James Baker
@jwbaker.bsky.social
Professor of Digital Humanities · Director of Southampton DH · Programming Historian Trustee · Historian of various things · Likes watching football and cycling · He/Him · Born at 342 ppm · #COYW
Pinned
James Baker
@jwbaker.bsky.social
· Jul 25
My author copy of latest issue of Third Text just arrived in the post. What a cover.
Reposted by James Baker
Great to present our work (w. @melvinwevers.bsky.social) on applying "basic" ML to study historical visual culture at the @ihr.bsky.social Digital History Seminar!
#dhist If you missed @thomassmits.bsky.social & @melvinwevers.bsky.social speaking at the @ihr.bsky.social Digital History on Orientalist pixels, colonial colour palettes, and machine learning - plus the fab discussion that followed - the recording is now on our youtube channel youtu.be/kDTJToRCEHQ
Smits & Wevers: Orientalist pixels - revealing the colonial color palette of early photography
YouTube video by IHR Digital History Seminar
youtu.be
January 21, 2026 at 10:50 AM
Great to present our work (w. @melvinwevers.bsky.social) on applying "basic" ML to study historical visual culture at the @ihr.bsky.social Digital History Seminar!
#dhist If you missed @thomassmits.bsky.social & @melvinwevers.bsky.social speaking at the @ihr.bsky.social Digital History on Orientalist pixels, colonial colour palettes, and machine learning - plus the fab discussion that followed - the recording is now on our youtube channel youtu.be/kDTJToRCEHQ
Smits & Wevers: Orientalist pixels - revealing the colonial color palette of early photography
YouTube video by IHR Digital History Seminar
youtu.be
January 21, 2026 at 10:20 AM
#dhist If you missed @thomassmits.bsky.social & @melvinwevers.bsky.social speaking at the @ihr.bsky.social Digital History on Orientalist pixels, colonial colour palettes, and machine learning - plus the fab discussion that followed - the recording is now on our youtube channel youtu.be/kDTJToRCEHQ
Hoffers Bakery is closing 😭 If you live in my bit of Southampton, you know what that means.
January 21, 2026 at 7:56 AM
Hoffers Bakery is closing 😭 If you live in my bit of Southampton, you know what that means.
Recorded my first mini-lecture for our new Text as Data module. Hopefully starting it by telling them that the module - and our weekly labs - will be apologetically code, software, and data focused will be seen as a welcome challenge.
January 20, 2026 at 10:47 AM
Recorded my first mini-lecture for our new Text as Data module. Hopefully starting it by telling them that the module - and our weekly labs - will be apologetically code, software, and data focused will be seen as a welcome challenge.
⬇️ Tomorrow lunchtime ⬇️
#dhist Join the @ihr.bsky.social Digital History seminar 20 Jan midday GMT (on Zoom) for @thomassmits.bsky.social & @melvinwevers.bsky.social on 'Orientalist pixels: How machine learning reveals the colonial color palette of early photography'. Details ⬇️ ihrdighist.blogs.sas.ac.uk/2025/09/tues...
Tuesday 20 January 2026 - Thomas Smits and Melvin Wevers (Amsterdam): Orientalist pixels: How machine learning reveals the colonial color palette of early photography - Digital History Seminar
This seminar is 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm GMT live on Zoom at https://zoom.us/j/98599080376 later posted to our YouTube channel. Session chair: Alexandra Ortolja-Baird Abstract: This talk explores how digita...
ihrdighist.blogs.sas.ac.uk
January 19, 2026 at 1:53 PM
⬇️ Tomorrow lunchtime ⬇️
That feeling when you spy that a new Dominion expansion is coming out then your thoughts turn immediately to the lack of space in your board game cupboard.
January 8, 2026 at 8:34 AM
That feeling when you spy that a new Dominion expansion is coming out then your thoughts turn immediately to the lack of space in your board game cupboard.
#dhist Join the @ihr.bsky.social Digital History seminar 20 Jan midday GMT (on Zoom) for @thomassmits.bsky.social & @melvinwevers.bsky.social on 'Orientalist pixels: How machine learning reveals the colonial color palette of early photography'. Details ⬇️ ihrdighist.blogs.sas.ac.uk/2025/09/tues...
