iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

herbert @hvdsomp.w3c.social.ap.brid.gy · 29/08/2026

Saw an absolutely awesome video installation by Ryuichi Sakomoto. Really mind-blowing. async - immersion ambientkyoto.com

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herbert @hvdsomp.w3c.social.ap.brid.gy · 28/08/2026

Saw Mount Fuji, earlier today, on the bullet train ride from Kyoto to Tokyo. Industrial mix.

The picture shows Mount Fuji in the distance while the foreground features mall-type buildings and a prominent power line pole.

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herbert @hvdsomp.w3c.social.ap.brid.gy · 18/08/2026

Tokyo I’m on my way. And in my new Toyota it’s not so far away. m.youtube.com/watch?v=2qkXwKJ7vRI

Cover of Gruppo Sportivo’s 1978 album that features the Tokyo song.

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herbert @hvdsomp.w3c.social.ap.brid.gy · 01/07/2026

Researchers spend significant amounts of time to add non-traditional contributions (e.g. radio interview, blogpost) to their institutional research information management system. With colleagues at SURF, @hochstenbach and I devised a Mastodon-based approach to […] [Original post on w3c.social]

The image is an architectural drawing of a research contributions claim network

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herbert @hvdsomp.w3c.social.ap.brid.gy · 25/06/2026

slideshare has decided to take user harassment to the next level by including a cookie consent dialog for embedded presentations. The brilliant result can be admired e.g. at hvdsomp.info/presentations

The image shows a screenshot of a page of my personal web site that lists presentations I have done over the years. Slides for some presentations are embedded in the page using slideshare's embed code. But a cookie consent dialog is displayed instead of the actual presentation slides.

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herbert @hvdsomp.w3c.social.ap.brid.gy · 07/06/2026

This image came to mind when reading about a possible agreement regarding a Bering Street tunnel. Graffiti along the Donau Canal in Vienna. patriotfetch.com/2026/06/bering-str…

Putin and Trump intimately kissing in a graffiti, black paint on grey stone. Also says Fuck Putin Fuck Trump and is signed PAD 26

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herbert @hvdsomp.w3c.social.ap.brid.gy · 04/06/2026

On long walks, I love listening to KPFA’s “Over the Edge” podcast. 3-hour long themed mixes, made live and spontaneously on the air by Robert Cole and Jon “Wobbly” Leidecker, the latter of Negativland fame. I think I learned about the show here on mastodon but I […] [Original post on w3c.social]

The image is a drawing of a hut sitting on top of a mesa, with the words “Over the Edge Radio” superimposed.

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herbert @hvdsomp.w3c.social.ap.brid.gy · 03/06/2026

I want to take a moment, here, to highlight the very short yet utterly to-the-point blog post by my long time hero, David Rosenthal, in which he explains to his old boss, Eric Schmidt, why he and his ilk are getting booed at college commencements, and why laws […] [Original post on w3c.social]

Picture of J.P. Morgan hitting a photographer with a cane. The image is featured in David Rosenthal’s blog post, which I promote in this toot.

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herbert @hvdsomp.w3c.social.ap.brid.gy · 31/05/2026

I recommend the exhibition of new work by Belgian artist Ana Torfs currently on display at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. Under the title “ The Day You Were Thinking About the Sibyl While You Were Picking Autumn Leaves“, she displays 20+ tapestries with […] [Original post on w3c.social]

Tapestries by Ana Torfs on the right. Hieronymus Bosch painting on the left.

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herbert @hvdsomp.w3c.social.ap.brid.gy · 30/05/2026

I just revived my 2009 iPod 80GB. Such a wonderful device. I love the clicking noise when scrolling through menus. It's coming with me on my urban strolls through Vienna from now on. Going to listen to the music that was left on it first. But I wonder whether […] [Original post on w3c.social]

Picture shows a black Apple iPod music player, bought in 2009, with a menu that lists album titles.

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herbert @hvdsomp.w3c.social.ap.brid.gy · 15/05/2026

Being a born Belgian, I adore the Duvel beer. Having lived in New Mexico for 2 decades, I am a sucker for tequila. But this “best of both worlds” combo really disappoints. I appreciate the idea and the attempt. It’s just not it.

That’s a 75cl beer bottle. The label indicates it’s Duvel, a Belgian strong beer, aged in tequila barrels.

