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Brett Bobley

@brettbobley.bsky.social
2K followers 2.8K following 727 posts

Working as an advisor to Schmidt Sciences for their HAVI DH program (AI + Humanities/cultural heritage). Former CIO for the NEH & founder of the Office of Digital Humanities.

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Brett Bobley @brettbobley.bsky.social · 8h
I know there is so much bad news out there, but here is some more. This is how you destroy entire disciplines.
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Brett Bobley @brettbobley.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Big congrats to the amazing @alondra.bsky.social for winning an AI2050 Senior Fellowship from @schmidtsciences.bsky.social. ai2050.schmidtsciences.org/fellow/alond...
ai2050.schmidtsciences.org
Alondra Nelson - AI2050
Alondra Nelson studies how people build, marshal, and live through new scientific and technological developments, and traces what that work makes possible or forecloses for life chances and democratic...
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Patricia Hswe @pmhswe.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Friends, please check out this new report on community-based archives, "Powerful But Precarious," linked from the Mellon website. A participatory action research study, it provides a rich portrait of these organizations—their aspirations, wants, and resilience. Enjoy! www.mellon.org/features/com...
mellon.org
Mellon Foundation
The Mellon Foundation makes grants to actively unlock the power in the arts and humanities that helps connect us all.
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scott b. weingart @scottbot.net · 30/09/2026
yinz know I'm still pretty devastated about my federal office being dismantled, but some days I'm particularly thankful I no longer have to follow executive orders, and feel for my former colleagues who still must
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Alex Gibney @alexgibneyfilm.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
The trailer for my new film, "Musk," has just been released.
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scott b. weingart @scottbot.net · 22/09/2026
Join my team! Help us figure out how to be as careful stewards of today's born-digital archives of state as we've been for physical archives over the last 200 years. Seeking experience in digital archives/collections/preservation, or related cultural heritage work. Due 10/6. Up to $91k.
jobs.virginia.gov
Born-Digital Collections Coordinator #00220 - Richmond, Virginia, United States
Title: Born-Digital Collections Coordinator #00220 State Role Title: Library Specialist III Hiring Range: Commensurate with experience up to $91,080 Pay Band: 5 Agency: The Library of Virginia Locatio...
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Brett Bobley @brettbobley.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Just got back from a great show from Cabaret Voltaire, on their final tour, at the Howard Theater in DC. Here's a snippet of Nag, Nag, Nag.
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Brett Bobley @brettbobley.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
One unexpected "winner" from the AI race: the company that makes Blue Books. Can you imagine their surprise? "OMG, after years of decline, sales are soaring! We're back, baby!" 😂
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Brett Bobley @brettbobley.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Congratulations to the best paper awardees at the AI4LAM Fantastic Futures conference. The awards are sponsored by @schmidtsciences.bsky.social. #FF2026
12 people on stage to receive their awards.Electronic sign that says AI4LAM FF2026 Conference Reception and Innovation Awards and a Schmidt Sciences logo.
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Brett Bobley @brettbobley.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
The Smithsonian's Secretary Lonnie Bunch is welcoming us on the first day of the AI4LAM Fantastic Futures conference. (@schmidtsciences.bsky.social is one of the sponsors). #FF2026
Lonnie Bunch speaking at a podium.
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Karin Wulf @kawulf.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
After reading some of the recent pubs and discourse around US higher ed.… I should just stop right here. But here are the three major fallacies of much of what’s out there, three contexts that are missing, and the one big thing that is driving me around the bend (actually already there, but). 1/
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Timnit Gebru @timnitgebru.blacksky.app · 14/09/2026
@alondra.bsky.social is 100% correct to call me out here because she fought tooth and nail running OSTP and I just erased her with this post.
Alondra Nelson @alondra.bsky.social
Going to try not to take that personally, Timnit!
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Timnit Gebru @timnitgebru.blacksky.app · 14/09/2026
The only person in public service who has consistently made 100% sense on issues of "AI," which is why they hate her so much.
Law enforcers already have authority to charge companies and their CEOs for creating and releasing dangerous, unvetted, or defective products. We shouldn’t let discussions about new legal regimes distract from the fact that there’s no AI exemption from laws already on the books — a point 
@FTC
 emphasized repeatedly during my tenure.

