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mkirschenbaum.bsky.social
Matthew Kirschenbaum
@mkirschenbaum.bsky.social
12K followers 800 following 4.4K posts
Critical tech and AI. Cats, letterpress printing, tabletop gaming. Distinguished University Professor at UMD; come January, Commonwealth Professor at UVA. I am speaking only for me, myself, and I—as a private citizen—here. Being a dick gets you blocked.
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mkirschenbaum.bsky.social
Matthew Kirschenbaum @mkirschenbaum.bsky.social · Jun 13
Wanted to share here that I have accepted an endowed chair offer from my Alma mater, the University of Virginia, where (after 25 wonderful years at UMD) I will be starting in January as Commonwealth Professor of Artificial Intelligence and English.
Mid selfie of me on UVA Lawn with Rotunda over my shoulder.
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Reposted by Matthew Kirschenbaum
jonbecker.bsky.social
Jon Becker @jonbecker.bsky.social · 7h
Please read and share this. It is as clear and coherent and evidence-based about what we are seeing from the federal government as anything I have read.
adamkeiper.com
Adam Keiper @adamkeiper.com · 7h
NEW: "I don’t like sending out 'emergency' newsletters, but I’ve had my eye on the situation in Chicago all day....This moment has elevated the crisis so that it is no longer just a conflict between the federal government and a state, but between two states."
www.thebulwark.com/p/emergency-...
Emergency Triad: The Chicago Rubicon and What Comes Next
We aren’t at the worst-case scenario yet. But if you squint, you can see it looming out there, just over the horizon.
www.thebulwark.com
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Reposted by Matthew Kirschenbaum
normcharlatan.bsky.social
Norm Charlatan @normcharlatan.bsky.social · 8h
I’m the FBI agent looking for digital media on Amelia Earhart. Might try and find some old 5.25 floppy disks.
cnn.com
CNN @cnn.com · 8h
The Trump administration has ordered FBI employees in Washington, DC, to immediately search their workstations and digital media for any records pertaining to the disappearance of Amelia Earhart, a law enforcement source told CNN.
FBI employees ordered to immediately search for records related to Amelia Earhart, source says | CNN Politics
The Trump administration has ordered FBI employees in Washington, DC, to immediately search their workstations and digital media for any records pertaining to the disappearance of Amelia Earhart, a la...
www.cnn.com
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Reposted by Matthew Kirschenbaum
nehafge3403.bsky.social
NEH Union - AFGE L3403 @nehafge3403.bsky.social · 21h
The cuts at the National Endowment for the Humanities go far deeper than any of these agencies - almost 70% of 179 people were terminated, despite no change to the agency's budget.

There were no savings here - only idealogical destruction. #NEH
conradhackett.bsky.social
Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 1d
How much smaller the federal workforce is now vs. a year ago
Ed Dept 42%
OPM 33%
HUD 31%
Treasury 29%
Defense (civilian jobs) 22%
Small Biz Admin 21%
Energy 20%
Interior 15%
HHS 14%
SSA 11%
EPA 10%
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
How Much Smaller Is the Federal Work Force? Shutdown Plans Offer a Clue.
The number of federal employees has been trimmed by thousands since President Trump took office, according to contingency plans drawn up by federal agencies.
www.nytimes.com
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mkirschenbaum.bsky.social
Matthew Kirschenbaum @mkirschenbaum.bsky.social · 11h
On the left, reportedly a photo of Texas National Guard members arriving in Illinois. On the right . . . I have questions.
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mkirschenbaum.bsky.social
Matthew Kirschenbaum @mkirschenbaum.bsky.social · 13h
I have a potty mouth.
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mkirschenbaum.bsky.social
Matthew Kirschenbaum @mkirschenbaum.bsky.social · 14h
. . . because we have no national funding agencies to contribute as equal partners. (How utterly fucking humiliating.)
Screenshot from funding announcement: “US-based team members may be part of funded UK or Canada teams, under certain conditions.”
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Reposted by Matthew Kirschenbaum
nicksturm.bsky.social
Nick Sturm @nicksturm.bsky.social · 17h
This is a huge collapse in the book distribution business, especially following the closure of Small Press Distribution last year. Baker & Taylor--originally established in 1828--has been central to the library market for decades.
maris.bsky.social
Maris Kreizman @maris.bsky.social · 17h
seems very bad www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...
Baker & Taylor Prepares Plan to Shut Down
At a town hall yesterday, B&T owner and CEO Aman Kochar announced that following the termination of the ReaderLink acquisition deal, he does not see a path to keep the library wholesaler in business.
www.publishersweekly.com
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mkirschenbaum.bsky.social
Matthew Kirschenbaum @mkirschenbaum.bsky.social · 16h
Not wrong?
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mkirschenbaum.bsky.social
Matthew Kirschenbaum @mkirschenbaum.bsky.social · 16h
A revelatory list in the current climate.
