Ellen Forget
@ellenforget.bsky.social
Academic studying braille, print disabilities, and small-press publishing. Editor by trade, academic at heart. she/they. ocd & long-covid & chronic pain.
Pinned
Ellen Forget
@ellenforget.bsky.social
· Jun 25
I'm excited to announce that I will be joining University of Alberta this fall as a Killam Postdoctoral Fellow in English and Film Studies to work on my project "A History of Tactile Writing and Reading."
Reposted by Ellen Forget
To say I am excited about this would be an understatement. To say I am a little bit terrified would not!
Actually, just really looking forward to it -- and really pleased to see SHARP continuing its accessible practices.
eve.gd/2026/01/10/i...
Actually, just really looking forward to it -- and really pleased to see SHARP continuing its accessible practices.
eve.gd/2026/01/10/i...
In conversation with Matthew G. Kirschenbaum
The inaugural SHARPIES, a global book history festival celebrating work in book history from around the world, will take place from July 7–9, 2026 (although ...
eve.gd
January 10, 2026 at 8:28 PM
To say I am excited about this would be an understatement. To say I am a little bit terrified would not!
Actually, just really looking forward to it -- and really pleased to see SHARP continuing its accessible practices.
eve.gd/2026/01/10/i...
Actually, just really looking forward to it -- and really pleased to see SHARP continuing its accessible practices.
eve.gd/2026/01/10/i...
Reposted by Ellen Forget
Do you want to read more books in 2026? Join NNELS for a one-hour session where our accessibility experts will answer questions and guide you on finding, downloading, and reading books from the NNELS catalogue on your accessible devices.
Learn more here: nnels.ca/nnels-webinars
Learn more here: nnels.ca/nnels-webinars
nnels.ca
January 13, 2026 at 4:02 PM
Do you want to read more books in 2026? Join NNELS for a one-hour session where our accessibility experts will answer questions and guide you on finding, downloading, and reading books from the NNELS catalogue on your accessible devices.
Learn more here: nnels.ca/nnels-webinars
Learn more here: nnels.ca/nnels-webinars
As someone who is actively training a model on Transkribus, this is 100% accurate. For most people and most projects, it doesn't make sense to train a custom model. You need so much data to train it, that you might as well just transcribe it all yourself and not go through the trouble of training.
I am reminded that every time someone recommended I use Transkribus to train a model to read the handwritten manuscript novels I was working on, I had to explain that the process required first that I hand-transcribe perfectly clean sample of the hand that was generally 75-100% of the document.
This is simply not technically possible. You cannot generate enough writing in-house to train an LLM. You cannot generate enough art in-house to train a GAN. People who think they have a model "trained on our own material" are using a base model of mass-scraped data, unknowingly or disingenuously.
January 9, 2026 at 7:51 PM
As someone who is actively training a model on Transkribus, this is 100% accurate. For most people and most projects, it doesn't make sense to train a custom model. You need so much data to train it, that you might as well just transcribe it all yourself and not go through the trouble of training.
Reposted by Ellen Forget
Digital humanities/18th-century peeps! My friend Karenza’s project just finished peer review:
“We completed the teaching edition in 2025 with a teaching curriculum, annotations done by graduate and undergraduate students, scholarly essays, and a full audiobook through volunteers at Librivox.”
“We completed the teaching edition in 2025 with a teaching curriculum, annotations done by graduate and undergraduate students, scholarly essays, and a full audiobook through volunteers at Librivox.”
HOME - The Lady's Museum Project
What is The Lady's Museum? What is this website/project? Read the magazine
ladysmuseum.com
January 9, 2026 at 4:19 PM
Digital humanities/18th-century peeps! My friend Karenza’s project just finished peer review:
“We completed the teaching edition in 2025 with a teaching curriculum, annotations done by graduate and undergraduate students, scholarly essays, and a full audiobook through volunteers at Librivox.”
“We completed the teaching edition in 2025 with a teaching curriculum, annotations done by graduate and undergraduate students, scholarly essays, and a full audiobook through volunteers at Librivox.”
Reposted by Ellen Forget
I would like people to include alt text when they share abstracts (that way everyone can enjoy research). It is incredibly easy to add alt from a screenshot on your phone (and even easier on your desktop). People like me will also be more willing to reshare it.
January 8, 2026 at 5:47 PM
I would like people to include alt text when they share abstracts (that way everyone can enjoy research). It is incredibly easy to add alt from a screenshot on your phone (and even easier on your desktop). People like me will also be more willing to reshare it.
Reposted by Ellen Forget
Syllabus help: Looking for an article about eugenics history that can help introduce students (especially upper level undergrads) to the history of eugenics in the 19th-20th c in the US.
It’s for a class where students’ main competencies are mostly not humanities/social sciences.
Suggestions?
It’s for a class where students’ main competencies are mostly not humanities/social sciences.
Suggestions?
January 5, 2026 at 6:35 AM
Syllabus help: Looking for an article about eugenics history that can help introduce students (especially upper level undergrads) to the history of eugenics in the 19th-20th c in the US.
