Simon Davies
@simonfd.bsky.social
Publishing Manager, @themhra.bsky.social
Co-editor of the MHRA Style Guide
Posting about scholarly publishing • History and future of the book • Book design, typography, typesetting 📚
Also work on the history of witchcraft & magic 🌒
• Views here my own
Co-editor of the MHRA Style Guide
Posting about scholarly publishing • History and future of the book • Book design, typography, typesetting 📚
Also work on the history of witchcraft & magic 🌒
• Views here my own
Good explainer from @eve.gd. I especially appreciated the explanation of ‘transformative’ use, explanations of which are hard to come by.
Though I still don’t understand how ‘transformative’ use isn’t still a massive breach of copyright.
Though I still don’t understand how ‘transformative’ use isn’t still a massive breach of copyright.
💥New: Creative commons licenses and copyright may not stop academic work being used to train AI
✍️ @eve.gd
#CreativeCommons #ScholComm #AcWri
✍️ @eve.gd
#CreativeCommons #ScholComm #AcWri
Creative commons licenses and copyright may not stop academic work being used to train AI - Impact of Social Sciences
Considering the legal standing of creative commons licenses & copyright, Martin Eve suggests legal protections for academic work are unlikely to be forthcoming.
blogs.lse.ac.uk
November 25, 2025 at 10:43 AM
Good explainer from @eve.gd. I especially appreciated the explanation of ‘transformative’ use, explanations of which are hard to come by.
Though I still don’t understand how ‘transformative’ use isn’t still a massive breach of copyright.
Though I still don’t understand how ‘transformative’ use isn’t still a massive breach of copyright.
Reposted by Simon Davies
Join us this Thurs (27 Nov), 18.30-20.00 (online and in person) to discuss the future of Michael Field studies and to celebrate the publication of Michael Field in Context. Roundtable featuring @veryverso.bsky.social, Alex Murray and graphic artist Gareth Brooks.
bads.gold.ac.uk/future-fields
bads.gold.ac.uk/future-fields
November 25, 2025 at 10:13 AM
Join us this Thurs (27 Nov), 18.30-20.00 (online and in person) to discuss the future of Michael Field studies and to celebrate the publication of Michael Field in Context. Roundtable featuring @veryverso.bsky.social, Alex Murray and graphic artist Gareth Brooks.
bads.gold.ac.uk/future-fields
bads.gold.ac.uk/future-fields
Fancy guy on a fancy horse, 1549
#earlymodern
#earlymodern
November 24, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Fancy guy on a fancy horse, 1549
#earlymodern
#earlymodern
'The hand that keeps the world informed'
(from the Manual of Linotype Typography)
Love the sinister lighting; tough on the compositor's eyes, mind...
(from the Manual of Linotype Typography)
Love the sinister lighting; tough on the compositor's eyes, mind...
November 24, 2025 at 1:12 PM
'The hand that keeps the world informed'
(from the Manual of Linotype Typography)
Love the sinister lighting; tough on the compositor's eyes, mind...
(from the Manual of Linotype Typography)
Love the sinister lighting; tough on the compositor's eyes, mind...
50% of copy-editing* is fixing things that are only exist, even in 2025, because of the typewriter
(*Possibly an exaggeration)
(*Possibly an exaggeration)
Once again cursing the typewriter and its tyranny over the development of the keyboard, which means that even now, many decades after typewriters disappeared from history, we still don’t have the en dash on our keyboards, meaning nobody (even academics?!) ever uses them in number ranges 🤦♂️😥
November 20, 2025 at 2:19 PM
50% of copy-editing* is fixing things that are only exist, even in 2025, because of the typewriter
(*Possibly an exaggeration)
(*Possibly an exaggeration)
Once again cursing the typewriter and its tyranny over the development of the keyboard, which means that even now, many decades after typewriters disappeared from history, we still don’t have the en dash on our keyboards, meaning nobody (even academics?!) ever uses them in number ranges 🤦♂️😥
November 20, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Once again cursing the typewriter and its tyranny over the development of the keyboard, which means that even now, many decades after typewriters disappeared from history, we still don’t have the en dash on our keyboards, meaning nobody (even academics?!) ever uses them in number ranges 🤦♂️😥
‘AI’ certainly does have the power to transform education! But not for the better, not in the slightest…
'A Department of Education policy paper released in August hailed this development, saying generative AI “has the power to transform education”. A survey last year from the educational technology firm Jisc found that nearly a quarter of UK educators were using AI tools in their teaching.' 3/3
November 20, 2025 at 1:30 PM
‘AI’ certainly does have the power to transform education! But not for the better, not in the slightest…
Absolutely thought this book was going to be about something else
*George Harrison plays*
*George Harrison plays*
November 20, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Absolutely thought this book was going to be about something else
*George Harrison plays*
*George Harrison plays*
If your solution to the current problems facing scholarly publishing, many of which are caused by ‘AI’, involves AI as part of the solution, then I’m afraid it is not a solution at all. (And I will stop reading your blog post.)
November 20, 2025 at 12:12 PM
If your solution to the current problems facing scholarly publishing, many of which are caused by ‘AI’, involves AI as part of the solution, then I’m afraid it is not a solution at all. (And I will stop reading your blog post.)
Everyone knows the story of how T. J. Cobden-Sanderson dumped the Doves type into the Thames -- but did you know that Charles Ricketts of the Vale Press had done exactly the same thing, a few years earlier in 1904? (Punches too)
#typography #bookhistory
#typography #bookhistory
November 19, 2025 at 2:39 PM
Everyone knows the story of how T. J. Cobden-Sanderson dumped the Doves type into the Thames -- but did you know that Charles Ricketts of the Vale Press had done exactly the same thing, a few years earlier in 1904? (Punches too)
#typography #bookhistory
#typography #bookhistory
Oh cool, this book looks interesting. What's that, Springer/Palgrave, only £219.99 for the paperback edn? A bargain!