• African American Studies • Applied Mathematics B.A. • Chemistry B.A. • Classical Civilization • Classics (Greek and Latin) • Digital Humanities • Fine Arts • French and Francophone Studies • German Language, Literature, and Culture B.A. • History of Architecture • Italian Language, Literature, and Culture B.A. • Latino-Latin American Studies • Middle Eastern Studies • Modern Jewish Studies • Music History and Cultures • Religion • Russian Language, Literature, and Culture B.A. • Statistics B.A.
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mkirschenbaum.bsky.social
Matthew Kirschenbaum @mkirschenbaum.bsky.social · 16h
Neoliberal retooling?
Screenshot of Art News headline: “Syracuse University Pauses Admission for 20 Undergraduate Majors, Including Fine Arts and Digital Humanities,” with Digital Humanities highlighted by me
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Reposted by Matthew Kirschenbaum
brianbeutler.bsky.social
Brian Beutler @brianbeutler.bsky.social · 17h
Recommitting to this kind of faux credulous coverage after Trump unilaterally gutted public media is going to make long-run survival much harder. Who’s opening their wallet for this?
npr.org
NPR @npr.org · 20h
President Trump is bucking tradition and legal precedent in pushing to deploy the National Guard to Democratic-led cities like Portland, Oregon, and Chicago due to what he says is rampant crime and to support his crackdown on illegal immigration.
Trump's power to deploy National Guard, explained
President Trump is bucking tradition and legal precedent in pushing to deploy the National Guard to Democratic-led cities like Portland, Oregon, and Chicago due to what he says is rampant crime and to support his crackdown on illegal immigration.
n.pr
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mkirschenbaum.bsky.social
Matthew Kirschenbaum @mkirschenbaum.bsky.social · 19h
💯
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mkirschenbaum.bsky.social
Matthew Kirschenbaum @mkirschenbaum.bsky.social · 20h
Excuse me, but thank *you*.
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mkirschenbaum.bsky.social
Matthew Kirschenbaum @mkirschenbaum.bsky.social · 20h
This, from @sivav.bsky.social, is the mic drop reply to the “Compact” you have been waiting for. It won’t, but it should really just end the discussion and deliberations straight up. newrepublic.com/article/2013...
Why This Essay Could Cause the University of Virginia to Shut Down
How Linda McMahon’s latest “compact” would do deep and permanent harm to American higher education
newrepublic.com
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mkirschenbaum.bsky.social
Matthew Kirschenbaum @mkirschenbaum.bsky.social · 1d
One thing that’s clear, one of the knock on effects of the “Compact” is it’s piling yet more labor on already maxed out faculty at targeted schools: meetings, resolutions, messaging, responding to admin requests for “input,” processing rumors and information . . . It’s just more more on top of more.
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mkirschenbaum.bsky.social
Matthew Kirschenbaum @mkirschenbaum.bsky.social · 1d
I can concede the grammatical fine point, but it’s hard to imagine most readers of CNN’s front page paying that kind of attention. The phrasing chimes with the partisan slur.
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mkirschenbaum.bsky.social
Matthew Kirschenbaum @mkirschenbaum.bsky.social · 1d
“Democrat-led” is an adjective modifying cities.
Surely that’s the obvious commonsensical reading.
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mkirschenbaum.bsky.social
Matthew Kirschenbaum @mkirschenbaum.bsky.social · 1d
No Richards in the book, but would be interesting to cross read with John Guillory’s two most recent.
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mkirschenbaum.bsky.social
Matthew Kirschenbaum @mkirschenbaum.bsky.social · 1d
This, from @leifw.bsky.social’s LANGUAGE MACHINES, is the single best one-sentence explanation of the transformer architecture I’ve seen.
Photo of underline text in a book: “The attention mechanism solves this problem by allowing the net to encode a one-to-all matrix for each word in the data set.”
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mkirschenbaum.bsky.social
Matthew Kirschenbaum @mkirschenbaum.bsky.social · 1d
This is Effie’s Bluesky debut. Make her welcome.
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mkirschenbaum.bsky.social
Matthew Kirschenbaum @mkirschenbaum.bsky.social · 1d
Effie sez we’re done here.
The kitten now claiming my attention (and part of my desk).
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mkirschenbaum.bsky.social
Matthew Kirschenbaum @mkirschenbaum.bsky.social · 1d
Update: that’s one block.
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mkirschenbaum.bsky.social
Matthew Kirschenbaum @mkirschenbaum.bsky.social · 1d
Well put.
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mkirschenbaum.bsky.social
Matthew Kirschenbaum @mkirschenbaum.bsky.social · 1d
NB. If you’re here to explain to me why this is really okay or nbd just . . . don’t.
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mkirschenbaum.bsky.social
Matthew Kirschenbaum @mkirschenbaum.bsky.social · 1d
They’ve either carelessly adopted overtly partisan language or they’ve intentionally adopted it. Either is unacceptable. I really shouldn’t have to explain that.