1. There is an extensive set of laws that govern dangerous and defective products. For example, releasing unvetted AI models or agents can violate consumer protection laws. Shipping flawed AI tools without implementing adequate measures to detect and stop rogue or defective AI agents can be an “unfair or deceptive” act or practice under the FTC Act (and analogous state laws). And some state AGs are already exploring holding AI firms and their CEOs criminally liable when their models participate in criminal activity.

2. Existing laws also prohibit “unfair methods of competition.” This covers instances where AI firms appropriate the competitively sensitive information of their customers, including through tracking their use of various tools. It can also cover instances where firms pursue dangerous behavior, aware that doing so may compel rivals to do the same.As the Supreme Court has noted: “A method of competition which casts upon one's competitors the burden of the loss of business unless they will descend to a practice which they are under a powerful moral compulsion not to adopt, even though it is not criminal, was thought to involve the kind of unfairness at which the [unfair methods of competition] statute was aimed."

3. The highly concentrated and interconnected structure of these markets could be creating major risks and conflicts of interest. We had started investigating these partnerships and cross-investments across the stack (and released a preliminarily overview of some findings: https://ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2025/01/ftc-issues-staff-report-ai-partnerships-investments-study). 

Both federal and state enforcers should be scrutinizing these opaque relationships and inter-dependencies. We are already seeing how these relationships could undermine accountability. For example, OpenAI could face liability given the Hugging Face incident, but Hugging Face being bought up by Nvidia means that we’re unlikely to see it file a lawsuit over this — given Nvidia’s strong incentive to see OpenAI continue full speed ahead.4. As AI tools dramatically change the landscape of cybersecurity risks and hacks, all businesses should be doubling down on having core security protections in place. Firms that fail to invest in adequate data security measures or fix known vulnerabilities can also be breaking the law. A recent analysis showed that around 1/3 of Fortune 100 companies do not even have a way to notify them about security issues. During my 
@FTC
 tenure, we sued firms for poor data security practices and held CEOs liable when they were personally responsible.

https://this.weekinsecurity.com/dozens-of-americas-largest-companies-have-no-simple-way-to-report-security-flaws/

https://ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2022/10/ftc-takes-action-against-drizly-its-ceo-james-cory-rellas-security-failures-exposed-data-25-million