It’s for a class where students’ main competencies are mostly not humanities/social sciences.
Suggestions?
It’s for a class where students’ main competencies are mostly not humanities/social sciences.
Suggestions?
Reposted by Ellen Forget
Does anyone have suggestions for Indigenous writing about the newer Cherokee letterpress movable types? (The 1962 or recent versions.) Interested in Cherokee involvement in the newer type's casting/(re)design; analysis/statements on ethical audience+use of the new (not rediscovered 19thc) type. +
January 7, 2026 at 7:02 PM
Does anyone have suggestions for Indigenous writing about the newer Cherokee letterpress movable types? (The 1962 or recent versions.) Interested in Cherokee involvement in the newer type's casting/(re)design; analysis/statements on ethical audience+use of the new (not rediscovered 19thc) type. +
Question for my librarian friends: What overhead scanner would you recommend for book scanning? It MUST allow for changing the direction/orientation of light for the purpose of creating shadows (we do not want to eliminate shadows). Lights can be external, but need the space to move them around it.
January 7, 2026 at 5:37 PM
Question for my librarian friends: What overhead scanner would you recommend for book scanning? It MUST allow for changing the direction/orientation of light for the purpose of creating shadows (we do not want to eliminate shadows). Lights can be external, but need the space to move them around it.
I love sending an email that says "hey I want to do this thing" and getting an almost immediate response that says "I LOVE that you want to do this thing, let's make it happen!" Incredible energy to start the year. Let's make (good) things happen.
January 6, 2026 at 11:24 PM
I love sending an email that says "hey I want to do this thing" and getting an almost immediate response that says "I LOVE that you want to do this thing, let's make it happen!" Incredible energy to start the year. Let's make (good) things happen.
I had five writing projects of various sizes all due between December 1 and 22. I just submitted the last one. It was a bit tight at times, but I managed to submit everything on time. Now I can rest. Everything else can wait until January.
December 20, 2025 at 6:30 PM
I had five writing projects of various sizes all due between December 1 and 22. I just submitted the last one. It was a bit tight at times, but I managed to submit everything on time. Now I can rest. Everything else can wait until January.
Reposted by Ellen Forget
might as well skip the middlemen and give awards directly to the machines that did the work
I'm very disappointed in SFWA's soft stance on LLM and the Nebulas. Any use of LLM, disclosed or not, should not be awards eligible. It's plagiarism and crap, period
December 19, 2025 at 6:56 PM
might as well skip the middlemen and give awards directly to the machines that did the work
Reposted by Ellen Forget
December 19, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Reposted by Ellen Forget
A small rant: I clocked about 3 years ago that my youngest child had *something*, likely an autoimmune something, happening in their body, and the reaction from essentially everyone was to assume I was overreacting because of my disabilities, not that I had EXPERTISE because if my disabilities.
December 19, 2025 at 5:05 PM
A small rant: I clocked about 3 years ago that my youngest child had *something*, likely an autoimmune something, happening in their body, and the reaction from essentially everyone was to assume I was overreacting because of my disabilities, not that I had EXPERTISE because if my disabilities.
You can't determine someone's disability by looking at them. I sometimes need a cane, sometimes a wheelchair, sometimes neither. In airports, I often use wheelchair service because cramped plane seats cause significant pain, and so does walking. I limit the latter so the former is more manageable.
Travelers bemoan a rise of able-bodied passengers who game the system to skip the lines. on.wsj.com/3N6apva
They Get Wheeled on Flights and Miraculously Walk Off. Praise ‘Jetway Jesus.’
Travelers bemoan a rise of able-bodied passengers who game the system to skip the lines.
on.wsj.com
December 19, 2025 at 4:34 PM
You can't determine someone's disability by looking at them. I sometimes need a cane, sometimes a wheelchair, sometimes neither. In airports, I often use wheelchair service because cramped plane seats cause significant pain, and so does walking. I limit the latter so the former is more manageable.
I hate how genAI is affecting news stories. There was a 100-car pileup just north of Calgary yesterday because of white-out weather conditions. Every photo and video I've seen about this has been genAI. There must be real photos and videos, but nobody seems to be using those. AI is faster. 🙄
December 18, 2025 at 4:03 PM
I hate how genAI is affecting news stories. There was a 100-car pileup just north of Calgary yesterday because of white-out weather conditions. Every photo and video I've seen about this has been genAI. There must be real photos and videos, but nobody seems to be using those. AI is faster. 🙄
Reposted by Ellen Forget
I’m passing on a question from @drtlwagner.bsky.social & their students: Do you know of existing/in process book history work on clip art? I know Shep’s history of print emoji & anecdotally I know some early clip art remediated printer’s ornaments—as does the "font" Wingdings—anyone digging in more?
December 17, 2025 at 8:39 PM
I’m passing on a question from @drtlwagner.bsky.social & their students: Do you know of existing/in process book history work on clip art? I know Shep’s history of print emoji & anecdotally I know some early clip art remediated printer’s ornaments—as does the "font" Wingdings—anyone digging in more?
