iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jack Norton @jackhistorynorton.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

I am unsurprised by my patience w/ students & colleagues as we struggle to teach & learn in a nation increasingly dominated by fascist grift. I'm a bit surprised how little tolerance I have for the Democratic Party, who have been cowards in the face of the grift.

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Dan Cohen @dancohen.org · 06/10/2026

On the 20th anniversary of Zotero's 1.0 release on October 5, 2006, I wrote a history of the collaboration and years it took to create the popular research tool now used by over 20 million people: newsletter.dancohen.org/archive/the-...

newsletter.dancohen.org

The Slow Formation of Durable Software

How a group of historians took years to imagine Zotero, the research application that would eventually be used by millions

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Jack Norton @jackhistorynorton.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

MN Politics folks: anyone able to follow the money on the 'Sota Project? They're trying to do drop-ins on college classes, ostensibly to register voters. There's a suspiciously astroturf website. www.thesotaproject.com 501 (c)(4) Offering $4,500/month for organizers @taylordahlin.com @dbrauer.net

thesotaproject.com

The 'Sota Project

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Jack Norton @jackhistorynorton.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

If you teach with a Windows11 computer, hit Ctrl + windows key + L to turn on live captions. The captions sit on top of all software windows & the captioning is done on your device, so it’s fast. Also useful during meeting w slides. It does not produce a transcript.

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Soren Stevenson @sorenwithward8.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Your input can help shape the plan’s goals and vision. Take the Minneapolis 2050 survey by the end of day tomorrow to share your input: www.surveymonkey.com/r/FXTMXZQ

surveymonkey.com

Minneapolis 2050 Community Survey

Take this survey powered by surveymonkey.com. Create your own surveys for free.

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Jack Norton @jackhistorynorton.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Painter Park in Minneapolis. Just after sundown. Groups playing basketball, ultimate frisbee, and soccer. Skate park is medium full.

Image of Minneapolis Park with multiple residents playing games just after sundown

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Jack Norton @jackhistorynorton.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I read Oscar Hijuelos _The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love_ based on Ann Patchett's laudatory intro to the book. & whoa, never, ever gonna pay attention to Patchett again. She wrote admiringly that this was a time (the 50s) "when fictional characters and actual human beings rolled into bed. . .

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mollypeonies @mollypeonies.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

The easiest thing in this story to grab on to is how MPD spent that $1.92 million in overtime in just four days. 101 personnel assigned to the operation where 7 people remained at a memorial. THE FULL MPD NARRATIVE RECORD IS RIGHT THERE IN THE STORY. Any reporter can download it directly.

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Jack Norton @jackhistorynorton.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

She trained as a labor historian at Macalester College. Celebrating a life well spent, sadly cut short. #fuckcancer

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Jack Norton @jackhistorynorton.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

I began with an #annotatedsyllabus this year. Worked ok, good questions, nothing overwhelming. I'm continuing w/ all annotated assignments. The students are crushing it. 1 student raised an issue in an annotation w a file type (pdf) at 2 pm, 3 others responded in the next three hours. . . .

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Jack Norton @jackhistorynorton.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Spanish history ship needs, take note. (I was Carla Rahn Phillips student, so I note this with affection)

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Jack Norton @jackhistorynorton.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

I just finished my first week as faculty union president of my community college, and the number of emails I have sent is at least triple what my usual, already high email volume is this week. Thankfully, I have an excellent & interesting batch of students that fill my cup up in between emails.

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Karl Galle @karlgalle.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

"The ebook edition will be made open access within 3 years of publication thanks to JSTOR’s Path to Open, a program developed to bring about equitable access & impact for the entire scholarly community [of] authors, researchers, libraries, & univ. presses around the world." 👀 📗 #HistSTM #MedievalSky

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Jack Norton @jackhistorynorton.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Related to the financial holes that MN State Universities have dug, please note that 94% of all Div I Athletics programs lost money last year. All Div II programs lost money. There are good reasons to have athletics in higher ed, but raising money isn't one of them. www.gao.gov/products/gao...

gao.gov

U.S. GAO - College Athletics: Most Programs Spend More Than They Generate in Revenue

Many colleges spend millions on athletic programs. Division I college athletic programs, the highest competitive level, spent $20.8 billion in the...

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Jack Norton @jackhistorynorton.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Today at ~3:45 I took a picture of an Amazing Thailand driver parked across the bike lane & across the cross walk. The driver emerged, asked what I was doing. I told him I was reporting his parking her grew aggressive, threatening me with assault, taking my picture and telling me “he’d be back.”

Silver car illegally parked across crosswalk and bike lane.

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Jack Norton @jackhistorynorton.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

I wish people would stop trying to dunk on Gaines & Cunningham for being less-than-superlative athletes & spend more time highlighting that these two support state-mandated genital inspections of our children. That's evil in any league, and regardless of the their athletics histories.

