Ellen Forget
@ellenforget.bsky.social
Academic studying braille, print disabilities, and small-press publishing. Editor by trade, academic at heart. she/they. ocd & long-covid & chronic pain.
Pinned
Ellen Forget
@ellenforget.bsky.social
· Jun 25
I'm excited to announce that I will be joining University of Alberta this fall as a Killam Postdoctoral Fellow in English and Film Studies to work on my project "A History of Tactile Writing and Reading."
Reposted by Ellen Forget
How does DH travel outside the academy? What impact and what careers do DH skills enable? CFP for our next excellent (and necessary) book in the DDH series, edited by Jeanelle Horcasitas, @lisaironcutter.bsky.social, and @kallewesterling.bsky.social
dhdebates.gc.cuny.edu/page/cfp-dh-...
dhdebates.gc.cuny.edu/page/cfp-dh-...
CFP: Navigating Digital Humanities Careers Beyond the Ivory Tower | Debates in the Digital Humanities
Transforming scholarly publications into living digital works
dhdebates.gc.cuny.edu
January 15, 2026 at 2:43 PM
How does DH travel outside the academy? What impact and what careers do DH skills enable? CFP for our next excellent (and necessary) book in the DDH series, edited by Jeanelle Horcasitas, @lisaironcutter.bsky.social, and @kallewesterling.bsky.social
dhdebates.gc.cuny.edu/page/cfp-dh-...
dhdebates.gc.cuny.edu/page/cfp-dh-...
Reposted by Ellen Forget
I took my 3D scanner to Bruce Peel today to work with this moon bible that they acquired a couple months ago. It was able to pick up on the texture of the text extremely well. I stuck the guide markers on acid-free paper and placed them on to help with the scan but not damage the book.
January 15, 2026 at 12:06 AM
I took my 3D scanner to Bruce Peel today to work with this moon bible that they acquired a couple months ago. It was able to pick up on the texture of the text extremely well. I stuck the guide markers on acid-free paper and placed them on to help with the scan but not damage the book.
I took my 3D scanner to Bruce Peel today to work with this moon bible that they acquired a couple months ago. It was able to pick up on the texture of the text extremely well. I stuck the guide markers on acid-free paper and placed them on to help with the scan but not damage the book.
January 15, 2026 at 12:06 AM
I took my 3D scanner to Bruce Peel today to work with this moon bible that they acquired a couple months ago. It was able to pick up on the texture of the text extremely well. I stuck the guide markers on acid-free paper and placed them on to help with the scan but not damage the book.
Reposted by Ellen Forget
I have a fantastic student who wrote a great paper on knitting patterns from a book/media history/history of documents point of view recently and wants to do more research... this is a bit outside my wheelhouse — friends, do any of you have readings you'd suggest?
January 14, 2026 at 1:59 PM
I have a fantastic student who wrote a great paper on knitting patterns from a book/media history/history of documents point of view recently and wants to do more research... this is a bit outside my wheelhouse — friends, do any of you have readings you'd suggest?
Reposted by Ellen Forget
I am begging abled people to just take five seconds before posting and ask themselves whether they’re about to cheapen their point with ableist terms or concepts.
“Tone deaf” is one. Blindness as a metaphor for ignorance is another. And for gods’ sakes, stop calling people stupid and worse.
“Tone deaf” is one. Blindness as a metaphor for ignorance is another. And for gods’ sakes, stop calling people stupid and worse.
January 14, 2026 at 3:08 PM
I am begging abled people to just take five seconds before posting and ask themselves whether they’re about to cheapen their point with ableist terms or concepts.
“Tone deaf” is one. Blindness as a metaphor for ignorance is another. And for gods’ sakes, stop calling people stupid and worse.
“Tone deaf” is one. Blindness as a metaphor for ignorance is another. And for gods’ sakes, stop calling people stupid and worse.