Tuesday 20 January 2026 - Thomas Smits and Melvin Wevers (Amsterdam): Orientalist pixels: How machine learning reveals the colonial color palette of early photography - Digital History Seminar
This seminar is 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm GMT live on Zoom at https://zoom.us/j/98599080376 later posted to our YouTube channel. Session chair: Alexandra Ortolja-Baird Abstract: This talk explores how digita...
ihrdighist.blogs.sas.ac.uk
January 5, 2026 at 9:28 AM
#dhist Join the @ihr.bsky.social Digital History seminar 20 Jan midday GMT (on Zoom) for @thomassmits.bsky.social & @melvinwevers.bsky.social on 'Orientalist pixels: How machine learning reveals the colonial color palette of early photography'. Details ⬇️ ihrdighist.blogs.sas.ac.uk/2025/09/tues...
And then tomorrow it all begins again!
January 4, 2026 at 6:31 PM
And then tomorrow it all begins again!
I finished watching The Sopranos over the break. I do appreciate a long running TV that figures how to end with grace (see also Better Call Saul).
a man is sitting at a table in front of a sign that says italian sausage
ALT: a man is sitting at a table in front of a sign that says italian sausage
media.tenor.com
January 3, 2026 at 4:01 PM
I finished watching The Sopranos over the break. I do appreciate a long running TV that figures how to end with grace (see also Better Call Saul).
Happy 2026. We're going to see Sparks again this year. Which gives the year a headstart before it has really begun.
a cartoon of a man with the words tips for teens the kind you don t see in magazines
ALT: a cartoon of a man with the words tips for teens the kind you don t see in magazines
media.tenor.com
January 1, 2026 at 12:40 AM
Happy 2026. We're going to see Sparks again this year. Which gives the year a headstart before it has really begun.
I like Mason & Dixon. It is a very funny book. I also have no idea what is going on most of the time, which I'm ok with, I think.
December 29, 2025 at 10:27 AM
I like Mason & Dixon. It is a very funny book. I also have no idea what is going on most of the time, which I'm ok with, I think.
In case you ever wonder what is going on inside those big headphones of mine, or what those gigs are I go to, here is a list of the new music I liked the most this year. And - shockingly perhaps - it is a Geese free list, for those looking for a Geese free list.
open.spotify.com/playlist/6cR...
open.spotify.com/playlist/6cR...
#Thisis2025
open.spotify.com
December 28, 2025 at 9:31 PM
In case you ever wonder what is going on inside those big headphones of mine, or what those gigs are I go to, here is a list of the new music I liked the most this year. And - shockingly perhaps - it is a Geese free list, for those looking for a Geese free list.
open.spotify.com/playlist/6cR...
open.spotify.com/playlist/6cR...
Reposted by James Baker
Let me be explicit. If you hear anyone say replacing fossil fuels with renewables is going to be expensive, they're either misinformed, uninformed, or lying to you.
Even leaving out the massive economic costs of #climate changes caused by burning fossil fuels, #renewables are cheaper now.
Even leaving out the massive economic costs of #climate changes caused by burning fossil fuels, #renewables are cheaper now.
December 28, 2025 at 9:11 PM
Let me be explicit. If you hear anyone say replacing fossil fuels with renewables is going to be expensive, they're either misinformed, uninformed, or lying to you.
Even leaving out the massive economic costs of #climate changes caused by burning fossil fuels, #renewables are cheaper now.
Even leaving out the massive economic costs of #climate changes caused by burning fossil fuels, #renewables are cheaper now.
Enjoying playing an expansion of Wingspan (the European one) that includes birds we can see from our dining room table boardgame space.
December 28, 2025 at 7:31 PM
Enjoying playing an expansion of Wingspan (the European one) that includes birds we can see from our dining room table boardgame space.
Excellent Cycling Podcast KM0 piece on the culture, fall (from modest heights), and relegation (of sorts) at Cofidis.
open.spotify.com/episode/1Fgp...
open.spotify.com/episode/1Fgp...
