John Mark Ockerbloom
@jmarkockerbloom.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
A Philadelphian with professional interests in libraries, technology, copyright, and culture, and nonprofessional interests that include singing, reading [β¦]
π bridged from β https://mastodon.social/@JMarkOckerbloom, follow @ap.brid.gy to interact
π bridged from β https://mastodon.social/@JMarkOckerbloom, follow @ap.brid.gy to interact
As experts here have noted, Trump can't legally "nationalize" elections. But that doesn't mean we should ignore his rhetoric when he calls for it. It reinforces his ongoing attempt to disrupt 2026 elections in his favor, by ramping up intimidation of voters (see MN) and election officials (see [β¦]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
February 4, 2026 at 3:49 PM
As experts here have noted, Trump can't legally "nationalize" elections. But that doesn't mean we should ignore his rhetoric when he calls for it. It reinforces his ongoing attempt to disrupt 2026 elections in his favor, by ramping up intimidation of voters (see MN) and election officials (see [β¦]
Reposted by John Mark Ockerbloom
irrregular reminder that you can ask google to unlock books that are in the public domain but not openly available via the feedback form. It usually takes them one or two days to review the request.
#GoogleBooks
#GoogleBooks
February 4, 2026 at 2:09 PM
irrregular reminder that you can ask google to unlock books that are in the public domain but not openly available via the feedback form. It usually takes them one or two days to review the request.
#GoogleBooks
#GoogleBooks
The Data Rescue Project, which includes my Penn Libraries colleague Lynda Kellam on its board, wins RDAP's Work of the Year award. Congratulations! https://rdapassociation.org/news/13593532
February 3, 2026 at 10:15 PM
The Data Rescue Project, which includes my Penn Libraries colleague Lynda Kellam on its board, wins RDAP's Work of the Year award. Congratulations! https://rdapassociation.org/news/13593532
RE: https://kind.social/@coral/116007551900439453
Also, if your examples are relying on a series that started coming out nearly 30 years ago (and whose last book in the main series came out nearly 20 years ago), they're probably dated, and could use revision (both technically and culturally) [β¦]
Also, if your examples are relying on a series that started coming out nearly 30 years ago (and whose last book in the main series came out nearly 20 years ago), they're probably dated, and could use revision (both technically and culturally) [β¦]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
February 3, 2026 at 4:36 PM
RE: https://kind.social/@coral/116007551900439453
Also, if your examples are relying on a series that started coming out nearly 30 years ago (and whose last book in the main series came out nearly 20 years ago), they're probably dated, and could use revision (both technically and culturally) [β¦]
Also, if your examples are relying on a series that started coming out nearly 30 years ago (and whose last book in the main series came out nearly 20 years ago), they're probably dated, and could use revision (both technically and culturally) [β¦]
@mattblaze He can't "nationalize" elections, for the reasons you give, but I wouldn't call it "meaningless blather" either. It fits into and reinforces what he *is* doing to disrupt elections in his favor, not by preventing them, but by intimidating voters and officials in key places. We have [β¦]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
February 3, 2026 at 1:54 PM
@mattblaze He can't "nationalize" elections, for the reasons you give, but I wouldn't call it "meaningless blather" either. It fits into and reinforces what he *is* doing to disrupt elections in his favor, not by preventing them, but by intimidating voters and officials in key places. We have [β¦]
"By simulating human voices and faces, wisdom and knowledge, consciousness and responsibility, empathy and friendship, the systems known as artificial intelligence not only interfere with information ecosystems, but also encroach upon the deepest level of communication, that of human [β¦]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
February 2, 2026 at 11:23 PM
"By simulating human voices and faces, wisdom and knowledge, consciousness and responsibility, empathy and friendship, the systems known as artificial intelligence not only interfere with information ecosystems, but also encroach upon the deepest level of communication, that of human [β¦]
RE: https://mastodon.social/@JMarkOckerbloom/115958917423705942
If you're going to today's concert of works by immigrants and children of immigrants and Native Americans, plan to head out early (and consider carpooling or transit), as parking is limited due to the snow, and our director is [β¦]
