iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Carrie Beneš @cebenes.bsky.social · 23/09/2025

Due October 10th >> The New College Conference on Medieval & Renaissance Studies returns 5-7 March 2026! Accepting abstracts on all topics in European & Mediterranean history, literature, art, music & religion (4c-17c): www.newcollegeconference.org/cfp #medievalsky #earlymodern #renaissance #CfP

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Carrie Beneš @cebenes.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

The New College Conference on Medieval & Renaissance Studies returns 5-7 March 2026! Abstracts on all topics in European & Mediterranean history, literature, art, music & religion (4c-17c) are due 1 October 2025: www.newcollegeconference.org/cfp #medievalsky #earlymodern #renaissance #CfP

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Jon Becker @jonbecker.bsky.social · 07/05/2025

Higher education faculty members should read two new articles and discuss them deeply as a department/unit/etc. The NYMag article about AI and cheating + the NYT article by the professor at U. of Florida about working under the DeSantis regime. They are connected; discuss those connections.

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Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 29/04/2025

Proud to add my name to this important message. #MedievalSky www.aacu.org/newsroom/a-c...

aacu.org

A Call for Constructive Engagement | AAC&U

A Call for Constructive Engagement

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S.J. Pearce @homophonous.bsky.social · 23/04/2025

Starting point, this time, was “No way this guy is Cardinal Pizza Can Dance.”

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Carrie Beneš @cebenes.bsky.social · 22/04/2025

Happy Earth Day from the #sferaproject! #medievalsky #earlymodern #maphistory #bookhistory (G. Dati, La sfera/The Globe, early 15c; BNCF Magl. XI.83, f. 7r)

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NY Times Pitchbot @nytpitchbot.bsky.social · 21/04/2025

Kind, decent, and compassionate, Pope Francis was badly out of step with contemporary western culture.

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Carrie Beneš @cebenes.bsky.social · 17/04/2025

Donation page for the formerly-NEH-funded #sferaproject. The horrors persist, but so do we. 💪

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IRIS Center for Digital Humanities and Social Sciences @siueiris.bsky.social · 07/04/2025

If you’re feeling anxious and restless, check out these two free, public events hosted by ACH this week. On Wednesday, advocate for the NEH and IMLS to your elected officials. On Friday, learn to reach broad audiences through op-eds.

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Carrie Beneš @cebenes.bsky.social · 04/04/2025

Important time-sensitive recommendations for anyone affected by yesterday's cuts:

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Carrie Beneš @cebenes.bsky.social · 04/04/2025

Like many other #NEH -funded projects. the #sferaproject received notice yesterday that our grant has been cancelled. It's not yet clear what that means for the project, but we hope to have more info soon. Meanwhile, here's a screenshot of what they cancelled (our website-in-development):

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Dr Surekha Davies, Historical Monster Consultant (she/her) @drsurekhadavies.bsky.social · 03/03/2025

2. New Directions in Early Modern Cartography I. A roundtable! Discussants: Tom Conley, Dana Leibsohn, @rmidura.bsky.social, Jessica E. Maier, and I. Sat. March 22, 9:00-10:30am, Boston Marriott Copley Place – Provincetown Room – 4th Floor. rsa.confex.com/rsa/2025/mee...

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Carrie Beneš @cebenes.bsky.social · 03/03/2025

Last call! Sat March 8th in Sarasota @lauramorreale.bsky.social and I will be offering a PD teacher workshop on pre-modern maps and mapping, based on our NEH-funded work on the #sferaproject. Pls see details tinyurl.com/sferamar25 — we have extended the sign-up deadline to Wed March 5th.

PDF detailing "The World in the Renaissance: Digital Tools and Primary Sources", details at https://tinyurl.com/sferamar25.

