Jonathan
@jsench.bsky.social
Prof of Book History @UWMadison. Dir., Center for History of Print & Digital Culture. Author: Intimacy of Paper. WheatleyCensus.org. Summers @CalRBS. Assoc Editor @PBSA. 4:56 marathoner. Mediocre triathlete. Episcopal. Little League ⚾️ coach #BillsMafia 🦬 ♾️
Pinned
Jonathan
@jsench.bsky.social
· Nov 11
Hello bluesky! I am a book historian trained in literature (early&c19 American) who’s worked in a library/info studies dept for 13 years. I wrote a book abt what rag paper makes present & how writers thought abt that from 1650-1900. Im an editor of PBSA, thinking abt what bibliography is in the C21.
Reposted by Jonathan
winbuzzer.com/2026/01/28/g...
(what’s the betting that the answer to this mystery is LLMs and crawlers)
(what’s the betting that the answer to this mystery is LLMs and crawlers)
February 4, 2026 at 7:20 AM
winbuzzer.com/2026/01/28/g...
(what’s the betting that the answer to this mystery is LLMs and crawlers)
(what’s the betting that the answer to this mystery is LLMs and crawlers)
"Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth with Money in My Hand"
Deleted a post about “what’s your least favorite song” because the vibes are bad enough already.
Instead: what’s your favorite song that has a long title, say at least 6 words long?
Mine: “Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town” (Pearl Jam)
Instead: what’s your favorite song that has a long title, say at least 6 words long?
Mine: “Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town” (Pearl Jam)
February 4, 2026 at 4:53 AM
"Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth with Money in My Hand"
Reposted by Jonathan
The first customer for relational databases was the CIA. The surveillance program they tasked a Silicon Valley start-up with building was given the code name Oracle. That founder of that company, given the capital he needed to scale by serving U.S. intelligence operations, decided he liked the name.
6. I worked in this column while also finishing the final stages of our documentary on the Black Panther Party. It wasn’t hard to imagine COINTELPRO with an algorithm in a post citizens united landscape. Hoover would be vibrating at this kind of power.
February 3, 2026 at 4:51 PM
The first customer for relational databases was the CIA. The surveillance program they tasked a Silicon Valley start-up with building was given the code name Oracle. That founder of that company, given the capital he needed to scale by serving U.S. intelligence operations, decided he liked the name.
Reposted by Jonathan
“Gramsci used to say 'Pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will'. What he meant is: understand how the bloody system works.” - Stuart Hall, born Feb. 3, 1932
February 3, 2026 at 2:05 PM
“Gramsci used to say 'Pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will'. What he meant is: understand how the bloody system works.” - Stuart Hall, born Feb. 3, 1932
Reposted by Jonathan
How many men mentioned in the Epstein files have vowed to “fix” U.S. education?
February 3, 2026 at 10:01 PM
How many men mentioned in the Epstein files have vowed to “fix” U.S. education?
Reposted by Jonathan
“You need only know this: Whatever is happening with your data, it is important enough to the most egregiously lawless administration in American history that it be collected and consolidated.” Always read @tressiemcphd.bsky.social (gift link)
Opinion | Democracy Dies by Database
www.nytimes.com
February 3, 2026 at 12:19 PM
“You need only know this: Whatever is happening with your data, it is important enough to the most egregiously lawless administration in American history that it be collected and consolidated.” Always read @tressiemcphd.bsky.social (gift link)
"Our social condition forces us to hear many stupid things every day." Octave Uzanne, "The End of Books," 1894.
February 3, 2026 at 2:30 PM
"Our social condition forces us to hear many stupid things every day." Octave Uzanne, "The End of Books," 1894.
Reposted by Jonathan
Think slavery doesn't matter today? Wrong. Current Congress members whose families owned 16+ enslaved people now have 4 million $ more than members who did not own slaves. Slave owning = 2024 money and influence 🧪 journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...
Slaveholder ancestry and current net worth of members of the United States Congress
Background Whether and how much past slavery affects contemporary social and economic conditions in the United States is an area of active debate. Newly available data on which members of the United S...
journals.plos.org
August 24, 2024 at 2:17 AM
Think slavery doesn't matter today? Wrong. Current Congress members whose families owned 16+ enslaved people now have 4 million $ more than members who did not own slaves. Slave owning = 2024 money and influence 🧪 journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...
Reposted by Jonathan
Peter Thiel has been open about this for a long time. Trump is a way to break the republic, which can then be replaced by “free economic zones” with oligarchs as dictators and tech as a taskmaster for helpless humans without any rights. (1/2)
February 2, 2026 at 11:44 PM
Peter Thiel has been open about this for a long time. Trump is a way to break the republic, which can then be replaced by “free economic zones” with oligarchs as dictators and tech as a taskmaster for helpless humans without any rights. (1/2)
Reposted by Jonathan
the arrest of journalists in minneapolis, including don lemon, is more evidence that the only move the administration knows how to make is to use force, and does not know how to respond when that force is met with defiance and indifference.
January 30, 2026 at 4:40 PM
the arrest of journalists in minneapolis, including don lemon, is more evidence that the only move the administration knows how to make is to use force, and does not know how to respond when that force is met with defiance and indifference.
Reposted by Jonathan
every epstein file drop underscores how elite power operates through shared socio-economic networks, regardless of people's ideological differences, populist posturing, or public feuds
January 30, 2026 at 11:58 PM
every epstein file drop underscores how elite power operates through shared socio-economic networks, regardless of people's ideological differences, populist posturing, or public feuds
Reposted by Jonathan
Remember O Most Gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored they help, or sought they intercession was left unaided.
Love, defend, rejoice in thy neighbor. Welcome the traveler. Crush evil under your feet.
