Maria Damkjær
@mdamkjaer.bsky.social
Dr.Dr. (no, really!) Victorianist and knitter; Fiction on the Page in Nineteenth-Century Magazines (OUP) out now
Pinned
Maria Damkjær
@mdamkjaer.bsky.social
· Jan 6
My book, Fiction on the Page in Nineteenth-Century Magazines, is out now with Oxford University Press!
academic.oup.com/book/58989
It’s a book about page fillers, product placement, and strange hybrid fiction. It asks how the page of the magazine became a spur for new, odd genres.
academic.oup.com/book/58989
It’s a book about page fillers, product placement, and strange hybrid fiction. It asks how the page of the magazine became a spur for new, odd genres.
Reposted by Maria Damkjær
I’m just never going to sign on to an idea for fixing [insert here: higher ed, your field, classroom, university, library] that adds more labor. *Reduce* labor. Supplant labor. Waste it.
What would happen if you had more time to [insert here: think, read, stare, cook, sleep, muse, exercise]?
What would happen if you had more time to [insert here: think, read, stare, cook, sleep, muse, exercise]?
November 14, 2025 at 5:30 PM
I’m just never going to sign on to an idea for fixing [insert here: higher ed, your field, classroom, university, library] that adds more labor. *Reduce* labor. Supplant labor. Waste it.
What would happen if you had more time to [insert here: think, read, stare, cook, sleep, muse, exercise]?
What would happen if you had more time to [insert here: think, read, stare, cook, sleep, muse, exercise]?
Reposted by Maria Damkjær
I find the phrase “makes history” nonsensical. Have you seen the stuff historians study? Just dropping an old piece of farm equipment down a well or accidentally freezing to death in a glacier gives you a good shot at the history books
November 14, 2025 at 10:36 AM
I find the phrase “makes history” nonsensical. Have you seen the stuff historians study? Just dropping an old piece of farm equipment down a well or accidentally freezing to death in a glacier gives you a good shot at the history books
Reposted by Maria Damkjær
![[Scene is a kitchen - a middle aged woman called JANET is boiling peas at the stove. A younger more colourfully dressed woman named LIZ approached her.]
JANET:
Ugh...
LIZ:
What's up?
JANET:
I am so bored of cooking peas!
LIZ:
Have you tried...
AI peas?
JANET:
AI peas?
LIZ:
They're peas with AI!
[Liz holds up to us a packet of peas labelled: Pea-i AI - Peas with AI].
LIZ:
Al-powered peas harness the potential of your peas
JANET:
What
LIZ [Now a voiceover as we cut to a whizzy technology diagram of peas all connected by meaningless dotted lines]
Why not take your peas to the next level with Al Peas' new Al tools to power your peas?
[Show a techno diagram of a pea with a label reading 'AI' pointing to a random zone in it]
LIZ:
Each pea has Al in a way we haven't quite worked out yet but it's fine
[Show Janet and Liz now in a Matrix-style world of peas]
LIZ:
With Al peas you can supercharge productivity and make AI work for your peas!
JANET:
What
LIZ:
Shut up
LIZ:
Our game-changing Pea-Al gives you the freedom to unlock the potential of the power of the future of your peas workflow
From opening the bag of peas
to boiling the peas
to eating the peas
To spending millions on adding Al to the peas and then having to work out what that even means.
JANET:
Is it really necessary to-
LIZ [Grabbing Janet by the collar]:
THE PEAS HAVE GOT AI, JANET
[Cut to an advert ending screen, with the bag of peas and the slogan:
AI PEAS: Just 'Peas' for god's sake buy the AI peas.
[Ends]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4m3we4apbjayclzcnhwe3pfp/bafkreiayqa37f7kik7l7s7fbtfp2sir5ckb662ry2lylinyjrfa2rkvvka@jpeg)
Reposted by Maria Damkjær
"Everyone should have the right to refuse to engage with technologies that harm them, their students, and the planet."
A new post on Refusing GenAI in Writing Studies from @jsanofranchini.bsky.social, @rcmeg.bsky.social, and me: "A Year of Refusal"
refusinggenai.wordpress.com/2025/11/12/a...
refusinggenai.wordpress.com/2025/11/12/a...
A Year of Refusal
Maggie Fernandes, University of ArkansasMegan McIntyre, University of ArkansasJennifer Sano-Franchini, West Virginia University Photo by Francis Glenn Marciano on Pexels.com It’s been about a year …
refusinggenai.wordpress.com
November 13, 2025 at 3:53 AM
"Everyone should have the right to refuse to engage with technologies that harm them, their students, and the planet."
Reposted by Maria Damkjær
It's so wonderful so I write it like this for my students
November 13, 2025 at 5:27 PM
It's so wonderful so I write it like this for my students
Reposted by Maria Damkjær
A family has handed over a 13th century book to the National Library of Norway. Conservator Chiara Palandri says its pages were made of calfskin parchment and that the cover appears to be hairy sealskin. The strap to hold the book together is thought to have been made from reindeer hide.
Eight pages bound in furry seal skin may be Norway's oldest book
The little book is so rare that the National Library of Norway is bringing in experts from around the world to learn more.
www.sciencenorway.no
November 12, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Reposted by Maria Damkjær
No no no begs every archivist. You are never going to be able to find anything. Please don’t start using emojis in file names. Who asked for this? What fresh hell is next?
