Ruth Ahnert
@ruthahnert.bsky.social
Digital humanist; literary historian; early modernist; collaborator; feminist; parent; FEA. Queen Mary University of London: & The Alan Turing Institute, UK. She/her
Pinned
Ruth Ahnert
@ruthahnert.bsky.social
· Nov 11
Hi to new followers, a bit about me: I’m an early modernist by training but I have worked more and more on collaborative digital humanities projects in recent years. Here’s a thread of a few things I’ve published recently.
Reposted by Ruth Ahnert
Alan Turing Institute staff decry ‘unjustified’ cuts to research
Internal documents detail extent of changes to projects and personnel at national AI institute
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-c...
Internal documents detail extent of changes to projects and personnel at national AI institute
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-c...
Alan Turing Institute staff decry ‘unjustified’ cuts to research - Research Professional News
Internal documents detail extent of changes to projects and personnel at national AI institute
www.researchprofessionalnews.com
November 26, 2025 at 8:38 AM
Alan Turing Institute staff decry ‘unjustified’ cuts to research
Internal documents detail extent of changes to projects and personnel at national AI institute
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-c...
Internal documents detail extent of changes to projects and personnel at national AI institute
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-c...
Reposted by Ruth Ahnert
The other problem with this is that research is a type of spread bet/lottery. You do lots of it and hope some of it pans out. If we had a perfect way of selecting which small bits of science and scholarship we "need", we'd have solved the funding problem. But we don't know this.
'Science minister Patrick Vallance has rejected concerns that focusing on “doing fewer things better” in research will lead to funding being concentrated in larger research-intensive universities from the Russell Group.' 1/3
Post-16 plan ‘not recipe for Russell Group domination’ – Vallance
Science minister dismisses as ‘bizarre’ fears that government push for ‘teaching-only’ specialists will further concentrate research activity in small number of institutions
www.timeshighereducation.com
November 26, 2025 at 9:11 AM
The other problem with this is that research is a type of spread bet/lottery. You do lots of it and hope some of it pans out. If we had a perfect way of selecting which small bits of science and scholarship we "need", we'd have solved the funding problem. But we don't know this.
Great thread of discussion here.
Great piece, Dan. I can confirm: Over the years, this has indeed been a longstanding problem. I've helped fund numerous projects over the years trying to address handwriting recognition and it is exciting to see what we can do today.
New issue of my newsletter: "The Writing Is on the Wall for Handwriting Recognition" — One of the hardest problems in digital humanities has finally been solved, and it's a good use of AI newsletter.dancohen.org/archive/the-...
November 26, 2025 at 5:19 PM
Great thread of discussion here.
Reposted by Ruth Ahnert
New issue of my newsletter: "The Writing Is on the Wall for Handwriting Recognition" — One of the hardest problems in digital humanities has finally been solved, and it's a good use of AI newsletter.dancohen.org/archive/the-...
The Writing Is on the Wall for Handwriting Recognition
One of the hardest problems in digital humanities has finally been solved
newsletter.dancohen.org
November 25, 2025 at 4:35 PM
New issue of my newsletter: "The Writing Is on the Wall for Handwriting Recognition" — One of the hardest problems in digital humanities has finally been solved, and it's a good use of AI newsletter.dancohen.org/archive/the-...
Reposted by Ruth Ahnert
I wrote an essay for @bostonreview.bsky.social about what I learned about close reading when I taught at West Virginia University
www.bostonreview.net/articles/the...
www.bostonreview.net/articles/the...
The Claims of Close Reading - Boston Review
Literary studies have been starved by austerity, but their core methodology remains radical.
www.bostonreview.net
November 26, 2025 at 3:14 PM
I wrote an essay for @bostonreview.bsky.social about what I learned about close reading when I taught at West Virginia University
www.bostonreview.net/articles/the...
www.bostonreview.net/articles/the...
Reposted by Ruth Ahnert
This is an exciting project, led by @nebulousflynn.bsky.social, to safeguard access to the UK’s digital 3D heritage at risk through over-reliance on commercial and free-to-use platforms for storage and dissemination. I'm happy to be serving on the advisory board and looking forward to discussions.
Wikimedia UK has been awarded a grant of £56,198 from National Lottery Heritage Fund towards our ‘UK Heritage 3D Data at Risk: Developing a Strategy for Long Term Access & Storage’ project. The grant will help ensure future access to the UK’s 3D heritage data.
More info: tinyurl.com/3ma28psr
More info: tinyurl.com/3ma28psr
November 26, 2025 at 3:44 PM
This is an exciting project, led by @nebulousflynn.bsky.social, to safeguard access to the UK’s digital 3D heritage at risk through over-reliance on commercial and free-to-use platforms for storage and dissemination. I'm happy to be serving on the advisory board and looking forward to discussions.