5. As policymakers consider new legal regimes, we should be looking to lessons from prior efforts to govern major sectors, such as banking and other networks, platforms, and utilities. Tools like structural separations, nondiscrimination, and supervision could be key, and there’s a rich history of what works and what doesn’t. But we can and must pursue any new efforts alongside enforcing existing laws.
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Brett Bobley @brettbobley.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Just made these jalapenos, from my garden, stuffed with goat cheese and bacon bits. Then, of course, smelling the bacon, I had a feline visitor join us at the dinner table.
Red jalapenos on an aluminum baking tray. They are filled with cheese and bacon bits. The cheese is charred.A cat, sitting on a dining table chair, with her head peaking above the table.
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Brett Bobley @brettbobley.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
In 1997 I went to see Veruca Salt at 930 club in DC. Prince was playing an arena show elsewhere. I overheard someone in the crowd say that after his show, Prince might come to 930 and do a secret show. Yeah, sure, I thought. I went home at midnight. Prince showed an hour later & did a whole set.
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Brett Bobley @brettbobley.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Pickling banana peppers. Hit me up if you need some.
In the rear is a bowl of banana peppers in vibrant colors. In front, a cutting board with a knife and many peppers cut into rings.
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Brett Bobley @brettbobley.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Good for Canada. Article about (mostly US) professors being hired to move to Canada. (Also: How stupid is the US to deliberately destroy our higher education system?)
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Brett Bobley @brettbobley.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Highly recommended reading from my wonderful former colleague at NEH, Molly Hardy. (Related aside: I once asked one of the DOGE boys "who would ever want to work here after what you've done?" To which he replied, "oh, NEH will be so much better soon." Yeah, fuck off.)
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Leonore (Lee) Carpenter @leecarpenter.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
In case you are an academic who is currently being gaslit into believing that you're a caveman who wants their students to be jobless if you resist allowing AI in your classrooms... I present to you Berkeley Law's response, which can be summarized as "Fuck off directly into the sun."
law.berkeley.edu
Artificial Intelligence Policy
Effective Summer 2026 Purpose Future lawyers may need to use artificial intelligence (“AI”) fluently. But the current state of the technology requires that AI use be coupled with the cognitive […]
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Brett Bobley @brettbobley.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Garden going crazy! Just harvested all this and turned it into dinner. We have: Thai basil and Thai chiles which I used for Pad Krapow Gai. Then I used the Genovese basil and tomatoes to make a Caprese salad.
Large metal bowl overflowing with colorful vegetables.
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Brett Bobley @brettbobley.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Hanging out with @nolauren.bsky.social in Seoul and we stumbled upon... edible Crocs?? Yes, they are waffles stuffed with chocolate that look like the greatest ever shoes, Crocs. Shoes both practical and delicious. cc: @jenserventi.bsky.social.
Me at a night market, pointing to a waffle in my left hand that looks just like a Crocs brand shoe.
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James Cummings @jamescummings.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Next venues for the @adho-org.bsky.social DH conferences mentioned in #DH2026 closing ceremony. - #DH2027 28 June - 3 July 2027, Galway, Ireland dh2027.adho.org - #DH2028 4-7 July 2028 Capetown, South Africa - #DH2029 2029, Padua, Italy Hope that I can make some of these!
dh2027.adho.org
DH2027
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Brett Bobley @brettbobley.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Congratulations to Julia Flanders, who just won the Busa prize for lifetime achievement! @juliaflanders.bsky.social #DH2026
Busa Prize: Julia Flanders (Northeastern University)

