Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Dr Bryony Coombs

@bryonycoombs.bsky.social

8.1K followers 2.3K following 620 posts

Art Historian I Medieval and Early Modern, PhD, FSA Scot, FRHistS Renaissance Teaching Fellow, Edinburgh Uni Franco-Scottish cultural connections: art, architecture and material culture. https://edinburgh.academia.edu/BryonyCoombs https://bryonycoombs.com

edinburgh.academia.edu

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Dr Bryony Coombs @bryonycoombs.bsky.social · Nov 11

✨🎉Hello new BlueSky people 👋
Who am I?
New Book: Visual Arts & the Auld Alliance.
New project: Scotland on Parchment: Scraped, Limned and Bound due 2026. Inaugural book in a new EUP series Visual and Material Cultures of Scotland🎉✨ @edinburghup.bsky.social
New approaches: wp.me/peZVQm-8R

6 81

Reposted by Dr Bryony Coombs

Scottish History Society @scothistorysociety.bsky.social · 4h

We've joined the blue sky! Just as the skies darken for winter too

Please let your followers know that the Scottish History Society has arrived!

Find out more about memberships, the society, and events at our website: scottishhistorysociety.com

The Scottish History Society

scottishhistorysociety.com

1 38 56

Dr Bryony Coombs @bryonycoombs.bsky.social · 3h

😮😍

Dr Bryony Coombs @bryonycoombs.bsky.social · 4d

💛

Dr Bryony Coombs @bryonycoombs.bsky.social · 4d

Stocking up on mussel shells to hold pigment for some workshops I am running on manuscript illumination... there are some lovely medieval images of shells being used to hold pigments at this time... here are some in use...

1 2

Dr Bryony Coombs @bryonycoombs.bsky.social · 4d

my sympathies...it's exhausting sometimes....

Dr Bryony Coombs @bryonycoombs.bsky.social · 4d

If in doubt (or experiencing existential dread at the state of academia), I can recommend a stormy beach walk collecting pigment shells....

1 1 22

Reposted by Dr Bryony Coombs

UCU Edinburgh @ucuedinburgh.bsky.social · 4d

In the proud tradition of staff-student solidarity at Edinburgh, a moving call from EUJPS at our 8 Sept. strike rally to stand together against unaccountable and unethical management of University finance
#UCU #WeAreTheUniversity #DivestNow

www.ucuedinburgh.org.uk/blog/ckdj6l6...

Our struggles are connected: from divestment to staff cuts — UCU Edinburgh

‘We stand with you because your fight for fair work is a fight for the soul of this University. We ask you to stand with us because our fight for ethical investment is a fight for its consci...

www.ucuedinburgh.org.uk

1 6 12

Dr Bryony Coombs @bryonycoombs.bsky.social · 5d

Definitely an endless scream kind of a day....

Endless Screaming @infinitescream.bsky.social · 9d

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH

2 6

Reposted by Dr Bryony Coombs

Francesca Tinti @francescatinti.bsky.social · 6d

At Early Medieval Europe we’re thrilled to team up once again with the BSR to sponsor a fellowship! One doctoral student or ECR will have the chance to carry out a month of research in Rome. More info below

British School at Rome @bsrome.bsky.social · 6d

📣 BSR / Early Medieval Europe Fellowship – Call for Applications!

Are you a PhD student or early career researcher in early medieval European history?
Apply now!

⏳ Deadline: 30 January 2026
More info here: bsr.ac.uk/awards-resid...

9 13

Dr Bryony Coombs @bryonycoombs.bsky.social · 6d

Yes!🤩

1 3

Dr Bryony Coombs @bryonycoombs.bsky.social · 6d

Oh I see, thank you! 😊Yes, Scotland was a very well-connected place. I love it when the material/visual evidence for that, is so clear - this is a fantastic example.

1 1

Dr Bryony Coombs @bryonycoombs.bsky.social · 6d

Doesn't it? Such a brilliant and exciting find!

Dr Bryony Coombs @bryonycoombs.bsky.social · 6d

She is holding a book! 📖
Currently writing a section on visual evidence for book use in medieval Scotland - so this could not be better timed...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

'Rare' medieval hair accessory uncovered at Eilean Donan Castle

The gravoir was used for neatly parting hair and creating elaborate hairstyles.

www.bbc.co.uk

5 57 240

Reposted by Dr Bryony Coombs

The Orkney News @theorkneynews.bsky.social · 6d

Revealing Life in a 13thC Scottish Castle theorkneynews.scot/2025/10/02/r...

Revealing Life in a 13thC Scottish Castle

Objects including brooches and dress pins were excavated alongside animal bones and crucibles – small ceramic cups used to melt copper alloy, silver and gold. Traces of precious metals found in the…

theorkneynews.scot

4 15

Reposted by Dr Bryony Coombs

Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 7d

Jane Goodall, ethologist and conservationist, has died. She was 91

1.3K 7.7K 29K

Reposted by Dr Bryony Coombs

Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ @olivia.science · Sep 6

Finally! 🤩 Our position piece: Against the Uncritical Adoption of 'AI' Technologies in Academia:
doi.org/10.5281/zeno...