If you're going to today's concert of works by immigrants and children of immigrants and Native Americans, plan to head out early (and consider carpooling or transit), as parking is limited due to the snow, and our director is [β¦]
January 31, 2026 at 6:32 PM
RE: https://mastodon.social/@JMarkOckerbloom/115958917423705942
If you're going to today's concert of works by immigrants and children of immigrants and Native Americans, plan to head out early (and consider carpooling or transit), as parking is limited due to the snow, and our director is [β¦]
If you're going to today's concert of works by immigrants and children of immigrants and Native Americans, plan to head out early (and consider carpooling or transit), as parking is limited due to the snow, and our director is [β¦]
RE: https://piaille.fr/@benjamingeer/115980018762083916
The "sanitized" textbook described in the article is a heavily modified version of this open access textbook: https://openstax.org/details/books/introduction-sociology-3e
(The original 3rd edition is licensed CC-BY, so anyone can create [β¦]
The "sanitized" textbook described in the article is a heavily modified version of this open access textbook: https://openstax.org/details/books/introduction-sociology-3e
(The original 3rd edition is licensed CC-BY, so anyone can create [β¦]
January 30, 2026 at 9:30 PM
RE: https://piaille.fr/@benjamingeer/115980018762083916
The "sanitized" textbook described in the article is a heavily modified version of this open access textbook: https://openstax.org/details/books/introduction-sociology-3e
(The original 3rd edition is licensed CC-BY, so anyone can create [β¦]
The "sanitized" textbook described in the article is a heavily modified version of this open access textbook: https://openstax.org/details/books/introduction-sociology-3e
(The original 3rd edition is licensed CC-BY, so anyone can create [β¦]
@carusb I'm not an expert on commercial displays; I'd just heard many of them lack the intrusive features of consumer TVs, and I've seen some showing OTA content when someone mucked around with them.
At least in theory, tuners alone shouldn't cost much; I don't know what's on the market now [β¦]
At least in theory, tuners alone shouldn't cost much; I don't know what's on the market now [β¦]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
January 30, 2026 at 7:50 PM
@carusb I'm not an expert on commercial displays; I'd just heard many of them lack the intrusive features of consumer TVs, and I've seen some showing OTA content when someone mucked around with them.
At least in theory, tuners alone shouldn't cost much; I don't know what's on the market now [β¦]
At least in theory, tuners alone shouldn't cost much; I don't know what's on the market now [β¦]
LiAnna Davis at WikiEdu on a new study showing why one "should never copy and paste the output from generative AI chatbots like ChatGPT into Wikipedia articles" (or other trusted work).
"For most of the articles Pangram flagged as written by GenAI, nearly every cited sentence in the article [β¦]
"For most of the articles Pangram flagged as written by GenAI, nearly every cited sentence in the article [β¦]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
January 30, 2026 at 7:28 PM
LiAnna Davis at WikiEdu on a new study showing why one "should never copy and paste the output from generative AI chatbots like ChatGPT into Wikipedia articles" (or other trusted work).
"For most of the articles Pangram flagged as written by GenAI, nearly every cited sentence in the article [β¦]
"For most of the articles Pangram flagged as written by GenAI, nearly every cited sentence in the article [β¦]
@carusb I'm dreading having to replace out TV (it's a 1080p from just before the "pre-smart" era; works now except for one bad column we try our best to ignore)
Other than trying to find a model that doesn't give us grief if it can't reach the internet or the cell-phone network, it looks like [β¦]
Other than trying to find a model that doesn't give us grief if it can't reach the internet or the cell-phone network, it looks like [β¦]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
January 29, 2026 at 8:44 PM
@carusb I'm dreading having to replace out TV (it's a 1080p from just before the "pre-smart" era; works now except for one bad column we try our best to ignore)
Other than trying to find a model that doesn't give us grief if it can't reach the internet or the cell-phone network, it looks like [β¦]
Other than trying to find a model that doesn't give us grief if it can't reach the internet or the cell-phone network, it looks like [β¦]
"Using words, not to make a point, but to avoid making a point while creating the illusion of having made one, is the true sin."