Reposted by Ruth Ahnert
I'm seeing a trend in our students at UBC as well. STEM students, but particularly CS students, looking to the humanities to provide more depth and meaning to their studies. Lean in and stay strong, humanities. Your time is here!
"While other universities report that the humanities are shrinking, at Berkeley, the opposite is true. The music major is the fastest-growing major on campus. We are finding bigger classrooms because film is exploding. English is back to the numbers we saw 15 years ago. We are hiring" bit.ly/4ohKuOe
"The humanities really are a resource — a confidence for living in our times.” Dean Sara Guyer on the modern utility of humanities degrees
This interview originally appeared on the Division of Arts
bit.ly
November 23, 2025 at 7:46 PM
I'm seeing a trend in our students at UBC as well. STEM students, but particularly CS students, looking to the humanities to provide more depth and meaning to their studies. Lean in and stay strong, humanities. Your time is here!
Reposted by Ruth Ahnert
Congratulations to Allmaps (led by @bertspaan.nl & Jules Schoonman) + @iiif.bsky.social on the announcement of this partnership. It's a fantastic step towards a sustainable, open, digital maps infrastructure and data ecosystem.
Learn more at allmaps.org/iiif-partner... & iiif.io/news/2025/11...
Learn more at allmaps.org/iiif-partner... & iiif.io/news/2025/11...
November 21, 2025 at 12:18 PM
Congratulations to Allmaps (led by @bertspaan.nl & Jules Schoonman) + @iiif.bsky.social on the announcement of this partnership. It's a fantastic step towards a sustainable, open, digital maps infrastructure and data ecosystem.
Learn more at allmaps.org/iiif-partner... & iiif.io/news/2025/11...
Learn more at allmaps.org/iiif-partner... & iiif.io/news/2025/11...
Reposted by Ruth Ahnert
📣 Really proud to announce the publication of Reframing Failure in Digital Scholarship, an #OpenAccess collection of essays co-edited with @amsichani.bsky.social and published by @uolpress.bsky.social that examines the role of failure in #DH and research more broadly
@sas-news.bsky.social
@sas-news.bsky.social
Reframing Failure in Digital Scholarship - University of London Press
Failure is ordinary. From technological failures and computational obsolescence to rejected applications and challenging collaborations, failure is an unavoidable part of any scholarly endeavour. This...
uolpress.co.uk
November 20, 2025 at 9:26 AM
📣 Really proud to announce the publication of Reframing Failure in Digital Scholarship, an #OpenAccess collection of essays co-edited with @amsichani.bsky.social and published by @uolpress.bsky.social that examines the role of failure in #DH and research more broadly
@sas-news.bsky.social
@sas-news.bsky.social
Reposted by Ruth Ahnert
Looks like an interesting collection. With Close Reading with Computers I had quite a few "failures" and even documented one of them in quite some detail. But that's the thing: if you are doing real experiments, you will often get null results.
📣 Really proud to announce the publication of Reframing Failure in Digital Scholarship, an #OpenAccess collection of essays co-edited with @amsichani.bsky.social and published by @uolpress.bsky.social that examines the role of failure in #DH and research more broadly
@sas-news.bsky.social
@sas-news.bsky.social
Reframing Failure in Digital Scholarship - University of London Press
Failure is ordinary. From technological failures and computational obsolescence to rejected applications and challenging collaborations, failure is an unavoidable part of any scholarly endeavour. This...
uolpress.co.uk
November 20, 2025 at 10:27 AM
Looks like an interesting collection. With Close Reading with Computers I had quite a few "failures" and even documented one of them in quite some detail. But that's the thing: if you are doing real experiments, you will often get null results.
Up early to travel to Oxford for the Emerging Digital Methodologies conference. Although when I got the invitation to keynote at the ‘EDM conference’ I did briefly think I’d be off to an electronic dance music event. A crossover I might enjoy!
November 18, 2025 at 7:48 AM
Up early to travel to Oxford for the Emerging Digital Methodologies conference. Although when I got the invitation to keynote at the ‘EDM conference’ I did briefly think I’d be off to an electronic dance music event. A crossover I might enjoy!
Reposted by Ruth Ahnert
If you invented a robot that sometimes cleaned my house really well & quickly & saved me lots of work—but *often* just moved things around without really cleaning—& *sometimes* added germs *to* the surfaces—such that just to be safe, I always had to clean after it
I don’t think I’d buy that robot
I don’t think I’d buy that robot
November 17, 2025 at 10:15 PM
If you invented a robot that sometimes cleaned my house really well & quickly & saved me lots of work—but *often* just moved things around without really cleaning—& *sometimes* added germs *to* the surfaces—such that just to be safe, I always had to clean after it
I don’t think I’d buy that robot
I don’t think I’d buy that robot
Thanks to Erin for such a thorough and generous review. It’s lovely when someone really gets the spirit of what you were trying to create! Made my week!
