Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

jkshields (she/they)

@jkshields.bsky.social

680 followers 950 following 2.2K posts

💙📚 #ReligionNerd #OA #ScholComm #Ekkies How fleeting are all human passions compared with the massive continuity of ducks~Dorothy Sayers 🏳️‍🌈. BLM. Protect 🏳️‍⚧️. Open borders. End Prisons.

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

jkshields (she/they) @jkshields.bsky.social · 11d

⬆️interaction lately so here's a 📌 for new faces...

I am a library worker, former religion & ethics prof, queer ✝️ parent in the Berkshires. I post about library stuff, schol comm, politics, religion, and daily life.

ISO: remote schol comm or library strategy internship for spring '26; essay invites

1 2

jkshields (she/they) @jkshields.bsky.social · 9m

we are trained to ROI-analyze everything
but I'm not sure it's good for us

1 1

jkshields (she/they) @jkshields.bsky.social · 9m

I am not sure it's possible to escape "timing-wise should I have made a different choice" thinking about any grad program

especially for women
esp for women with children
esp for women w/ children in a time of bizarre & unpredictable political change

1 1

jkshields (she/they) @jkshields.bsky.social · 13m

Watching this with interest.

Scott Santens @scottsantens.com · 19m

A HUGE rural universal basic income pilot project is moving forward in South Korea and scheduled to launch next year. The plan is for everyone in 6 counties (out of 69) to receive a UBI of 150,000 won every month for 2 years, which is about equal to $200/mo in the US. 150k-270k people would get UBI!

Exclusive: Lee's Basic Income Review Sparks Bias Concerns

Exclusive: Lees Basic Income Review Sparks Bias Concerns Supporter-Led Institutions Role Raises Fairness Questions

www.chosun.com

jkshields (she/they) @jkshields.bsky.social · 16m

Honestly, a LOT of pre-tenure faculty application letters sound like this too

McSweeney's @mcsweeneys.net · 2d

"I know I am not the strongest candidate. I do not have the highest GPA or SAT score. That is part of the reason why I am dedicating all 650 words of this essay to convincing your school that you should take a chance on me. Accept me, Dartmouth, and I will be your ride-or-die."

My Common App Essay: “Every School Reading This Except Dartmouth Sucks Ass”

PROMPT: Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome? The summer after f...

buff.ly

Reposted by jkshields (she/they)

RNS @rns.org · 30m

California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a contentious bill Monday evening that had for months been the focus of Indian diaspora communities across the nation.
religionnews.com/2025/10/14/w...

What is SB 509, the vetoed bill dividing Hindus and Sikhs?

(RNS) — For the country’s Sikh and Hindu American populations, the reaction to Newsom’s veto has been starkly divided.

religionnews.com

2 4

jkshields (she/they) @jkshields.bsky.social · 1h

Ball State University Libraries is hiring a Senior Director of Digital Scholarship and Scholarly Communication

bsu.wd12.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Extern...

Deadline 10/11
Salary is $85,000+

#LISjobs

Senior Director of Digital Scholarship and Scholarly Communication

Position Title: Senior Director of Digital Scholarship and Scholarly Communication Compensation: The minimum salary for this position is $85,000. Department: University Libraries_A About this opportun...

bsu.wd12.myworkdayjobs.com

jkshields (she/they) @jkshields.bsky.social · 1h

Again I am asking faculty & speakers to be careful about what rights they sign away in both their annual contracts + any online-teaching specific contracts when they record lectures & demonstrations.

*Whose* image and content is going to end up in your institution's AI generate educational videos?

Part of an email inviting people to:

"Join representatives from AWS and Presidio for a live webinar tomorrow, “Transform Your Campus: AI-Powered Video Intelligence Solutions for Higher Education,” at 2pm ET, to hear how AI-driven video intelligence can help you derive more value from your institution’s multimedia content, turning hours of footage into powerful tools for education, engagement and operational excellence."

jkshields (she/they) @jkshields.bsky.social · 2h

Doh! Just found a typo that none of the people I showed this too point out in poster 3.

Well,... time to correct, reprint and rehang.

