iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Donna Trembinski @medievalatx.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

This right here is why I asked to stop teaching Western Civ and began teaching the global premodern. Why are any of us still teaching a constructed history that supports Western exceptionalism and (Judeo)Christian nationalism?

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Donna Trembinski @medievalatx.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Hey @canmedievalists.bsky.social, please join me in congratulating Dr. Shannon McSheffrey on being elected as a fellow to the Royal Society of Canada. This honour is well-deserved! Congratulations Shannon!

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Donna Trembinski @medievalatx.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Lots of hating on AI on bluesky at the moment, but as a second reader for difficult emails, I appreciate it. I don't always agree with its suggestions, but just thinking through them is helpful. AI can't replace good writing (good lord no), but it can help. mitsloan.mit.edu/press/humans...

mitsloan.mit.edu

Humans and AI: Do they work better together or alone? | MIT Sloan

“When Combinations of Humans and AI Are Useful” is the first large-scale meta-analysis conducted to better understand when human-AI combinations are useful in task completion, and when they are not.

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Donna Trembinski @medievalatx.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

As a historian who understands where nationalism can lead, I am wary of the nationalist fervour gripping our nation right now. It's stronger than I have ever seen in my 50 year life. But as a Canadian, I am also proud of how we are standing up for our country and its distinctive bilingual culture.

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Donna Trembinski @medievalatx.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

In response, I give you two post apocalyptic novels, both excellent: Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice and the Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. (I also have quite enjoyed seeing images of Christopher Plummer ripping the Nazi flag today).

Cover of The Handmaid's Tale. Black background with a stylized woman with a white wimple and a red dress. In white writing at the Top "The #1 Worldwide Bestseller. Below that in larger letters Margaret Atwood's name and then the title over the image of the woman "The Handmaid's Tale".

Cover of Moon of the Crusted snow. White background with an image of a snowscape in the bottom third. In the foreground is snow with a red truck stuck and snowed over. In the background, electrical wires, trees and buildings. The writing on the cover reads at the top "Chilling in the best way possible"- Eden Robinson. The Title in larger letters "Moon of the Crusted Snow". Underneath that in very small letters "A Novel". Then the authors name again in larger letters "Waubgeshig Rice".

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Middle East Medievalists @mideastmedieval.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

MEM’s Board is welcoming nominations (including self-nominations) for the following positions, with three-year terms beginning January 2027: Vice President Board Member (1 position) Graduate Student Representative

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Donna Trembinski @medievalatx.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

There are probably some errors (I am still digging through material and will be for a while) but as a tool for visualization this was incredibly helpful. My next task it to try to link it to know medieval Italian route/road data.

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Donna Trembinski @medievalatx.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Playing with AI as a research tool. I'm working on a new project on networks of care around Francis. I was struggling to visualize the geographies of the religious houses that existed in his life and the generation after his death, but Claude drew this helpful map. franciscannetworks.netlify.app

franciscannetworks.netlify.app

Churches & Monasteries of the Franciscan World, c. 1200–1270

Assisi, Perugia, Cortona and the territory between — the religious houses active in Francis's lifetime, mapped by order.

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Donna Trembinski @medievalatx.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

I'm not posting much these days, but am taking slow steps back into social media. I have been doing other things like writing this opinion piece (I don't really think it is career advice in spite of the tag), on teaching AI lit. in my Global History classroom. universityaffairs.ca/news/help-ai...

universityaffairs.ca

Help! AI stole my students’ brains! - University Affairs

Why professors must teach undergrads to think critically about artificial intelligence tools.

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Stephen Brooke @sjbrooke.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

here's a recording of a roundtable on London, 1984 @oupacademic.bsky.social thanks to @cndhistassoc.bsky.social and @medievalatx.bsky.social for hosting and @amyhelenbell.bsky.social, Catherine Ellis, Stephen Heathorn, and Guy Ortolano for their contributions: www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oTi...

youtube.com

JCHA Roundtable | Table ronde de la RSHC : London, 1984 (Stephen Brooke)

YouTube video by CHA SHC

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Donna Trembinski @medievalatx.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

The arts teach empathy, creativity, outside the box thinking, and generally enrich people's lives. The arts are generative and productive, and yes, technocrats that seek to cut the minimal funding they still receive, even in a financial sense. To the MLAs of NS who support such cuts, shame.

