iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Dr. Emily Friedman

BSECS @bsecs.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Submissions are welcome for the London Topographical Society's Anne Saunders Prize: £1,000 for an original & unpublished research essay on the topography, development, or buildings of #London in any period. Details here: londontopsoc.org/about-us/ann... #skystorians 🗃️

londontopsoc.org

Ann Saunders essay prize - London Topographical Society

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Adrienne Massanari @adriennemassanari.bsky.social · 4h

The invisible labor (often performed by women and marginalized folks) that keeps organizations afloat remains hidden and uncompensated. But those musing about AI's "transformation" of work have probably always benefited from this kind of labor in all parts of their life and don't see it as work.

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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 2h

Had she posted her papers on the arXiv at the time of submission, this would have really forced her PhD advisor's hand on giving her the PhD. But without public accountability, he actually got away with this. She eventually got a PhD in a different field, leaving astronomy. 🔭

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Deborah McDowell @dem8z.bsky.social · 13h

When I taught at Colby College years ago, the trustees abolished fraternities, which dominated campus social life & were notorious for sexual assault &rowdiness all around. “Donations will decline,” cried the fierce opponents.Their threats never materialized. Before long it didn’t seem that frats 1/

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Karen K. Ho @karenho.bsky.social · 14h

Thinking about how @oliviamesser.bsky.social covered some of the worst fraternity hazing you could ever think of, and then stuff worse than that, for two straight years at The Daily Beast. I would not last a week in that job.

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The Bibliographical Society of America @bibsocamer.bsky.social · 22h

Deadline extended until 7 October! The Events Planning Committee seeks proposals for sessions centered on the tools and methodologies of bibliographical work, to take place during BSA’s Annual Meeting in January 2027 View the full CfP and submission instructions: 🔗https://bit.ly/cfp-tools-trade-27

Promotional graphic announcing a 7 October deadline and a call for proposals titled “Tools of the Trade at the 2027 Annual Meeting,” with a black-and-white meeting photograph. White text on a copper background.

Copper text on a white background, with more details about submitting a proposal including a link to learn more and a deadline of 7 October

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Tabletop Bookshelf🔜Gamehole Con @tabletopbookshelf.com · 14h

NEW: Five Hundred Year Old Vampire is a multi-player keepsake role-playing game that adapts the award-winning Thousand Year Old Vampire by Tim Hutchings into a new collaborative play experience. Players become vampires chronicling centuries of existence. From Central Michigan University Press

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Asa Donald | Backwards Tabletop @backwardsttrpg.bsky.social · 19h

Rather than your standard press release, I talk a little bit about what drew me into making Mousetrap, about what feels both Shakespearean and dramatic about Firebrands-style games, about metagames. I hope you'll check it out!

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Dr ShinyGoth @ghostingdani.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Humanities will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no humanities.

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Association for Scottish Literature @asls.org.uk · 29/09/2026

Joanna Baillie’s 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘓𝘦𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘥 (1810): A Virtual Public Reading 21 Nov, online. Free A virtual public reading & discussion of Baillie’s “Highland play”, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘓𝘦𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘥 – an early example of the Scottish “National Drama” #C18 #theatre Zoom link: essex-university.zoom.us/j/93091876464

JOANNA BAILLIE'S THE FAMILY LEGEND (1810): A VIRTUAL PUBLIC READING
DATE AND TIME: SATURDAY, 21 NOVEMBER 2026, 6:00 - 9:00 PM (GMT)
LOCATION: ONLINE

Please join members of the Baillie Working Group for a virtual public reading of Baillie's The Family Legend, organised by Sarah Burdett and Diane Piccitto. Attendance is free.
Meeting link: https://essex-university.zoom.us/j/93091876464

With thanks to the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Literary Studies, University of Essex.

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Asa Donald | Backwards Tabletop @backwardsttrpg.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Mousetrap's framework is based on the Bakers' Firebrands. You alternate between mini-games and vignettes — mini-games that depict common interactions between players at the table and scenes that depict your characters in the fictional Castle Muldoon. Until your player and your character swap!

Immerse yourself in the game. Bring your characters to life. Cross the magic circle. Concentric circles. In the outer circle are the titles of mini-games and the Players at the Table. In the inner circle are Muldoon Vignettes and Characters in the Castle.

