Brian Leech
@brianleechphd.bsky.social
Historian of American West, Midwest, environmental history, mining, energy, food, animals. Currently working on a book about the history of U.S. speed limits & another book about mining in popular culture. https://brianleechphd.net
Reposted by Brian Leech
Final call for Abstracts and Workshop Proposals for the 22nd Annual ICA Mobile Pre-Conference 2026 in Cape Town: "Mobile Communication and Inequalities in Context." Deadline 1/30/26.
@icahdq.bsky.social @icacat.bsky.social @icamobile.bsky.social
www.icamobile.org/calls
@icahdq.bsky.social @icacat.bsky.social @icamobile.bsky.social
www.icamobile.org/calls
Calls | ICA Mobile
Current calls at the ICA Mobile Communication Division
www.icamobile.org
January 23, 2026 at 5:27 PM
Final call for Abstracts and Workshop Proposals for the 22nd Annual ICA Mobile Pre-Conference 2026 in Cape Town: "Mobile Communication and Inequalities in Context." Deadline 1/30/26.
@icahdq.bsky.social @icacat.bsky.social @icamobile.bsky.social
www.icamobile.org/calls
@icahdq.bsky.social @icacat.bsky.social @icamobile.bsky.social
www.icamobile.org/calls
Reposted by Brian Leech
Dig dig dig through the archive with Mining Danger project's Heather Green as she seeks elusive traces of coal miner's black lung in the Nova Scotia coal industry @nichecanada.bsky.social
niche-canada.org/2026/01/02/f...
niche-canada.org/2026/01/02/f...
niche-canada.org
January 20, 2026 at 8:09 PM
Dig dig dig through the archive with Mining Danger project's Heather Green as she seeks elusive traces of coal miner's black lung in the Nova Scotia coal industry @nichecanada.bsky.social
niche-canada.org/2026/01/02/f...
niche-canada.org/2026/01/02/f...
Reposted by Brian Leech
Two weeks left to apply for a postdoc position on my project!
I'm looking for historians, anthropologists, STS and Global Health researchers with a broad interest in #Brazil, #rural populations, #health, #medicine, and #zoonosis.
For more information👇
I'm looking for historians, anthropologists, STS and Global Health researchers with a broad interest in #Brazil, #rural populations, #health, #medicine, and #zoonosis.
For more information👇
I'm hiring 2 postdocs on my Wellcome project "How Did Infectious Diseases Become Wild?: Plague, Yellow Fever, and Disease Ecology in the Brazilian Hinterland (1920-1975)"
Department of Global Health and Social Medicine
King's College
3 years 01/10/26- 30/09/29
Deadline: 01/02/26
shorturl.at/KZ6Vh
Department of Global Health and Social Medicine
King's College
3 years 01/10/26- 30/09/29
Deadline: 01/02/26
shorturl.at/KZ6Vh
Postdoctoral Research Associate | King's College London
www.kcl.ac.uk
January 19, 2026 at 11:52 AM
Reposted by Brian Leech
Holidays are over, and I'm motivating myself through the marking and emails by sharing the cover for Claiming Land, Claiming Water: Borders and the People Who Crossed Them in the Early Modern Atlantic with @pennpress.bsky.social. Please indulge me! www.pennpress.org/978151282925... #skystorians
January 5, 2026 at 12:20 PM
Holidays are over, and I'm motivating myself through the marking and emails by sharing the cover for Claiming Land, Claiming Water: Borders and the People Who Crossed Them in the Early Modern Atlantic with @pennpress.bsky.social. Please indulge me! www.pennpress.org/978151282925... #skystorians
Reposted by Brian Leech
🧵One of the more dangerous Terminally Online Types are people who think that all human knowledge (raw or processed) is on the internet and the only question is how to access it.
Thus, history, for these folks, is neither the seeking of new information nor the asking of new questions.
#genAI
Thus, history, for these folks, is neither the seeking of new information nor the asking of new questions.
#genAI
December 22, 2025 at 12:53 PM
🧵One of the more dangerous Terminally Online Types are people who think that all human knowledge (raw or processed) is on the internet and the only question is how to access it.
Thus, history, for these folks, is neither the seeking of new information nor the asking of new questions.
#genAI
Thus, history, for these folks, is neither the seeking of new information nor the asking of new questions.
#genAI
Reposted by Brian Leech
Here it is, the final regular #ScholarSunday thread of 2025, my 255th thread of great public scholarly writing, podcast episodes, new & forthcoming books from the past week. Add more below, please share as widely as possible, & enjoy, all! 🗃️
blackwhiteandread.com/scholarsunda...
blackwhiteandread.com/scholarsunda...