Art: @kibbyer.bsky.social
Love, defend, rejoice in thy neighbor. Welcome the traveler. Crush evil under your feet.
Art: @kibbyer.bsky.social
January 30, 2026 at 6:10 PM
Remember O Most Gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored they help, or sought they intercession was left unaided.
Love, defend, rejoice in thy neighbor. Welcome the traveler. Crush evil under your feet.
Art: @kibbyer.bsky.social
Love, defend, rejoice in thy neighbor. Welcome the traveler. Crush evil under your feet.
Art: @kibbyer.bsky.social
“In our home / they killed and roamed / in the winter of ‘26.”
I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.
Stay free
Stay free
Bruce Springsteen - Streets Of Minneapolis (Official Audio)
YouTube video by Bruce Springsteen
youtu.be
January 30, 2026 at 4:17 PM
“In our home / they killed and roamed / in the winter of ‘26.”
Me with my FM radio trying to teach intro to information science. [Context: Claude Shannon, “The Mathematical Theory of Communication.”]
January 29, 2026 at 7:41 PM
Me with my FM radio trying to teach intro to information science. [Context: Claude Shannon, “The Mathematical Theory of Communication.”]
It's now official: I defended my dissertation, was appointed an assistant professor, tenured and promoted to associate professor, and promoted to full professor ALL SINCE THE LAST TIME THE BUFFALO SABRES MADE THE PLAYOFFS.
January 28, 2026 at 9:12 PM
It's now official: I defended my dissertation, was appointed an assistant professor, tenured and promoted to associate professor, and promoted to full professor ALL SINCE THE LAST TIME THE BUFFALO SABRES MADE THE PLAYOFFS.
With thanks for all the support, community, and care I’ve received over the years.
January 28, 2026 at 8:57 PM
With thanks for all the support, community, and care I’ve received over the years.
Reposted by Jonathan
📖 Reflections on Bibliographical Work: The Emergence of the Bibliographical Note 📖
Learn more in @jsench.bsky.social's article in the December 2025 issue of PBSA.
Read the full article in our latest issue: Link in Bio 🔗
🔍 DOI: www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
Learn more in @jsench.bsky.social's article in the December 2025 issue of PBSA.
Read the full article in our latest issue: Link in Bio 🔗
🔍 DOI: www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
January 28, 2026 at 5:24 PM
📖 Reflections on Bibliographical Work: The Emergence of the Bibliographical Note 📖
Learn more in @jsench.bsky.social's article in the December 2025 issue of PBSA.
Read the full article in our latest issue: Link in Bio 🔗
🔍 DOI: www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
Learn more in @jsench.bsky.social's article in the December 2025 issue of PBSA.
Read the full article in our latest issue: Link in Bio 🔗
🔍 DOI: www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
Reposted by Jonathan
10,000+ PhD holders left the federal government since Trump's return to office, according to Science:
www.science.org/content/arti...
www.science.org/content/arti...
January 27, 2026 at 7:50 PM
10,000+ PhD holders left the federal government since Trump's return to office, according to Science:
www.science.org/content/arti...
www.science.org/content/arti...
Collaborators.
SCOOP
Meta has started blocking links to ICE List on Facebook, Instagram and Threads
www.wired.com/story/meta-i...
Meta has started blocking links to ICE List on Facebook, Instagram and Threads
www.wired.com/story/meta-i...
Meta Is Blocking Users From Sharing Website Listing ICE Agents
Users of Facebook, Instagram, and Threads can no longer share links to ICE List, a website listing what it claims are the names of thousands of DHS employees.
www.wired.com
January 27, 2026 at 8:11 PM
Collaborators.
Reposted by Jonathan
The census of the 1773 first edition hit 200 copies today! Thanks to our Undergraduate Research Fellow Caleb who located records of THREE copies at Hampton University’s Peabody special collection of African American and African diasporic materials! Welcome WC # 1394, 1396, & 1398!
January 27, 2026 at 7:50 PM
The census of the 1773 first edition hit 200 copies today! Thanks to our Undergraduate Research Fellow Caleb who located records of THREE copies at Hampton University’s Peabody special collection of African American and African diasporic materials! Welcome WC # 1394, 1396, & 1398!
Reposted by Jonathan
On NPR on Friday, there was a story of a 4-year-old--an American citizen--who hasn't left her house since early December, not even to play in the yard. And her 8-year-old brother recently stopped going to school, too. Their father is undocumented, and the family doesn't want to risk him being taken.
January 26, 2026 at 3:47 AM
On NPR on Friday, there was a story of a 4-year-old--an American citizen--who hasn't left her house since early December, not even to play in the yard. And her 8-year-old brother recently stopped going to school, too. Their father is undocumented, and the family doesn't want to risk him being taken.
Reposted by Jonathan
The elites and institutions have folded but regular people haven’t
I know people keep saying this but it’s hard to communicate the depth of active resistance here. Like, I’m on random cafes and people are checking in for observation shifts. Signs everywhere. Folks in visibility vests on the corners. It’s wild. Absolutely wild.
January 22, 2026 at 4:48 PM
The elites and institutions have folded but regular people haven’t
Reposted by Jonathan
Kimmy Yaga told y'all so
www.gizmochina.com/2026/01/21/o...
www.gizmochina.com/2026/01/21/o...
January 22, 2026 at 5:01 AM
Kimmy Yaga told y'all so
www.gizmochina.com/2026/01/21/o...
www.gizmochina.com/2026/01/21/o...
Reposted by Jonathan
A MacArthur foundacioun grant to go to Silicon Valley businesses and explayne the concept of "cautionarye tale" so thei kan understande movyes and bookes
January 22, 2026 at 4:35 AM
A MacArthur foundacioun grant to go to Silicon Valley businesses and explayne the concept of "cautionarye tale" so thei kan understande movyes and bookes