Sonja Drimmer
@sonjadrimmer.bsky.social
Associate Professor, History of Art & Architecture, UMass Amherst. http://sonjadrimmer.com/about-forte (She/her)
Pinned
MACHINE YEARNING
Sonja Drimmer critically examines art historians’ recent embrace of generative AI as a tool for humanities research.
www.artforum.com
For the latest issue of Artforum I wrote about the culture of “AI” in my sector of academia, arguing that a focus on what it does distracts attention away from examining the exploitative conditions that the hopeful rhetoric of its promise upholds. www.artforum.com/features/gen...
Introduce yourself with 5 animals you've seen in the wild:
kangaroo
wallaby
wombat
kookabura
huntsman spider
kangaroo
wallaby
wombat
kookabura
huntsman spider
Introduce yourself with 5 animals you've seen in the wild:
Moose
Elk
Fox
Humpback whale
Flamingo
Moose
Elk
Fox
Humpback whale
Flamingo
Introduce yourself with 5 animals you've seen in the wild:
Coyote
Wild turkey
Northern short-tailed shrew
Humpback whale (probably)
Eurasian eagle owl (RIP Flaco, beloved Central Park resident)
Coyote
Wild turkey
Northern short-tailed shrew
Humpback whale (probably)
Eurasian eagle owl (RIP Flaco, beloved Central Park resident)
November 29, 2025 at 3:13 AM
Introduce yourself with 5 animals you've seen in the wild:
kangaroo
wallaby
wombat
kookabura
huntsman spider
kangaroo
wallaby
wombat
kookabura
huntsman spider
Reposted by Sonja Drimmer
Boosting this reference to Trish Loughran’s important chapter.
Hell yes. Trish Loughran's "Books in the Nation," in The Cambridge Companion to the History of the Book, ed. Leslie Howsam (Cambridge University Press, 2015) is a killer riposte to Anderson on this score.
November 28, 2025 at 10:10 PM
Boosting this reference to Trish Loughran’s important chapter.
And this, boys and girls, is why one cannot rely on translations, esp not 19C ones.
November 28, 2025 at 9:52 PM
And this, boys and girls, is why one cannot rely on translations, esp not 19C ones.
Yourewelcomegiving!
November 28, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Yourewelcomegiving!
Reposted by Sonja Drimmer
The Courtauld has launched an art history teaching fund, following a new report which revealed a sharp decrease in the teaching of the subject to UK teenagers
www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/11/27/c...
www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/11/27/c...
November 27, 2025 at 6:31 PM
The Courtauld has launched an art history teaching fund, following a new report which revealed a sharp decrease in the teaching of the subject to UK teenagers
www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/11/27/c...
www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/11/27/c...
Another week another press release for "AI" art history disguised as journalism.
www.thetimes.com/world/europe...
www.thetimes.com/world/europe...
November 27, 2025 at 3:45 PM
Another week another press release for "AI" art history disguised as journalism.
www.thetimes.com/world/europe...
www.thetimes.com/world/europe...
A true story is that I was a mouse on the Cinderella float for the Macys Thanksgiving Day parade when I was six and I hated every freezing minute of it except when, afterwards, I got to take a photo with Rudy from the Cosby Show (ok, Keshia Knight, but to me she was Rudy).
November 27, 2025 at 2:05 AM
A true story is that I was a mouse on the Cinderella float for the Macys Thanksgiving Day parade when I was six and I hated every freezing minute of it except when, afterwards, I got to take a photo with Rudy from the Cosby Show (ok, Keshia Knight, but to me she was Rudy).
This thread is my walk-up song and touchdown dance. 🔥
You know what we won't need once handwriting recognition software has done its thing? Archivists, curators, conservators, catalogers, codicologists, or paleographers. We won't need archives either. We won't need diplomatics, editorial theory, book or media history, or material culture studies 🗃️🧵
November 27, 2025 at 2:02 AM
This thread is my walk-up song and touchdown dance. 🔥
Come see the sights at Shit-Hurn Way and Shit-Croft Corner! What are you waiting for?!
November 27, 2025 at 12:33 AM
Come see the sights at Shit-Hurn Way and Shit-Croft Corner! What are you waiting for?!