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Donna Trembinski @medievalatx.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

I've been taking a break from social media, but I am ready to hop back in. I could speak to the wider world (awful) but let's keep it local for now (also awful). Here's a very wise response to the Houston govt's planned cuts from Cornelia Schneider at MSVU. www.halifaxexaminer.ca/commentary/m...

halifaxexaminer.ca

MSVU professor expresses 'deep concerns' about N.S. budget cuts - Halifax Examiner

I am asking you to listen to your constituents and not just engage in the very cruel trajectory your government unfortunately has started to follow.

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Sonja Drimmer @sonjadrimmer.bsky.social · 27/08/2025

People of Connecticut and regions nearby. Come on out on September 16! Free and open to the public.

A poster for a talk I'm giving.

Tuesday, September 16, 2025 at 4:30pm
Boger Hall, Room 112, 41 Wyllys Avenue, Middletown, Connecticut

Free and open to the public.

"Extracting the Past: How the 'AI' Industry Exploits Art History and What We Can Do to Stop It."

Over the last several years, universities and museums have partnered with commercial technology firms like Google, Microsoft, and Meta, who have promised that their AI products will enhance both historical research and accessibility to historical collections. These promises, however, are not supported by the reality of what computer vision--the branch of AI most relevant to the history of art--can achieve. So why have major institutions in education and the arts been so quick to take up these firms' offers?

This talk responds to this question by providing an introduction to computer vision's origins in military surveillance, an overview of its development under late capitalist regimes of exploitative micro-labor, and an orientation to how computer vision works. However, the main focus of this talk is not what computer vision does. Rather, Drimmer considers the culture of the AI industry, its main objectives, and the dangerous vision for the future that it promises--and whether those promises are credible or even in good faith. This vision for the future has relied on extracting history, and art history in particular, and Drimmer argues that it is our responsibility as art historians to be knowledgeable about the forms this extraction takes. Drimmer concludes with suggestions about what we can do to protect the subjects and practitioners of our discipline, as well as education in the humanities more broadly, against this incursion. Drimmer does not intend an intransigent rejection of a given technology; rather this talk articulates a challenge that is grounded in knowledge of the historical origins and corporate practices of the AI industry today.

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Donna Trembinski @medievalatx.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

Solidarity with the faculty Dalhousie who were locked out by their administration this morning. Thinking of them on the lines and I hope to be there to march with them on Friday.

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Donna Trembinski @medievalatx.bsky.social · 13/08/2025

More and more evidence to support movements of peoples in the EMA- here people from sub Saharan Africa buried in Kent. Every time I teach a finding like this to a class, they are surprised, because it up ends what they have been taught, often in grade school, about the hegemonic white Middle Ages.

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Dr. Jeroen W.P. Wijnendaele @drdragases.bsky.social · 12/08/2025

Spread word! In memory of the late Walter Goffart, we kindly invite scholars to submit proposals for papers on a range of topics clustered around quintessential Goffartian subjects Maps, Migrations, and the Mechanics of Settlement & Taxation in Late Antiquity. To be held at @imc-leeds.bsky.social.

CALL FOR PAPERS:
MAPS, MIGRATIONS, AND THE MECHANICS OF
SETTLEMENT & TAXATION IN LATE ANTIQUITY.
PAPERS IN MEMORY OF WALTER GOFFART
(INTERNATIONAL MEDIEVAL CONGRESS, LEEDS 6-9 JULY 2026)

Just before turning 91 this year, Walter Goffart passed away on Friday 14 February at New Haven. For more than six decades, Goffart delivered seminal contributions to a wide rang of subjects, ranging from Carolingian monastic manuscripts, to Constantinopolitan policy on the “barbarian question” or Early Modern cartography.

In honour of his intellectual legacy, we will organize sessions and a roundtable at the International Medieval Congress in Leeds, the largest gathering of scholars working on Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages in Europe. We kindly invite researchers at any stage (from PhD student to Professor) to propose papers on a range of topics close - but certainly not limited - to quintessential Goffartian subjects, such as:

- Critical approaches to ‘Barbarian’ ethnicity and identity
- Eastern Roman foreign policy on the West
- Late Roman institutional history
- The Early Modern and Modern reception of die Völkerwanderung
- The first historiographers of the Early Medieval Kingdoms

Those interested in joining, are kindly asked to send an abstract of max. 300 words (plus brief bio of max. 100 words), for twenty-minute papers before Monday 15 September to jeroen.wijnendaele@ugent.be. Accepted speakers will be notified on Monday 22 September, and are expected to arrange their own funding to cover expenses for registration, accommodation and travel. We will consider publishing select papers of sufficient quality afterwards.