#ScholarSunday Thread 255 (12/21/25) – Black and White and Read All Over
Here it is, the final regular #ScholarSunday thread of 2025, my 255th thread of great public scholarly writing, podcast episodes, new & forthcoming books from the past week. Add more below, please sha...
blackwhiteandread.com
December 21, 2025 at 1:20 PM
Here it is, the final regular #ScholarSunday thread of 2025, my 255th thread of great public scholarly writing, podcast episodes, new & forthcoming books from the past week. Add more below, please share as widely as possible, & enjoy, all! 🗃️
blackwhiteandread.com/scholarsunda...
blackwhiteandread.com/scholarsunda...
Me to elementary kid: How was your last day of school before winter break?
Kid: Great! We did no learning!
Kid: Great! We did no learning!
December 18, 2025 at 8:55 PM
Me to elementary kid: How was your last day of school before winter break?
Kid: Great! We did no learning!
Kid: Great! We did no learning!
A deer carries out of my local Menards? Hard to think of a more Midwestern news story.
Customers safely remove deer from Menards
A deer was removed from a Menards store Monday after it ran into the building.
www.kwqc.com
December 17, 2025 at 1:28 AM
A deer carries out of my local Menards? Hard to think of a more Midwestern news story.
If you’re looking for a good excuse to buy books as gifts or for yourself, just know that bookshelves full of books are among the best insulators for homes. So you’re actually saving money every time you buy a book.
Five ways to keep your home warm this winter
If you live in a poorly insulated home, and many of us do, you could spend thousands this winter on energy bills. But our ancestors had many ways to keep snug at little or no cost. Now, thanks to mode...
theconversation.com
December 15, 2025 at 7:58 PM
If you’re looking for a good excuse to buy books as gifts or for yourself, just know that bookshelves full of books are among the best insulators for homes. So you’re actually saving money every time you buy a book.
Reposted by Brian Leech
Today's the final day of our holiday book sale! Get 40% off with promo code SNOW at ohioswallow.com. Orders $50+ qualify for free US shipping!
December 11, 2025 at 3:04 PM
Today's the final day of our holiday book sale! Get 40% off with promo code SNOW at ohioswallow.com. Orders $50+ qualify for free US shipping!
Reposted by Brian Leech
Historians - What are your top assigned reading recommendations for a grad level 20th century US History seminar? 🗃️
December 11, 2025 at 1:59 AM
Historians - What are your top assigned reading recommendations for a grad level 20th century US History seminar? 🗃️
Reposted by Brian Leech
I heard @historiamagoria.bsky.social talk about this research at #eseh2025 this summer, wonderful to see a post on it before the holidays! #envhist
Augmenting Christmas: Artificial Trees and the Lure of Perpetual Nature
Artificial Christmas trees evolved from feather and aluminum novelties to plastic simulations, revealing desires for safer, cleaner, “better” nature and modern convenience.
niche-canada.org
December 11, 2025 at 1:42 PM
I heard @historiamagoria.bsky.social talk about this research at #eseh2025 this summer, wonderful to see a post on it before the holidays! #envhist
Reposted by Brian Leech
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-...
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 7:01 PM
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.
The statistics faculty reviewed the metrics being used to justify the elimination of their department and found those stats to be highly misleading if not outright wrong, with decimals in the wrong places, for instance. Good thing they’ll be eliminated to save later embarrassment.
BREAKING: ‘This hurts’: UNL eliminates 4 programs despite faculty, student pleas
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln eliminates the Earth and atmospheric sciences 8-0, educational administration 7-1, statistics 7-1, textiles, merchandising and fashion design 7-1 programs.
www.dailynebraskan.com
December 7, 2025 at 5:16 AM
The statistics faculty reviewed the metrics being used to justify the elimination of their department and found those stats to be highly misleading if not outright wrong, with decimals in the wrong places, for instance. Good thing they’ll be eliminated to save later embarrassment.
Reposted by Brian Leech
The School of Environment and Natural Resources at Ohio State University is hiring an Assistant Professor Environmental and Natural Resources Policy and Governance. More information here: osu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/OSUCareers/j...
Assistant Professor Environmental and Natural Resources Policy and Governance
Screen reader users may encounter difficulty with this site. For assistance with applying, please contact hr-accessibleapplication@osu.edu. If you have questions while submitting an application, pleas...
osu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com
November 27, 2025 at 10:08 AM
The School of Environment and Natural Resources at Ohio State University is hiring an Assistant Professor Environmental and Natural Resources Policy and Governance. More information here: osu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/OSUCareers/j...