In the City & the City, Miéville conjures two cities that occupy the same space by means of a disciplinary regime that prevents the inhabitants of each from seeing one another's buildings, signs, & ppl. I feel like part of a secession that refuses to knowingly consume AI-generated images or videos.
November 26, 2025 at 10:32 PM
In the City & the City, Miéville conjures two cities that occupy the same space by means of a disciplinary regime that prevents the inhabitants of each from seeing one another's buildings, signs, & ppl. I feel like part of a secession that refuses to knowingly consume AI-generated images or videos.
Reposted by Sonja Drimmer
We @uam-umd.bsky.social won. Faculty packed town halls, talked to their colleagues and collected hundreds of petition signatures. Now UMD is coughing up $8.75m, during a deficit, to fund faculty whose research is under attack. Not enough, but a helluva thing for a union the state calls illegal.
$8.75M Investment Supports ‘Research Resilience’… | Maryland Today
UMD, MPower Funds Combine to Help Preserve Institutional Capabilities, Lab Operations and More
today.umd.edu
November 25, 2025 at 2:32 PM
We @uam-umd.bsky.social won. Faculty packed town halls, talked to their colleagues and collected hundreds of petition signatures. Now UMD is coughing up $8.75m, during a deficit, to fund faculty whose research is under attack. Not enough, but a helluva thing for a union the state calls illegal.
Form is like a man because it shapes hella different kinds of matter, just like a man can impregnate lots of ladies.
--John Trevisa
--John Trevisa
Utterly, brokenly exhausted and buzzed on bad white wine: a good time to be translating Trevisa into modern English, or the BEST time to be translating Trevisa into modern English?
November 26, 2025 at 1:39 AM
Form is like a man because it shapes hella different kinds of matter, just like a man can impregnate lots of ladies.
--John Trevisa
--John Trevisa
Reposted by Sonja Drimmer
Translate drunk, edit sober.
Utterly, brokenly exhausted and buzzed on bad white wine: a good time to be translating Trevisa into modern English, or the BEST time to be translating Trevisa into modern English?
November 26, 2025 at 1:35 AM
Translate drunk, edit sober.
Utterly, brokenly exhausted and buzzed on bad white wine: a good time to be translating Trevisa into modern English, or the BEST time to be translating Trevisa into modern English?
November 26, 2025 at 1:17 AM
Utterly, brokenly exhausted and buzzed on bad white wine: a good time to be translating Trevisa into modern English, or the BEST time to be translating Trevisa into modern English?
Don't call it a "bubble."
OpenAI, Microsoft, & Alphabet are just fine with that term because they get to tell you that all the dot-com bubble or the railroad bubble or the whatever bubble was, was a shaking out the greats after an intense period of mania. This isn't a bubble. This is a time bomb.
OpenAI, Microsoft, & Alphabet are just fine with that term because they get to tell you that all the dot-com bubble or the railroad bubble or the whatever bubble was, was a shaking out the greats after an intense period of mania. This isn't a bubble. This is a time bomb.
Opinion from Alphaville: OpenAI is a money pit with a website on top. That much we know already, but since OpenAI is a private company, there’s a lot of guesswork required when estimating the depth of the pit. on.ft.com/44xy39L
November 26, 2025 at 12:09 AM
Don't call it a "bubble."
OpenAI, Microsoft, & Alphabet are just fine with that term because they get to tell you that all the dot-com bubble or the railroad bubble or the whatever bubble was, was a shaking out the greats after an intense period of mania. This isn't a bubble. This is a time bomb.
OpenAI, Microsoft, & Alphabet are just fine with that term because they get to tell you that all the dot-com bubble or the railroad bubble or the whatever bubble was, was a shaking out the greats after an intense period of mania. This isn't a bubble. This is a time bomb.
"Good on you for getting something interesting out of Fortescue" has got to be one of the most devastating comments I've ever received on something I've written.
Nearly 600 years later, and Fortescue is in his grave needing ointment for that burn.
Nearly 600 years later, and Fortescue is in his grave needing ointment for that burn.
November 25, 2025 at 11:15 PM
"Good on you for getting something interesting out of Fortescue" has got to be one of the most devastating comments I've ever received on something I've written.
Nearly 600 years later, and Fortescue is in his grave needing ointment for that burn.