#openaccess

International OA week poster
At the top the orange unlocked OA icon with the words RESEARCH UNLOCKED
In larger black text: Trenton D. Barnes
In green text: THE MAYA AJAWTAAK AND TEOTIHUACAN HEGEMONY C. 150-600 CE
QR codes to the article on either side of the title
A picture of teotihuacan stone engraved art (from the article)
Below that a smaller text paragraph:
Historically, publishing in an academic journal has often been free (and unpaid) for the author, but not for readers. A journal’s publishing costs were paid by readers with paid subscriptions (or with access to libraries like the Williams Library that pay). Open access articles (like Professor Barnes article) are available for anyone to read and share with others for free. Publishing Open Access makes scholarship more inclusive because it reduces barriers for students and scholars from low and middle income countries and institutions who want to participate in international communities of scholarship and learn about new advances at the same time as peers at well-funded institutions

International OA week poster
At the top the orange unlocked OA icon with the words RESEARCH UNLOCKED
In larger black text: SIDNEY A. ROTHSTEIN
In green text: DEPENDENT DEVELOPMENT IN DIGITAL CAPITALISM: THE POLITICS OF STARTUP POLICIES IN THE NEW PERIPHERY
QR codes to the article on either side of the author's name
A picture of a figure in a suit using marionette style control of an economic chart with strings and sticks, the figure is labelled with Big Tech stock tickers GOOGL META AMZN MFST AAPL

Below that a smaller text explanation and picture: "The open orange lock symbol next to an article is a sign that it is open access and can be shared with anyone to read."

International OA week poster
At the top the orange unlocked OA icon with the words RESEARCH UNLOCKED
In larger black text: Pamela E. Harris et al
In green text: VISUALIZING THE SUPPORT OF KOSTANT'S WEIGHT MULTIPLICITY FORMULA FOR THE RANK-2 LIE ALGEBRAS
QR codes to the article on either side of the author's name
A partial picture from the article of....colored dots? (Sorry this math is way beyond me... but it's from the article)
Below that a smaller text paragraph:
Sometimes when an article is published “closed,” the authors still have the right to share a pre-print or earlier draft of the same work for free download, such as Professor Harris’ work on . [SIC] (This is often called “green OA”). These are often shared on publicly accessible repositories at the researchers’ institutions or on a pre-print server. arXiv.org a free and an open-access archive has nearly 2.4 million
scholarly articles in the fields of physics, mathematics, computer science, biology, finance, statistics, engineering, and economics.

jkshields (she/they) @jkshields.bsky.social · 2h

Coffee display came down today...

International OA Week display going up (better late than never)...

jkshields (she/they) @jkshields.bsky.social · 28d

Coffee themed display promoting ebooks as well as print is 90% done…

Would you major in coffee?

Against a purple/blue wall… magnetic hangars display 19 ebook covers with QR codes on interdisciplinary topics related to coffee. In the middle two signs say “October 1st is International Coffee Day” and “The study of Coffee is…”

Below the hanging ebook covers is a half circle table with 10-20 print books of various sizes with bookmarks that say “Check me Out”

Close up of some of the hanging ebook book-covers shows that each one lists a different subject underneath,… shown here: Philosophy (for Tasting Coffee, a book on Objectivity) and Engineering (for a book on how Instant Coffee production is improved).

jkshields (she/they) @jkshields.bsky.social · 3h

If so,... more ROs seems like a sign of positive intervention, if a mediate one (to trying to change a culture which socializes people into patterns of perpetrating abuse).

jkshields (she/they) @jkshields.bsky.social · 3h

So when I see that Berkshire County has a large number of ROs,... I want more data.

Are the ROs working to keep abusers away from the people who asked for the ROs?

jkshields (she/they) @jkshields.bsky.social · 3h

Obviously, we all want the number of assaults to be low! But the number of reported assaults being higher can be an indicator that more people who are assaulted believe in the system to help,

more reports ≠ more assaults SOMETIMES
more reports = more survivor/victim confidence & awareness

jkshields (she/they) @jkshields.bsky.social · 3h

I am pro-domestic violence awareness. But I am not sure that a higher number of restraining orders is a good indicator of where DV is high(er/est). Because at least those people are *getting* restraining orders... this is sort of like when the campus puts out its Cleary Act stats,...

Screenshot of a Berkshire Eagle headline with an image of a community meeting where a speaker addresses people in folding chairs.

