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Mike Kestemont

@mikekestemont.bsky.social
598 followers 475 following 28 posts

Professor of Computational Humanities at the University of Antwerp. I work on cultural ecology and medieval literature. I love cooking outdoors. Brussels based. Python.

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Reposted by Mike Kestemont
Folgert Karsdorp @folgertk.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Paper (open access): doi.org/10.1098/rsif... With Anne Kandler, @mikekestemont.bsky.social, Iza Romanowska and @rjstapel.bsky.social
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Folgert Karsdorp @folgertk.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
One appendix result I really like is that standardizing to equal size, rarefaction, is often worse than not correcting at all… Even more so when collections are biased. Here too, coverage holds up surprisingly well.
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Folgert Karsdorp @folgertk.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
The fix comes from paleontology: compare on shared completeness (which comes from Turing!) rather than sample size. Really impressive is that ~30 items already recovers the true ratio. Bias the collection yourself and see which method survives: www.karsdorp.io/posts/202606...
karsdorp.io
Comparing diversity under collection bias
An interactive companion to our Royal Society Interface paper on collection bias: set up two assemblages, bias how their records were collected, and see which standardization strategy still recovers t...
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Folgert Karsdorp @folgertk.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Did one era really have more stories, songs, or tools than another, or was it just better recorded? When collections are built unevenly, diversity comparisons can measure the collectors instead of the cultures. Our new paper is about how to fix that.
doi.org
Correcting collection bias in comparative studies of diversity
Abstract. Comparative analyses of diversity in human populations often rely on historical, archival and observational data, which are systematically shaped
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Thibault Clérice @ponteineptique.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
We said we'd have news. The first release based on our new quarterly release for eScriptorium is out, and our lead developer talks about it: escriptorium.eu/blog/2026-05... Will come on our Inria instance next week :)
escriptorium.eu
April 2026 Release
Hello everyone, I’m Hassen, lead developer of eScriptorium. I am taking the chance of this new blog to announce the April 2026 release, the first one of the Quarter releases mentioned in our previous blog, and after our mandatory one month of beta-test.
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Caroline Vandyck @carolinevandyck.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
Wat zijn we ontzettend trots op Korneel! Als zijn begeleiders mochten @mikekestemont.bsky.social en ik van dichtbij meevolgen hoe hij zich vastbeet in de 14de-eeuwse oorkonden van Jan van Boendale. Proficiat met dit indrukwekkende traject en de verdiende eerste plaats, Korneel! 🎉
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Mason Youngblood @masonyoungblood.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
Check out our (@sobchuk.bsky.social) special issue on the cultural evolution of the arts in Evolutionary Human Sciences, with papers from @mikekestemont.bsky.social @babeheim.bsky.social @svalver.bsky.social and more! www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
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Katarzyna Anna Kapitan @kakapitan.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
#jobklaxon 10 postdocs available at @psl-univ.bsky.social in #AI. Working language: English. Btw. #digitalhumanities also happen under the AI hype these days, so get in touch and walk by this very building on your way to work. Join me in being #touristatwork #juniorProfInParis
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Katarzyna Anna Kapitan @kakapitan.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
🎶 What shall we do with the unseen sailor early in the morning 🎶
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Andres Karjus @andreskarjus.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
#DHNB2026 Digital Humanities in the Nordics&Baltics conference starts in Aarhus, Denmark; intro from local organizers + first plenary by @folgertk.bsky.social & @mikekestemont.bsky.social on using the unseen species model for several interesting historical case studies. #DHNB #DH @dhnb.bsky.social
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Carol Chiodo, Ph.D. @digitaldante.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
If there were ever a time when I wished for the gift of ubiquity, it would be for this: dhnb.eu/conferences/... Really sorry not to be in Aarhus for @mikekestemont.bsky.social & Folgert Karsdorp's keynote "Forgotten knights, missing sailors, and hidden translations: The abundance of what was lost"
dhnb.eu
DHNB 2026 – DHNB
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Folgert Karsdorp @folgertk.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
Out in Evolutionary Human Sciences! With @mikekestemont.bsky.social, @jbcamps.bsky.social, @remcosleiderink.bsky.social & Anne Chao New work on unseen species models for cult heritage to the question: how many stories were _shared_ between medieval French and Dutch literature? lnkd.in/exyAWtir
lnkd.in
LinkedIn
This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn
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Mike Kestemont @mikekestemont.bsky.social · 06/01/2026
Always grateful for the awesome winter view on the quad from my office at @uantwerpen.be 🙏 Happy new year everyone!
