Ben Lee
@bcgl.bsky.social
Assistant Professor @ the University of Washington iSchool | formerly an Innovator in Residence @ Library of Congress | essays in WIRED, Gawker, The New Republic, Longreads, Current Affairs, etc.
🌐 www.bcglee.com
🌐 www.bcglee.com
Pinned
Ben Lee
@bcgl.bsky.social
· Nov 18
www.govscape.net
1/ Announcing GovScape – a public search system for 10 million U.S. government PDFs (70 million pages)! GovScape offers visual search, semantic text search, and keyword search. Explore below:
Website: www.govscape.net
ArXiv link: arxiv.org/abs/2511.11010
Website: www.govscape.net
ArXiv link: arxiv.org/abs/2511.11010
Reposted by Ben Lee
The plenary videos from the CNI meeting are now available:
🤝Shaping CNI’s Future Together
📚A Landscape of AI in Libraries @bcgl.bsky.social
🏆AUPresses Stand UP Award
@brettbobley.bsky.social @aupresses.bsky.social
💰The State of Funding for US Higher Ed, Science, and Technology in a Time of Change
🤝Shaping CNI’s Future Together
📚A Landscape of AI in Libraries @bcgl.bsky.social
🏆AUPresses Stand UP Award
@brettbobley.bsky.social @aupresses.bsky.social
💰The State of Funding for US Higher Ed, Science, and Technology in a Time of Change
CNI Fall 2025 Membership Meeting - YouTube
CNI Fall 2025 Membership Meeting videos at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill Washington, DC. Learn more at: https://www.cni.org/mm/fall-2025
youtube.com
December 19, 2025 at 6:22 PM
The plenary videos from the CNI meeting are now available:
🤝Shaping CNI’s Future Together
📚A Landscape of AI in Libraries @bcgl.bsky.social
🏆AUPresses Stand UP Award
@brettbobley.bsky.social @aupresses.bsky.social
💰The State of Funding for US Higher Ed, Science, and Technology in a Time of Change
🤝Shaping CNI’s Future Together
📚A Landscape of AI in Libraries @bcgl.bsky.social
🏆AUPresses Stand UP Award
@brettbobley.bsky.social @aupresses.bsky.social
💰The State of Funding for US Higher Ed, Science, and Technology in a Time of Change
Reposted by Ben Lee
Publication day! My article on how to read an 18C newspapers, on digital remediation, and on the unfree press out in the world. Thanks @andy-schocket.bsky.social @historymatterssyd.bsky.social & M. Karrs for making it all possible. @universitypress.cambridge.org
lnkd.in/eEwbdbSw
lnkd.in/eEwbdbSw
December 17, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Publication day! My article on how to read an 18C newspapers, on digital remediation, and on the unfree press out in the world. Thanks @andy-schocket.bsky.social @historymatterssyd.bsky.social & M. Karrs for making it all possible. @universitypress.cambridge.org
lnkd.in/eEwbdbSw
lnkd.in/eEwbdbSw
Reposted by Ben Lee
Figured I’d wait to post anything for this, but I can’t tell you how excited I am for us to have the opportunity to be funded to do this work. We really do believe that our project connecting communities, digital archives of the early Black press, and human-AI systems will have a large impact
It has been so much FUN to think with @profdancy.bsky.social, @snblickhan.bsky.social , Tiffanie R. Smith, and @bcgl.bsky.social & many others. Getting to dream & plan alongside these courageous people has been a real ray of hope in this otherwise horrible moment.
December 12, 2025 at 9:39 PM
Figured I’d wait to post anything for this, but I can’t tell you how excited I am for us to have the opportunity to be funded to do this work. We really do believe that our project connecting communities, digital archives of the early Black press, and human-AI systems will have a large impact
Reposted by Ben Lee
For "Communities in the Loop: AI for Cultures & Contexts in Multimodal Archives," congrats to: Jim Casey, Christopher Dancy, @snblickhan.bsky.social, Tiffany Smith, Benjamin Lee. (And I must also include @profgabrielle.bsky.social !)
JUST ANNOUNCED: Schmidt Sciences has awarded $11M to 23 teams globally for our Humanities and AI Virtual Institute (HAVI).
These projects bring AI to history, archaeology, literature, and film, unlocking new understandings of human culture.