Reposted by Brian Leech
Interested or know someone interested in doing a PhD on environmental histories/materialities of zoonotic or infectious animal disease as part of Transformative Humanities @durham.ac.uk Then please get in touch by Dec 8th! @pollenetwork.bsky.social @emilywebz.bsky.social @rgs-agwg.bsky.social
December 1, 2025 at 10:35 AM
Interested or know someone interested in doing a PhD on environmental histories/materialities of zoonotic or infectious animal disease as part of Transformative Humanities @durham.ac.uk Then please get in touch by Dec 8th! @pollenetwork.bsky.social @emilywebz.bsky.social @rgs-agwg.bsky.social
Remember when media organizations had editors?
December 1, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Remember when media organizations had editors?
Reposted by Brian Leech
"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 3:38 PM
"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
Reposted by Brian Leech
I get what the WSJ is trying to say about a more fractured FOMC but the chart they use in the story sure seems to contradict their premise. www.wsj.com/economy/cent...
November 22, 2025 at 9:28 PM
I get what the WSJ is trying to say about a more fractured FOMC but the chart they use in the story sure seems to contradict their premise. www.wsj.com/economy/cent...
Reposted by Brian Leech
Relying on ChatGPT to teach you about a topic leaves you with shallower knowledge than Googling and reading about it, according to new research that compared what more than 10,000 people knew after using one method or the other.
Shared by @gizmodo.com: buff.ly/yAAHtHq
Shared by @gizmodo.com: buff.ly/yAAHtHq
November 21, 2025 at 11:48 AM
Relying on ChatGPT to teach you about a topic leaves you with shallower knowledge than Googling and reading about it, according to new research that compared what more than 10,000 people knew after using one method or the other.
Shared by @gizmodo.com: buff.ly/yAAHtHq
Shared by @gizmodo.com: buff.ly/yAAHtHq
Reposted by Brian Leech
Reposted by Brian Leech
I am very pleased and grateful to share this announcement of our recent award from the @wellcometrust.bsky.social for a project on history of smallpox and measles #histmed #histsci news.exeter.ac.uk/faculty-of-h... The project will be based @exeter.ac.uk @cceh-u24.bsky.social led by ... 1/2
Exeter scholars secure significant research funding to investigate the early history of Smallpox and Measles
The early histories of smallpox and measles – and the insight they might offer to contemporary health and medicine – will be under the microscope of a new research project. Pustules, Palaeogenetics an...
news.exeter.ac.uk
November 19, 2025 at 12:54 PM
I am very pleased and grateful to share this announcement of our recent award from the @wellcometrust.bsky.social for a project on history of smallpox and measles #histmed #histsci news.exeter.ac.uk/faculty-of-h... The project will be based @exeter.ac.uk @cceh-u24.bsky.social led by ... 1/2
Reposted by Brian Leech
Colleague just got an email that starts: "Here's a polished and respectful letter you can send to your professor"
Email from a student who turned in a ChatGPT essay. Not even looking at the ChatGPT output in the apology 🥴
![Dear [Professor’s Name],
I want to sincerely apologize for my actions regarding my midterm submission.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:fs6z2b756buwsdsjkle6utfi/bafkreiecvhzfgr4tlwyy2mvpbvjncqkysytwsxvidaoressh7peonoso3y@jpeg)
November 17, 2025 at 9:28 PM
Colleague just got an email that starts: "Here's a polished and respectful letter you can send to your professor"
Reposted by Brian Leech
Thousands of documents related to Amelia Earhart, the aviator who vanished in 1937 while attempting to become the first woman to circumnavigate the world, were published online by the National Archives on Friday but Earhart experts said the collection was a dud.
Trump Administration Releases Thousands of Amelia Earhart Files
More than 4,000 documents related to Earhart were posted online, but scholars were not impressed. The release coincides with a period of intensified interest in the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein and his connection to the president.
nyti.ms
November 18, 2025 at 4:30 AM
Thousands of documents related to Amelia Earhart, the aviator who vanished in 1937 while attempting to become the first woman to circumnavigate the world, were published online by the National Archives on Friday but Earhart experts said the collection was a dud.
To the five separate people who stopped me, honked at me, or yelled across the parking lot at me during my short trip to the grocery store: thanks! I have now pumped up my low back tire. We often forget that most people are helpful.
November 9, 2025 at 9:41 PM
To the five separate people who stopped me, honked at me, or yelled across the parking lot at me during my short trip to the grocery store: thanks! I have now pumped up my low back tire. We often forget that most people are helpful.