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Computational Humanities Research @comphumresearch.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
According to our award committee, these papers are must-reads of the #CHR2025 proceedings. Congratulations to the authors on winning the Early Career Researcher Best Paper Awards! Links and honourable mentions are available on our website: 2025.computational-humanities-research.org/news/best-pa...
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Caroline Vandyck @carolinevandyck.bsky.social · 12/12/2025
Presented my paper "The One and Only? Authorship Verification on Jan van Boendale and the Middle Dutch Antwerp School" on #CHR2025 and it won the ERC Best Long Paper Award! Delighted and grateful :) @comphumresearch.bsky.social
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Christof S. 🇪🇺 @christof.fedihum.org.ap.brid.gy · 15/07/2025
Awesome and well-deserved! ADHO's 2026 Zampolli Prize goes to stylo and the Computational Stylistics group!!! Learn more about the group and about stylo on their website: computationalstylistics.github.io #DH2025 @adho #Zampolli #stylo #DigitalHumanities
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Digital Humanities Potsdam @dhpotsdam.bsky.social · 15/07/2025
Stylo got the Zampolli prize for outstanding output in #DigitalHumanities 🏆 Congrats to Maciej Eder, @mikekestemont.bsky.social, Jan Rybicki, Joanna Byszuk, and all involved with the Computational Stylistics Group!👏 Prev. recipients were Voyant Tools, TEI, R. Siemens, C. Gaffield #DH2025 #stylometry
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Steven Van Impe @svanimpe.bsky.social · 11/07/2025
As a fun experiment, PhD student Nicky Voornevelt bought a set of manuscript fragments at an auction. One piece turned out to be in print. . . . It's a fragment of the Mainz Catholicon! 😱😱😱 #BookHistory 📚💙 📜 #Fragmentology
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Mike Kestemont @mikekestemont.bsky.social · 11/07/2025
Did you ever buy a real print by J. Gutenberg through sheer luck? We did! Well, sort of... Read more about this incredible adventure in a wonderful @rebpaf.bsky.social blog post by Nicky Voorneveld: rebpaf.wordpress.com/2025/07/11/e... Many thx to @pieterbeullens.bsky.social for his expertise! 📚📖🔍
rebpaf.wordpress.com
Experimenting in the Book Trade: From the Late 15th Century to 2025
Nicky Voorneveld, Universtiy of Antwerp The project of my fellow Antwerp REBPAF’er Marika Fox has been looking at auctions, specifically at what determines the value of rare books at auctions. This…
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Computational Humanities Research @comphumresearch.bsky.social · 26/06/2025
We are looking for a host for #CHR2026! Read the Call for Bids on our website, and submit your proposal by November, 10. computational-humanities-research.org/hosting/
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Computational Humanities Research @comphumresearch.bsky.social · 12/06/2025
We are proud to have @miguelev.bsky.social (@cssh-nus.bsky.social, National University of Singapore) and Els Lefever (LT3 Language and Translation Technology, Ghent University) as keynote speakers at our CHR2025 conference in December. More: 2025.computational-humanities-research.org/news/keynote...
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Trismegistos @trismegistostm.bsky.social · 26/05/2025
In the earlier keynote, @mikekestemont.bsky.social presented an eco-computational approach to estimate the number of forgotten authors in the (ancient) Greek cultural production. He showed how he used a (bio)statistical model, filled with #TM (Authors/Works) numbers to calculate a minimum figure!
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Katarzyna Anna Kapitan @kakapitan.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
Are you in Paris on 11/06? Do you need an excuse to come to Paris in early summer solely for scholarly purposes ? Join us for plenty of #manuscriptstudies & #digitalhumanities goodies at @ecoledeschartes.bsky.social @psl-univ.bsky.social 1/2
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Benjamin Dreyer @bcdreyer.social · 18/05/2025
Fine. More semicolons for the rest of us.
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Katarzyna Anna Kapitan @kakapitan.bsky.social · 13/05/2025
2-yrs full-time #postdoc position in #digitalhumanities and #oldnorse in Paris at @ecoledeschartes.bsky.social @psl-univ.bsky.social open for applications - there were some issues with the pdf circular, so I published the text on my blog. Please circulate widely. www.kakapitan.com/post/postdoc...
kakapitan.com
Postdoctoral Opportunity in Digital Humanities & Old Norse
I am pleased to share with you a new employment opportunity in the field of digital humanities, with a particular focus on computational philology and Old Norse studies, as part of my current project ...
