Alex Wermer-Colan
@alexwermercolan.bsky.social
770 followers 460 following 26 posts
writer, editor, dramaturg, translator | academic director of Temple Libraries' Scholars Studio, executive director @phillywireless.bsky.social, managing editor @proghist.bsky.social
Posts Media Videos Starter Packs
Reposted by Alex Wermer-Colan
conradhackett.bsky.social
LINK ROT: 38% webpages that existed in 2013 were no longer available 10 years later.

Even among pages that existed in 2021, 22% no longer accessible just two years later. This is often because individual page was deleted or removed on otherwise functional website.

Many implications for knowledge 🧪
A line chart showing that 38% of webpages from 2013 were no longer accessible one decade later.
Reposted by Alex Wermer-Colan
drsepinwall.bsky.social
It is really demoralizing to try to operate normally in higher ed right now - even without the national context, the local context of do more with less is exhausting and upsetting.
Reposted by Alex Wermer-Colan
phillywireless.bsky.social
Recent install in Kensington with volunteers and staff, expanding PCW’s network on the east side of Kensington Ave! Check out our live map at map.phillycommunitywireless.org to see where we’re currently located.
Reposted by Alex Wermer-Colan
phillewis.bsky.social
NEW YORK (AP) — Anthropic agrees to pay authors $3,000 per book in landmark settlement over pirated chatbot training material.
Reposted by Alex Wermer-Colan
shannonmattern.bsky.social
I’m so glad to see this Edward Yang series at Film at Lincoln Center. I’ve never regarded myself as a cinephile, but I somehow happened upon a bunch of Yang screenings while I was in grad school. Yi Yi, especially — which I think I saw at Quad, alone — shaped my interest in urban studies.
Desire/Expectations: The Films of Edward Yang
Featuring newly restored and rarely screened films from the pioneering filmmaker’s profound body of work."Desire/Expectations: The Films of Edward Yang" is a comprehensive retrospective honoring one...
www.filmlinc.org
Reposted by Alex Wermer-Colan
shannonmattern.bsky.social
"Because [High Plains Public Radio] covers such a wide area, its engineering costs are high: excluding labor, engineering = ~46% of the budget, inldg 🔌 the nwtrk of 18 transmitters, insurance, + maintenance... The contributors ntwrk... will consist of a mix of part-time + volunteer positions"
With public media under siege, High Plains Public Radio builds a blueprint to cover more rural news with fewer resources
To expand regional coverage while keeping costs down, HPPR aims to build out a “contributors network” of part-time and volunteer community members coordinated by a lean central editorial team.
www.niemanlab.org
Reposted by Alex Wermer-Colan
phillywireless.bsky.social
Help us expand internet access in Norris Square, Fairhill, and Kensington 💜🛜 No experience needed! Come join our team of everyday folks building community internet. Sign-up to volunteer with PCW through our “Volunteer Sign-up Form” in our linktree, and invite a friend!
Reposted by Alex Wermer-Colan
joshuajfriedman.com
What a cursed sentence (gift link)

“The A.I. companies selected to oversee the program would have a strong financial incentive to deny claims. Medicare plans to pay them a share of the savings generated from rejections.”
Medicare Will Require Prior Approval for Certain Procedures
www.nytimes.com
Reposted by Alex Wermer-Colan
audrelawdamercy.bsky.social
oh shit, a state prosecutor may actually do the thing
acyn.bsky.social
Krasner: So, if what you have is a group of ICE agents, or even the military, coming into Philadelphia and committing crimes—assaults that are illegal, kidnapping, unlawful restraint, obstruction of the administration of justice—they can be prosecuted.
Reposted by Alex Wermer-Colan
maxkennerly.bsky.social
This is why public transit across Pennsylvania will start collapsing tomorrow. Unclear what can be done—Dems already passed bills with all of GOP's demands—other than for Dems to retaliate against rural funding and services until the GOP stops attacking urban areas.
humantransit.org/2025/08/the-...
From what I can tell, the Republican-controlled Pennsylvania State Senate seems to be motivated by pure cultural animus toward urban life.  One state representative has already replied with a proposal to return tax revenues to the county from which they came, to make the point that the rural counties are actually net recipients of government spending that is funded by urban -generated prosperity.