Learn more: buff.ly/tvTUYwY
These projects bring AI to history, archaeology, literature, and film, unlocking new understandings of human culture.
Learn more: buff.ly/tvTUYwY
December 11, 2025 at 5:32 PM
For "Communities in the Loop: AI for Cultures & Contexts in Multimodal Archives," congrats to: Jim Casey, Christopher Dancy, @snblickhan.bsky.social, Tiffany Smith, Benjamin Lee. (And I must also include @profgabrielle.bsky.social !)
Seconding all of this — so much fun not work with so many people I deeply admire, and we can’t wait to share out as our project progresses!
It has been so much FUN to think with @profdancy.bsky.social, @snblickhan.bsky.social , Tiffanie R. Smith, and @bcgl.bsky.social & many others. Getting to dream & plan alongside these courageous people has been a real ray of hope in this otherwise horrible moment.
December 11, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Seconding all of this — so much fun not work with so many people I deeply admire, and we can’t wait to share out as our project progresses!
Reposted by Ben Lee
I can confirm, thinking with this crew is honestly wonderful, 10/10, Dream Team experience. I have more to say but a meeting to facilitate! More soon.
It has been so much FUN to think with @profdancy.bsky.social, @snblickhan.bsky.social , Tiffanie R. Smith, and @bcgl.bsky.social & many others. Getting to dream & plan alongside these courageous people has been a real ray of hope in this otherwise horrible moment.
December 11, 2025 at 3:59 PM
I can confirm, thinking with this crew is honestly wonderful, 10/10, Dream Team experience. I have more to say but a meeting to facilitate! More soon.
Honored to be giving an opening plenary talk on AI & libraries later today at CNI 2025! I’m excited for the conversation with Kate Zwaard and for the full program by @cni-org.bsky.social!
www.cni.org/events/membe...
www.cni.org/events/membe...
December 11, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Honored to be giving an opening plenary talk on AI & libraries later today at CNI 2025! I’m excited for the conversation with Kate Zwaard and for the full program by @cni-org.bsky.social!
www.cni.org/events/membe...
www.cni.org/events/membe...
Reposted by Ben Lee
I am beyond thrilled to share some good news:
1. I've moved to a new job at UC Santa Barbara.
2. We have been selected for a 2025 Humanities and AI Virtual
Institute award from @schmidtsciences.bsky.social!
Both, we hope, will allow us to continue building the work! +
hfa.ucsb.edu/news/schmidt...
1. I've moved to a new job at UC Santa Barbara.
2. We have been selected for a 2025 Humanities and AI Virtual
Institute award from @schmidtsciences.bsky.social!
Both, we hope, will allow us to continue building the work! +
hfa.ucsb.edu/news/schmidt...
Schmidt Sciences awards $750,000 to UCSB-led team to transform Black press archives with AI | Division of Humanities and Fine Arts
English professor Jim Casey leads a national coalition to recover 19th-century African American newspapers using machine learning and public crowdsourcing.
hfa.ucsb.edu
December 11, 2025 at 3:21 PM
I am beyond thrilled to share some good news:
1. I've moved to a new job at UC Santa Barbara.
2. We have been selected for a 2025 Humanities and AI Virtual
Institute award from @schmidtsciences.bsky.social!
Both, we hope, will allow us to continue building the work! +
hfa.ucsb.edu/news/schmidt...
1. I've moved to a new job at UC Santa Barbara.
2. We have been selected for a 2025 Humanities and AI Virtual
Institute award from @schmidtsciences.bsky.social!
Both, we hope, will allow us to continue building the work! +
hfa.ucsb.edu/news/schmidt...
Reposted by Ben Lee
Guest Post on GovScape. It is a great example of how we can build on each other's systems and work to enable access to government information! Follow @govscape.bsky.social for more!
www.datarescueproject.org/guest-post-g...
www.datarescueproject.org/guest-post-g...
Guest Post: GovScape: A Public Search System for 10+ Million Government PDFs
This week's guest post is from Benjamin Charles Germain Lee, Assistant Professor at the University of Washington, and Kyle Deeds, Assistant Professor at Boston University. Learn more about their recen...
www.datarescueproject.org
December 2, 2025 at 4:44 PM
Guest Post on GovScape. It is a great example of how we can build on each other's systems and work to enable access to government information! Follow @govscape.bsky.social for more!
www.datarescueproject.org/guest-post-g...
www.datarescueproject.org/guest-post-g...