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Mike Kestemont @mikekestemont.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
We hebben een aantrekkelijke vacature voor een doctoraatsstudent computationele letterkunde in ons team aan de @uantwerpen.be Hou je van middeleeuwen, liederen en code? Zeker solliciteren! Begeleiding met @remcosleiderink.bsky.social www.uantwerpen.be/nl/jobs/vaca...
uantwerpen.be
Doctoraatsbursaal computationele letterkunde binnen het interuniversitaire onderzoeksproject "New perspectives on medieval and renaissance courtly song" | Universiteit Antwerpen
YUFE vacature
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Pieter Beullens @pieterbeullens.bsky.social · 17/04/2025
If you have excellent knowledge of Latin, and you'd like to get a 4-year job to work with medieval philosophy and manuscripts, there is a week left to apply! #philsky #medievalsky
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Pieter Beullens @pieterbeullens.bsky.social · 01/04/2025
FitMA is hiring! We are looking for a motivated PhD-candidate in medieval Latin philosophy to join our team @kuleuvenuniversity.bsky.social! Deadline for applications: 24 April www.kuleuven.be/personeel/jo...
kuleuven.be
PhD-candidate (4 years) for the project ‘Fluidity in the Medieval Aristotle. Readers and Readings of the Greek-Latin Translations’ (FitMA)
Interested in Greek-Latin translations of Aristotle?
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Lauren Tilton @nolauren.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
Join me for AI and Image Analysis at ESU DH 2025 in Besançon, France in July! The one week course will introduce AI methods such as object detection and MLLMs for analyzing images such as art, manuscripts, photography, and film. More details here: esudh.github.io
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Mike Kestemont @mikekestemont.bsky.social · 23/03/2025
With spring in the country, tomatoes were sown again in our house in Kraainem, including San Marzano, Lancelot and Marmande. Hopefully we will get better weather this year 🤞🍅🙏
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sharonmleon.bsky.social @sharonmleon.bsky.social · 17/03/2025
Without IMLS, there would be no Omeka and there would be no Zotero. Write to your representatives to defend IMLS today. www.6floors.org/bracket/2025...
6floors.org
Seeds of Innovation: Defending IMLS – [bracket]
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Jean-Baptiste Camps @jbcamps.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
The CultureLab at PSL, Paris, is recruiting a research engineer in #dh, computational social sciences and cultural evolution. We're looking for skills in data science, machine learning and programming. 4 years position. euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/323661
euraxess.ec.europa.eu
Ingénieur de recherches en sciences humaines et sociales computationnelles
Project context and objectives:
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Marc van Oostendorp @fonolog.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
Science is imperfect, yet it remains our most reliable path to knowledge—and a great project of human collaboration. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
nature.com
Trump 2.0: an assault on science anywhere is an assault on science everywhere
US President Donald Trump is taking a wrecking ball to science and to international institutions. The global research community must take a stand against these attacks.
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Jean-Baptiste Camps @jbcamps.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
Are you interested in cultural transmission, medieval manuscripts or digital humanities, and want to pursue a PhD in a city bustling with intellectual and cultural life ? Come work with us !
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Mike Kestemont @mikekestemont.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
Were some medieval books only meant to be read by their very own makers? In my latest article (Quaerendo 2024), I argue that Ghent, UL, 1374 was indeed such a private manuscript: doi.org/10.1163/1570...
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Zez Vaz @zezvaz.bsky.social · 16/02/2025
Thank you so much to all the new followers! I’ve been impressed by the spread of this cartoon and how much it resonated with people especially in the U.S.! I hope to keep inspiring you all with future cartoons. It’s a pleasure to have you all on-board! #politicalcartoonist #cybertruckman #zezvaz
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Mike Kestemont @mikekestemont.bsky.social · 10/02/2025
Dear friends, do I know anyone here who has experience in (digital) numismatics, in particular coin finds from Roman Antiquity? (Please repost if you might know someone!) Thx for any pointers.
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Mike Kestemont @mikekestemont.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
In rainy Berlin for a lecture tonight at the Digital History Chair of the Humboldt University. As always, lots of unseen species on the menu, lost cultural diversity and my naughty great-great-auntie from 19th century Brussels. You can drop by by or follow online:
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Digital History Berlin @dighistberlin.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
👉 In this week's #DigitalHistoryOFK @folgertk.bsky.social & @mikekestemont.bsky.social will discuss how statistical methods from ecology can be used in historical research to identify and analyze gaps and biases in historical records. #DigitalHistory #DigitalHumanities ✨1/2
Announcement image for this week's talk in the Open Research Colloquium Digital History. The title "Open Research Colloquium Digital History" is prominently displayed at the top in orange and black font. The event details are listed below it: "Wednesday, 29 Jan., 4:15–5:45 pm (CET)." The speakers, Folgert Karsdorp (Meertens Institute, Amsterdam, Netherlands) and Mike Kestemont (University of Antwerp, Belgium), will give a talk titled “The application of unseen species models in history: correcting registration bias in nineteenth-century police reports from Brussels.”

