Melissa Terras

@melissaterras.bsky.social

7.3K followers 5.4K following 820 posts

Professor of Digital Cultural Heritage, Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh. Computers versus the past. Digital Humanities and somesuch, including Transkribus. MBE FREng.

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Melissa Mhairi Terras is a British scholar of Digital Humanities. Since 2017, she has been Professor of Digital Cultural Heritage at the University of Edinburgh, and director of its Centre for Digital Scholarship. She previously taught at University College London, where she was Professor of Digital Humanities and served as director of its Centre for Digital Humanities from 2012 to 2017: she remains an honorary professor. She has a wide ranging academic background: she has an undergraduate degree in art history and English literature, then took a Master of Science (MSc) degree in computer science, before undertaking a Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) degree at the University of Oxford in engineering. .. more

Computer science 34%

Art 23%

Posts Replies Media Videos

Melissa Terras @melissaterras.bsky.social · 2h

Pretty internationally universal, particularly when parliamentary reps think just saying “AI must be ethical” will make it so, without building the governance or doing/resourcing the work necessary…

Michael Taylor @ausindimedia.bsky.social · 3h

“This government’s approach to AI isn’t careful deliberation. It’s conflicted paralysis.”

theaimn.net/were-buildin...

We’re building the wrong future by default, and our government is asleep at the wheel

By Steve Davies While our Prime Minister and the Minister for the Public Service Katy Gallagher give polished speeches about “innovation” and “safeguards,” a live experiment is demonstrating exactly w...

theaimn.net

Reposted by Melissa Terras

Michael Taylor @ausindimedia.bsky.social · 3h

“This government’s approach to AI isn’t careful deliberation. It’s conflicted paralysis.”

theaimn.net/were-buildin...

We’re building the wrong future by default, and our government is asleep at the wheel

theaimn.net

Melissa Terras @melissaterras.bsky.social · 16h

And here's a wee video of the experience! wow, such a lot has happened since... www.youtube.com/watch?v=DY8Z...

Up on the plinth in trafalgar square, one and other

YouTube video by Melissa Terras

www.youtube.com

Melissa Terras @melissaterras.bsky.social · 16h

It recently occurred to me I had never put together the photos I had taken from the plinth in Trafalgar Square, from Sept 2009 when I was part of the Anthony Gormley "One and Other" artwork. So I tiled them! Deliberately manually, and old-school by eye stitching, rather than AI. Larks, I say. Larks.

mosaic view from the plinth on trafalgar square - from photos I originally took on 2nd September 2009, as part of the Anthony Gormley "one and other" project/artwork

Melissa Terras @melissaterras.bsky.social · 1d

Hoping for a world where more people try to be a Kermit…

From the observer article, a quote: Not so long ago, my son sent me a quote that I keep tucked in my phone: “Be a Kermit the Frog. Have a creative vision and no ego. Recognise the unique talents of those around you. Attract weirdos. Manage chaos. Show kindness. Be sincere.”
Rules to live by, don’t you think? Play the music. Light the lights.

Melissa Terras @melissaterras.bsky.social · 1d

Snowdrop walk at Hopetoun House, near #Edinburgh. Spring is on the way… there is hope…

Snowdrops with Hopetoun House in the background, near Edinburgh

Reposted by Melissa Terras

Libby @captainlibatron.bsky.social · 2d

Also this, from Sadiq Khan, can get in the bin. I do not want galleries named after billionaires and black-tie fundraising galas. I want nationally owned institutions and publicly funded arts in every community. Tax the rich.

Speaking of patriots, the mayor thinks ministers, and the public, should be more grateful to the billionaire philanthropists who support London's cultural institutions. "Our ecosystem benefits from having the wealthy here," he says. "When money is tight, our brilliant museums and galleries need philanthropic support. There are people who are incredibly wealthy who want to give back. We shouldn't denigrate that. We shouldn't assume everyone is culture-washing. Sometimes they have the best of intentions."

Melissa Terras @melissaterras.bsky.social · 2d

Thanks, will check it out. This past year has been the worse I’ve seen since the 1990s.

Melissa Terras @melissaterras.bsky.social · 2d

Ding ding ding, guess who I am referring to here… 😔

Melissa Terras @melissaterras.bsky.social · 2d

Anyone else experiencing that all this Epstein stuff is emboldening localised misogyny? Men know no-one really gives a shit, or will stop them. And in a decade all the managers (who know! And turn a blind eye!) will say they are so shocked and horrified and sorry and had no idea at the time 😔

Melissa Terras @melissaterras.bsky.social · 3d

I literally have dreamt I've written a paper before (and got up in the night and wrote down the gist of it... which led to an actual published paper) but sadly no, this time it was just AI bobbins. I did ask them what they thought of it, though, and watched them squirm...

Melissa Terras @melissaterras.bsky.social · 3d

I get at least a couple of AI generated enquiries a day for PhD supervision. This one was a formal application…!

Melissa Terras @melissaterras.bsky.social · 3d

This is the first year I've just started deleting emails from strangers off the internet. I did try and reply up til now.

Melissa Terras @melissaterras.bsky.social · 3d

Yes, this is my working life. So many "keen" people using ChatGPT to write emails to me about my research. And also Yale and Harvard male undergrads asking me for help to do their class assignments, I have to say!