It was a pleasure to review @ruthahnert.bsky.social and Sebastian E. Ahnert's latest book for Kritikon Litterarum. Glad this is finally out! doi.org/10.1515/kl-2...
November 13, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Thanks to Erin for such a thorough and generous review. It’s lovely when someone really gets the spirit of what you were trying to create! Made my week!
This is a really important piece of scholarship - not only for people dealing with digitised collections data, but really for anyone who does stuff with data full stop!
!Stop Press! Article on bias in digitised newspaper collections: ’Whose News’, in the new journal of @comphumresearch.bsky.social by Kaspar Beelen, @jonhistorian61.bsky.social, @kmcdono.bsky.social and me. See blog for summary & 🧵 1/7
Article doi.org/10.1017/chr....
Blog is.gd/2IFc30
#dh #c19 🗃️
Article doi.org/10.1017/chr....
Blog is.gd/2IFc30
#dh #c19 🗃️
Whose news? Critical methods for assessing bias in large historical datasets | Computational Humanities Research | Cambridge Core
Whose news? Critical methods for assessing bias in large historical datasets - Volume 1
doi.org
November 11, 2025 at 4:08 PM
This is a really important piece of scholarship - not only for people dealing with digitised collections data, but really for anyone who does stuff with data full stop!
Reposted by Ruth Ahnert
We are featured in over 50 news outlets today: PhD student David Mahoney's research using web archives, @archive.org, to measure historic website emissions, offering a new method and open-source code for analysing & highlighting online environmental impact. www.energylivenews.com/2025/11/11/c...
COP websites emit 10 times more carbon than average webpages - Energy Live News
COP conference websites emit more carbon per page view than typical webpages
www.energylivenews.com
November 11, 2025 at 9:34 AM
We are featured in over 50 news outlets today: PhD student David Mahoney's research using web archives, @archive.org, to measure historic website emissions, offering a new method and open-source code for analysing & highlighting online environmental impact. www.energylivenews.com/2025/11/11/c...
Reposted by Ruth Ahnert
Join us next week on Nov 12, 12pm UK time, online to hear from @ehameeteman.bsky.social on "Reimagining Desalination through Digital Archives" at the Lancaster-Manchester Environmental DH Seminar.
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/reimaginin...
#envhum #dh
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/reimaginin...
#envhum #dh
Reimagining Desalination through Digital Archives
Join us for a discussion with Elizabeth Hameetman (TU Berlin)
www.eventbrite.co.uk
November 7, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Join us next week on Nov 12, 12pm UK time, online to hear from @ehameeteman.bsky.social on "Reimagining Desalination through Digital Archives" at the Lancaster-Manchester Environmental DH Seminar.
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/reimaginin...
#envhum #dh
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/reimaginin...
#envhum #dh
Reposted by Ruth Ahnert
It’s very much a prototype but I have to share a preview of the interface @djevans.bsky.social is working on for our Viral Texts data—it maps reprinting data back onto the newspaper page, allowing users to browse what reprints appeared together on each page—with links back to full reprint clusters
November 7, 2025 at 4:49 PM
It’s very much a prototype but I have to share a preview of the interface @djevans.bsky.social is working on for our Viral Texts data—it maps reprinting data back onto the newspaper page, allowing users to browse what reprints appeared together on each page—with links back to full reprint clusters
Reposted by Ruth Ahnert
Job alert!
@ischoolui.bsky.social is hiring in 4 areas this year
Early literacies: illinois.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...
Information behavior/HCI/UX: illinois.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...
Information, Culture & Society: illinois.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...
Open IS: illinois.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...
@ischoolui.bsky.social is hiring in 4 areas this year
Early literacies: illinois.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...
Information behavior/HCI/UX: illinois.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...
Information, Culture & Society: illinois.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...
Open IS: illinois.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...
November 6, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Job alert!
@ischoolui.bsky.social is hiring in 4 areas this year
Early literacies: illinois.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...
Information behavior/HCI/UX: illinois.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...
Information, Culture & Society: illinois.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...
Open IS: illinois.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...
@ischoolui.bsky.social is hiring in 4 areas this year
Early literacies: illinois.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...
Information behavior/HCI/UX: illinois.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...
Information, Culture & Society: illinois.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...
Open IS: illinois.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...