Julla Flanders has spent over three decades building and sustaining the digital Infrastructure that humanities scholarship depends on, most notably as director of the Women Writers Project since 2000. She is a founding editor and, since 2007, editor-in-chief of Digital Humanities Quarterly (DHQ), one of the field's flagship Journals, shaping its enduring commitment to open access, multilingual publishing, and collaborative scholarly communication. Through DHQ and her leadership roles at ACH, ADHO, and the TEI Consortium, she has helped define the Institutional and intellectual foundations of digital humanities as a field. She has also trained hundreds of scholars in text encoding and digital editing through workshops and Institutes, extending her Influence well beyond her own publications. Taken together, her sustained work as an infrastructure buil Journal editor, teacher, and scholar exemplifies the Bo Prize.
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Brett Bobley @brettbobley.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Interesting thread about Javier's (AI) agents.
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Tom Elliott @paregorios.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Never forget what Trump, his grifting cronies, and his psychopathic claque did to us during COVID. Never forgive. Fauci was a hero, and so was everyone else who fought tooth and nail against the virus, the President, his sycophantic servants, and the zombie hordes. I pray this GOP stunt backfires.
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Brett Bobley @brettbobley.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
"Let's put the 'fun' in 'funding'" -- Lisa Spiro. (Agreed!) #DH2026
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Brett Bobley @brettbobley.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Only the oldheads will get this one.
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Brett Bobley @brettbobley.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
I spent all morning cooking that food, James. Anything for DH!
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Brett Bobley @brettbobley.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
#DH2026 The Schmidt Sciences team (me and Maya) will be doing a lunchtime talk in room 104 at 1PM today. Come on by to learn about our grantmaking! (Note: We have boxed lunches 🍱, but only enough for the folks who signed up in advance! So if you didn't sign up, no lunch pilfering, please! 😂 ).
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Javier Cha @javiercha.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Earlier this summer, I was elected as the inaugural Chair of the Hong Kong Association for Digital Humanities (HKADH). I'm proud to announce that I just fulfilled one of my primary campaign promises: to join @adho-org.bsky.social as a constituent organization.
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Brett Bobley @brettbobley.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Great presentations this morning from the Playing Heaven team, funded by @schmidtsciences.bsky.social. #DH2026.
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Brett Bobley @brettbobley.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
#DH2026 Important tip for presenters: if you are bringing slides on a USB thumb drive to load on the conference room laptop, make sure your drive is formatted to be read by a Windows machine (eg exFAT).
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Brett Bobley @brettbobley.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Even the free WiFi at the Daejeon Convention Center, shared by a thousand people, is giving me ~90Mbps both up and down. #DH2026
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J. Stephen Downie @profdownie.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
The K-internet is so fast, your post arrived yesterday, despite the heat. 😎
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Brett Bobley @brettbobley.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
I know it is almost a cliche at this point, but my hotel WiFi here in Korea is 554Mbps (down and up) while the last hotel I stayed at in the US was 4Mbps.
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Brett Bobley @brettbobley.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Looking forward to #DH2026 in Daejeon! I'll be there along w/ my colleague Maya Moretta, representing the HAVI program from @schmidtsciences.bsky.social. If you wish to chat, feel free to grab either of us. Or consider registering for one of our events: schmidtsciences-havi.github.io/havi-adho-so...
schmidtsciences-havi.github.io
Schmidt Sciences ADHO Socials
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Brett Bobley @brettbobley.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
In Las Vegas for NBA Summer League. AJ Dybantsa looking like the real deal for the Wizards.
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Jason Rhody @jasonrhody.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Questions about how to reinstate your terminated NEH grant? Join us for a free MLA strategy session tomorrow (Thursday, 9 July) at 2pm ET where we'll review the process & answer questions. Register at the link below, and please share with others who are trying to get their grant reinstated.
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Brett Bobley @brettbobley.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Just two days to finish carving all those statues for Trump's garden. How's that going?
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sam blickhan @snblickhan.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
!!! So excited to see all of this coming up! 👀
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Brett Bobley @brettbobley.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
New @schmidtsciences.bsky.social Newsletter is out with a focus on our Climate Science team. Check it out here: mailchi.mp/78157c4fa237...
mailchi.mp
What's New at Schmidt Sciences: Research, Discoveries, and Funding Calls
Climate modeling milestones, ocean research updates, new funding opportunities, and more from across Schmidt Sciences' programs.
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Brett Bobley @brettbobley.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
Wow, already so much basil. I just pruned my plants and, well, I had to make pesto. (If you need pesto, hit me up.)
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Brett Bobley @brettbobley.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
New update includes the Kelvin scale, for truly "slow and low" cooking.
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Brett Bobley @brettbobley.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
Currently doing something I never thought I'd need to do: applying a software update to my oven.
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Teagan Johnson @teagrjohnson.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
1/ LLMs learn narrative from their pretraining data but what narrative content is actually in there? It turns out narrative is wildly unevenly distributed across sources and topics. New preprint with @andrewpiper.bsky.social @elliottash.bsky.social @mariaa.bsky.social:
This image depicts the proportion of each Dolma category in the top quartile for the first three principal components.
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Brett Bobley @brettbobley.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
Important thread from Jason.
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Derek Lowe @dereklowe.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
If not now, when? This is an emergency.
science.org
Action! Action Now.
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Brett Bobley @brettbobley.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
Knicks - Spurs. Wednesday.
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Brett Bobley @brettbobley.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
I'm in NYC tonight so I just walked over to MSG to see this huge Knicks celebration on 7th avenue.
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Brett Bobley @brettbobley.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
It has been TEN years since the premiere of Andy Van Dam's "Hypertext" movie, the product of a 1974 NEH grant to test using computers to teach the humanities. @mkirschenbaum.bsky.social & MITH hosted the screening. Here's @doctorow.pluralistic.net's take: boingboing.net/2016/05/03/a...
boingboing.net
Astounding, visionary video about hypertext from 1976
Brett Bobley writes, "'Hypertext: an Educational Experiment in English and Computer Science at Brown University' is an amazing documentary film from 1976 made by Brown University computer scientist An...
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