Trapdoor: The Fall of a French Institution
open.spotify.com
December 28, 2025 at 4:43 PM
Excellent Cycling Podcast KM0 piece on the culture, fall (from modest heights), and relegation (of sorts) at Cofidis.
open.spotify.com/episode/1Fgp...
open.spotify.com/episode/1Fgp...
Ah yes, the climate future we all dreamed of: AI slop made in data centres powered by jet fuel 🤦♂️
"Data centres turn to aircraft engines to avoid grid connection delays" @financialtimes.com giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... via @FT
"Data centres turn to aircraft engines to avoid grid connection delays" @financialtimes.com giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... via @FT
Data centres turn to aircraft engines to avoid grid connection delays
Supply chain shortages drive developers to use smaller and less efficient power sources to fuel AI power demand
giftarticle.ft.com
December 27, 2025 at 8:41 PM
Ah yes, the climate future we all dreamed of: AI slop made in data centres powered by jet fuel 🤦♂️
"Data centres turn to aircraft engines to avoid grid connection delays" @financialtimes.com giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... via @FT
"Data centres turn to aircraft engines to avoid grid connection delays" @financialtimes.com giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... via @FT
Really limped over the line this year. Here's to a restorative break.
a man is walking down a hallway carrying a backpack .
ALT: a man is walking down a hallway carrying a backpack .
media.tenor.com
December 24, 2025 at 10:36 AM
Really limped over the line this year. Here's to a restorative break.
If you missed yesterday's @ihr.bsky.social Digital History seminar from Aleksandra Kaye and colleagues on 'Science Across Borders: Text-Mining and Network Analysis Insights into the Polish Diasporic Periodical Press, 1830-1930', it is now on our seminar youtube channel #dhist
youtu.be/tio0nDGDGjw
youtu.be/tio0nDGDGjw
Aleksandra Kaye: Text-Mining & Network Analysis of the Polish Diasporic Periodical Press, 1830-1930
YouTube video by IHR Digital History Seminar
youtu.be
December 10, 2025 at 8:53 AM
If you missed yesterday's @ihr.bsky.social Digital History seminar from Aleksandra Kaye and colleagues on 'Science Across Borders: Text-Mining and Network Analysis Insights into the Polish Diasporic Periodical Press, 1830-1930', it is now on our seminar youtube channel #dhist
youtu.be/tio0nDGDGjw
youtu.be/tio0nDGDGjw
Reposted by James Baker
This week on #code4thought [EN] we're going to @unisouthampton.bsky.social (UK) to meet @jwbaker.bsky.social , head of the Southampton Digital Humanities there. There is a lot going on there. To find out more, listen to it on your podcast app, YouTube or codeforthought.buzzsprout.com
Code for Thought
Welcome to Code for Thought, the podcast about software for research and the people who make it. Languages: English, German, French
codeforthought.buzzsprout.com
December 9, 2025 at 10:05 AM
This week on #code4thought [EN] we're going to @unisouthampton.bsky.social (UK) to meet @jwbaker.bsky.social , head of the Southampton Digital Humanities there. There is a lot going on there. To find out more, listen to it on your podcast app, YouTube or codeforthought.buzzsprout.com
Reposted by James Baker
#dhist Join the @ihr.bsky.social Digital History seminar on 9 Dec (midday GMT on Zoom) for Aleksandra Kaye and colleagues on 'Science Across Borders: Text-Mining and Network Analysis Insights into the Polish Diasporic Periodical Press, 1830-1930' ihrdighist.blogs.sas.ac.uk/2025/09/tues...
Tuesday 9 December 2025 - Aleksandra Kaye, Malte Vogl (Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology), and Raphael Schlattmann (Technische Universität Berlin): Science Across Borders: Text-Mining and Networ...
This seminar is 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm GMT live on Zoom at https://zoom.us/j/97424109081 later posted to our YouTube channel. Session chair: James Baker Abstract: Migration has played a significant role i...
ihrdighist.blogs.sas.ac.uk
December 3, 2025 at 9:49 AM
#dhist Join the @ihr.bsky.social Digital History seminar on 9 Dec (midday GMT on Zoom) for Aleksandra Kaye and colleagues on 'Science Across Borders: Text-Mining and Network Analysis Insights into the Polish Diasporic Periodical Press, 1830-1930' ihrdighist.blogs.sas.ac.uk/2025/09/tues...