Reposted by Ellen Forget
To say I am excited about this would be an understatement. To say I am a little bit terrified would not!
Actually, just really looking forward to it -- and really pleased to see SHARP continuing its accessible practices.
eve.gd/2026/01/10/i...
Actually, just really looking forward to it -- and really pleased to see SHARP continuing its accessible practices.
eve.gd/2026/01/10/i...
In conversation with Matthew G. Kirschenbaum
The inaugural SHARPIES, a global book history festival celebrating work in book history from around the world, will take place from July 7–9, 2026 (although ...
eve.gd
January 10, 2026 at 8:28 PM
To say I am excited about this would be an understatement. To say I am a little bit terrified would not!
Actually, just really looking forward to it -- and really pleased to see SHARP continuing its accessible practices.
eve.gd/2026/01/10/i...
Actually, just really looking forward to it -- and really pleased to see SHARP continuing its accessible practices.
eve.gd/2026/01/10/i...
Reposted by Ellen Forget
Do you want to read more books in 2026? Join NNELS for a one-hour session where our accessibility experts will answer questions and guide you on finding, downloading, and reading books from the NNELS catalogue on your accessible devices.
Learn more here: nnels.ca/nnels-webinars
Learn more here: nnels.ca/nnels-webinars
nnels.ca
January 13, 2026 at 4:02 PM
Do you want to read more books in 2026? Join NNELS for a one-hour session where our accessibility experts will answer questions and guide you on finding, downloading, and reading books from the NNELS catalogue on your accessible devices.
Learn more here: nnels.ca/nnels-webinars
Learn more here: nnels.ca/nnels-webinars
As someone who is actively training a model on Transkribus, this is 100% accurate. For most people and most projects, it doesn't make sense to train a custom model. You need so much data to train it, that you might as well just transcribe it all yourself and not go through the trouble of training.
I am reminded that every time someone recommended I use Transkribus to train a model to read the handwritten manuscript novels I was working on, I had to explain that the process required first that I hand-transcribe perfectly clean sample of the hand that was generally 75-100% of the document.
This is simply not technically possible. You cannot generate enough writing in-house to train an LLM. You cannot generate enough art in-house to train a GAN. People who think they have a model "trained on our own material" are using a base model of mass-scraped data, unknowingly or disingenuously.
January 9, 2026 at 7:51 PM
As someone who is actively training a model on Transkribus, this is 100% accurate. For most people and most projects, it doesn't make sense to train a custom model. You need so much data to train it, that you might as well just transcribe it all yourself and not go through the trouble of training.
Reposted by Ellen Forget
Digital humanities/18th-century peeps! My friend Karenza’s project just finished peer review:
“We completed the teaching edition in 2025 with a teaching curriculum, annotations done by graduate and undergraduate students, scholarly essays, and a full audiobook through volunteers at Librivox.”
“We completed the teaching edition in 2025 with a teaching curriculum, annotations done by graduate and undergraduate students, scholarly essays, and a full audiobook through volunteers at Librivox.”
HOME - The Lady's Museum Project
What is The Lady's Museum? What is this website/project? Read the magazine
ladysmuseum.com
January 9, 2026 at 4:19 PM
Digital humanities/18th-century peeps! My friend Karenza’s project just finished peer review:
“We completed the teaching edition in 2025 with a teaching curriculum, annotations done by graduate and undergraduate students, scholarly essays, and a full audiobook through volunteers at Librivox.”
“We completed the teaching edition in 2025 with a teaching curriculum, annotations done by graduate and undergraduate students, scholarly essays, and a full audiobook through volunteers at Librivox.”
Reposted by Ellen Forget
I would like people to include alt text when they share abstracts (that way everyone can enjoy research). It is incredibly easy to add alt from a screenshot on your phone (and even easier on your desktop). People like me will also be more willing to reshare it.
