iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

April Wei-West @aprilw.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

Excited to be hanging out in Incheon this week thinking about globalisation, border listening, and digital diaspora 🌐

Reposted by April Wei-West

April Wei-West @aprilw.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

I'm pleased to announce the launch of our new DiSCo website where you can also find the now open Call for Papers for the 2nd edition of our conference, Bodies in Digital Transition, which is taking place at King's College London 8-9th September 2026! digitalstudiescollective.org

digitalstudiescollective.org

Home | DiSCo Network

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April Wei-West @aprilw.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

Slightly obsessed with this map which somehow shows regions served by silk road trade routes as limited by modern national borders ? (At Kobe Fashion Museum)

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April Wei-West @aprilw.bsky.social · 09/05/2026

This @chase-dtp.bsky.social Dialogues event is happening next week Tues. 13th May and I am very much looking forward to presenting on the panel! Do register here: events.teams.microsoft.com/event/0a96c9...

Poster for online symposium event entitled "Beyond the Algorithm: Why the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences matter for Digital Health Adoption"

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April Wei-West @aprilw.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

digitalstudiescollective.org

Home | DiSCo Network

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April Wei-West @aprilw.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

Looking forward to being a part of an exciting @chase-dtp.bsky.social Dialogues on digital health adoption - do register to attend online now! events.teams.microsoft.com/event/0a96c9...

Poster for online roundtable event entitled "Beyond the Algorithm: Why the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences matter for Digital Health Adoption"

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Reposted by April Wei-West

RMA @royalmusical.bsky.social · 16/12/2025

🚨 NEWS!🚨 For everyone attending the Research Students’ Conference next month, due to an extended Christmas shutdown at BCU (our associated university), the last day of booking is Thursday 18th December.

bcu.ac.uk

BFE and RMA Research Students’ Conference 2026

BFE and RMA Research Students’ Conference 2026 The British Forum for Ethnomusicology (BFE) and Royal Musical Association (RMA) Research Students’ Conference will take place at Royal Birmingham Conser...

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Reposted by April Wei-West

Dr. Paula R. Curtis @paularcurtis.bsky.social · 26/11/2025

As course evaluations open, don't forget the importance of telling students *why* evals matter. I like to explain their use for TT faculty vs. contingent faculty and how students contribute to ed processes through them. I also explain biases, with this helpful viz: benschmidt.org/profGender/#...

A visualization of different disciplines plotted against numeric values, with blue dots representing male instructors and women representing female instructors. To the left is text: Gendered Language in Teacher Reviews
I've had trouble keeping this site up continuously during COVID. As of March 2021, I'm now trying a new strategy to cache common queries on the server even when the underlying database is down. If you find that many searches don't change the results, that's why.
This interactive chart lets you explore the words used to describe male and female teachers in about 14 million reviews from RateMyProfessor.com.

Not all words have gender splits, but a surprising number do. Even things like pronouns are used quite differently by gender.

Search term(s) (case-insensitive):
use commas to aggregate multiple terms

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Alexander Luckmann @aluckmann.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

Academia may not give you job security, flexibility, or wealth, but it will let you unexpectedly connect to eduroam in foreign cities

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April Wei-West @aprilw.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

A news post written by me about the "Bodies in Digital Transition" conference last month! www.soas.ac.uk/about/news/b...

soas.ac.uk

“Bodies in Digital Transition” conference organised by Music PhD Student

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April Wei-West @aprilw.bsky.social · 03/09/2025

Up in the rafters but with no objection - St. Vincent at the Proms was perfection. Masterful orchestral arrangements by Rachel Eckroth that genuinely sounded like they came from a minimalist composition. A brilliant and emotional collaboration between orchestral and amplified sound.

Picture of the filled auditorium of Royal Albert Hall, with orchestra on stage.

Picture of St. Vincent and orchestra on the Royal Albert Hall stage.

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Reposted by April Wei-West

Dr. Craig Ryder 🚴🏾‍♂️ @drryder.bsky.social · 02/09/2025

Im at BODIES IN DIGITAL TRANSITION conference at Goldsmiths hosted by DiSCo. I founded DiSCo back in 2020 and handed over leadership to to see @aprilw.bsky.social last year. To see DiSCo thriving into new projects and areas is truly amazing. Well done April 🧠🫁🫀🦾👀👂

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Reposted by April Wei-West

British Library @britishlibrary.bsky.social · 15/08/2025

Today marks the 150th anniversary of composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912) 🎼 From published scores, autograph manuscripts, and sound recordings, read our new blog post with an overview of our Coleridge-Taylor collections: bit.ly/BLBlogColeridgeTaylor

Photograph of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor who is standing by a table. It has been captioned 'S Coleridge-Taylor shortly before his marriage'.