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Carrie Beneš @cebenes.bsky.social · 28/01/2025

First round of DMSI @ Leeds applications are due in TWO DAYS (30 Jan)! Come dive into medieval maps and digital mapping with me! I might even get to wear a sweater in July! #medievalsky #earlymodern #skystorians #dh #maphistory tinyurl.com/DMSI-2025-UK

tinyurl.com

Digital Medieval Studies Institute (DMSI) 2025 UK Edition Information

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Dr. Erika Graham-Goering @jeanneologist.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

Came across this and am genuinely alarmed at the idea that any of this is evidence for an LLM being a "very good historian" (a phrase which, incidentally, I previously heard used only by a pompous old bore trying to wow me with how many History Facts™ he knew while I was an underpaid museum guide).

resobscura.substack.com

The leading AI models are now very good historians

Three case studies with GPT-4o, o1, and Claude Sonnet 3.5, and what they mean

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Carrie Beneš @cebenes.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

#skystorians #earlymodern Please see and share the attached CFP for #AHA26 on Histories of Nostalgia. (A topic near and dear to my heart. cf. 2011 Urban Legends, etc.)

Call for Papers, AHA 2026: Histories of Nostalgia

The rise of MAGA drew scholarly attention to the politics of nostalgia, and subsequent events, most especially Donald Trump’s 2024 victory, have reaffirmed its power. This series of panels seeks to bring together an array of perspectives on and approaches to instances of nostalgia in Europe and North America, beginning in the early modern period. At a moment when nostalgia is seen as a technique of the right, these panels will explore a wider spectrum of how appeals have been made to tradition.

Hobsbawm and Ranger’s Invention of Tradition serves as a model for the types of investigations we hope to bring together, but we are casting a wider net, looking at nostalgic uses of the past on two continents over four centuries (1500-1900). We hope to elicit submissions focusing on the motivations for an uses of nostalgic evocations of the past. Whereas The Invention of Tradition emphasized practices, especially ritual practices, we also encourage submissions from those working on appropriations and reinterpretations of the past in other forms.

Possible themes include, but are not limited to:

Historical representations (art, film, etc.) that communicate political messages
Ceremonies that consciously evoke the past
Political or religious rhetoric and its appeals to tradition
Historical monuments / memorials
Contests over a particular historical event
Efforts to link a political figure or event with a particular predecessor

In your proposal, please specify the period / circumstances in which your nostalgic interpretation occurred, the historical referent which this nostalgia evokes, and / or if (as in the case of "Make America Great Again") there is no precise referent.

Please send a brief CV, a presentation title, and an abstract (up to 300 words) to Elizabeth McCahill (elizabeth.mccahill@umb.edu) and Nicole Breault (nabreault@utep.edu). Please detail any A/V requirements you might need.

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Carrie Beneš @cebenes.bsky.social · 23/01/2025

#skystorians #medievalsky #earlymodern #publichistory. Re: #AHA26, I've had interest in a panel on history in journalism (historian<>journalist communication, history in journalism, etc.). Anyone else interested? @lollardfish.bsky.social and @profgabriele.com have done this, maybe they have ideas?

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Carrie Beneš @cebenes.bsky.social · 22/01/2025

Working on deleting my formerly-known-as-bird account, and came across this absolute gem. Yes, I still need this dress. (John Bright Collection, 1880s).

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Carrie Beneš @cebenes.bsky.social · 22/01/2025

From my thesis student: according to one study of social-media study, people prayed during COVID more than 2x as much to St Rita of Cascia as to Sebastian and Roch put together, even though she has historically *no connection* to plague. WTF? 🧐

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Chaucer Doth Tweet @levostregc.bsky.social · 19/01/2025

Roses are redde Noble are the manatees Yf we wante a bettir future Teach artes & humanityes

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Carrie Beneš @cebenes.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

Saving this for teaching Methods this spring... 👀 It's so important to realize that what one person sees, looking at an artifact, can be totally different from what another person sees, and you just can't take labels and descriptions as objective realities.

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Carrie Beneš @cebenes.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

Really wish I had more time for calligraphy these days. Those of you who do, here's a great opportunity!