This raises one of the most insidious aspects of how many US states have constructed the powers of local governments.  Conservative state leaders appear to be nearly unanimous in their view that big cities should be prevented from governing themselves.  In particular, they are committed to denying local governments the freedom to ask their own voters to raise their own taxes to pay for things that they value.  The idea is to make city governments helpless while continuing to blame them for everything that goes wrong in cities.  It plays well in conservative media, but it’s not fair and it’s certainly not democracy.  When dense cities are not allowed to fund their services in a way that reflects their needs and values, it guarantees that the city will be a site of failure — failure that will be especially visible to the media because in dense cities everything is more visible.
Reposted by Alex Wermer-Colan
theonash.bsky.social
The University of Michigan is now claiming that students have an ‘ethical responsibility’ to use AI.
Questions to ask yourself
As GenAl poses to be a revolutionary tool that can change the academic space and beyond, it is important for you to understand why and how you intend to use these new, powerful tools. These are a few questions to consider and note that the answers to these questions will vary for each person.
• Is using a GenAl-based tool helping me learn more and think better?
• Is using a GenAl-based tool enabling or hindering my mastery of the stated course objectives?
• Is the content I generate accurate and verifiable? Is it free of biases that might harm other groups of society?
• How will I treat content that might have been generated using a GenAl-based tool?
• Is using a GenAl-based tool equitable to my peers in my course?
• How can my actions in using a GenAl-based tool lead to the greater good of society?
Understand that your usage of GenAl-based tools can give you the means to better not just yourself, but also society as a whole, and there is an ethical responsibility towards doing so.
Reposted by Alex Wermer-Colan
Reposted by Alex Wermer-Colan
shannonmattern.bsky.social
“One reason that small-town library rsrch works so well is bc of its natural parameters. Rather than an ocean of information to click through, you get a small stack of 📚. A small stack of 📚 is manageable. It’s focusing. In our era of seemingly limitless data, I for one thrive on these boundaries.”
How Small-Town Public Libraries Enrich the Generative Research Process
Like many authors, I love doing background research. Also, like many authors, I do some of my research online. Setting a chapter in San Luis Obispo, but never been? Drop your little gingerbread dud…
lithub.com
Reposted by Alex Wermer-Colan
Reposted by Alex Wermer-Colan
domw.bsky.social
Wanna see a crazy chart? Of course you do.

Spending on constructing datacenters and manufacturing facilities for computers & electronic products in the US now exceeds the entire retail and wholesale industry and almost as much as the rest of the office and manufacturing sectors combined.
Reposted by Alex Wermer-Colan
meadekrosby.bsky.social
Increasingly understanding "energy dominance" to mean energy authoritarianism. Rooftop and community solar helps democratize energy production, putting money in consumer pockets instead of centralized utilities. Illegally cutting these grants disempowers lower-income communities, in every sense.
maxinejoselow.bsky.social
Scoop: EPA is preparing to cancel $7 billion in grants intended to help low- and moderate-income families install solar panels www.nytimes.com/2025/08/05/c...
E.P.A. Moves to Cancel $7 Billion in Grants for Solar Energy
www.nytimes.com
Reposted by Alex Wermer-Colan
jeffasher.bsky.social
This @today.yougov.com poll is why I'm going to become the Joker.

The US murder rate in 2024 was likely down nearly 30 percent relative to 2020 and down nearly 50 percent relative to 1990.
Reposted by Alex Wermer-Colan
sdileonardi.bsky.social
Hoo boy! I can’t believe it’s happening. We’ve been working on this for years. Thanks to @post45data.bsky.social you can now search our IB database, with a very cool interface!

Please share with anyone who might be interested

Special thanks to @ninasabak.bsky.social for aiding with the data source
post45data.bsky.social
New dataset on bestsellers from 40+ countries, with consistent coverage for France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and the U.S.

Congrats to the authors @sdileonardi.bsky.social, @beccacohen.bsky.social, and @dan-sinnamon.bsky.social on this major contribution! 🎉

🔗: doi.org/10.18737/386...
Reposted by Alex Wermer-Colan
dh2026daejeon.bsky.social
🎉Hello, DH community! The official DH2026 account is now live!
🇰🇷 Daejeon, South Korea | July 27-31, 2026
🎯Theme: Engagement | Hosted by @kadhsocial.bsky.social
Can't wait to see you after @dh2025lisbon.bsky.social Following @dh2024.bsky.social let's build our community!
#DH2026 @adho-org.bsky.social
Reposted by Alex Wermer-Colan
roopikarisam.bsky.social
Here's a write-up of my keynote from #DH2025, since academic publishing is slow and this was written for right now. roopikarisam.com/talks-cat/dh...
Slide with title Digital Humanities for a World Unmade, blue background with stylized images of a Dutch windmill, Leaning Tower of Pisa, Hagia Sofia, Big Ben, and the Singaporean lion.
Reposted by Alex Wermer-Colan
phillywireless.bsky.social
Thanks to @billy-penn.bsky.social for writing a feature story on our work here at PCW! We appreciate the opportunity to discuss the importance of having internet connectivity available for all in local parks, community centers, gardens, and public spaces. Read more here: tinyurl.com/Billy-Penn-A...
Philly group knits community together with outdoor wi-fi
Philly Community Wireless is trying to bridge the gap in outdoor wireless. They showed us why outdoor wi-fi is just important as indoor access
tinyurl.com