The colloquium will take place as a hybrid event. Location: Room 2070 A, Main Building of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Unter den Linden 6, 10117 Berlin
The Zoom access data can be requested via e-mail to “digitalhistory at hu-berlin.de” or by scanning the QR code shown below on the right. 

A light green silhouette of iconic Berlin buildings can be seen in the background. Logos of associated institutions are displayed.
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Mike Kestemont @mikekestemont.bsky.social · 22/01/2025
@arjanvd.bsky.social Which book did you recommend me again on the tulip bubble during the Golden age?
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Ben Nagy @rantyben.bsky.social · 21/01/2025
This semester I ported a course by @mikekestemont.bsky.social from R to Python and taught it alongside a great colleague. Designed for Humanities Masters students with no maths and little Python, it takes you through univariate stats, testing, distributions, and finishes with Bayesian modelling.
webpage screenshot for Humanities Data Analysis course, featuring Bayes with laser eyes
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Folgert Karsdorp @folgertk.bsky.social · 16/01/2025
CHR Board Openings: Early Career Rep & Proceedings Officer positions available. Please help us shape the future of computational humanities research. Apply by Feb 21, 2025. Details: 2024.computational-humanities-research.org/announcement...
2024.computational-humanities-research.org
Computational Humanities Research 2024
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Maria Antoniak @mariaa.bsky.social · 08/01/2025
Reminder that we are looking for papers using LLMs for humanities research, for a special issue of the Computational Humanities Research Journal. Deadline January 31st! #NLP #DigitalHumanities #CulturalAnalytics
cambridge.org
Expanding the Toolkit: Large Language Models in Humanities Research
Call for Papers: Expanding the Toolkit: Large Language Models in Humanities Research.
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Brendan Keogh @brkeogh.bsky.social · 31/12/2024
I have updated the Academic Workload Tracker for 2025. I strongly encourage all academics to track how long you actually work, and at what tasks. It's a crucial way to counter the deliberate wage-theft of obfuscatory university workload models. docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
docs.google.com
Academic Work Tracker Template v2.2 (2025)
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Ben Golub @bengolub.bsky.social · 24/12/2024
In economics, editors, referees, and authors often behave as if a published paper should reflect some kind of authoritative consensus. As a result, valuable debate happens in secret, and the resulting paper is an opaque compromise with anonymous co-authors called referees. 1/
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Remco Sleiderink @remcosleiderink.bsky.social · 20/12/2024
Pas verschenen: nieuw nummer van Spiegel der Letteren, met 2 artikelen over computationele letterkunde, een pleidooi voor het literatuuronderwijs en boekbesprekingen @carolinevandyck.bsky.social @mikekestemont.bsky.social @hugenjelmar.bsky.social Zie: poj.peeters-leuven.be/content.php?...
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Caroline Vandyck @carolinevandyck.bsky.social · 18/12/2024
Three years ago, I asked @mikekestemont.bsky.social to be the supervisor for my MA thesis, marking the start of my academic journey. Today, I'm beyond happy to share that the article based on our work is finally published in an A1 journal! poj.peeters-leuven.be/content.php?...
poj.peeters-leuven.be
PEETERS ONLINE JOURNALS
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Folgert Karsdorp @folgertk.bsky.social · 17/12/2024
The past we study is shaped by what survived - but what about everything that didn't? The CHR journal wants your work on measuring, understanding, and accounting for missing data. Deadline has been extended to Jan 31, 2025. Guest-edited by @zoeleblanc.bsky.social and @mikekestemont.bsky.social
Diagram in which red dots stand for places where surviving planes were shot. This only tells you where planes can get shot and still come back to base. Survivorship bias: your only information is what has survived.
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Erik Kwakkel @erikkwakkel.bsky.social · 16/12/2024
Alert: great opportunity if you are interested in doing a PhD around early book. Salaried (!) Marie Curie Doctoral Research position advertised by the U of Bristol within the exciting “Remediating the Early Book: Pasts and Futures” project (@rebpaf.bsky.social). uk.indeed.com/viewjob?jk=c...
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