January 8, 2026 at 5:47 PM
I would like people to include alt text when they share abstracts (that way everyone can enjoy research). It is incredibly easy to add alt from a screenshot on your phone (and even easier on your desktop). People like me will also be more willing to reshare it.
Reposted by Ellen Forget
Syllabus help: Looking for an article about eugenics history that can help introduce students (especially upper level undergrads) to the history of eugenics in the 19th-20th c in the US.
It’s for a class where students’ main competencies are mostly not humanities/social sciences.
Suggestions?
It’s for a class where students’ main competencies are mostly not humanities/social sciences.
Suggestions?
January 5, 2026 at 6:35 AM
Syllabus help: Looking for an article about eugenics history that can help introduce students (especially upper level undergrads) to the history of eugenics in the 19th-20th c in the US.
It’s for a class where students’ main competencies are mostly not humanities/social sciences.
Suggestions?
It’s for a class where students’ main competencies are mostly not humanities/social sciences.
Suggestions?
Reposted by Ellen Forget
Does anyone have suggestions for Indigenous writing about the newer Cherokee letterpress movable types? (The 1962 or recent versions.) Interested in Cherokee involvement in the newer type's casting/(re)design; analysis/statements on ethical audience+use of the new (not rediscovered 19thc) type. +
January 7, 2026 at 7:02 PM
Does anyone have suggestions for Indigenous writing about the newer Cherokee letterpress movable types? (The 1962 or recent versions.) Interested in Cherokee involvement in the newer type's casting/(re)design; analysis/statements on ethical audience+use of the new (not rediscovered 19thc) type. +
Question for my librarian friends: What overhead scanner would you recommend for book scanning? It MUST allow for changing the direction/orientation of light for the purpose of creating shadows (we do not want to eliminate shadows). Lights can be external, but need the space to move them around it.
January 7, 2026 at 5:37 PM
Question for my librarian friends: What overhead scanner would you recommend for book scanning? It MUST allow for changing the direction/orientation of light for the purpose of creating shadows (we do not want to eliminate shadows). Lights can be external, but need the space to move them around it.
I love sending an email that says "hey I want to do this thing" and getting an almost immediate response that says "I LOVE that you want to do this thing, let's make it happen!" Incredible energy to start the year. Let's make (good) things happen.
January 6, 2026 at 11:24 PM
I love sending an email that says "hey I want to do this thing" and getting an almost immediate response that says "I LOVE that you want to do this thing, let's make it happen!" Incredible energy to start the year. Let's make (good) things happen.
I had five writing projects of various sizes all due between December 1 and 22. I just submitted the last one. It was a bit tight at times, but I managed to submit everything on time. Now I can rest. Everything else can wait until January.
December 20, 2025 at 6:30 PM
I had five writing projects of various sizes all due between December 1 and 22. I just submitted the last one. It was a bit tight at times, but I managed to submit everything on time. Now I can rest. Everything else can wait until January.
Reposted by Ellen Forget
might as well skip the middlemen and give awards directly to the machines that did the work
I'm very disappointed in SFWA's soft stance on LLM and the Nebulas. Any use of LLM, disclosed or not, should not be awards eligible. It's plagiarism and crap, period
December 19, 2025 at 6:56 PM
might as well skip the middlemen and give awards directly to the machines that did the work
Reposted by Ellen Forget
December 19, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Reposted by Ellen Forget
A small rant: I clocked about 3 years ago that my youngest child had *something*, likely an autoimmune something, happening in their body, and the reaction from essentially everyone was to assume I was overreacting because of my disabilities, not that I had EXPERTISE because if my disabilities.
December 19, 2025 at 5:05 PM
A small rant: I clocked about 3 years ago that my youngest child had *something*, likely an autoimmune something, happening in their body, and the reaction from essentially everyone was to assume I was overreacting because of my disabilities, not that I had EXPERTISE because if my disabilities.