And it's the same price as the hardback too, which is great because it 100% makes sense.
link.springer.com/book/10.1007...
And it's the same price as the hardback too, which is great because it 100% makes sense.
link.springer.com/book/10.1007...
The Palgrave Handbook of Gothic Origins
This handbook provides a comprehensive overview of research on the Gothic Revival, which was based on emotion rather than reason
link.springer.com
November 19, 2025 at 12:26 PM
Oh cool, this book looks interesting. What's that, Springer/Palgrave, only £219.99 for the paperback edn? A bargain!
And it's the same price as the hardback too, which is great because it 100% makes sense.
link.springer.com/book/10.1007...
And it's the same price as the hardback too, which is great because it 100% makes sense.
link.springer.com/book/10.1007...
Whenever I look for typography accounts to follow, it's just people designing new type faces (don't we have enough?!). I'm not interested in that, I'm interested in *using* the types we already have -- to me that's the essence of typography, and the most interesting part. (Recommendations welcome!)
November 19, 2025 at 12:17 PM
Whenever I look for typography accounts to follow, it's just people designing new type faces (don't we have enough?!). I'm not interested in that, I'm interested in *using* the types we already have -- to me that's the essence of typography, and the most interesting part. (Recommendations welcome!)
Reposted by Simon Davies
I thought it was high time, now or never, before the light was put out, to break the spell in which I had so long been bound.
November 19, 2025 at 11:47 AM
I thought it was high time, now or never, before the light was put out, to break the spell in which I had so long been bound.
I propose a new word, 'spywall': similar to 'paywall' but relating to this new trend of newspaper websites that are ostensibly free to read but that require you to install spyware before you can visit them, e.g. the Guardian, Standard, Metro, etc.
'Here's a link, it's spywalled though, sorry'
'Here's a link, it's spywalled though, sorry'
November 18, 2025 at 1:38 PM
I propose a new word, 'spywall': similar to 'paywall' but relating to this new trend of newspaper websites that are ostensibly free to read but that require you to install spyware before you can visit them, e.g. the Guardian, Standard, Metro, etc.
'Here's a link, it's spywalled though, sorry'
'Here's a link, it's spywalled though, sorry'
Why would anyone want this service??
November 17, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Why would anyone want this service??
Reposted by Simon Davies
'What to Do for English Now' by Robert Eaglestone – Open access in the latest volume of the Yearbook of English Studies. A call to arms to defend a subject in crisis. Please read and share!
#EnglishStudies #EnglishCreates
muse.jhu.edu/pub/427/arti...
#EnglishStudies #EnglishCreates
muse.jhu.edu/pub/427/arti...
Project MUSE - What to Do for English Now
muse.jhu.edu
November 17, 2025 at 11:59 AM
'What to Do for English Now' by Robert Eaglestone – Open access in the latest volume of the Yearbook of English Studies. A call to arms to defend a subject in crisis. Please read and share!
#EnglishStudies #EnglishCreates
muse.jhu.edu/pub/427/arti...
#EnglishStudies #EnglishCreates
muse.jhu.edu/pub/427/arti...
Petitions to save modern languages at Nottingham and Leicester:
www.change.org/p/stop-the-r...
www.change.org/p/save-moder...
Won't have any effect, of course, but no reason not to sign.
www.change.org/p/stop-the-r...
www.change.org/p/save-moder...
Won't have any effect, of course, but no reason not to sign.
Sign the Petition
Stop the removal of Modern Languages courses at the University of Nottingham!
www.change.org
November 17, 2025 at 11:09 AM
Petitions to save modern languages at Nottingham and Leicester:
www.change.org/p/stop-the-r...
www.change.org/p/save-moder...
Won't have any effect, of course, but no reason not to sign.
www.change.org/p/stop-the-r...
www.change.org/p/save-moder...
Won't have any effect, of course, but no reason not to sign.
Email is down this morning, which means copy-editing in blissful peace with an underlying anxiety that I'm missing something important
November 14, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Email is down this morning, which means copy-editing in blissful peace with an underlying anxiety that I'm missing something important
The doom of books; or, what the phonograph will do (1894)
November 13, 2025 at 3:06 PM
The doom of books; or, what the phonograph will do (1894)
The presenter in this business webinar keeps saying ‘agri-tech’ but it sounds like she’s saying ‘aggrotech’ which would be much more fun 🙃
November 13, 2025 at 11:54 AM
The presenter in this business webinar keeps saying ‘agri-tech’ but it sounds like she’s saying ‘aggrotech’ which would be much more fun 🙃
'Sustainable typesetting' but it's just a typeface with a really big x-height..?
November 12, 2025 at 3:38 PM
'Sustainable typesetting' but it's just a typeface with a really big x-height..?
Had a dream about Thema codes last night 😐
November 11, 2025 at 11:42 AM
Had a dream about Thema codes last night 😐
@heatherfro.bsky.social timeline synchronicity:
November 11, 2025 at 10:16 AM
@heatherfro.bsky.social timeline synchronicity:
Reposted by Simon Davies
This deadline is coming up at the end of this week. If this strikes your fancy at all, then please get in touch!
@sharpnews.bsky.social is looking for a new Editor-in-Chief!!! Applications are due on November 14th. Get in touch if you have any questions!
Call for Applicants: SHARP News Editor-in-Chief
mailchi.mp
November 10, 2025 at 6:28 PM
This deadline is coming up at the end of this week. If this strikes your fancy at all, then please get in touch!