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Dot Porter

@leoba.bsky.social

4.1K followers 1.7K following 620 posts

Medievalist, digital humanist, and wannabe booklicker. I'm here to post memes and yell about manuscripts. See also @sims-mss.bsky.social I speak for myself and not for my employer

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Dot Porter @leoba.bsky.social · Apr 3

I love EVERYTHING about manuscripts but mostly I love that they were made by people - that every part of them, from the substrate to the ink to the ideas behind the words on the page to the thread that holds the codex together - were made by the hands and minds of people.

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Dot Porter @leoba.bsky.social · 6h

I once blocked someone on Tumblr for taking me to task about gloves in the rudest way (usually I just link to the NYT article but I guess I was over it that day)

Dot Porter @leoba.bsky.social · 6h

😂

Dot Porter @leoba.bsky.social · 7h

In honor of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand

Where are your gloves?

🏰meg⚔️ @Birthright Audiobook! @impavid.us · 3d

In honor of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand

I'll go first: Six page commercial lease.

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Reposted by Dot Porter

Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies @sims-mss.bsky.social · 11h

For #CoffeeWithACodex on October 16, Curator @leoba.bsky.social will visit @rosenbachmuseum.bsky.social where she'll join Librarian Elizabeth Fuller for a look at MS 1004/29, a mid-fourteenth-century physician's belt book. #medievalsky #cwac

Register here: https://bit.ly/4ohnEqu

Coffee with a Codex On The Road: Bat Book at the Rosenbach

An informal lunch or coffee time to meet virtually with Kislak curators and talk about one of the manuscripts from Penn's collections. Each week we'll feature a different...

bit.ly

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Sonja Drimmer @sonjadrimmer.bsky.social · 17h

No, resurrecting the corpse of Anne Frank so 12-year-olds can gossip with her is not how you “make history come alive.” It’s how you destroy history so that someone can come in, rewrite it, and then author a future to their liking.

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Tom Reagan’s Hat @rufustsuperfly.bsky.social · 1d

RIP Diane Keaton
My favourite picture of her where everyone else is giving it their best Blue Steel & she looks like she’s just wandered in off the street looking super cool.
She was allowed to wear her own clothes & her wonderful personality shines out.
What a unique talent & human being.

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Dot Porter @leoba.bsky.social · 1d

THANKS I HATE IT

97.9 The Hill WCHL & Chapelboro.com @wchlchapelboro.bsky.social · 3d

UNC announced Thursday it will combine the School of Information and Library Science and the School of Data Science and Society into a new entity focused on information technologies such as generative AI.

UNC Combining Library Science, Data Science Schools Into New Entity - Chapelboro.com

The two schools will be combined into a new entity focused on information technologies such as generative AI.

chapelboro.com

Reposted by Dot Porter

Pumpkinloaf @toneloaf.bsky.social · Jul 23

This week, I resigned from my position as Director of IT/Tech at an org I truly believed in. I wanted us to stop using Generative AI and was told no.

This thread will explain my decision and why I believe this is a true crisis. I hope ya see this and if you want to chat, + or -, lets do it 1/

My long thread chunked into 4 pieces. Its too long to add alt text so hopefully you read the post if you were interested enough to click on the image!

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Sonja Drimmer @sonjadrimmer.bsky.social · 2d

People think the first thing Gutenberg printed was the Bible. This is false. The first things he printed were a political prophecy, propaganda about the Turks’ threat to Christendom, & a popular school text. If you want a parallel to AI, that’s it: making $ from conspiracies, racism, & school slop.

Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ @olivia.science · 2d

really nice piece on this btw from @sonjadrimmer.bsky.social sonjadrimmer.com/blog-1/2025/...

"The Printing Press Democratized Knowledge": When Slogans Masquerade as History — Sonja Drimmer

The phrase is said so frequently it seems, like the mechanism it celebrates, to mechanically replicate itself.  It's become a favorite catchphrase among tech boosters of any sort (see my post on...

sonjadrimmer.com

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Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies @sims-mss.bsky.social · 4d

Today we take a look at one of our favorites - and the oldest codex in Philadelphia! LJS 101 is a 9th and 11th century translation of Aristotle's De interpretatione (by Boethius) with some additional texts. #medievalsky

🔗: https://bit.ly/43ayh61

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J.D. Sargan @jdsargan.bsky.social · 4d

I'm giving several talks about the books in the next couple of months, if you want to hear more (before you buy?). The first, linked below, is online via. UPenn @sims-mss.bsky.social on October 17th at 12 midday EDT.

Trans Studies as Book Historical Method

J. D. Sargan considers generative modes of reading through the premodern archive to seek out trans lives beyond the ephemeral glimpses that have gone unnoticed in the historical record.

www.library.upenn.edu

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Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies @sims-mss.bsky.social · 2d

For #FragmentFriday here's a parchment leaf from a lectionary used as pastedown and front flyleaf in the binding of a late 15th century collection of papal letters regarding the order of the Eremite Friars of St. Augustine of Rouen (UPenn Ms. Codex 736) #medievalsky

🔗: https://bit.ly/3Wq9uaq

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Dot Porter @leoba.bsky.social · 3d

The AI bubble cannot pop fast enough

(I'm a graduate of UNC's library school. This is so disappointing.)