Jeroen W.P. Wijnendaele
(also on behalf of Guy Halsall, Michael Kulikowski & Danuta Shanzer)
Ghent University & Gerda Henkel Stiftung

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Donna Trembinski @medievalatx.bsky.social · 08/07/2025

This whole thread is important. Sad to see what has been an excellent medievalist press gobbled up by T and F. And of course, this is the result. At the end of the thread, @aspencerhall.bsky.social has recced some excellent books from AUP, doing T and F's job for them.

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Cdn Society of Medievalists/Société Canadienne des médiévistes @canmedievalists.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

Another day, another session summary! To begin, Katherine Pierpont used municipal records to trace the presence of troubadours and jongleurs in medieval Toulouse. Her work enables her to sometimes place individuals in precise domiciles and allows her to start to understand their social networks.

A part of a conference schedule noting the names of scholars and titles of papers for a particular panel, details below.

Session 5A: Mapping Medieval People's
Lives || Cartographier la vie des
médiévaux
Location: SJ2-2003

Katherine Pierpont, University of Toronto
The Proof is in the Property: Digital Maps as
Historical Narratives in Toulouse (c. 1150-1250)

Emily Hutchison, Mount Royal University
Healthscaping in a Time of Climate Change: Mapping
the Evidence in Late Medieval Paris

Lucie Laumonier, Concordia University
Neighborly Relations: the Montpellier Butchers c.
1380-1500
Chair: Isabelle Cochelin, University of Toronto

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Donna Trembinski @medievalatx.bsky.social · 26/06/2025

Hey at CSM Medievalists! I know we just finished our annual conference, but is there any interest in a DH workshop/sharing what we are doing at CSM 2025? Just a thought right now...

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Donna Trembinski @medievalatx.bsky.social · 20/06/2025

I'm biased, but i think broad approach means we are often publishing cutting edge work. Come join us!

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Donna Trembinski @medievalatx.bsky.social · 20/06/2025

Putting on my JCHA co-editor hat. JCHA publishes original research on all aspects, places and periods of history and its related disciplines. If you are interested in publishing with us, see our submission guidelines here: jcha-rshc.ca/index.php/jc...

jcha-rshc.ca

Submissions | Journal of the Canadian Historical Association | Revue de la Société historique du Canada

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Donna Trembinski @medievalatx.bsky.social · 18/06/2025

Fascinating find near my hometown, where a rock was carved in a Futhark version of the Lord's Prayer. The version is from 1611 but was republished (and copied into stone to claim space) in the 19th c. But the comments make clear why we need to teach the skills of history. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

cbc.ca

Mysterious carving found in northern Ontario wilderness | CBC News

Seven years after it was discovered in the northern Ontario bush near the town of Wawa, a carving in the bedrock remains an archaeological, mystery. But plans are in the works to develop it into a tou...

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University of Illinois Press @illinoispress.bsky.social · 17/06/2025

The Outstanding Dissertation in Disability History prize, in partnership with the Disability Histories series & the Disability History Association, is now open for submissions! Visit go.illinois.edu/DisabilityHi... for guidelines. *Submissions due by June 30, 2025* #DisabilityHistory #DisHist

Now Announcing
The Outstanding Dissertation in Disability History Prize
Submissions due by June 30, 2025
University of Illinois Press

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The Medieval Academy of America @medievalacademy.bsky.social · 17/06/2025

Symposium - Ritual Cultures of Medieval Religious Women A symposium of new research on nuns, beguines, recluses, and other sisters. DATE: 14-15 July 2025 HOSTED BY: Notre Dame Rome and the Medieval Institute of the University of Notre Dame. www.themedievalacademyblog.org/symposium-ri...

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Donna Trembinski @medievalatx.bsky.social · 16/06/2025

I'm in a new department @stfx-university.bsky.social, Art and Material Cultures so I'm designing new courses like this one that looks at the social and architectural realities of building cathedrals and castles in the Middle Ages. So exciting to be teaching this in the fall! I'll see you in Art 395!