You can't determine someone's disability by looking at them. I sometimes need a cane, sometimes a wheelchair, sometimes neither. In airports, I often use wheelchair service because cramped plane seats cause significant pain, and so does walking. I limit the latter so the former is more manageable.
Travelers bemoan a rise of able-bodied passengers who game the system to skip the lines. on.wsj.com/3N6apva
They Get Wheeled on Flights and Miraculously Walk Off. Praise ‘Jetway Jesus.’
Travelers bemoan a rise of able-bodied passengers who game the system to skip the lines.
on.wsj.com
December 19, 2025 at 4:34 PM
You can't determine someone's disability by looking at them. I sometimes need a cane, sometimes a wheelchair, sometimes neither. In airports, I often use wheelchair service because cramped plane seats cause significant pain, and so does walking. I limit the latter so the former is more manageable.
I hate how genAI is affecting news stories. There was a 100-car pileup just north of Calgary yesterday because of white-out weather conditions. Every photo and video I've seen about this has been genAI. There must be real photos and videos, but nobody seems to be using those. AI is faster. 🙄
December 18, 2025 at 4:03 PM
I hate how genAI is affecting news stories. There was a 100-car pileup just north of Calgary yesterday because of white-out weather conditions. Every photo and video I've seen about this has been genAI. There must be real photos and videos, but nobody seems to be using those. AI is faster. 🙄
Reposted by Ellen Forget
I’m passing on a question from @drtlwagner.bsky.social & their students: Do you know of existing/in process book history work on clip art? I know Shep’s history of print emoji & anecdotally I know some early clip art remediated printer’s ornaments—as does the "font" Wingdings—anyone digging in more?
December 17, 2025 at 8:39 PM
I’m passing on a question from @drtlwagner.bsky.social & their students: Do you know of existing/in process book history work on clip art? I know Shep’s history of print emoji & anecdotally I know some early clip art remediated printer’s ornaments—as does the "font" Wingdings—anyone digging in more?
Reposted by Ellen Forget
Reading pieces like Ellen Samuels' "Six Ways of Looking at Crip Time" literally changed my life and the way I care for my disabled body. That research was fostered by peer reviewers, editors, and open access publishing at Disability Studies Quarterly. Today the journal is at risk due to funding. 1/4
December 17, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Reading pieces like Ellen Samuels' "Six Ways of Looking at Crip Time" literally changed my life and the way I care for my disabled body. That research was fostered by peer reviewers, editors, and open access publishing at Disability Studies Quarterly. Today the journal is at risk due to funding. 1/4
Reposted by Ellen Forget
Bill C-15, the federal Budget Implementation Act, proposes repealing Canada Post’s Literature for the Blind free-mailing program. This is a service that thousands of people in Canada who are blind or visually impaired rely on to access braille, audio, and other accessible formats.
nnels.ca
December 10, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Bill C-15, the federal Budget Implementation Act, proposes repealing Canada Post’s Literature for the Blind free-mailing program. This is a service that thousands of people in Canada who are blind or visually impaired rely on to access braille, audio, and other accessible formats.
Reposted by Ellen Forget
Canadian publishers stand with the library community in opposing Bill C-15 provisions that threaten the Library Book Rate & the Literature for the Blind program. These protections are needed to ensure equitable access to books for all Canadians. Read more: publishers.ca/publishers-o...
Canadian Publishers Stand with Library Community in Opposing Repeal of Library Mailing Provisions - Association of Canadian Publishers
publishers.ca
December 15, 2025 at 9:35 PM
Canadian publishers stand with the library community in opposing Bill C-15 provisions that threaten the Library Book Rate & the Literature for the Blind program. These protections are needed to ensure equitable access to books for all Canadians. Read more: publishers.ca/publishers-o...
What's more motivating than end-of-year due dates? Last push to get a couple things done and submitted before taking a much-needed break.
December 15, 2025 at 5:22 PM
What's more motivating than end-of-year due dates? Last push to get a couple things done and submitted before taking a much-needed break.