Reposted by Ruth Ahnert
Really pleased to announce the launch of the all-new, all-dancing, London Lives website - www.londonlives.org It has been thoroughly re-engineered to facilitate more types of search, and redesigned for phones and tablets. The team very much hopes peope like it. 1/
London Lives
www.londonlives.org
November 5, 2025 at 11:24 AM
Really pleased to announce the launch of the all-new, all-dancing, London Lives website - www.londonlives.org It has been thoroughly re-engineered to facilitate more types of search, and redesigned for phones and tablets. The team very much hopes peope like it. 1/
Reposted by Ruth Ahnert
Job alert: the University of Illinois Library is hiring a Humanities Librarian to serve as liaison to African-American Studies and English Literatures. I’m sure someone here would be a great fit for this job—& we’ve got a pretty phenomenal community here
Please share!
Please share!
Humanities Librarian - (African American Studies and English Literature)
Duties & Responsibilities
illinois.csod.com
November 3, 2025 at 11:01 PM
Job alert: the University of Illinois Library is hiring a Humanities Librarian to serve as liaison to African-American Studies and English Literatures. I’m sure someone here would be a great fit for this job—& we’ve got a pretty phenomenal community here
Please share!
Please share!
Reposted by Ruth Ahnert
This looks like a really cool new journal: an "online and open-access platform for speculating about possible futures [...] encourages creative and interdisciplinary collaboration and non-traditional forms of knowledge production" #OpenAccess and no publication fees 👍
New journal - with cfp for inaugural issue
Polyfora | A Journal of Speculative CoFutures
journal.cofutures.org
November 4, 2025 at 9:15 AM
This looks like a really cool new journal: an "online and open-access platform for speculating about possible futures [...] encourages creative and interdisciplinary collaboration and non-traditional forms of knowledge production" #OpenAccess and no publication fees 👍
Reposted by Ruth Ahnert
Reposted by Ruth Ahnert
Coming up this Thursday, an excellent event about AI & cultural heritage research org by @amsichani.bsky.social & @braiduk.bsky.social. Reg still open! Featuring fab speakers incl @ruthahnert.bsky.social @noramcgregorbl.bsky.social @jnockels.bsky.social @danielvanstrien.bsky.social & more
New forum ‘Responsible AI and Cultural Heritage Forum’ on Thu 6 Nov 2025, Senate House (hybrid) from BRAID Fellow @amsichani.bsky.social with @nationalarchives.gov.uk.web.brid.gy
Find out more/register here:
bit.ly/4mUdESC
Find out more/register here:
bit.ly/4mUdESC
BRAID Responsible AI and Cultural Heritage forum
This forum brings together the cultural heritage and research community to discuss current and future challenges of embracing AI in cultural heritage responsibly and ethically.
bit.ly
November 3, 2025 at 11:42 AM
Coming up this Thursday, an excellent event about AI & cultural heritage research org by @amsichani.bsky.social & @braiduk.bsky.social. Reg still open! Featuring fab speakers incl @ruthahnert.bsky.social @noramcgregorbl.bsky.social @jnockels.bsky.social @danielvanstrien.bsky.social & more
Reposted by Ruth Ahnert
What most people don’t understand about successful grant writing is that it’s not about learning a template, it’s about learning a *genre*. There are expectations in place, but there’s also room for creativity. And that’s what I’m teaching in this workshop:
docs.google.com/forms/d/1FxR...
docs.google.com/forms/d/1FxR...
The Fundamentals of Academic Grant Writing: 4-week workshop starting Thursday 13 November 2025
DATES/SCHEDULE:
Thursday 13 November 2025 4-6pm CET / 3-5pm GMT / 10am-12pm EST / 7-9am PST
Thursday 20 November 2025 4-6pm CET / 3-5pm GMT / 10am-12pm EST / 7-9am PST
Thursday 4 December 2025 4-6...
docs.google.com
October 28, 2025 at 9:55 AM
What most people don’t understand about successful grant writing is that it’s not about learning a template, it’s about learning a *genre*. There are expectations in place, but there’s also room for creativity. And that’s what I’m teaching in this workshop:
docs.google.com/forms/d/1FxR...
docs.google.com/forms/d/1FxR...
Very proud of our book and experiment on open peer review. And grateful to all who have contributed!
New post! We thought it would be fitting for #OpenAccessWeek to publish two new chapters of our exciting forthcoming #OpenAccess title Living with Machines, along with some learnings from this project so far.
The final book will publish next year. Read more:
👉 uolpress.co.uk/2025/10/univ...
The final book will publish next year. Read more:
👉 uolpress.co.uk/2025/10/univ...
University of London Press staff publish case study in Learned Publishing - University of London Press
We are very pleased to share the publication of a case study in Learned Publishing by our Publisher Emma Gallon and previous Production Manager Jamie Bowman: ‘Reimagining the Humanities Book: Bringing...
uolpress.co.uk
October 27, 2025 at 11:28 AM
Very proud of our book and experiment on open peer review. And grateful to all who have contributed!