Opening of the autograph manuscript of Coleridge-Taylor's piece 'Elëanore', together with a wax cylinder recording.

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April Wei-West @aprilw.bsky.social · 12/08/2025

I am fortunate enough to be singing under the batton of the legendary Joe Hisaishi for his performance at the BBC proms this Thursday ! Hisaishi was kind enough to give a photo and autograph 😍

Photo of April Wei-West with Joe Hisaishi.

Autograph of Joe Hisaishi in a Studio Ghibli art book.

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Reposted by April Wei-West

Andrew West 魏安 @babelstone.co.uk · 20/08/2023

Spot the Tangut proverb on my canvas tote bag: 𘜶𗗚𗓰𗾟，𗱕𗋽𗰖𘏚 "The great sea is vast and deep, all the waters are gathered there" (seen here on a recent visit to SOAS bsky.app/profile/babelstone.bsky.so…).

Me and my Tangut tote bag in front of the main entrance to SOAS, University of London

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April Wei-West @aprilw.bsky.social · 30/07/2025

A moody scene of gorgeous Conwy, North Wales, where I visited to perform in the Conwy Classical Music Festival. We opened the concert with the folk song Lisa Lan. Bûm yn dy garu lawer gwaith Do lawer awr mewn mwynder maith Bûm yn dy gusanu Lisa gêl Yr oedd dy gwmni'n well na'r mêl.

Panoramic photo of Conwy landscape, with grey clouds and green hills.

Photo of April Wei-West with the Conwy town and castle in the background.

Selfie of April Wei-West at the top of a turret in Conwy castle.

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April Wei-West @aprilw.bsky.social · 30/07/2025

Not only a fiercely competent Sinologist (though he would never admit that), but also the best and most loving dad. The grief is as a shoreless sea.

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April Wei-West @aprilw.bsky.social · 06/07/2025

Characteristically forgot to sit down to watch this but managed to tune in to the last quarter, just at @zaborowski.bsky.social's interview!

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April Wei-West @aprilw.bsky.social · 05/07/2025

Got the dates mixed up for my own event and panicked thinking the abstract deadline was 13th July. It is in fact 31st July - ample time to get your abstracts in ! 😌

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Reposted by April Wei-West

April Wei-West @aprilw.bsky.social · 06/06/2025

Really excited to be organising the research conference "Bodies in Digital Transition," suitable for researchers across disciplines in arts and humanities working with digital intimacies. Call For Papers live now! www.cassandralaureano.com/current/bodi...

cassandralaureano.com

CALL FOR PAPERS: Bodies in Digital Transition — A C - Alessandro Caruana Art

Transcultural Dialogues on Digital Intimacies and Artistic Practices

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April Wei-West @aprilw.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

Most eye-catching spot to put a poster? In front of the bins ♻️🚮 @chase-dtp.bsky.social Encounters Conference

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April Wei-West @aprilw.bsky.social · 08/06/2025

Very proud of my friend Monika for releasing her art book all about Birds 🐦 Launch event at The Scarlett Letters indie bookshop in Whitechapel. The hardback copies are all handbound and published independently theirlowbackedcar.com

"Birds" book, bookmarks, and stickers on top of a table.

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April Wei-West @aprilw.bsky.social · 08/06/2025

Pleased to have my first peer review article on #UTAU published in the wonderful Rising Voices in Ethnomusicology journal! risingvoicesjournal.com/211-music-ge...

risingvoicesjournal.com

21.1 Music, Gender, and Sexuality — Rising Voices in Ethnomusicology

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April Wei-West @aprilw.bsky.social · 06/06/2025

cassandralaureano.com

CALL FOR PAPERS: Bodies in Digital Transition — A C - Alessandro Caruana Art

Transcultural Dialogues on Digital Intimacies and Artistic Practices

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Reposted by April Wei-West

Guilherme Nunes @guilhernunes.bsky.social · 18/05/2025

capybara eating ramen prints: www.inprnt.com/gallery/guil...

painting of a capybara eating ramen in a red background

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April Wei-West @aprilw.bsky.social · 18/05/2025

Just finding out about this phenomenon of vast numbers of Chinese street livestreamers gathering in public spaces at night to stream. This is digital folklore but playing out in the backrooms of the city... (Creds to this video that that cropped up on my Youtube) www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTuW...

youtube.com

The Rise of "Homeless Streamers" in China

YouTube video by Louis Zhao

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April Wei-West @aprilw.bsky.social · 18/05/2025

#Eurovision seems to have dropped the "United by Music" slogan that spearheaded the previous two years of the contest. Based on the public vote it seems that Europe has certainly given a healthy showing of being united in weaponising music to fuel the Israeli propaganda machine.