We unpick the tech industry’s marketing, hype, & harm; and we argue for safeguarding higher education, critical
thinking, expertise, academic freedom, & scientific integrity.
1/n

Abstract: Under the banner of progress, products have been uncritically adopted or
even imposed on users — in past centuries with tobacco and combustion engines, and in
the 21st with social media. For these collective blunders, we now regret our involvement or
apathy as scientists, and society struggles to put the genie back in the bottle. Currently, we
are similarly entangled with artificial intelligence (AI) technology. For example, software updates are rolled out seamlessly and non-consensually, Microsoft Office is bundled with chatbots, and we, our students, and our employers have had no say, as it is not
considered a valid position to reject AI technologies in our teaching and research. This
is why in June 2025, we co-authored an Open Letter calling on our employers to reverse
and rethink their stance on uncritically adopting AI technologies. In this position piece,
we expound on why universities must take their role seriously toa) counter the technology
industry’s marketing, hype, and harm; and to b) safeguard higher education, critical
thinking, expertise, academic freedom, and scientific integrity. We include pointers to
relevant work to further inform our colleagues.

Figure 1. A cartoon set theoretic view on various terms (see Table 1) used when discussing the superset AI
(black outline, hatched background): LLMs are in orange; ANNs are in magenta; generative models are
in blue; and finally, chatbots are in green. Where these intersect, the colours reflect that, e.g. generative adversarial network (GAN) and Boltzmann machine (BM) models are in the purple subset because they are
both generative and ANNs. In the case of proprietary closed source models, e.g. OpenAI’s ChatGPT and
Apple’s Siri, we cannot verify their implementation and so academics can only make educated guesses (cf.
Dingemanse 2025). Undefined terms used above: BERT (Devlin et al. 2019); AlexNet (Krizhevsky et al.
2017); A.L.I.C.E. (Wallace 2009); ELIZA (Weizenbaum 1966); Jabberwacky (Twist 2003); linear discriminant analysis (LDA); quadratic discriminant analysis (QDA).

Table 1. Below some of the typical terminological disarray is untangled. Importantly, none of these terms
are orthogonal nor do they exclusively pick out the types of products we may wish to critique or proscribe.

Protecting the Ecosystem of Human Knowledge: Five Principles

96 1.5K 3.1K

Dr Bryony Coombs @bryonycoombs.bsky.social · 8d

😊

Edinburgh University Press @edinburghup.bsky.social · 8d

We are delighted to share that Visual Arts and the Auld Alliance by @bryonycoombs.bsky.social has been shortlisted for the Walpole Society’s Berger Prize.

Congratulations Bryony! ✨

Discover the book: https://edin.ac/4f1GX2Q

Find out more about the prize: https://edin.ac/42MBWH5

Reposted by Dr Bryony Coombs

Alice Wickenden @awickenden.bsky.social · 12d

every good scholar needs: a desk; some ink; a demon monkey hovering menacingly above, clutching his own book; and a quill

1 13 61

Reposted by Dr Bryony Coombs

Andrew Curry @spoke32.bsky.social · 9d

The color blue never shows up in Paleolithic cave paintings. Archaeologists assumed that's because blue pigments and dyes were unknown in prehistory. A new study by @izzywisher.bsky.social in @antiquity.ac.uk, along with an even older indigo find, suggest otherwise. @science.org

Paleolithic painters had the blues

Two recent studies shine light on the earliest known artistic usages of blue pigment

www.science.org

2 23 76

Reposted by Dr Bryony Coombs

Kenneth F. Duggan 🇨🇦 @kfduggan.bsky.social · 10d

The quickest way to finish an article is to start it. It also helps if you can stay away from social media, tv and the internet. And your cell phone. And other people. You should also fight urges to clean and organise spaces, and to cook big meals.

In other words, it’s difficult to finish articles.

A monk is seated, working on a manuscript. He is writing in a book and the writing appears to be horizontal lines.

4 24 110

Dr Bryony Coombs @bryonycoombs.bsky.social · 11d

It's great - loved it! :)

Reposted by Dr Bryony Coombs

LAMPS Edinburgh @lamps-edinburgh.bsky.social · 18d

We're proud to present our seminar series for the new semester; alongside our regular postgraduate seminars, we will be hosting two manuscript workshops! We look forward to seeing postgraduate students new and old at our first seminar on Tuesday 30th September, which will be followed by drinks!

1 4 8

Dr Bryony Coombs @bryonycoombs.bsky.social · 11d

Doors Open Day in Edinburgh. Just been to see the remarkable Pre Reformation stained glass that survives in the Magdalen Chapel, Cowgate.

2 3 29

Reposted by Dr Bryony Coombs

Sarah Werner @wynkenhimself.bsky.social · 12d

Want to learn more about what a bibliographical approach might be for working with hand-press books? Come think with me about how to notice, ask questions, and maybe even discover new things about the material features of old books! 📜📚 #BookHistory

Rare Book School @rarebookschool.bsky.social · 12d

We're accepting applications for our fall online course, A Bibliographical Introduction to the Hand-Press Period. The course, taught by @wynkenhimself.bsky.social, runs Sundays, 10/19-12/14. Application deadline is Fri 10/10. More at rarebookschool.org/fall-online-course-thinking-bibliographically

1 17 37

Reposted by Dr Bryony Coombs

Stan_Mer @stanmer.bsky.social · 11d

I know the chances are slim, but why not give it a shot? The pattern in these initials looks pretty distinct — does it ring a bell for someone? The MS is English, mid or late 12th cent. (now Oxf, AllSouls 36). #medievalsky

6 6