Reposted by Ellen Forget
Reading pieces like Ellen Samuels' "Six Ways of Looking at Crip Time" literally changed my life and the way I care for my disabled body. That research was fostered by peer reviewers, editors, and open access publishing at Disability Studies Quarterly. Today the journal is at risk due to funding. 1/4
December 17, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Reading pieces like Ellen Samuels' "Six Ways of Looking at Crip Time" literally changed my life and the way I care for my disabled body. That research was fostered by peer reviewers, editors, and open access publishing at Disability Studies Quarterly. Today the journal is at risk due to funding. 1/4
Reposted by Ellen Forget
Bill C-15, the federal Budget Implementation Act, proposes repealing Canada Post’s Literature for the Blind free-mailing program. This is a service that thousands of people in Canada who are blind or visually impaired rely on to access braille, audio, and other accessible formats.
nnels.ca
December 10, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Bill C-15, the federal Budget Implementation Act, proposes repealing Canada Post’s Literature for the Blind free-mailing program. This is a service that thousands of people in Canada who are blind or visually impaired rely on to access braille, audio, and other accessible formats.
Reposted by Ellen Forget
Canadian publishers stand with the library community in opposing Bill C-15 provisions that threaten the Library Book Rate & the Literature for the Blind program. These protections are needed to ensure equitable access to books for all Canadians. Read more: publishers.ca/publishers-o...
Canadian Publishers Stand with Library Community in Opposing Repeal of Library Mailing Provisions - Association of Canadian Publishers
publishers.ca
December 15, 2025 at 9:35 PM
Canadian publishers stand with the library community in opposing Bill C-15 provisions that threaten the Library Book Rate & the Literature for the Blind program. These protections are needed to ensure equitable access to books for all Canadians. Read more: publishers.ca/publishers-o...
What's more motivating than end-of-year due dates? Last push to get a couple things done and submitted before taking a much-needed break.
December 15, 2025 at 5:22 PM
What's more motivating than end-of-year due dates? Last push to get a couple things done and submitted before taking a much-needed break.
Reposted by Ellen Forget
Hello fellow migraineurs who are also readers! A friend who teaches at Portland State is doing a survey about our reading experiences and it would be great if you were interested in taking it. Survey and more info here: portlandstate.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_... 📚
December 11, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Hello fellow migraineurs who are also readers! A friend who teaches at Portland State is doing a survey about our reading experiences and it would be great if you were interested in taking it. Survey and more info here: portlandstate.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_... 📚
Reposted by Ellen Forget
Me, a typography nerd: switching from a Serif font (Times New Roman) to a Sans Serif font (Calibri) actually makes your communications more accessible and easier to read, so it's completely unsurprising that this bullshit administration would switch back.
Calibri font is the latest casualty in the Trump administration's war on diversity and inclusion
Secretary of State Marco Rubio directed U.S. diplomats worldwide to use Times New Roman 14-point font for official documents, reversing a Biden-era directive to use Calibri.
www.nbcnews.com
December 10, 2025 at 10:54 PM
Me, a typography nerd: switching from a Serif font (Times New Roman) to a Sans Serif font (Calibri) actually makes your communications more accessible and easier to read, so it's completely unsurprising that this bullshit administration would switch back.
For decades, Canadians have been able to send braille and other materials, including heavy braille typewriters, through Canada Post for free through the "Literature for the Blind" exemption in the Canada Post Corporations Act. That exemption is now at risk of being cancelled.
December 8, 2025 at 10:20 PM
For decades, Canadians have been able to send braille and other materials, including heavy braille typewriters, through Canada Post for free through the "Literature for the Blind" exemption in the Canada Post Corporations Act. That exemption is now at risk of being cancelled.
Reposted by Ellen Forget
If a student is interested in looking for jobs working on policies surrounding jails/prisons and the larger criminal legal system, where might I recommend that they look?
The Vera Institute of Justice is one that comes to mind, but I'd welcome other possibilities. Thanks!
The Vera Institute of Justice is one that comes to mind, but I'd welcome other possibilities. Thanks!
December 4, 2025 at 2:26 PM
If a student is interested in looking for jobs working on policies surrounding jails/prisons and the larger criminal legal system, where might I recommend that they look?
The Vera Institute of Justice is one that comes to mind, but I'd welcome other possibilities. Thanks!
The Vera Institute of Justice is one that comes to mind, but I'd welcome other possibilities. Thanks!
As someone who never writes linearly, reading a thing from start to finish always feels daunting. It's so useful and I always find lots of bits to improve on, so I make myself do it. But it's probably my second-least favourite part of the process. (Writing the conclusion is always the worst part.)
November 29, 2025 at 5:24 PM
As someone who never writes linearly, reading a thing from start to finish always feels daunting. It's so useful and I always find lots of bits to improve on, so I make myself do it. But it's probably my second-least favourite part of the process. (Writing the conclusion is always the worst part.)