A page that explains what the course is (Art 395: Castles and Cathedrals, Rebuilding Notre Dame) and what it's about (materials, architecture, space, craft, economics, society, catastrophe, rebuilding, nostalgia) and the assessments planned for the course including planning and executing a day camp for kids, planning an art scheme for a portion of the cathedral and in class workshops.

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Donna Trembinski @medievalatx.bsky.social · 15/05/2025

Every democracy has understood that an educated voting population was necessary for its survival (even if, in the past, the voting population and so education was limited by class/gender). Hollowing out education only benefits those who can afford access to it anyway- elites in a failing democracy.

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Donna Trembinski @medievalatx.bsky.social · 12/05/2025

So appreciative of Shami Ghosh's review of Ziolkowski's new book (Nostalgia and the German(ic) Past) in the TMR today. A really important reminder that there is no neutral position, no matter how much we might wish or pretend there is. It's hard to read, but oh so important in our field right now.

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Canadian Historical Association | Société historique du Canada @cndhistassoc.bsky.social · 02/05/2025

Friday Feature: This roundtable is coming up soon! Join us online this Monday to discuss Rowan Dorin’s prizewinning book. #cdnhist #medieval @medievalatx.bsky.social

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Donna Trembinski @medievalatx.bsky.social · 23/04/2025

More than a quarter of people eligible to vote in this election have already voted. This has shattered records. It's pretty clear Canadians understand the importance of this national election and the critical importance of good leadership right now. www.cbc.ca/news/politic....

cbc.ca

Record 7.3 million Canadians voted during advance polls: Elections Canada | CBC News

About 7.3 million Canadians took advantage of advance voting and cast their ballots over the long weekend, according to Elections Canada.

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Donna Trembinski @medievalatx.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

I suspected this travel advisory was coming. Here we are. This is from is our the national union of university teachers in Canada, representing faculty from 120 universities. I'm sorry to be missing the Zoo for a while, but I, like most of my colleagues, hit at least 2 of those bullet points.

In bold green at the top: 2025 Supplement to the CAUT Advisory on Travel to the United States.

Given the rapidly evolving political landscape in the United States and reports of individuals encountering difficulties crossing the border, CAUT is issuing a supplement to its 2019 and 2005 Travel Advisory. This Supplemental Advisory addresses recent developments at the U.S. border, as well as legislative and judicial developments in Canada.

CAUT strongly recommends that academic staff travel to the U.S. only if essential and necessary. In addition, CAUT recommends that academics who fall into the following categories exercise particular caution:

§ Citizens or residents of a country identified in media reports as likely to be subject to a travel ban

§ Citizens or residents of a country where there are diplomatic tensions with the U.S.

§ Travelers with passport stamps evidencing recent travel to countries that may be subject to a travel ban or where there are diplomatic tensions with the U.S.

§ Those who have expressed negative opinions about the current U.S. administration or its policies

§ Those whose research could be seen as being at odds with the position of the current U.S. administration

Travelers who identify as transgender or whose travel documents indicate a sex other than their sex assigned at birth.

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Donna Trembinski @medievalatx.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

Join the CHA and CSM for a online panel about Rowan Dorin's awarding winning book! May 5, 5 pm UTC. Featuring Rowan Dorin, Nicholas Terpstra, Elisheva Baumgarten, Ada Maria Kuskowski, Marie Dejoux with Miri Rubin (moderator) and Shannon McSheffrey (chair). To register, follow the link. #medievalsky

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Donna Trembinski @medievalatx.bsky.social · 09/04/2025

How did I not know Murderbot was being turned into a series! This looks amazing. Not surprising, the books were also amazing.

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Donna Trembinski @medievalatx.bsky.social · 09/04/2025

Apparently @bsky.app is the place to be for research! It definitely has been the new home of #medieval research for months.

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Mar Hicks @histoftech.bsky.social · 08/04/2025

“From April 14-18, select UBC graduate programs at UBC Vancouver will re-open their applications for US citizens to be considered for Sept 2025 or Jan 2026 entry - they are ready to provide quick admissions decisions for these applicants“ #gradstudent #gradschool www.grad.ubc.ca/us-applicant...

grad.ubc.ca

US Applicant Week

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UCL Special Collections @uclspeccoll.bsky.social · 08/04/2025

Job vacancy! We are looking for an Outreach Programme Manager (maternity cover). Email library.spec.coll.ed@ucl.ac.uk for the full job description. Please share with your networks! jobs.guidantglobal.com/job/outreach...

jobs.guidantglobal.com

Outreach Programme Manager,

Duties and Responsibilities UCL Special Collections is home to the university's collection of rare books, archives and manuscripts, and the outreach team deliver an education programme for schools and...