John Gruber, recalling Orwell's "Politics and the English Language", calls out Apple's Tim Cook & others vaguely calling for "deescalation" in MN without saying who [β¦]
John Gruber, recalling Orwell's "Politics and the English Language", calls out Apple's Tim Cook & others vaguely calling for "deescalation" in MN without saying who [β¦]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
January 29, 2026 at 4:43 PM
"Using words, not to make a point, but to avoid making a point while creating the illusion of having made one, is the true sin."
John Gruber, recalling Orwell's "Politics and the English Language", calls out Apple's Tim Cook & others vaguely calling for "deescalation" in MN without saying who [β¦]
John Gruber, recalling Orwell's "Politics and the English Language", calls out Apple's Tim Cook & others vaguely calling for "deescalation" in MN without saying who [β¦]
(Following up on the LB, it looks like NeoCities is still delisted on Bing itself, though it now shows up again in DuckDuckGo. The thread the post links to on Reddit suggests that Bing may be blocking it because NeoCities is commonly used now by spammers for link dumps, as well as by the [β¦]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
January 29, 2026 at 12:36 PM
(Following up on the LB, it looks like NeoCities is still delisted on Bing itself, though it now shows up again in DuckDuckGo. The thread the post links to on Reddit suggests that Bing may be blocking it because NeoCities is commonly used now by spammers for link dumps, as well as by the [β¦]
Reposted by John Mark Ockerbloom
Update: DuckDuckGo appears to have fixed the issue with Neocities results not showing up in their search results
#Neocities #DuckDuckGo
#Neocities #DuckDuckGo
Morgan-DDG's comment on "Neocities is blocked by Bing Index (and thus also DDG)"
Explore this conversation and more from the duckduckgo community
www.reddit.com
January 29, 2026 at 7:09 AM
Update: DuckDuckGo appears to have fixed the issue with Neocities results not showing up in their search results
#Neocities #DuckDuckGo
#Neocities #DuckDuckGo
Reposted by John Mark Ockerbloom
Today I'm launching season 5 of Cybercultural: the history of web design from 1993 till 2012. It will be a celebration of the peak years of personal websites and blogs! My intro post explains the structure and a few of the main themes I'll be exploring during this season (e.g. personal web [β¦]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
January 13, 2026 at 2:51 PM
Today I'm launching season 5 of Cybercultural: the history of web design from 1993 till 2012. It will be a celebration of the peak years of personal websites and blogs! My intro post explains the structure and a few of the main themes I'll be exploring during this season (e.g. personal web [β¦]
RE: https://wandering.shop/@semievolved/115968666492399218
I was thinking "Mozilla can't be *that* far gone..." but indeed as I write this there are still 3 items below the "five principles are especially relevant in the age of AI:" heaader. (You can find it by clicking on the "I. Mozilla [β¦]
I was thinking "Mozilla can't be *that* far gone..." but indeed as I write this there are still 3 items below the "five principles are especially relevant in the age of AI:" heaader. (You can find it by clicking on the "I. Mozilla [β¦]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
January 27, 2026 at 10:36 PM
RE: https://wandering.shop/@semievolved/115968666492399218
I was thinking "Mozilla can't be *that* far gone..." but indeed as I write this there are still 3 items below the "five principles are especially relevant in the age of AI:" heaader. (You can find it by clicking on the "I. Mozilla [β¦]
I was thinking "Mozilla can't be *that* far gone..." but indeed as I write this there are still 3 items below the "five principles are especially relevant in the age of AI:" heaader. (You can find it by clicking on the "I. Mozilla [β¦]
After La died, a report came out that ICE has stopped paying for detainee medical treatment: https://popular.info/p/ice-has-stopped-paying-for-detainee. We can expect there will be more deaths like La's due to that policy, and to ICE's failures to provide proper medical treatment on its own (not [β¦]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
January 27, 2026 at 3:11 PM
After La died, a report came out that ICE has stopped paying for detainee medical treatment: https://popular.info/p/ice-has-stopped-paying-for-detainee. We can expect there will be more deaths like La's due to that policy, and to ICE's failures to provide proper medical treatment on its own (not [β¦]
Most deaths ICE is responsible for happen away from cameras. Earlier this month, just outside of Philadelphia, Parady La, a 46-year-old Cambodian refugee, died in ICE custody about 48 hours after his arrest in Upper Darby [β¦]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
January 27, 2026 at 2:44 PM
Most deaths ICE is responsible for happen away from cameras. Earlier this month, just outside of Philadelphia, Parady La, a 46-year-old Cambodian refugee, died in ICE custody about 48 hours after his arrest in Upper Darby [β¦]
Reposted by John Mark Ockerbloom
A zine documenting the National Park Serviceβs βLife Under Slavery at George Washington Houseβ exhibitβremoved by the government January 22, 2026 in an act of censorship (zinebakery.com/bakeshop/cen...)