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herbert @hvdsomp.w3c.social.ap.brid.gy · 06/05/2026

Turns out there’s a Wildenmann in Vienna too. Nothing like the great “In de Wildeman” cafe in Amsterdam but, hey, you can’t have it all.

Pic shows the facade of a building in Vienna with the inscription Wilden Mann and a statue of what is supposed to look like a primitive wild human man.

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herbert @hvdsomp.w3c.social.ap.brid.gy · 14/04/2026

It’s not every day that one can see Vienna’s Karlskirche decorated by a beach, forklift palm trees, and a victory column decorated with contemporary art

The picture shows Karlskirche in the background with surroundings as described in the toot

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herbert @hvdsomp.w3c.social.ap.brid.gy · 28/03/2026

The defense of @hochstenbach PhD thesis “Scholarly Communication Using the Decentralized Web” at Ghent University was a total blast. Obviously because of the mere quality of the presented research. But also because, for the first time in over 20 years, it reunited […] [Original post on w3c.social]

From left to right: Herbert Van de Sompel, Patrick Hochstenbach, Jeroen Bekaert, Johan Bollen

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herbert @hvdsomp.w3c.social.ap.brid.gy · 05/12/2025

It’s Bandcamp Friday and you could be the very first to buy downloads of the resurrected 90ies albums by the Belgian experimental computer music band (2 humans and 4 networked Macs running homegrown Max code) Young Farmers Claim Future youngfarmersclaimfuture.bandcamp.com

Cover of the Unploughed CD by Young Farmers Claim Future

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herbert @hvdsomp.w3c.social.ap.brid.gy · 12/04/2025

Beefheart, Rotten, and Sompel. With thanks to Anton Corbijn.

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herbert @hvdsomp.w3c.social.ap.brid.gy · 10/04/2025

In response to popular demand, I am re-sharing the URL of the blog post I wrote with @phonedudemln.bsky.social about the Universal Preprint Service prototype we built in 1999 that led to the OAI-PMH and OpenURL specifications and their adoption. A tribute to Cliff […] [Original post on w3c.social]

October 21 1999, Santa Fe Institute: Herbert Van de Sompel and Michael L. Nelson at the end of the first day of the Santa Fe Meeting of the Open Archives Initiative

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herbert @hvdsomp.w3c.social.ap.brid.gy · 08/04/2025

An Austrian newspaper highlighting widespread cryptocurrency scams caught my attention. As did the trump admin’s decision to no longer pursue cryptocurrency fraude cases www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec…

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herbert @hvdsomp.w3c.social.ap.brid.gy · 08/04/2025

"Cliff Lynch: The Invisible Influencer in Information Infrastructure" is a tribute @phonedudemln.bsky.social and I wrote for Clifford Lynch. Today, Cliff is retiring as Executive Director of @cni. We chose to write about the Universal Preprint Service prototype […] [Original post on w3c.social]

screenshot of a preprint metadata record displayed by the Universal Preprint Service prototype created in preparation of the October 1999 Santa Fe Meeting of the Open Archives Initiative

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herbert @hvdsomp.w3c.social.ap.brid.gy · 06/04/2025

Just putting this out there. Der Spiegel features agent orange on its cover and the title translates to “the robber baron”

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herbert @hvdsomp.w3c.social.ap.brid.gy · 09/03/2025

I can’t really explain why I’m so excited to have been able to revive my 20+ year old Nokia using a 10 euro SIM from the local supermarket. But I am. I just called myself from my iPhone.

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herbert @hvdsomp.w3c.social.ap.brid.gy · 06/02/2025

So terrible it could be the name of a EU #scholcom infrastructure project

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herbert @hvdsomp.w3c.social.ap.brid.gy · 31/01/2025

Phew, one down. One more to go; but that's even a harder one - I much recommend the Opt Out directions by @cyberlyra - www.optoutproject.net/tags/cleanse

picture is a screenshot of an empty Yahoo mail Inbox

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herbert @hvdsomp.w3c.social.ap.brid.gy · 21/01/2025

@timbray Indeed. Verified with a friend who (still) uses Instagram

Screenshot shown Instagram search for #Democrats returning zero results. Results are blocked.

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herbert @hvdsomp.w3c.social.ap.brid.gy · 05/12/2024

I just learned that Albuquerque, NM, has a Tumbleweed Snowman tradition. I lived in NM for two decades and had no idea.

Big white snowman made of tumbleweeds shown against a marvelously blue New Mexican sky.

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