Caitlin Goodman @caitlinest.bsky.social · 3d

My day is shot bc a colleague just shared this UNC press release about a still to-be-named, to-be-designed, to-be-planned AI school where the only known fact seems to be that it will replace the library school.

www.unc.edu/posts/2025/1...

University leadership announces development of new school at Carolina | UNC-Chapel Hill

The School of Information and Library Science and the School of Data Science and Society will be founding leaders of a new school to amplify and lead Carolina’s response to the information and data ne...

www.unc.edu

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Dot Porter @leoba.bsky.social · 3d

EXCITING!! Can't wait to read it!

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Die Laughing Magazine @dielaughingmag.bsky.social · 8d

It's here! It's here! The TOC for Issue 5 of Die Laughing is HERE!

We could not be more excited to bring you these 6 hilarifying tales, available as a PDF download 10/31/25, with stories posting for free every week after! Join us for stories so funny they'll kill you! #horrorsky
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Die Laughing Magazine @dielaughingmag.bsky.social · 7d

Hey! Are you an artist? Is your work scary AND funny? Do you want to have your art on the cover of the most prestigious horror comedy publication we know of?

Great news! Die Laughing is accepting cover art submissions on an ongoing basis. Send us your art! dielaughingmag.com/c...

Composite mage of the covers of the first four issues of Die Laughing Magazine.

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Die Laughing Magazine @dielaughingmag.bsky.social · 5d

We won't choose and you can't make us! We're bringing you the best of hilarious horror (and we're also probably losing at cards).

#meme #unomeme #horror #humor #cantchoose #dielaughing

Uno meme! On the left, an Uno card that reads "choose between laughter and fear OR draw 25" and on the right, a seated person holding a hand full of so many Uno cards (clearly having drawn 25 to avoid such an unfair decision).

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Yale Classics Library @yaleclassicslib.bsky.social · 5d

Online Lecture Fri. Oct. 17, 12:00pm EDT @sims-mss.bsky.social J. D. Sargan on Trans Studies as Book Historical Method @jdsargan.bsky.social

Trans Studies as Book Historical Method

J. D. Sargan considers generative modes of reading through the premodern archive to seek out trans lives beyond the ephemeral glimpses that have gone unnoticed in the historical record.

www.library.upenn.edu

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Reposted by Dot Porter

Esther Schindler @estherschindler.bsky.social · 6d

I just saw someone use the abbreviation “AI;DR” and I’ll be laughing for a while.

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Medieval and Early Modern Orients (MEMOs) @memorients.bsky.social · 5d

Assistant Professorship in Early Medieval Literatures and Cultures, Fordham University:
memorients.com/news/assista...

Assistant Professorship in Early Medieval Literatures and Cultures, Fordham University | MEMOs

Early Modern Literatures and Culture, Fordham University (NYC)

memorients.com

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Ada Palmer @adapalmer.bsky.social · 6d

I see pieces like this a lot, often w/ a spin of lamenting cultural degeneration, but reading is a LABOR issue, it’s declined because so many people are working overtime or two jobs & employers expect after hours work. France has Earth’s highest reading rate b/c long lunch breaks & labor protections

After Dinner Conversation® @afterdinnerconversation.com · 6d

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Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies @sims-mss.bsky.social · 6d

A delightful copy of the Seven Penitential Psalms (Les sept pseaumes penitentiaux) written in France in 1681. The binding is embroidered silk, interior decoration includes vignettes and illuminated initials. (UPenn Ms. Codex 1564)

🔗: https://bit.ly/4c0KGg5

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Jonathan Surratt @beerinator.com · 6d

I wrote a very in depth look at what a Carolina-style burger is and what it isn't. I created a map to help you find a great example and then I shared strategies and tactics to make your own all-the-way burger at home. Click through to get hungry and learn more.

All-the-way to Carolina burgers

Taking a deep dive into the Carolina-style cheeseburger. We'll be figuring out what this burger is and isn't, where you can find one, and then sharing tips and recipes to make your own at home.

boundedbybuns.com

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Reposted by Dot Porter

Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies @sims-mss.bsky.social · 7d

For #CoffeeWithACodex on October 9, Curator @leoba.bsky.social will bring out Ms. Codex 736, a collection of papal letters and instruments regarding the order of the Eremite Friars of St. Augustine of Rouen. It was written in Italy in 1475. #medievalsky #cwac

Register here: https://bit.ly/3Kvn0H0

Coffee with a Codex: Documents Concerning a Community of Friars

An informal lunch or coffee time to meet virtually with Kislak curators and talk about one of the manuscripts from Penn's collections. Each week we'll feature a different...

bit.ly

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Reposted by Dot Porter

Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 6d

Just noticed that my @sims-mss.bsky.social 2024 Plenary is online, in which I explore the #MedievalManuscript #OpenAccess ecosystem, including @iiif.bsky.social, @digitalscriptorium.bsky.social, Digital Mappa, and the Schoenberg Database of Manuscripts: www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDwQ...

17th Annual Schoenberg Symposium on Manuscript Studies in the Digital Age: Nov. 21, 2024, Keynote

YouTube video by SchoenbergInstitute

www.youtube.com

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