Reposted by James Baker
A great example of a library systematically supporting open access publishers and infrastructure. Thanks.
You can read about the Open Access publishers we support, as well as the wider Open Access services and communities, here:
www.york.ac.uk/library/abou...
www.york.ac.uk/library/abou...
Supporting the wider open research ecosystem
The University of York Library proudly supports a range of initiatives, tools and infrastructure services which are helping to facilitate the shift towards a culture of open research practice.
www.york.ac.uk
December 5, 2025 at 10:05 PM
A great example of a library systematically supporting open access publishers and infrastructure. Thanks.
Reposted by James Baker
Not to sound like a stuck record, but '400 jobs to be lost in city as car plant/steel works/aerospace facility closes' would be treated somewhat differently, I suspect.
Every sympathy for University of Essex (and pressures facing them) but this is very bad news for Southend.
giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... Essex university to cut 400 jobs as overseas student numbers plummet
giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... Essex university to cut 400 jobs as overseas student numbers plummet
Essex university to cut 400 jobs as overseas student numbers plummet
Roles to be lost are part of wave of redundancy programmes across UK’s higher education sector
giftarticle.ft.com
December 3, 2025 at 9:26 AM
Not to sound like a stuck record, but '400 jobs to be lost in city as car plant/steel works/aerospace facility closes' would be treated somewhat differently, I suspect.
#dhist Join the @ihr.bsky.social Digital History seminar on 9 Dec (midday GMT on Zoom) for Aleksandra Kaye and colleagues on 'Science Across Borders: Text-Mining and Network Analysis Insights into the Polish Diasporic Periodical Press, 1830-1930' ihrdighist.blogs.sas.ac.uk/2025/09/tues...
Tuesday 9 December 2025 - Aleksandra Kaye, Malte Vogl (Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology), and Raphael Schlattmann (Technische Universität Berlin): Science Across Borders: Text-Mining and Networ...
This seminar is 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm GMT live on Zoom at https://zoom.us/j/97424109081 later posted to our YouTube channel. Session chair: James Baker Abstract: Migration has played a significant role i...
ihrdighist.blogs.sas.ac.uk
December 3, 2025 at 9:49 AM
#dhist Join the @ihr.bsky.social Digital History seminar on 9 Dec (midday GMT on Zoom) for Aleksandra Kaye and colleagues on 'Science Across Borders: Text-Mining and Network Analysis Insights into the Polish Diasporic Periodical Press, 1830-1930' ihrdighist.blogs.sas.ac.uk/2025/09/tues...
Yup >> @ucucommons.org: "We need to be campaigning to win, not dedicating our union’s resources to unwinnable ballots." ucucommons.org/industrial-b...
Industrial Action Ballot Result Statement
UCU Commons members are disappointed in the outcome of the ballot; a failed ballot is not a result that any of us wanted. However, we know that many members have lost faith in our union’s elected comm...
ucucommons.org
December 2, 2025 at 6:20 PM
Yup >> @ucucommons.org: "We need to be campaigning to win, not dedicating our union’s resources to unwinnable ballots." ucucommons.org/industrial-b...
Reposted by James Baker
It is so surreal to see how CaSDaR has grown!
From launching earlier this year, to hosting our first Townhall (which all of you made such a success! 💜 ), having Cassie join our team and now having our funding call, it has been nothing but an absolutely joyous and fruitful journey
From launching earlier this year, to hosting our first Townhall (which all of you made such a success! 💜 ), having Cassie join our team and now having our funding call, it has been nothing but an absolutely joyous and fruitful journey
November 13, 2025 at 1:58 PM
It is so surreal to see how CaSDaR has grown!
From launching earlier this year, to hosting our first Townhall (which all of you made such a success! 💜 ), having Cassie join our team and now having our funding call, it has been nothing but an absolutely joyous and fruitful journey
From launching earlier this year, to hosting our first Townhall (which all of you made such a success! 💜 ), having Cassie join our team and now having our funding call, it has been nothing but an absolutely joyous and fruitful journey