Thank you to @datarescueproject.org for publishing this blog post by @kdeeds.bsky.social and myself on GovScape! Extremely grateful to @datarescueproject.org for all their incredible work!
Guest Post on GovScape. It is a great example of how we can build on each other's systems and work to enable access to government information! Follow @govscape.bsky.social for more!
www.datarescueproject.org/guest-post-g...
www.datarescueproject.org/guest-post-g...
Guest Post: GovScape: A Public Search System for 10+ Million Government PDFs
This week's guest post is from Benjamin Charles Germain Lee, Assistant Professor at the University of Washington, and Kyle Deeds, Assistant Professor at Boston University. Learn more about their recen...
www.datarescueproject.org
December 2, 2025 at 5:40 PM
Thank you to @datarescueproject.org for publishing this blog post by @kdeeds.bsky.social and myself on GovScape! Extremely grateful to @datarescueproject.org for all their incredible work!
Very excited to have a software paper with @yh-huang.bsky.social in the CHR journal on the Digital Collections Explorer, our open-source multimodal viewer for digital collections!
Check out the recently published software paper on Digital Collections Explorer by @yh-huang.bsky.social and @bcgl.bsky.social - web-based, open-source exploratory, multimodal search for cultural heritage collections
doi.org/10.1017/chr....
doi.org/10.1017/chr....
Digital collections explorer: An open-source, multimodal viewer for searching digital collections | Computational Humanities Research | Cambridge Core
Digital collections explorer: An open-source, multimodal viewer for searching digital collections - Volume 1
doi.org
December 2, 2025 at 5:36 PM
Very excited to have a software paper with @yh-huang.bsky.social in the CHR journal on the Digital Collections Explorer, our open-source multimodal viewer for digital collections!
Reposted by Ben Lee
New Research Tool: GovScape (US Gov PDFs)
govscape.net ||| Research Paper (preprint) About #GovScape arxiv.org/abs/2511.11010 #govdocs @eotarchive.org
govscape.net ||| Research Paper (preprint) About #GovScape arxiv.org/abs/2511.11010 #govdocs @eotarchive.org
November 19, 2025 at 2:20 PM
New Research Tool: GovScape (US Gov PDFs)
govscape.net ||| Research Paper (preprint) About #GovScape arxiv.org/abs/2511.11010 #govdocs @eotarchive.org
govscape.net ||| Research Paper (preprint) About #GovScape arxiv.org/abs/2511.11010 #govdocs @eotarchive.org
Reposted by Ben Lee
Anyone interested in govt transparency and public access should check out GovScape from @bcgl.bsky.social and his team👇
It's an incredibly powerful tool that allows visual, semantic text, and keywords search of 10 million U.S. government PDFs (70 million pages!) and counting: www.govscape.net
It's an incredibly powerful tool that allows visual, semantic text, and keywords search of 10 million U.S. government PDFs (70 million pages!) and counting: www.govscape.net
November 19, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Anyone interested in govt transparency and public access should check out GovScape from @bcgl.bsky.social and his team👇
It's an incredibly powerful tool that allows visual, semantic text, and keywords search of 10 million U.S. government PDFs (70 million pages!) and counting: www.govscape.net
It's an incredibly powerful tool that allows visual, semantic text, and keywords search of 10 million U.S. government PDFs (70 million pages!) and counting: www.govscape.net
Reposted by Ben Lee
We’re live! Search 10 million+ U.S. government PDFs (70 million pages)! GovScape offers visual search, semantic text search, and keyword search. Explore below:
Website: govscape.net
ArXiv link: arxiv.org/abs/2511.11010
Website: govscape.net
ArXiv link: arxiv.org/abs/2511.11010
November 18, 2025 at 9:16 PM
We’re live! Search 10 million+ U.S. government PDFs (70 million pages)! GovScape offers visual search, semantic text search, and keyword search. Explore below:
Website: govscape.net
ArXiv link: arxiv.org/abs/2511.11010
Website: govscape.net
ArXiv link: arxiv.org/abs/2511.11010
Reposted by Ben Lee
Huge step forward in enabling access and use of content archived from government websites!