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Donna Trembinski @medievalatx.bsky.social · 06/04/2025

Not (only) AI. Education funding being hollowed out. Not paying teachers nearly enough. Undervaluing education for its own sake. Historically, cultures with democracies understood the need for an educated voting population. But not recently in North America.

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Donna Trembinski @medievalatx.bsky.social · 06/04/2025

And this is why I won't vote conservative. This is the very rhetoric Trump used and it has led cancelled funding in all disciplines from cancer research to classics. universityaffairs.ca/news/where-d...

From a University Affairs article outlining the positions of the federal parties on higher education. The section of the article in the photo reads

Conservative Party of Canada

Led by Official Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre, the CPC would:

End to the “imposition of woke ideology” in the federal civil service and in the allocation of federal funds for university research

Incentivize federal funding to universities that have “implemented the Chicago Principles” to “protect free speech on campus.” Failure to protect free expression “would result in losing federal funding.”

Implement a “competitive review process with enhanced transparency and accountability” to determine Tri-Council grant recipients and “restore merit” by directing hiring practices associated with research funding “away from ideology.”

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Donna Trembinski @medievalatx.bsky.social · 04/04/2025

Came on to see what was going on after successfully ignoring news for most of the day. What's going on BESIDES a near century of trade relationships being blown up yesterday at 4pm EDT... post after post of cancelled NEH grants. Of course. Going to put my head back in the sand until tomorrow.

media.tenor.com

three ostrich cartoon characters are standing in the sand with the words head in the sand above them

Alt: three ostrich cartoon characters are standing in the sand with the words head in the sand above them

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Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

If you are an MAA member and your NEH or IMLS funding is at risk or has already been revoked, please email me. I don't know what, if anything, MAA can do to help you, but we will absolutely try. #MedievalSky

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Donna Trembinski @medievalatx.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

I know that cuts to medicine and climate research seem more immediately concerning, but cuts to the humanities mean fewer people who learn about different cultures and that other ways of being, other political structures, are possible. These cuts make authoritarianism more likely to succeed.

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Donna Trembinski @medievalatx.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

Nice to see this in print! If you are interested in publishing with the JCHA, drop a line, or check out our submission portal here: jcha-rshc.ca/index.php/jc.... Also, remember that the JCHA/RSHC publishes all all fields of history (including medieval!) and in English or French.

jcha-rshc.ca

Submissions | Journal of the Canadian Historical Association | Revue de la Société historique du Canada

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Donna Trembinski @medievalatx.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

I am a day late posting, but it was lovely to see our honours students in RLGS and HIST come together to talk about their thesis work at STFX. Charlotte Adams talking about the representation of women in Gnostic texts and Dionne Lynch working on a piece of a larger project on recipes for the eye.

Two manuscripts, the left in colour with red rubrication with the word scief on top and on the right a manuscript in black and white with the word cepho on top. Below is written that the left MS (which our working group calls Wolf for Wolfenüttel Herzog August MS Guelf.51.1 Aug 2o. uses scief to refer to a type of eye medicine. This word is closer to the original Arabic word than Caen (Bibliothèque Municipale MS 93) than Caen's cepho.

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Shannon McSheffrey @medievalmcsheff.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

More than 300 archival documents stolen from Scottish and other UK archives by Trent University history professor in the 70s and 80s: then bequeathed to the university archives on his death! Apparently sat there for 20+ years, no one there thinking it suspicious. www.cbc.ca/radio/asitha...

cbc.ca

Over 2,000 Scottish historical letters were stolen. They were found in Canada | CBC Radio

A Scottish archivist embarked on a decades-long quest to figure out who stole thousands of historical letters, with the trail leading him to Canada.

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Laura Estill @lauraestill.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

Ready to move from Amazon-owned Goodreads to Storygraphs? (This is best done on a computer, not a phone) 1. Log into your goodreads. Click "My books" from the top menu, then "Import and Export" from the bottom of the left-hand menu 2. Export your data (this generates a .csv file)

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