Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Dr Holly Nielsen

@hollynielsen.bsky.social

15K followers 510 following 4.7K posts

Historian of play | AHRC funded PhD on board games & play c.1860-1939 | Game developer | Writer & narrative designer Repped by Will Francis at Janklow & Nesbit she/her

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Dr Holly Nielsen @hollynielsen.bsky.social · Jun 10

Thought I’d do a little reminder on here-

If you’re curious, these are academic pieces based on my research that I have published so far. (Humanities academic publishing is glacially slow)

Chapter: “‘the British Empire would gain new strength from Nursery Floors’, Depictions of Travel and Place in Nineteenth-Century British board games”, in “Historia Ludens: The Playing Historian”, Routledge, edited by Alexander con Lünen, Katherine J. Lewis, Benjamin Litherland and Pat Cullum

Chapter: “‘Men should try playing the woman’s part to see what it feels like. Remember~ it’s only a game…’ The representation of gendered experience in chance-based board games”, in “Material Game Studies, A Philosophy of Analogue Play”, Bloomsbury, edited by Chloé Germaine and Paul Wake

Chapter: “Empire Preference: Interwar British Empire Trade Games” in, “playing place: board games, popular culture, space”, MIT Press, edited by Chad Randl and D. Medina Lasansky

Paper: “Multipurpose Domesticity: Labour, Leisure and Kitchen Tables” November 2023, 93(6), Architectural Design

8 20 130

Reposted by Dr Holly Nielsen

Samantha Mackenzie Greer @sammgreer.bsky.social · 1h

New Page day!

A full pager that's red as hell, showing the world outside the prison of Quod-Quell.

What viewers don't see is the many pieces of paper where I've tried to sketch out a rough map of the planet's orbit so these kinda views are (hopefully!) consistent.

🔴 iteatsplanets.com/page/55 🔴

Two prisoners stand at the edge of a metal walkway of a large industrial structure, one over the railing upon the precipice. Beyond them the ocean meets the horizon, stained by a blood red horizon. Behind the clouds, a dark sky is host to the red tinged silhouettes of a nearby gas giant, its rings and a moon with artificial lights upon its surface.

The prisoner on the precipice says "Nobody gets out."

2 6 13

Dr Holly Nielsen @hollynielsen.bsky.social · 14h

Yessss

Dr Holly Nielsen @hollynielsen.bsky.social · 20h

How do people go through life not being silly or having whimsy. At any moment I have probably just done a minimum of 3 silly things.

1 25

Reposted by Dr Holly Nielsen

sweetie π @sixfeetofcandy.bsky.social · 3d

could a depressed person do this? *posts again*

6 130 530

Dr Holly Nielsen @hollynielsen.bsky.social · 20h

God bless the directors who bring me on to their games and let me be a huge nerd.

Dr Holly Nielsen @hollynielsen.bsky.social · 21h

I love writing for games and getting to slip in little bits of historiography. In one storylet I’ve covered ambiguity in material culture, “truth” and “emotional truth”, and the need to research the everyday alongside the exceptional 🫡

2 2 24

Reposted by Dr Holly Nielsen

Keith W. Dickinson @keithwdickinson.bsky.social · 1d

Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.

The Verge @theverge.com · May 26

Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry

Paul McCartne, Elton John and others signed an open letter.

buff.ly

390 9K 24K

Dr Holly Nielsen @hollynielsen.bsky.social · 22h

If your dad wore it in the ‘80s or ‘90s I’ve probably paid a fiver to wear it now.

Dr Holly Nielsen @hollynielsen.bsky.social · 23h

I love old shirts

Selfie in a mirror, I’m wearing dark jeans and a second hand men’s shirt from the ‘90s with a blue and terracotta abstract pattern on a cream background

3 57

Reposted by Dr Holly Nielsen

Laura Michet @lmichet.bsky.social · 1d

Learned that I am being laid off from Heart Machine, and will be leaving the studio later this month.

Do you need a contractor? I've got a track record of leading scope-friendly script revisions late in dev. I have also done a lot of consulting on new IPs and pitches/demos. Feel free to DM me!

18 280 510

Dr Holly Nielsen @hollynielsen.bsky.social · 2d

It’s why all the cool kids end up in human geography

Reposted by Dr Holly Nielsen

Oxford Centre for the History of Childhood @histchildoxford.bsky.social · 2d

We're so excited to hear about Holly Nielsen's research in our 1st seminar of term on 'play' in a couple of weeks! 20 October 11-12:15 in Oxford & online - more info on how to join us here: talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/series...

2 6

Dr Holly Nielsen @hollynielsen.bsky.social · 2d

It’s very annoying

Dr Holly Nielsen @hollynielsen.bsky.social · 2d

I love how academia is like:

“Yeah be interdisciplinary! We want to support innovative research that breaks boundaries!”

But then makes you pick one discipline from a limited drop down menu to define yourself as.

2 5 58

Dr Holly Nielsen @hollynielsen.bsky.social · 2d

Only going to be about on that day I think- but would love to meet for a coffee if you have a moment spare!

1 2

Dr Holly Nielsen @hollynielsen.bsky.social · 3d

I joke about it (because that’s what I do) but ngl it’s legitimately scary to have to mentally place yourself somewhere when you have *zero* memory of being somewhere or doing something. It makes you doubt everything

2 1 9

Dr Holly Nielsen @hollynielsen.bsky.social · 3d

Waking up with a tattoo on my arm that says “you’ve already bought those trousers that were on sale, and you dont need any more shower gel you have four bottles in the cupboard”

3 20

Dr Holly Nielsen @hollynielsen.bsky.social · 3d

Oh that is a lovely notebook

Dr Holly Nielsen @hollynielsen.bsky.social · 3d

Yes I have started physically writing out notes and reminders to myself like a very mundane version of the movie Memento.

2 1 21

Dr Holly Nielsen @hollynielsen.bsky.social · 3d

One of the weirdest things I am finding with burnout/brain fog is that my memory just… goes.

Not just struggling to remember something, literally completely forgetting I’ve done something already. Identical packages arrive for me, I fill out forms twice etc.It’s a horrible feeling

8 2 110

Dr Holly Nielsen @hollynielsen.bsky.social · 3d

Hate to say that a tea and videogames day was lovely but did not completely cure my brain 😔

Resting is a scam (this is a joke)

1 12

Dr Holly Nielsen @hollynielsen.bsky.social · 3d

In an effort to be better at resting to help burnout I have done nothing today apart from play videogames and drink tea

Photo of a Pomeranian tucked up in bed wearing a jumper and looking sleepy

1 41

Dr Holly Nielsen @hollynielsen.bsky.social · 3d

Big cardigan sort of Sunday

Selfie in a mirror, I’m wearing an oversized vintage cardigan

4 88

Reposted by Dr Holly Nielsen

Zack Polanski @zackpolanski.bsky.social · 4d

This is grim & dangerous over reach.

This is a government that have lost the moral argument & are still selling arms to Israel. Now further cracking down on dissent.

Absolutely the opposite of what they should be doing - so of course this is what the Labour Government choose.

Peter Walker @peterwalker99.bsky.social · 4d

NEW: Home Office announces planned new anti-protest powers, mainly aimed at pro-Gaza protests like those for Palestine Action. Police will be able to consider the "cumulative impact" of repeated protests and potentially order that they be relocated.

65 730 1.9K

Dr Holly Nielsen @hollynielsen.bsky.social · 4d

Just a headless reindeer Christmas ornament in an abandoned tube tunnel that no one knows how it got there

A headless reindeer Christmas ornament in a pit of sand in an abandoned tube tunnel

1 1 9