1/ Announcing GovScape – a public search system for 10 million U.S. government PDFs (70 million pages)! GovScape offers visual search, semantic text search, and keyword search. Explore below:
Website: www.govscape.net
ArXiv link: arxiv.org/abs/2511.11010
Website: www.govscape.net
ArXiv link: arxiv.org/abs/2511.11010
www.govscape.net
November 18, 2025 at 8:27 PM
Huge step forward in enabling access and use of content archived from government websites!
1/ Announcing GovScape – a public search system for 10 million U.S. government PDFs (70 million pages)! GovScape offers visual search, semantic text search, and keyword search. Explore below:
Website: www.govscape.net
ArXiv link: arxiv.org/abs/2511.11010
Website: www.govscape.net
ArXiv link: arxiv.org/abs/2511.11010
www.govscape.net
November 18, 2025 at 8:19 PM
1/ Announcing GovScape – a public search system for 10 million U.S. government PDFs (70 million pages)! GovScape offers visual search, semantic text search, and keyword search. Explore below:
Website: www.govscape.net
ArXiv link: arxiv.org/abs/2511.11010
Website: www.govscape.net
ArXiv link: arxiv.org/abs/2511.11010
Reposted by Ben Lee
Assistant Professor Ben Lee @bcgl.bsky.social's essay on the topic of AI and Holocaust Memory, “Uncanny Testimony,” was published by @longreads.com: longreads.com/2025/09/25/a...
Uncanny Testimony - Longreads
As the last Holocaust survivors approach the end of their lives, an AI scholar grapples with technology that promises to freeze them in time.
longreads.com
October 16, 2025 at 10:49 PM
Assistant Professor Ben Lee @bcgl.bsky.social's essay on the topic of AI and Holocaust Memory, “Uncanny Testimony,” was published by @longreads.com: longreads.com/2025/09/25/a...
Reposted by Ben Lee
“For all its futuristic appeal, I felt myself turning to the past. I yearned to speak with my grandmother about her life.”
A scholar at the intersection of AI and Holocaust memory wrestles with technology that speaks with the dead.
By @bcgl.bsky.social: longreads.com/2025/09/25/a...
A scholar at the intersection of AI and Holocaust memory wrestles with technology that speaks with the dead.
By @bcgl.bsky.social: longreads.com/2025/09/25/a...
Uncanny Testimony - Longreads
As the last Holocaust survivors approach the end of their lives, an AI scholar grapples with technology that promises to freeze them in time.
longreads.com
September 26, 2025 at 7:16 PM
“For all its futuristic appeal, I felt myself turning to the past. I yearned to speak with my grandmother about her life.”
A scholar at the intersection of AI and Holocaust memory wrestles with technology that speaks with the dead.
By @bcgl.bsky.social: longreads.com/2025/09/25/a...
A scholar at the intersection of AI and Holocaust memory wrestles with technology that speaks with the dead.
By @bcgl.bsky.social: longreads.com/2025/09/25/a...
Reposted by Ben Lee
For @longreads.com, I wrote a personal essay about AI Holocaust testimony, my grandmother, memory, and memory loss
longreads.com/2025/09/25/a...
longreads.com/2025/09/25/a...
Uncanny Testimony - Longreads
As the last Holocaust survivors approach the end of their lives, an AI scholar grapples with technology that promises to freeze them in time.
longreads.com
September 25, 2025 at 5:11 PM
For @longreads.com, I wrote a personal essay about AI Holocaust testimony, my grandmother, memory, and memory loss
longreads.com/2025/09/25/a...
longreads.com/2025/09/25/a...
Reposted by Ben Lee
Appreciated this thoughtful piece from @bcgl.bsky.social. Eloquently puts into words some of concerns about a particular use of AI that I've been grappling with.
“But what if, instead of resisting the deaths of the last survivors, we allow ourselves to accept their mortality?”
The grandson of an Auschwitz-Birkenau survivor grapples with the use of AI to reanimate the dead.
A new essay on @longreads.com, by @bcgl.bsky.social: longreads.com/2025/09/25/a...
The grandson of an Auschwitz-Birkenau survivor grapples with the use of AI to reanimate the dead.
A new essay on @longreads.com, by @bcgl.bsky.social: longreads.com/2025/09/25/a...
September 27, 2025 at 1:38 AM
Appreciated this thoughtful piece from @bcgl.bsky.social. Eloquently puts into words some of concerns about a particular use of AI that I've been grappling with.
Reposted by Ben Lee
“But what if, instead of resisting the deaths of the last survivors, we allow ourselves to accept their mortality?”