Reposted by Julie Cupples

Melissa Terras @melissaterras.bsky.social · 4d

IF {applying to study a PhD with me};
AND {your application includes hallucinated papers credited to me as author};
THEN {don't be surprised when your application is yeeted}.

I mean, really...!

Melissa Terras @melissaterras.bsky.social · 5d

New paper! in the Lion and the Unicorn's issue on Children's Literature and Digital Humanities. "Educational or Entertaining?
Topic Preferences in Best-Selling Chinese and British Picture Books" with Yi Li and Yongning Li, tracking intersections of markets. muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl...

Project MUSE -- Verification required!

muse.jhu.edu

Melissa Terras @melissaterras.bsky.social · 5d

Yup. Poor leadership choices. Poor design. Poor management. And as someone who has spent 25 years building beautiful, award winning, useful digital environments it is PAINFUL to have to deal with such poor enterprise software… which makes everyone’s working lives worse.

Reposted by Melissa Terras

Transkribus @transkribus.bsky.social · 5d

📢 Save the Date: TUC 2026 @ University of Passau

From 21–23 September 2026, we’re bringing the Transkribus User Conference to the beautiful University of Passau!

Learn more and stay updated here: tuc.transkribus.org

Melissa Terras @melissaterras.bsky.social · 6d

Kate Nash was phenomenal speaking to parliamentary committee on issues of touring after Brexit, and class barriers for musicians, & broken business models. Excellent session.
Watch more: parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/...

Melissa Terras @melissaterras.bsky.social · 6d

In a world where heritage catalogues are repeatedly scraped by AI providers, this matters: distant reading of museum catalogues may result in skewed representation, exacerbated even further when this is automated. Culture is politics, baby. Collections are political. Historical data isnt neutral.

Melissa Terras @melissaterras.bsky.social · 6d

I was honoured to be asked by Jewish and Armeian colleagues to join them to develop methods for this, showing that representation of concepts in collections are skewed due to acquisition practices, augmented by socio-technical infrastructure. How cultures are collected is DIFFERENT internationally.

Melissa Terras @melissaterras.bsky.social · 6d

New paper! Ethnic minorities in online museum collections: skews and bias in digital material culture. With Inna Kizhner , Daniil Skorinkin, Yael Netzer, and Moshe Lavee. Analysis of how Jewish and Armenian ethnic minorities are represented by digital online collections of major historical museums.

Ethnic minorities in online museum collections: skews and bias in digital material culture

Abstract. As gateways into accessing the past, and catalogues of the cultures—and their biases—that we inherit, there are various research possibilities an

academic.oup.com

Melissa Terras @melissaterras.bsky.social · 7d

Icelandic Dracula…?

Reposted by Melissa Terras

Dorothy Berry @dorothyjberry.bsky.social · 7d

At the end of 2025 I was able to give the annual lecture @ the Centre for Data, Culture, and Society in Edinburgh. This lecture was an opportunity to share much of what Ive been working on for the past couple of years, in pursuit of archival discovery experiences for the masses

tinyurl.com/mtuutmzr

CDCS Annual Lecture 2025: Dorothy Berry "How Users Imagine Archival Research: JPCA Explore and Digital Curation at the Smithsonian National African American History and Culture Museum"

Dorothy Berry "How Users Imagine Archival Research: JPCA Explore and Digital Curation at the Smithsonian National African American History and Culture Museum"

media.ed.ac.uk

Melissa Terras @melissaterras.bsky.social · 7d

Oh I wasn't assuming anyone else should do it for me - I just miss efficiency in being able to do it myself on top of everything else. Its awful how the poor software has eaten up our working hours - and so much pointless data collection that wastes our time (black cab? or not black cab? who cares!)

Reposted by Melissa Terras

Bylines Scotland @bylines.scot · 9d

Good news!

Over £500k for Scotland’s museum repairs

Press release: Museums Galleries Scotland has awarded £543,299 to nine museum organisations through its 'Repair and Adaptation Fund'

bylines.scot

Melissa Terras @melissaterras.bsky.social · 10d

My home-made "how to remember how to do this next time" document now stretches on for pages and pages... and I bet senior management never have to navigate this themselves so have NO IDEA how impossible it has become. Best of luck...! 🫠

Melissa Terras @melissaterras.bsky.social · 10d

Our expense system at work is now so complicated that it took me an hour to file 5 receipts. Is this the best use of my time? but that's what "efficiency" looks like in the modern university.

First World problems. But it takes as much energy as writing good useful words, or a student supervision.

Melissa Terras @melissaterras.bsky.social · 10d

I hope I would be this brave, when it came to it:
"When they came for the immigrants
I got in their face
When they came for the refugees
I got in their face
When they came for the five-year-olds
I got in their face
When they came to my neighbourhood
I just got in their face" ❣️

Billy Bragg @billybragg.bsky.social · 14d

I wrote this yesterday about the hero city of Minneapolis

www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKOW...

BILLY BRAGG - CITY OF HEROES

YouTube video by Billy Bragg

www.youtube.com

Reposted by Melissa Terras

Rainer Simon @aboutgeo.bsky.social · 11d

I can finally share the happy news 🚀 liiive.now — my tool for real-time collaborative annotation of #IIIF images — is going open source!

First code is available here: github.com/rsimon/liiive

Self-hosted setup coming by end of February.

#OpenSource #DigitalHumanities

Screenshot of the annotation interface, with toolbars (top-left, top-right, bottom-left), live user cursors and a medieval manuscript image with three annotations.

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