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cmrn knzlmn @ckunzelman.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I have a newish publication at @analoggamestudies.bsky.social ! I co-wrote a piece on what "gameplay" is in TCGs and whether or not deckbuilding is gameplay (I think so! Most people do! But the scholarship and a lot of general writing splits it off!) escholarship.org/uc/item/2gt8...

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Karl Bode @karlbode.com · 21h

substack executives gave him a big cash advance to post on the platform

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Dr. Emily Friedman @ecfriedman.com · 19h

Oh my GOD this is a love letter to my hometown. (Real H-Town Kids know)

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Dr. Emily Friedman @ecfriedman.com · 20h

I spent the day making a spreadsheet about casting and representation in union Actual Plays to double-check one sentence in my book. So I missed … whatever folks are talking about.

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Seo-Young J. Chu (she/they) @seoyoungjchu.bsky.social · 21h

Solidarity with and empathy for the "Cornell Jane Doe." (I, too, am a Doe.) #MeToo #MeTooAcademia

Solidarity with former Cornell University student "Jane Doe.”

School campuses are sexually violent places. From frat houses to English departments, rape culture thrives in colleges and universities - just as it thrives in the world more generally. Too many victims suffer agony, hardship, and even death as a result.

We need rape studies. We need more memoirs by survivors. We need more academic books on rape. We need more classes devoted to the study of rape culture and sexual violence. We need more conferences where those of us who work in these fields can share ideas and build solidarity. We need # MeToo.

By “we” I mean all of us, because rape culture harms everyone - including you.

#MeTooAcademia

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Amanda Wyatt! Visconti @literaturegeek.bsky.social · 20h

For some particular infra folks who actually lead the university: deliberately overlooked, routinely underestimated, capaciously knowledgeable, injecting care into bureaucracy. Thanks to all the Doloreses for making academia run instead of trying to say "AI" loudest. Many Dolores; no president.

Photo of 4 of the same letterpress prints on royal blue paper with blue ink, arranged in a 2x2 grid. It says "more doloreses / no president"

Photo of 4 of the same letterpress prints on tan chip paper with dark blue ink, arranged in a 2x2 grid. They say "more doloreses / no president"

Photo of letterpress wood type arranged on a printing press bed with blue ink on the type, used to make the percy's in the previous photos

Screenshot of a QT by me from a month back, of a good tweet by Tressie McMillan Cottom. QT: "Thinking of that tweet re:everyone in academia knows a 60yo woman only known by her 1st name, who actually runs the dept/uni. (Which is almost at an anarchist understanding: not "make Dolores president" but "many Doloreses, no president" and "how can you Dolores too")"
Dr. Cottom tweet: "Anyway, your problem isn't finding the time to take notes. The problem is that taking notes is thinking and thinking has to be done by someone. women have been doing a lot of metacognition that looks like a task when it's really thinking."

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Iron Spike @ironspike.bsky.social · 21h

I'm categorized as an AI subscriber, because I'm subscribed to the 3 TB tier of Google Drive and and they literally just changed the name of the plan to "Google AI Plus." Those "AI subscriber" numbers are 100 percent juiced and phony, and you're a sucker if you believe otherwise.

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Bryan Waterman @waterman.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Thursday, 10/1 at 4PM Eastern I'll be talking about Hannah Webster Foster's THE COQUETTE & why c18 seduction novels still have lessons to teach us (though perhaps not those they were designed to convey). Pre-register here & share with students if you happen to be in seduction mode this semester!

us02web.zoom.us

Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: The Coquette and the Boarding School: A Norton Critical Edition Speakers Series Event. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joinin...

Join editor Bryan Waterman (New York University) for a discussion of the enduring legacy of the works of Hannah Webster Foster as America 250 comes to a close. How do seduction novels of the early Ame...

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No Escape from the Tyranny of Virtue 🏴🏳️‍⚧️🇵🇸 @noescapevg.com · 23h

nobody who's anybody denies that gamergate was a right wing hate mob that turned into bigger shit. and nobody denies that at least one of its targets was games media, and specifically any women and queer/trans people working in games media. so what is the methodical purging of women from this space?