January 27, 2026 at 10:05 AM
A zine documenting the National Park Serviceβs βLife Under Slavery at George Washington Houseβ exhibitβremoved by the government January 22, 2026 in an act of censorship (zinebakery.com/bakeshop/cen...)
Here's the full set of winners of ALA Youth Media Awards today: https://www.ala.org/news/2026/01/american-library-association-announces-2026-youth-media-award-winners #library #books
January 26, 2026 at 10:48 PM
Here's the full set of winners of ALA Youth Media Awards today: https://www.ala.org/news/2026/01/american-library-association-announces-2026-youth-media-award-winners #library #books
RE: https://mastodon.social/@JMarkOckerbloom/115961708240364414
The livestream is on now, and award announcements are about to begin.
The livestream is on now, and award announcements are about to begin.
The American Library Association will announce winners of its 2026 Youth Media Awards this morning, including the Newbery, Caldecott, Printz, Alex, Coretta Scott King, and Stonewall book awards, among others.
ALA's announcement livestream starts at 10am Central time (11am Eastern, 8am Pacific) [β¦]
ALA's announcement livestream starts at 10am Central time (11am Eastern, 8am Pacific) [β¦]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
January 26, 2026 at 4:07 PM
RE: https://mastodon.social/@JMarkOckerbloom/115961708240364414
The livestream is on now, and award announcements are about to begin.
The livestream is on now, and award announcements are about to begin.
I do wonder if the prolonged cold spell might at least kill off some of the parasites that have been migrating north over the last while, when our winters have been much milder than they historically have been. The woolly adelgid, for example, has been killing off hemlock stands in oiur area for [β¦]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
January 26, 2026 at 3:02 PM
I do wonder if the prolonged cold spell might at least kill off some of the parasites that have been migrating north over the last while, when our winters have been much milder than they historically have been. The woolly adelgid, for example, has been killing off hemlock stands in oiur area for [β¦]
Official snow totals for Philadelphia came in around 9 inches, though it looks like we might have gotten a bit more in the northwest part of the city.
We'll have snow on the ground and bitter cold for a while, though. The forecast I'm looking at doesn't have temperatures getting above freezing [β¦]
We'll have snow on the ground and bitter cold for a while, though. The forecast I'm looking at doesn't have temperatures getting above freezing [β¦]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
January 26, 2026 at 2:57 PM
Official snow totals for Philadelphia came in around 9 inches, though it looks like we might have gotten a bit more in the northwest part of the city.
We'll have snow on the ground and bitter cold for a while, though. The forecast I'm looking at doesn't have temperatures getting above freezing [β¦]
We'll have snow on the ground and bitter cold for a while, though. The forecast I'm looking at doesn't have temperatures getting above freezing [β¦]
The oldest of ALA's media awards, the Newbery, has been given for more than 100 years. I have a page with links to where you can read the oldest Newbery honorees online: https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/prize.html. (I've recently added most of the winners of the 1931 Newbery medal and [β¦]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
January 26, 2026 at 1:51 PM
The oldest of ALA's media awards, the Newbery, has been given for more than 100 years. I have a page with links to where you can read the oldest Newbery honorees online: https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/prize.html. (I've recently added most of the winners of the 1931 Newbery medal and [β¦]