Nearly 600 years later, and Fortescue is in his grave needing ointment for that burn.
Reposted by Sonja Drimmer
Yesterday I helped a student with a poorly structured essay full of good ideas. I was so happy to. She did the work, and anyone can learn the basics of paragraph structure. It also made me a little sad. AI has made a lot of students scared to write poorly, so they don’t write at all.
November 25, 2025 at 2:41 PM
Yesterday I helped a student with a poorly structured essay full of good ideas. I was so happy to. She did the work, and anyone can learn the basics of paragraph structure. It also made me a little sad. AI has made a lot of students scared to write poorly, so they don’t write at all.
Reposted by Sonja Drimmer
Great example of why text analysis is still a topic that should be taught in school. The earlier, the better. And be fresher in adult life.
Thanks @sonjadrimmer.bsky.social Great post.
(Pls make the image clickable so that one get view the full size easier)
Thanks @sonjadrimmer.bsky.social Great post.
(Pls make the image clickable so that one get view the full size easier)
Zuckerberg farted out some nonsense today, and since most media outlets refuse to report critically any time a tech CEO offers them some a pseudoserious press release, I've decided to do it for them.
sonjadrimmer.com/blog-1/2025/7/30/how-to-read-an-ai-press-release
sonjadrimmer.com/blog-1/2025/7/30/how-to-read-an-ai-press-release
How to Read an "AI" Press Release — Sonja Drimmer
Every so often someone like Mark Zuckerberg or Sam Altman will dribble out some unadorned text in Times New Roman font, announcing with stentorian certitude the advent of a new world that their latest...
sonjadrimmer.com
July 31, 2025 at 8:07 AM
Great example of why text analysis is still a topic that should be taught in school. The earlier, the better. And be fresher in adult life.
Thanks @sonjadrimmer.bsky.social Great post.
(Pls make the image clickable so that one get view the full size easier)
Thanks @sonjadrimmer.bsky.social Great post.
(Pls make the image clickable so that one get view the full size easier)
Reposted by Sonja Drimmer
I know it's not the point, but this is a fine turn of phrase
I will add the following: our students lack the research skills required to audit an LLM essay for errors. They don’t arrive on campus with these skills; we teach it to them over four long years. So throwing freshmen in the deep end and saying “swim your way to a shore of rectitude” is folly.
November 25, 2025 at 12:00 AM
I know it's not the point, but this is a fine turn of phrase
Reposted by Sonja Drimmer
Resisting GenAI and Big Tech in Higher Education - Tuesday 25th Nov, free registration, great panel, big focus on climate justice. Register here: lmula.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
November 21, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Resisting GenAI and Big Tech in Higher Education - Tuesday 25th Nov, free registration, great panel, big focus on climate justice. Register here: lmula.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Reposted by Sonja Drimmer
I'm so tired of people telling me to have students critique LLM outputs. I'm just going to print this on little cards and hand them out
I will add the following: our students lack the research skills required to audit an LLM essay for errors. They don’t arrive on campus with these skills; we teach it to them over four long years. So throwing freshmen in the deep end and saying “swim your way to a shore of rectitude” is folly.
November 24, 2025 at 2:36 PM
I'm so tired of people telling me to have students critique LLM outputs. I'm just going to print this on little cards and hand them out
My colleague's students wrote me a thank-you note for the guest class I gave on medieval manuscripts in Special Collections, and their font game is *on point.*
November 24, 2025 at 8:42 PM
My colleague's students wrote me a thank-you note for the guest class I gave on medieval manuscripts in Special Collections, and their font game is *on point.*
And engaging in this kind of pedagogy is simply the entry-level version of when scholars do this, which I wrote about here. www.artforum.com/features/gen...
November 24, 2025 at 1:32 PM
And engaging in this kind of pedagogy is simply the entry-level version of when scholars do this, which I wrote about here. www.artforum.com/features/gen...
This is not the way, and @cnygren.bsky.social and I lay out in detail why it isn’t in this essay here. static1.squarespace.com/static/55577...
November 24, 2025 at 1:16 PM
This is not the way, and @cnygren.bsky.social and I lay out in detail why it isn’t in this essay here. static1.squarespace.com/static/55577...