Text reads: Berkshire County sees higher rate of restraining orders as domestic violence advocates push for awareness

The nonprofit Berkshire United Way, in collaboration with the Elizabeth Freeman Center, recently hosted a community discussion of domestic abuse and sexual violence. Domestic violence is a particularly urgent issue in Berkshire County, organizers say, noting that restraining orders are filed there at a rate 41 percent higher than the state average." Then a blue link says "Read more..."

Reposted by jkshields (she/they)

Leah Millis @leahmillis.bsky.social · 20h

The @chicago.suntimes.com photographer who risked their personal health and safety to take this photograph is Anthony Vazquez. Please credit photographers and media outlets. In this age of misinformation, a photo with no context could be anything at all.

50501: The People’s Movement ❌👑 @50501movement.bsky.social · 20h

Please remind us who the domestic terrorists are again.

Photo from Chicago: DHS militarized agent holding a gun up directly in someone’s face as the victim has their hands up, pleading for them not to shoot.

69 2.7K 8.4K

Reposted by jkshields (she/they)

Ashley Rattner @ashleyrattner.bsky.social · 4h

Jacksonville State University is hiring several new TT faculty in Creative Writing (Fiction), Medieval Literature, and Professional Writing! Feel free to message me if you have any questions!

1 14 18

jkshields (she/they) @jkshields.bsky.social · 3h

Why, why will you make opting out harder to find and less prominent? (Because agency is not a desirable consumer attribute.)

#Clarivate #webofscience #funnelling

Screenshot of a Clarivate announcement about Web of Science:

"You can use the toggle at the top of the page to opt out of Smart Search, choosing to land on the Advanced Search panel by default.

We will remove the opt-out toggle in November. "

jkshields (she/they) @jkshields.bsky.social · 8h

I’m greatly enjoying this book myself but I want great aunt Jasmine to have a book of her own. She’s so lovely.

Emma / Miss Print @msprint.bsky.social · 3d

More spooky season reading. So excited to have a new witchy fantasy from Sangu Mandanna. #witchyreads #booksky #readersky #librarysky

A paperback of A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna on a light background with blue stars.

Reposted by jkshields (she/they)

Matthew Noe @noethematt.bsky.social · 1d

The US President is bragging about murdering people in international waters, with zero due process, zero legal authoriy.

You cannot be okay with this.

10 200 720

Reposted by jkshields (she/they)

Kara N. Slade @karanslade.bsky.social · 23h

I am once again reminding everyone not to confess your sins or share your most private desires with a company that can be subpoenaed or hacked.

The Verge @theverge.com · 1d

Sam Altman says ChatGPT will soon sext with verified adults

ChatGPT is about to get flirty.

buff.ly

8 26 79

jkshields (she/they) @jkshields.bsky.social · 21h

Oof. I can only get behind this 75% of the way… and only for academic books.

But I also like newspapers made out of newsprint so, maybe it’s me.

Oh and ebooks need better hyperlinking and the ability to easily colocate two nonlinear pages… which I guess are forms of unencumberance.

jkshields (she/they) @jkshields.bsky.social · 21h

Yeah, I kind loathe it. Even when people try to make it do nice things I often come away feeling icky.

jkshields (she/they) @jkshields.bsky.social · 21h

Very disregulated day.

jkshields (she/they) @jkshields.bsky.social · 1d

"Books need to be sampled. Books must become accessible within a limited period of interest. Books need to be put down without anguish. Books need to take as long as they take to finish."

pubs.libraryfutures.net/myconsumerau...

Reflection – My Consumer Autobiography

AJ Boston breaks down the 34 mostly-digital books he read in 2024 with discussion of the books themselves and observations from borrowing or buying them.

pubs.libraryfutures.net

Reposted by jkshields (she/they)

Scott Santens @scottsantens.com · 1d

Our economy is running on the spending of the top 10%. It does not care about the bottom 60%. I think this is also why they aren't pushing for universal basic income right when you'd think they would to maintain consumer buying power. Our consumer economy has become reoriented around elite spending.

7 26 56

jkshields (she/they) @jkshields.bsky.social · 1d

I worked yesterday, I didn't have it off. Somehow today still feels like another Monday??

1 3