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Carrie Beneš @cebenes.bsky.social · 16/01/2025

#DH query: Are there any #Tropy gurus out there who can help me turn a static project with absolute paths into a portable project with relative paths? I've read the documentation on creating portable projects but am stuck on conversion. @rrchnm.bsky.social @tropy.bsky.social

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Carrie Beneš @cebenes.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

Heads-up #skystorians / #earlymodern ! Manchester UP and the SSFrHist have announced two book dev fellowships for ECRs preparing their 1st book in Early Modern or Modern French/Francophone History. Includes editorial mentoring and £1000; deadline 21st March. manchester.benchurl.com/c/l

manchester.benchurl.com

SSFH–MUP Book Development Fellowship – SSFH

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Carrie Beneš @cebenes.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

Finally got my laptop back after a major crash on Christmas Day. Migrating backed-up files to repaired (but empty) laptop... so far 228,249 files migrated in 4 hours. Approx. 12h remaining. 😬 Back up your files, peeps.

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Dr N. Kıvılcım Yavuz @nkivilcimyavuz.bsky.social · 09/01/2025

With my own @leedsims.bsky.social recently joining @bsky.app, just a reminder of this starter pack for #medievalstudies and #earlymodenstudies! If there’re others please let me know!

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Carrie Beneš @cebenes.bsky.social · 08/01/2025

Such a good take, esp. as I try to make my way through all the Many Things my mother refused ever to throw away, including boxes and boxes of family papers and photos with "sentimental value". I am sentimental! And yet.

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Carrie Beneš @cebenes.bsky.social · 08/01/2025

This is a wonderful, generous, charming, meep-meep-y take on book history.

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Carrie Beneš @cebenes.bsky.social · 08/01/2025

Also, as someone who has had no access to work files for 3 wks (dead laptop security-locked by IT which was closed for break; diagnosed with major failure i.e. everything is GONE; backup is too big for former laptop to load), I'm going to celebrate 2025 and my return to BlueSky with this (Torcello):

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Carrie Beneš @cebenes.bsky.social · 08/01/2025

#Historians: I'm on the program committee for the 2026 #AHA in Chicago! Anyone who might be interested in presenting, please get in touch via email [last-name-no-diacritic at ncf full-stop edu] or DM. I'll also put a few idea in the replies. #medievalsky #earlymodern #maphistory #academicsky

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Carrie Beneš @cebenes.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

PUBLIC EVENT! @lauramorreale.bsky.social, Jessica Maier, Chet Van Duzer, & I are hosting "Imagining the World in the Renaissance": fountains, mountains, camels, & sea monsters! At NCF, Thurs 12/5, 5-7pm: www.eventbrite.com/e/1076710904... Via Mellon & nehgov.bsky.social (MS here BNCF II.II.69)

A hand-drawn Renaissance map of the Middle East from Florence, BNCF II.II.69

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Carrie Beneš @cebenes.bsky.social · 03/10/2024

Delighted to share the results of the 2024 premodern SIHS article prize (which I chaired). Congrats to prize winner Katy Ferrari and honorable mention @rmidura.bsky.social! 🤩 Link includes video interviews I did with both winners, so you can learn all about them, their articles, and their work.

italianhistoricalstudies.org

SIHS Article Prize for Medieval and Early Modern Italian History - Society for Italian Historical Studies

The SIHS Article Prize for Medieval and Early Modern Italian History will be awarded to the best English-language, peer-reviewed journal article made public (either in published form or on a “FirstVie...

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Library of Anglo-American Culture & History @libraryaac.bsky.social · 16/08/2024

"Literary Mapping in the Digital Age",edited by @drdavidcooper.bsky.social, Christopher Donaldson & Patricia Murrieta-Flores, is the first intensive examination of digital literary cartography, exemplifying the critical & creative potentials of digital #literarymapping #DigitalHumanities

The book "Literary Mapping in the Digital Age" on a dark grey chair

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Carrie Beneš @cebenes.bsky.social · 26/09/2024

Do the reading, people. Also, evidence.

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