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Reposted by April Wei-West

Prof Katherine Schofield 🇬🇧🇦🇺🇪🇺 @katherineschof8.bsky.social · 05/05/2025

Just received the very sad news that David Hughes - pioneering scholar in the UK of Japanese music and co-founder of the British Forum for #Ethnomusicology - has passed away in Durham. He was my teacher at SOAS, an inspiration, and a friend. Much love to his wife Gina, family, and loved ones.

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April Wei-West @aprilw.bsky.social · 05/04/2025

Had a lovely three days in Cambridge for the British Forum for Ethnomusicology annual conference #BFECam25

Cows crossing a footpath in a Cambridge green.

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Reposted by April Wei-West

Hannah Lock @hannahlock.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

Flow is now in UK cinemas! Go see it 🐈

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Bebe @eebileg.bsky.social · 28/02/2025

Mongolia is celebrating the Mongolian Lunar New Year this weekend - Tsagaan Sar. The Mongolian writing below reads "Сар шинэдээ сайхан шинэлээрэй", a traditional greeting for Tsagaan Sar and conveys wishes for happy celebrations. #Mongolsky

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Andrew West 魏安 @babelstone.co.uk · 21/02/2025

There was no public transport from Chengdu to Lhasa, but goods trucks would take paying passengers in the front cab for 5 fen per km. Here is the guy at the Chengdu depot selling me my ticket, which as I recall cost about ¥117. For technical reasons, I would go by myself, and APB would go by plane.

Man wearing wooly hat and padded jacket seated at a desk with a lidded enamel mug and an abacus, and on the wall behind him is pinned a map of China. This is the guy at the Chengdu truck depot who sold tickets for passenger transport on goods trucks towards Lhasa. Photograph by Andrew West, circa 13 February 1985.

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April Wei-West @aprilw.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

I thoroughly enjoyed learning about @jppinfo.bsky.social with a brilliant presentation given by @paularcurtis.bsky.social at SOAS on Wednesday evening. I'm already making use of the reading lists on the website, which are one of many amazing resources available!

Picture of title slide for "Japan Past & Present" introductory talk given by Paula R. Curtis

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SOAS University of London @soasuni.bsky.social · 19/02/2025

📣 SOAS Event 20 Feb Join us for a discussion about Swahili taarab - East Africa’s first mass-mediated popular music, and learn about the book ‘Sounds of Other Shores’ - with NYU Abu Dhabi Professor Andrew Eisenberg. bit.ly/4hJXdGO

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Noriko Manabe @nmanabe.bsky.social · 12/02/2025

I've published a short piece on Awich, the Okinawan woman rapper who has headlined at Fuji Rock and performed in Coachella. The article examines the difficulties Japanese women have faced as rappers and the feminist content of Awich's output. s3.amazonaws.com/files.common...

s3.amazonaws.com

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David Stroup @davidstroup.bsky.social · 09/01/2025

Offering support to colleagues in East Asian Studies at @sheffielduni.bsky.social who are facing severe cutbacks. Sheffield has been a vital nexus of knowledge production and exchange in Asian studies. It would be a huge loss if these cuts were taken on board. www.megaphone.org.uk/petitions/sh...

megaphone.org.uk

Sheffield Uni Needs East Asian Studies!

The University of Sheffield has been a global leader in East Asian Studies since its inception as the national centre for modern Japanese Studies in 1963. Korean Studies was introduced in 1979 and mai...

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Reposted by April Wei-West

Chenchen Zhang 🤦🏻‍♀️ @chenchenzhang.net · 04/12/2024

a Uyghur singer-songwriter committed to creating music in his mother tongue, Yashar Shohret took part in a 'white paper' gathering in Chengdu and was arrested twice since then, charged with 'extremism'. translated from an article originally published by WOMEN我们 open.substack.com/pub/hrichina...

open.substack.com

Yashar Shohret: Chengdu’s “white paper youth” disappears for the second time

A singer striving to create music in his mother tongue, Yashar’s fledgling independent career was abruptly interrupted by Chinese state surveillance. In the spring of 2023, he released a song titled “...

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April Wei-West @aprilw.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

Looking forward to my first CHASE Encounters conference and presenting my first paper as a PhD student tomorrow! On the theme of conference theme of "Temporal Tapestries" I will be talking about musical futures envisioned in my research ➡️ www.chase.ac.uk/encounters

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Andrew West 魏安 @babelstone.co.uk · 06/09/2024

Prof. Rachel Harris giving the citation for an honorary doctorate awarded by SOAS University of London to unjustly imprisoned Uyghur ethnographer Rahile Dawut two days ago

Graduation ceremony for SOAS University of London at Friends House, with robed faculty on the stage, and robed graduands on stepped seating. Prof. Rachel Harris is making the honorary citation for Rahile Dawut at the lectern on the stage.

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