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Reposted by Callan Davies

David Veevers @davidveevers.bsky.social · 9h

What HE managers fail to understand is that in the context of the Humanities, ‘employability’ isn’t teaching coding or carpentry, but skills around writing, presenting, reasoning, evaluation, analysis, research etc. In an 80% service economy, these are the skills that fundamentally matter.

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Callan Davies @callanjd.bsky.social · 1d

Congratulations!

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Tobias Wilson-Bates @phdhurtbrain.bsky.social · 1d

I don’t think a long book is even primarily about plot, or character, or any of the patterned information on its pages. A long book is practicing over time a way of being in the world. Reading even a very good summary is not the same as giving over some portion of your own life to that practice.

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Jed Brown @jedbrown.org · Aug 18

I expect this will be used to "fix" citation issues in LLM slop. The (epistemically fraudulent) citations will be real now, and even if they don't say what's being claimed, it'll often be enough for plausible deniability. This is obviously a win for misinformation.

More sketchy tech from Grammarly:

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · Aug 18

What the actual fucking fuck. www.theverge.com/news/760508/...

One of the most notable tools is the AI grader agent, which Grammarly says can provide feedback based on uploaded course details and “publicly available” information about the instructor. The bot can give tailored writing recommendations and estimate what grade the paper will receive in its current state, helping students make improvements prior to submission.

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Jed Brown @jedbrown.org · Aug 18

It is not "attribution and sourcing" to generate post-hoc citations that have not been read and did not inform the student's writing. Those should be regarded as fraudulent: artifacts testifying to human actions and thought that did not occur.
www.theverge.com/news/760508/...

For help with attribution and sourcing, Grammarly is releasing a citation finder agent that automatically generates correctly formatted citations backing up claims in a piece of writing, and an expert review agent that provides personalized, topic-specific feedback.

Screenshot from Grammarly's demo of inserting a post-hoc citation.
https://www.grammarly.com/ai-agents/citation-finder

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Callan Davies @callanjd.bsky.social · 5d

Campus looking beautifully autumnal today @unisouthampton.bsky.social

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Jo Edge 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 @hagenilda.bsky.social · 7d

I wrote something on my time on returning to Goldsmiths as an associate lecturer, 17 years after graduating with my first degree. It’s a plea to Frances Corner’s successor to learn from mistakes made over the last 6 years and change course. #UCU #UKHE

ucucommons.org/2025/10/06/c...

Cutting Corners: a message to the next Vice Chancellor at Goldsmiths

On 1 October 2025, a short announcement was put on Goldsmiths’ website to say that Vice Chancellor Frances Corner was stepping down with immediate effect. This came off the back of an announcement …

ucucommons.org

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Reposted by Callan Davies

Teoni Maughan Passereau @teonipassereau.bsky.social · 6d

I was invited to co-organise this upcoming conference being held later this month at the University of Exeter. With two days of exciting talks and panels, plus a walking historical tour of Exeter and a group dinner, I'd highly recommend coming along if you can!

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Henry Mance @henrymance.ft.com · 7d

I know this is uncomfortable to admit, but there is a small area in England's second city where people are just not integrated with the rest of society. Many of them hold views that arguably go against British values.

Yes, we need to talk about the Tory conference in Manchester.

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Callan Davies @callanjd.bsky.social · 8d

F.T. Prince lecture coming up at @unisouthampton.bsky.social English: book your spot now!

Toby Litt @tobylitt.bsky.social · 8d

We'll soon be welcoming Dr Mary Jean Chan to University of Southampton to give our annual FT Prince Memorial Lecture.

In this 2025 F.T. Prince Memorial lecture, Dr Mary Jean Chan will explore the ways in which strict(er) poetic forms enable one's articulation of grief and loss.

In this 2025 F.T. Prince Memorial lecture, Dr Mary Jean Chan will explore the ways in which strict(er) poetic forms such as the sestina, the villanelle, the sonnet, the tanka and the specular poem enable one's articulation of grief and loss.

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Reposted by Callan Davies

Toby Litt @tobylitt.bsky.social · 8d

Sounds wonderful.

28 October at 6pm; free, but you have to book.

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/f-t-prince...

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Toby Litt @tobylitt.bsky.social · 8d

We'll soon be welcoming Dr Mary Jean Chan to University of Southampton to give our annual FT Prince Memorial Lecture.

In this 2025 F.T. Prince Memorial lecture, Dr Mary Jean Chan will explore the ways in which strict(er) poetic forms enable one's articulation of grief and loss.

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Reposted by Callan Davies

Jim Dickinson @jimdickinson.bsky.social · 9d

"Universities teaching literature students how to cope with long novels"

Universities teaching literature students how to cope with long novels

Critics blame GCSE English for deterring teenagers from the subject, describing the literature syllabus as boring and repetitive

bit.ly

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Callan Davies @callanjd.bsky.social · 11d

Earlyish finish on Friday? Sounds great. My 1 hour 15 minute mid-afternoon commute into London has so far taken four hours and seen me travel on South Western, Cross Country, Great Western, Lizzie Line, and Thameslink. 💀

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Callan Davies @callanjd.bsky.social · 13d

So much harder to hit all the notes and necessaries!

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Victoria County History @vch-home.bsky.social · 15d

#HistoryJob - just a reminder that our colleagues in VCH Herefordshire are looking for *two* contributing editors to bring their first #BigRedBook for over 100 years to fruition.

Details in the link, applications close on 10 October.

Contributing Editors at The Herefordshire Victoria County History Trust

Apply for the Contributing Editors role on jobs.ac.uk, the top job board for academic positions in higher education. View details and apply now.

www.jobs.ac.uk

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Callan Davies @callanjd.bsky.social · 15d

Neat mini-exhibition on Shakespeare at @thelondonarchives.bsky.social featuring a Stuart printing of the Agas map, the Blackfriars gatehouse deed, and Keats’s First Folio.

Book in a case with exhibition interpretation

Map on wall with exhibition interpretation

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Callan Davies @callanjd.bsky.social · 18d

Beef shin ragu for a Friday

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Callan Davies @callanjd.bsky.social · 19d

New term, new notebook 💅

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Callan Davies @callanjd.bsky.social · 20d

Trip to our sister city of Winchester for some school outreach today (on the opening scene of Hamlet), looking fine in the September sunshine.

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Faculty of English, University of Oxford @engfac.bsky.social · 23d

Our #Shakespeare webinar series continues! Join us on 6 Oct at 6pm to delve into the new OWC edition of The Merry Wives of Windsor with @oldfortunatus.bsky.social &
@callanjd.bsky.social

All welcome! Register now via Eventbrite & you will be sent a Zoom link before the event. #teamenglish

English Faculty/OWC Shakespeare Webinar: The Merry Wives of Windsor

In this free webinar, Professor Emma Smith will be discussing the new edition of The Merry Wives of Windsor from Oxford World's Classics.

shakespeare-webinar-merry-wives.eventbrite.co.uk

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Callan Davies @callanjd.bsky.social · 26d

Ooh, congratulations, look forward to reading!

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Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 26d

An actual quote from the Secretary of State for Business and Trade

Too often people go to university to ‘explore research and knowledge’

Look forward to Wes S saying 'too often people go to hospital to have operations' or Heidi Alexander saying 'too often people go to the station to catch a train'

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Callan Davies @callanjd.bsky.social · 26d

Have to say, it’s not mucking around ☄️

Callan Davies @callanjd.bsky.social · 26d

Season’s first batch of homegrown, homemade hot sauce 🌶️

Bottles of red sauce with a cartoon fox label

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