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Jack Norton @jackhistorynorton.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

Inspired by @cjdenial.bsky.social and @remikalir.bsky.social , I'm going to have my students annotate my syllabi this year. Given the promising engagement it offers, I'm considering having all my assignments be annotated. Faculty who've done this, what worked and what didn't?

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Cate Denial @cjdenial.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Wondering how to deal with AI in your classroom in a way that isn't grounded in suspicion, or punitive? Here's one way of doing that: catherinedenial.org/blog/uncateg...

catherinedenial.org

How I’m Teaching about GenAI – Cate Denial

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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Just want to drop this bit of nativist paranoia about Italians here. Check out the labels.

Italian immigrants depicted as ratlike creatures with hats saying MAFIA and SOCIALIST etc.

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Jack Norton @jackhistorynorton.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

"The Dutch indifference to bikes (and why that’s good)" - I wrote a bit about bikes, networks, and capability theory as it applies to pedagogy. jacknorton.org/blog/the-dut...

jacknorton.org

The Dutch indifference to bikes (and why that’s good) – A better train wreck

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Jack Norton @jackhistorynorton.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

One of the odd hidden costs of Ai slop I'm seeing is it's use by small businesses in weird ways. For example, we got the tacos below from a food hall in Iceland that used Ai to create the sign on their food truck. The food truck in the ad looks nothing like the real truck.The tacos? No.

Image of tacos with small flour tortillas.

Ai produced advertisement of Iceland's Best Tacos with large tacos.

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Tom Mullaney @tommullaney.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

I have not seen anything from LLMs, image generators, NotebookLM, or any generative AI that justify the suffering their data centers cause. And this story isn't even Boxtown. youtu.be/9wDr2dec474?...

youtu.be

Neighbors say noise from Michigan data center is 24/7 and upending their lives

YouTube video by WXYZ-TV Detroit | Channel 7

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Jack Norton @jackhistorynorton.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Former Sun Street bakery appears to be remodeling to be Evrgreen Cafe.” For S Minneapolis folks. Will be looking for more details and where the “e” went.

Image of building permit for evergreen cafe

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Jack Norton @jackhistorynorton.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Gotta find a way to use this sentiment for teaching.

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Jack Norton @jackhistorynorton.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

Data Empire spotted in the wild (Magers & Quinn bookstore in Minneapolis) and given good home (mine.) @roopikarisam.bsky.social Book shelved in “world history” section. Still one on shelf for any Twin Cities nerds.

Image of Data Empire book on bookstore shelves.

Image of Data Empire book lying on white stone.

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Jack Norton @jackhistorynorton.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

A child died in MN, again, trying to cross a street designed to kill. As a historian, I engage some grim sources, but nothing gets to me like the culpability we share for killing children in the service of convenience and profit. www.startribune.com/police-searc...

Image of 8 lane wide country highway with right and left turn lanes.

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KC @kcmpls.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

I am hiring a Project Manager. The position supports the MN Dept of Revenue and would work on a range of IT projects including custom development, SAAS, COTS, infrastructure and telcom projects. It is a hybrid with 50% in office in St Paul. Search for job 95234 here: careers.mn.gov

careers.mn.gov

Index Page

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Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

🚨🚨🚨 "The three men who were arrested during an operation that resulted in the fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo said a federal officer fired at them almost immediately after exiting his vehicle and that at no point did the driver veer in his direction." wapo.st/4ydn1Ux

wapo.st

Migrants who saw man killed by ICE in Houston say he did not ram officers

Three men who were in the vehicle alongside Lorenzo Salgado Araujo are contesting the Department of Homeland Security’s account of the fatal shooting.

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Jack Norton @jackhistorynorton.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

I encourage folks who want safer infrastructure to focus less on point to point trips, even on bikes, and more in trip chains. As in, I need a burrito, a prescription, a library book, socks, and three bananas in no particular order. That’s the promise of a system that includes Lyndale ave.

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Jack Norton @jackhistorynorton.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

@lauragmitchell.com Shop by appointment only, but here’s the home of WorkCycles.

Image of green bike mounted as if on a wall inside a window.

Image of Work Cycles headquarters in Amsterdam with orange sign.

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King Algamemnon @adamrothman.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

Enjoy this article from a Minnesota newspaper in 1882 noting that Scandinavians love their home countries so much that it will take them generations to assimilate into America. www.loc.gov/resource/sn8...

SCANDINAVIANS
No people on earth, probably excel the Scandinavians, and scarcely any equal them, unless it may be the Swiss mountaineers, in attachment to their native country. The Scandinavian emigrant
brings with him to this country, not only his love of home, but his attachments to customs and habits of his old home. So
strong is this passion that it is hard for him to assimilate to the customs of his new home, and to conform to the ideas of American citizenship, but he remains in his adopted land, a foreigner, in all that pertains to his modes, manners, habits,
likes and dislikes.

