Dr. Ben Mitchell

The latest:

bsky.app/profile/hund...

Do we really need to offer library credibility and space to meetings about "agentic AI and Zotero?"

Not a critical look even, but basically a marketing pitch for a faculty developed tool.

For the 800th time this year:

What are we even doing?

CFP: A Time of Monsters The monster has been here all along. It is a historical constant that manifests in wildly different ways across time, place, and culture. Whatever form it takes, the monster claws at categories; it un...

If you are a supporter and reader of @contingent-mag.bsky.social one of the biggest things you can do to help us at the moment is get this CFP to the NTT folks in your life. The fracturing of social media has made it very difficult to get the word out esp. to adjuncts and VAPs.

On Pedantry A lively and entertaining cultural history of a supremely annoying intellectual vice

Arnoud S. Q. Visser ( @arnoudvisser.bsky.social), On Pedantry: A Cultural History of the Know-it-All (@princetonupress.bsky.social, 2025; #skystorians) press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

How to Turn Off AI Tools Like Gemini, Apple Intelligence, Copilot, and More - Consumer Reports AI features are crowding into Google search, Gmail, iPhones, Windows laptops, and other products. If you're suffering from AI overload, these settings can help.

🫡

Hellmann’s creates garlic-scented book with author Jennifer L. Armentrout The condiment brand worked with Edelman to craft a garlic-infused edition of 'The Primal of Blood and Bone.'

www.prweek.com/article/1934...

The cover of "Characters and Characterization in Mythological Video Games" by Alexander Vandewalle, to be published in the IMAGINES series by Bloomsbury Academic in May 2026. The cover depicts the cover art of Immortals Fenyx Rising, showing the game's protagonist Fenyx in battle with a towering Cyclops.

May 2026 👀

My monograph "Characters and Characterization in Mythological Video Games" will be out next year in @bloomsburyacad.bsky.social's IMAGINES series!

Many thanks to @ubisoft.com for the #ImmortalsFenyxRising art ⚡

More information (soon!) on www.bloomsbury.com/uk/character...

Today is a good day to spend a little time with the resources held by the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation.

It's a big collection, so this link goes to materials related to the IRS at Shubenacadie:

archives.nctr.ca/Shubenacadie...

This would be why I am such a strident critic of digitization as a substitute for actual archival preservation. My sixteenth century documents are far sturdier and likely to survive another 500 years than the detritus on the internet. And digitization is not democratization.

Communiversity Catalog: How to Create a Personal Archive — Interrupting Criminalization

Whew, what a day? Popping in here for a minute to share that we have opened up more slots for my "How to Create A Personal Archive" Communiversity session happening on Saturday [in person]. We can use a bigger room to accommodate more people. www.interruptingcriminalization.com/communiversi...

In our study, led by the amazing Taylor Burns, we found that masking of autistic traits may leave autistic people vulnerable to identity distress which in turn effects mental health. This means constantly adapting to neurotypical norms may make it hard for autistic people to hold on to who they are

You don’t have to be a climate scientist to know the Arctic is losing permafrost; in Svalbard, the dislocation is obvious even to an untrained eye...

The Arctic Seed Vault Shows the Flawed Logic of Climate Adaptation | Scientific American www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-...

An old-fashioned illustration depicting a group of people in a train compartment. A man in a suit is assisting a woman who appears to be unwell, adjusting her clothing or providing aid. Other passengers, including a woman seated and a child standing nearby, observe the scene. The setting includes detailed period clothing and interior design, with luggage and fabric draped around.

In 1885, Montreal was ravaged by smallpox.
To stem the spread of the disease that had killed thousands so far, public health officials enforced vaccinations. Those that mistrusted the vaccine rioted in the streets.
This is the story of the Montreal Smallpox Riots.

🧵 1/10

Here’s a handy guide to help you spot AI writing. Source image from Wikimedia Foundation It’s always a bit surprising to me how trusted Wikipedia has become, since I spent my entire childhood being told by adults to never, ever, trust it. But the …

Need help identifying AI-generated text? The Wikimedia Foundation has a handy guide.

Palestine + 100 - Stories from a Century after the Nakba | Comma Press - Stories from a Century after the Nakba | Comma Press £11.99 (Paperback / Anthology) - Talal Abu Shawish, Anwar Hamed, Tasnim Abutabikh, Selma Dabbagh, Emad El-Din Aysha and others - £11.99 (Paperback / Anthology) - Stories from a Century after the N...

12 Palestinian authors writing spec fic. commapress.co.uk/books/palest...

We should treat the things built with our parents’ tax dollars as our true birthright, but we do not. And it is impoverishing to our lives.

Someone needs to educate Sean Fraser about how the right appropriates progressive language & ideas to evade or diminish criticism. And, people need a better understanding about how fascism operates because there are MPs in the House who are enemies of democracy.

Meet the Scientist Using Indigenous Storytelling to Save Lives Abigail Echo-Hawk, a preeminent Native American public health expert, discusses RSV, “data genocide” and positive change driven by Indigenous storytelling

www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-...

The review "wholeheartedly recommend that all readers “level up” their legal “game” by completing all optional “side quest” chapters because they are all also written accessibly"

networks.h-net.org/group/review...

If you’re like most Canadians, you don’t know that all of your parcels get delivered by Canada Post if you live in rural Canada. The big couriers don’t go there. They drop them off at the post office and letter carriers take them the rest of the way. Ending home delivery cuts them off.

The only reason Canada Post has to break even is because very stupid people think the government is a business and/or the national budget works like a home ledger.

Today is the release of the first of the "companion" episodes of Community of Praxis. Here @davidnwright.bsky.social and I talk through my conversation with @cjdenial.bsky.social. It's like listening in on a coffee chat after a great conference keynote -- come think alongside us about Cate's work!

UBC failed to meet FOI response timelines in 90% of requests, audit finds.

“This report is a cautionary tale for all public bodies about what can happen when they treat transparency as secondary rather than fundamental to their core mission", said the Information and Privacy Commissioner of BC.

Screenshot of Proctorio from Temple University website. Interface showing 'Environmental Abnormalities' with two monitoring indicators: 'Audio Levels' represented by a speaker icon and sound bars, and 'Head and Eye Movement' represented by a head silhouette with arrows indicating movement. A note below states: 'Abnormal head movement will highlight test takers...

Earlier this month, Temple University published new Proctorio documentation confirming that Proctorio still tracks head and eye movement in 2025.

Recording this as evidence of five years of harm.

foxonline.temple.edu/wp-content/u...

2 Professors Teach About AI Using Print Book Faculty members help students practice close reading and analysis with a physical book, building life skills and social connection.

“…this fall, Choi is encouraging students to close their laptops and spend time with Karen Hao’s book Empire of AI, about the evolution and tech behind AI.”

YouTube video by J. Draper How Accurate Is The Movie Pride (2014)?: The London History Show

www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIMt...

Let’s hope this is a watershed moment for public health. Feels like it. Congratulations especially @drbronking.bsky.social - but also to Anna-Maria Arabia and all involved. Pls circulate the pledge and get on board. Here is an OpEd we put out yesterday www.burnet.edu.au/news/indoor-...

Remembering the black history of Weimar Berlin - The Berliner Three Cameroonian Berliners from a century ago were key figures in Berlin's black history, remembered for their fight for self-determination.

Remembering the black history of Weimar Berlin: www.the-berliner.com/politics/bla...

And great news! This CRA survey on making it easier and cheaper to file income tax returns was actually **easy** to fill in