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Reposted by Dr. Emily Friedman

Tim Clare @timclare.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

If you'd like to listen to our boardgame agony aunt podcast, But Why Vikings?, all the episodes are up on Boardgamegeek - you can just click & listen. Also we are always in need of questions: dilemmas, questions about our game experiences, recommendation requests: boardgamegeek.com/boardgamepod...

boardgamegeek.com

But Why Vikings?

This page does not exist. You can edit this page to create it.

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Reposted by Dr. Emily Friedman

Ryan Cordell @ryancordell.org · 28/09/2026

Thanks to y’all’s help & some more research, my list of video games that include printing presses is growing I think I’ve found a student who wants to work on this project with me, so any other suggestions—particularly from the 80s & 90s—would be most welcome I can’t find an existing list anywhere

Sid Meier's Colonization (1994)
* Anno 1404 (2009)
* Deus Ex Human Revolution (2011)
* Dishonored (2012)
* Assassin’s Creed 3 (2012)
* Anno Online (2013)
* Bioshock Infinite (2013)
* Assassin's Creed Syndicate (2015)
* Fallout 4 (2015)
* Civilization 6 (2016)
* Graveyard Keeper (2018)
* Anno 1800, Empire of Skies DLC (game 2019, DLC 2022)
* Hitman 3 (2021)
* Pentiment (2022)
* Baldur’s Gate 3 (2023)
* Esoteric Ebb (2026)
* The Sinking City 2 (forthcoming)
* Stop the Press! (forthcoming)

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Kieron Gillen @kierongillen.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Includes! Warhammer stuff of various levels of fidelity! My highest OSR game! Games set in malls involving time travel and kissing! Games about language! Civ: but a TTRPG! And more!

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Hannah Vardit @hannahvardit.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

i worry that men think being A Good Guy is dramatically and heroically intervening on behalf of an endangered woman and then being publicly rewarded on a grand scale when actually being A Good Guy is just usually saying, “hey man that’s not funny” or “wow that’s fucked up” and there is no reward

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Dr. Emily Friedman @ecfriedman.com · 29/09/2026

I am delighted to note that I have written a mostly-true introduction to the history of Shakespearean games for MOUSETRAP.

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Iain McAllister @giantbrain.co.uk · 28/09/2026

If you enjoyed the latest episode of 'But, Why Vikings?' with @ava.foxfort.net and @ecfriedman.com then know that we are always on the lookout for new questions. We want to help you have a better tabletop gaming life, so fire your questions to us here, or via DM (website coming soon!).

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Cole Wehrle @colewehrle.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

In today's diary, I get into one of my favorite subjects: agency in historical games. Did the Opium Wars have to happen? Were the player's historical counterparts in a position to prevent them? It's a big subject, and a place where the 2e differs sharply from 1e. boardgamegeek.com/thread/37746...

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Dr. Emily Friedman @ecfriedman.com · 28/09/2026

Love when I get asked to do something and the brief is “light touch, warm, fun and engaging as possible” with some of my favorite colleagues.

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Sam Reich @samreich.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

have you ever seen someone rob themselves 20 years in the future

Katie Marovich demands Maria Bamford take out her fucking wallet and then they hug.

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Emily Gorcenski @emily.gorcen.ski · 28/09/2026

Here’s the most incredible story you’ll read today. A small plane with four people aboard crashes in a field. Another pilot witnesses it. That pilot happens to be flying a bunch of skydivers. They offer to jump to assist, are given permission. The skydivers happen to be EMTs. Everyone survives.

wisn.com

Skydivers alert emergency crews, assist after plane crashes near East Troy airport

Four people were aboard the single-engine plane when it went down in a cornfield near Carvers School Road in East Troy at about 1:30 p.m.

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Dr. Emily Friedman @ecfriedman.com · 28/09/2026

If a prospective PhD was looking for a program that would welcome close reading of video games (like, full-on narratology), where would you point them?

