for estimated £800m The huge embroidery will be covered under the government's indemnity scheme when it travels to the UK.

Gotta love a new story about the Government Indemnity Scheme - a boring but vital part of museum work that allows museums to borrow objects and artworks with the UK government (not an individual museum) doing the insurance: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

As we ramp up to #REF, there’s now REF-branded hair care to get you through the drama and anxiety (spotted in my local nail salon) #researchexcellenceframework #ukacademia #academiclife

We will invite bursary applications in January.

In the meantime, here are some top tips for writing a competitive bursary application:
tinyurl.com/2ru62afc

Have a great festive season and happy reading!

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📣Alumni survey: new deadline 12 January!

If you attended #DHOxSS in previous years, please take part in our survey! Thank you 🫶

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Appearance of the Comet, 1618-1619

19 Nov 1618

(Rijksmuseum)

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We're offering to host a Visiting Fellow for policy professionals who want to know more about how and why the BodleianLibraries, Oxford is working on AI (hint: we collect, curate and preserve trustworthy information)

🎓 Policy Visiting Fellowships
⏱️ Deadline: 21st Nov
🔗 www.ox.ac.uk/research/usi...

Here are the Top 5 Dogs of the week!

Do you want to look up old train timetables published in the UK? Here you go: solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/discovery/se...

30 mins of quiet ensued and he’d tracked down timetables on the library catalogue. “Off site storage too”, he exclaimed, cos he knows I love visiting our book & collections storage facility.

My husband is now in his Trains Era and whilst watching a documentary about the Beeching Railway cuts lamented he couldn’t see old timetables from our train station. “Were the timetables published?” I ask. Cos you know I work in a legal deposit library.

AI in Libraries - Horizon Scanning Bodleian Libraries

The Centre for Digital Scholarship at the Bodleian Libraries invites library professionals to take part in a survey on AI Applications in Libraries. Participation takes 10–15 minutes and responses are anonymised:

I loved the Is it Treasure? Interactive game (as well as all the Viking bling)

But the Mint outgrew its home again - and in the run up the decimalisation it moved to Llantrisant in South Wales where it is today. Leaving its old building in the news re. A Chinese embassy

The Mint grew too big for the narrow walls of the Tower and moved to a shiny new purpose built factory on nearby Tower Hill

There was a Roman mint somewhere in London, but the medieval Mint was based in the Tower of London from the C13th to 1810

Approving China 'mega' embassy would be unlawful, UK government told Opponents are battling China's plan for a mega embassy in London's historic Royal Mint Court.

An unexpectedly numismatic news story - a new role for the old Royal Ming building on Tower Hill www.bbc.com/news/article...

It’s a myth that England was created on the battlefield – most of it happened at the negotiating table Not a simple tale of English kings overcoming Vikings, the creation of England involved far more bureaucracy than the epic legends let on

Writing England’s origins in the middle of a flag fetish is hitting a nerve which hopefully inspires more reading & thought. The review of David Woodman’s book (posted yesterday) has amassed c. 12,000 views. Here is my earlier take on origins #medievalsky theconversation.com/its-a-myth-t...

Shout out to our amazing online team and participants!

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#IntroDH
#AILibraries

#DHOxSS2025

It felt like the Radio 4 Today studio! Really great range of talks in our #DHOxSS2025 @rluk.ac.uk #AILibraries strand and a pleasure and privilege to be part of Team DHOxSS this week. Thanks to our online participants and all our fabulous speakers.

Day 4 is flying by! ⏳ Another great day of ideas, connection & collab, online and in person, and tomorrow’s closing keynote with Dr Katherine McDonough to look forward to🎤
Thanks for the photo competition entries, keep 'em coming!

#DHOxSS2025
#digitalhumanities

@tostig1066.bsky.social Bayeux fever is mounting!

Game preservation Key Themes Urgency, Responsibility and Transmediality

Man playing Chuckie Egg on BBC Micro

Old CRT monitor displaying high scores for Chuckie Egg

ZX81 computer

High score in Chuckie Egg (briefly) on a BBC Micro (though I was Team C64) at fantastic demo of retro games and the challenges of gaming digital preservation - & had a ZX81 with 16K RAM pack! Chance to reflect on 80s home PC culture. Fascinating to see younger attendees try the BBC Micro #DHOxSS2025

Radcliffe Camera

Sheldonian Theatre

Bodleian Tower of the Five Orders

Entrance to the Divinity School

A great walking tour with #DHOxSS2025 colleagues earlier this evening with blue skies and for librarians, a very library focused tour taking in various Bodleian library buildings including the Weston, Radcliffe Camera, Duke Humfrey’s library and the Tower of the Five Orders

Thanks for joining us @masudk.com a fantastic keynote and launch for the AI in Research strand, looking forward to the rest of the week and more discussions and engagement #DHOxSS2025