This peculiar habit of our Scandinavian fellow citizens, and this strong, over-mastering attachment to their native land, has not been generally known and appreciated by our own citizens, "to the manor born."
It will take several generations to wear away this foster land attachment, and to assimilate the Scandinavian emigrant, and
absorb him into the language, habits, customs and true idea of a homogeneous American citizenship.

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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

Postmaster General David Steiner confirmed that the Postal Service would not deliver mail-in ballots in states that refuse to provide voter data to the federal government. There are a few days left in the 30-day public comment period before a final rule is issued by the end of July. Please comment!☝️

nytimes.com

Postmaster General Confirms Plan to Hold Back Mail Ballots Under Proposed Rule

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Michael Lobel @mlobelart.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Sad to learn of passing of eminent historian Carlo Ginzburg; his "The Cheese and the Worms" is one of the books that had the most impact on me as a grad student, as the writing is lively & builds insight from small, carefully observed details of the historical record en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Che...

Cover of book by Carlo Ginzburg, "The Cheese and the Worms: The Cosmos of a Sixteenth-Century Miller"

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Jack Norton @jackhistorynorton.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

I didn't appreciate how big the Highland Ford site in St. Paul was until I biked through it today. The river feature & surrounding park are whimsical and fun. There's a fancy grocer, & a "comfortable shoes" shop right there: how is this not the most popular grandparent-landia of the Twin Cities?

Google Map image of Highland Development site in St. Paul, minnesota. The Mississippi river frames the right side of the image, and large blocks of undeveloped land appear in the middle of the image.

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Jack Norton @jackhistorynorton.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

Like everyone, I have limited time & attention. So no, I'm not attending to a sporting-event that glazes fascism, or sexist-snark about a big pencil. Kids, teaching, travel and books- those get my attention.

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Jack Norton @jackhistorynorton.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

Rode to the UPS store in Uptown today, mostly on protected bikeway. I previously avoided this store as it was on Hennepin, which was a car sewer. Saw a sushi place on my way that looks good (Kiku Bistro).

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Jacek Debiec, MD, PhD, DPhil 🌎 🧠 @drjacekdebiec.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

Amnesty International:"Generative AI systems, based on unlawful web scraping, are in conflict with international human rights law (IHRL) and standards through their design, development and deployment..Amnesty International is calling for a prohibition of such systems" www.amnesty.org/en/documents...

amnesty.org

Unlawful by design: Exposing the human rights costs of generative AI - Amnesty International

This briefing examines how standalone generative AI systems, based on unlawful web scraping, are in conflict with international human rights law (IHRL) and standards through their design, development ...

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ana valdivia @anavaldi.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

Friendly reminder:

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Jack Norton @jackhistorynorton.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

Another brilliant Day of DH @carleton.edu with @medhieval.bsky.social . Highlights include @samplereality.bsky.social keynote and the Macalester crew working on accessibility.

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Jack Norton @jackhistorynorton.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

@medhieval.bsky.social could we take the lights up 20%? Would help take notes.

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Jack Norton @jackhistorynorton.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

FYI: FYI Landscaping blocked the Bryant Bike Lane twice today, once completely just before Barton school opened and again this afternoon. They were asked to move by a tenacious cyclist in an urban arrow this morning (rock on hero stranger) and by me this afternoon. They ignored me.

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Laura G Mitchell @lauragmitchell.com · 02/06/2026

Happy Pride month! 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @perennialcycle.bsky.social ‘s Queer History Ride is one of my favorite rides of the summer. Mark your calendars! June 13th 10:30am meet up at Boom Island 5 mile route

Screenshot of a flier for Perennial’s Queer History Ride featuring a pink illustrated bike

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Roopika Risam @roopikarisam.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

Take a break and slide into the weekend with the May issue of #ReviewsInDH, brought to you by @jenguiliano.bsky.social & yours truly. Tibetan historical figures! The history of sex work! Black student protests in higher ed! We have it all. reviewsindh.pubpub.org/v7-n5

reviewsindh.pubpub.org

Vol. 7, No. 5: May 2026 · Reviews in Digital Humanities

Vol. 7, No. 5 of Reviews in Digital Humanities, a peer-reviewed journal that facilitates scholarly evaluation of digital humanities work and its outputs, edited by Jennifer Guiliano (Indiana Universit...

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Jack Norton @jackhistorynorton.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

Rode to Lake Phalen today. Murdered a bahn mi from I ❤️ Pho on the shore, not pretty but so tasty.

Image of Lake with blue sky and bike handle bars in the foreground

Image of chicken hoagie sandwich (bahn mi)

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