The grandson of an Auschwitz-Birkenau survivor grapples with the use of AI to reanimate the dead.
A new essay on @longreads.com, by @bcgl.bsky.social: longreads.com/2025/09/25/a...
The grandson of an Auschwitz-Birkenau survivor grapples with the use of AI to reanimate the dead.
A new essay on @longreads.com, by @bcgl.bsky.social: longreads.com/2025/09/25/a...
September 25, 2025 at 3:24 PM
“But what if, instead of resisting the deaths of the last survivors, we allow ourselves to accept their mortality?”
The grandson of an Auschwitz-Birkenau survivor grapples with the use of AI to reanimate the dead.
A new essay on @longreads.com, by @bcgl.bsky.social: longreads.com/2025/09/25/a...
The grandson of an Auschwitz-Birkenau survivor grapples with the use of AI to reanimate the dead.
A new essay on @longreads.com, by @bcgl.bsky.social: longreads.com/2025/09/25/a...
For @longreads.com, I wrote a personal essay about AI Holocaust testimony, my grandmother, memory, and memory loss
longreads.com/2025/09/25/a...
longreads.com/2025/09/25/a...
Uncanny Testimony - Longreads
As the last Holocaust survivors approach the end of their lives, an AI scholar grapples with technology that promises to freeze them in time.
longreads.com
September 25, 2025 at 5:11 PM
For @longreads.com, I wrote a personal essay about AI Holocaust testimony, my grandmother, memory, and memory loss
longreads.com/2025/09/25/a...
longreads.com/2025/09/25/a...
Reposted by Ben Lee
My lab is running a study to investigate how serendipity relates to information seeking in digital collections. We're looking for researchers & practitioners who have used, designed, or stewarded digital collections to participate in our survey (<10 min): forms.gle/zGJDZZ14vx2M...
Survey on Serendipity and Information Seeking in Digital Collections
Purpose of the Study
We are seeking to understand the different methods of information seeking in digital collections. In addition, we would like to understand what the participants' perceptions of se...
forms.gle
September 12, 2025 at 7:14 PM
My lab is running a study to investigate how serendipity relates to information seeking in digital collections. We're looking for researchers & practitioners who have used, designed, or stewarded digital collections to participate in our survey (<10 min): forms.gle/zGJDZZ14vx2M...
My lab is running a study to investigate how serendipity relates to information seeking in digital collections. We're looking for researchers & practitioners who have used, designed, or stewarded digital collections to participate in our survey (<10 min): forms.gle/zGJDZZ14vx2M...
Survey on Serendipity and Information Seeking in Digital Collections
Purpose of the Study
We are seeking to understand the different methods of information seeking in digital collections. In addition, we would like to understand what the participants' perceptions of se...
forms.gle
September 12, 2025 at 7:14 PM
My lab is running a study to investigate how serendipity relates to information seeking in digital collections. We're looking for researchers & practitioners who have used, designed, or stewarded digital collections to participate in our survey (<10 min): forms.gle/zGJDZZ14vx2M...
Reposted by Ben Lee
Pls help spread the word: We are hiring! 🌲☕✨
@ischool.uw.edu is recruiting two tenure-track assistant profs in AI. Areas include human-AI collaboration, AI & society, comp social science, NLP, and AI applications.
Apply by Nov 15, 2025: apply.interfolio.com/171020
Happy to answer questions!
@ischool.uw.edu is recruiting two tenure-track assistant profs in AI. Areas include human-AI collaboration, AI & society, comp social science, NLP, and AI applications.
Apply by Nov 15, 2025: apply.interfolio.com/171020
Happy to answer questions!
Apply - Interfolio
{{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
apply.interfolio.com
September 10, 2025 at 5:21 PM
Pls help spread the word: We are hiring! 🌲☕✨
@ischool.uw.edu is recruiting two tenure-track assistant profs in AI. Areas include human-AI collaboration, AI & society, comp social science, NLP, and AI applications.
Apply by Nov 15, 2025: apply.interfolio.com/171020
Happy to answer questions!
@ischool.uw.edu is recruiting two tenure-track assistant profs in AI. Areas include human-AI collaboration, AI & society, comp social science, NLP, and AI applications.
Apply by Nov 15, 2025: apply.interfolio.com/171020
Happy to answer questions!