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SHARP @sharpweb.org · 28/09/2026

Mark your calendars! SHARP 2027 conference on “Opening (up) the Book” will be held at the University of Pretoria. Abstracts: 30 January 2027 Conference: 7–9 July 2027 #CFP: sharpweb.org/conferences/

sharpweb.org

Conferences – SHARPweb

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Reposted by Dr. Emily Friedman

cmrn knzlmn @ckunzelman.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

If you are a graduate student in the humanities (construed as broadly as possible), what is the MOST EXCITING book published in the last five years to you? Please repost if you’re not a graduate student!

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Trung Le Nguyen @trungles.com · 28/09/2026

Social media is weird because if you give people a good feeling they will be overfamiliar with you, and if you do not do that they treat you like a human yelp page

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Dr. Emily Friedman @ecfriedman.com · 28/09/2026

How it started/How it’s going, 18C TTRPG Nerd Edition — with my stalwart research partner, sometimes-handler, always friend @emnk.bsky.social

Em and Emily holding a bunch of TTRPG stuff in 2019.

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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

The Pope reminds me of a version of Catholicism I knew growing up as a young man attending anti-war and anti-death penalty protests, where I met elderly Catholics who shared their version of faith with me. I learned that Catholicism was about love and mercy for the weak, the condemned, and the poor.

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Amanda Wyatt! Visconti @literaturegeek.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Been saving screenshots of weird printing stuff since finishing my previous letterpress collage zine (also using a "Look!" printing block in the title: "Look!! Here's your unusual letterpress blocks invitation to joy", as a collage-of-interesting-visuals series hint) zinebakery.com/homemade-zin...

Cover of the zine "Look!! Here's your unusual letterpress blocks invitation to joy", "a collage miniz-ine / Zine Bakery Homemade Hand Pie #1 / by Amanda Wyatt Visconti, collage in various fonts and screenshots of historical letterpress printing blocks

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Dr. Emily Friedman @ecfriedman.com · 28/09/2026

TTRPG nerds: Prof Cook (also known for coining “dirtbag medievalism”) is open to playful media for this one!

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Dominique Baker @bakerdphd.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Takes less than an hour at the Folger before I'm wondering how expensive it would be to get a book done in ol timey typesetting

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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

One reason to learn about things outside your major is so that you have something to talk about with people at parties and on dates. No amount of money will make up for you being a crushing bore. History majors learn this early but I guess it takes other people longer.

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Dr. Emily Friedman @ecfriedman.com · 27/09/2026

Funny thing: last night had dinner with two of my beloved grad friends, one of whom is a wildly successful engineering professor who at every stage has credited his success to his ability to write well. (I’ve never known him without at least one active band, either — arts & humanities y’all!)

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Dena McMartin 🇨🇦 @dwmcmartin.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Engineering professor here and yes, you do need to know history. And language. And context. Technical and applied problem solving only gets you so far. You have to work with people, manage budgets, understand community dynamics & design for many possible futures. Cross the false boundaries.

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Mike Boylan-Kolchin @mbkplus.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Once again, I gotta say: you cannot treat anything you’re feeding into an AI as anonymous. There are enormous ethics implications for, e.g. referees who are clearly uploading others’ unpublished papers without consent, let alone health care professionals or law enforcement

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Tanya Floaker @floaker.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I keep saying this, but we have been in a long golden age of game creation, and it isn't done yet. I can't think of a better time to be into ttRPGs across my lifetime than now.

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Tobias Wilson-Bates @phdhurtbrain.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I want a psychedelic pseudo history of Daniel Defoe’s life starring Willem Defoe

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Matt Seybold @mattseybold.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

“like 5s on AP test” - Maya Angelou I’ll say again. @annieabrams.bsky.social was right.

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Dr. Sarah Parcak @indyfromspace.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

So you can learn about engineering disasters

image of Bent Pyramid of Dashur Egypt against a blue sky with some clouds

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Garrett Martin @garrettmartin.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

you don’t need to know the pop charts after streaming the same way you don’t need to know the Roman emperors after Constantine

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The Bookseller @thebookseller.com · 27/09/2026

ICYMI: Shakespeare’s Globe has opened its newly renovated research and collection centre, which features London’s only publicly accessible dedicated Shakespeare library and archive. 👇

ebx.sh

Shakespeare library and archive containing 6,000 books opens under the Globe theatre

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