November 12, 2025 at 10:38 AM
No no no begs every archivist. You are never going to be able to find anything. Please don’t start using emojis in file names. Who asked for this? What fresh hell is next?
Reposted by Maria Damkjær
I feel like I need you to see the texts my dad sent me this week
November 12, 2025 at 4:47 PM
I feel like I need you to see the texts my dad sent me this week
Reposted by Maria Damkjær
Holy shit, just learned about the typewriter art of Montserrat Alberich Escardívol, a Catalan typist. Using an extra wide typewriter and 180 color ribbons, she built up elaborate images from simple characters like 'm' and '.' and ';'. Here is her typewritten painting of the Cathedral of Barcelona.
November 12, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Holy shit, just learned about the typewriter art of Montserrat Alberich Escardívol, a Catalan typist. Using an extra wide typewriter and 180 color ribbons, she built up elaborate images from simple characters like 'm' and '.' and ';'. Here is her typewritten painting of the Cathedral of Barcelona.
Reposted by Maria Damkjær
If anybody would like to, or knows anybody who might like to, do a small amount of paid research work for me at the National Records of Scotland in Edinburgh, I would be very glad to hear from them.
November 12, 2025 at 2:44 PM
If anybody would like to, or knows anybody who might like to, do a small amount of paid research work for me at the National Records of Scotland in Edinburgh, I would be very glad to hear from them.
Reposted by Maria Damkjær
I love this nerd ass website
the aurora looks incredible tonight down here in north georgia!
November 12, 2025 at 3:28 AM
I love this nerd ass website
Reposted by Maria Damkjær
Can anyone recommend a good text / source for sea monsters and imagined marine life in early modern period? Niche request. Cheers!
November 12, 2025 at 8:54 AM
Can anyone recommend a good text / source for sea monsters and imagined marine life in early modern period? Niche request. Cheers!
Reposted by Maria Damkjær
HORROR FANS WANTED!
My friend and colleague Mathias Clasen desperately needs horror fans to help with his new study. The survey below doesn't take long to complete, and your participation is appreciated by him and his collaborators.
Details 👇
app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/brighton/i...
My friend and colleague Mathias Clasen desperately needs horror fans to help with his new study. The survey below doesn't take long to complete, and your participation is appreciated by him and his collaborators.
Details 👇
app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/brighton/i...
Identifying the Relationship between personal concerns and enjoyment of horror films (Denmark)
Online surveys is a powerful, easy to use tool for creating online surveys. Run by Jisc, online surveys is used by over 300 different organisations in the UK...
app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk
November 12, 2025 at 9:56 AM
HORROR FANS WANTED!
My friend and colleague Mathias Clasen desperately needs horror fans to help with his new study. The survey below doesn't take long to complete, and your participation is appreciated by him and his collaborators.
Details 👇
app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/brighton/i...
My friend and colleague Mathias Clasen desperately needs horror fans to help with his new study. The survey below doesn't take long to complete, and your participation is appreciated by him and his collaborators.
Details 👇
app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/brighton/i...
Reposted by Maria Damkjær
I asked about this, and one of our excellent librarians discovered that in fact AI summaries/"Research Assistant" can be switched off at the level of the library. Something to request. support.proquest.com/s/article/Eb...
November 11, 2025 at 9:44 PM
I asked about this, and one of our excellent librarians discovered that in fact AI summaries/"Research Assistant" can be switched off at the level of the library. Something to request. support.proquest.com/s/article/Eb...
Reposted by Maria Damkjær
the entirety of the british press talked themselves into believing this woman is trans based almost entirely on JK Rowling's judgement of the athlete's appearance.
Nothing illustrates the arseholery of the IOC and the British Press more than the use of the image of a not-Trans woman to illustrate a story about trans women being banned (because there are no current trans women competing at this level)
November 11, 2025 at 4:39 PM
the entirety of the british press talked themselves into believing this woman is trans based almost entirely on JK Rowling's judgement of the athlete's appearance.
Reposted by Maria Damkjær
Reminder: If you use generative AI for *any of your writing tasks* you are a Slopper not a writer and should be ashamed of yourself. The end.
November 11, 2025 at 6:17 PM
Reminder: If you use generative AI for *any of your writing tasks* you are a Slopper not a writer and should be ashamed of yourself. The end.
Reposted by Maria Damkjær
I repeat, not a single student fell asleep! Ever.
November 11, 2025 at 9:20 AM
I repeat, not a single student fell asleep! Ever.
Reposted by Maria Damkjær
Good morning to all those people who wasted the last decade saying, "there's no point tackling climate change in the UK, because China."
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
China’s CO2 emissions have been flat or falling for past 18 months, analysis finds
World’s biggest polluter on track to hit peak emissions target early but miss goal for cutting carbon intensity
www.theguardian.com
November 11, 2025 at 7:08 AM
Good morning to all those people who wasted the last decade saying, "there's no point tackling climate change in the UK, because China."
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
Reposted by Maria Damkjær
A reminder that we're hosting the first European Conference on the Fantastic, Fantasy's Present Pasts, in Glasgow next summer (23rd-25th June 2026). The Call for Papers and Sessions can be found here: fantasy.glasgow.ac.uk/index.php/20.... Closes 12th December. Please do consider submitting!
Fantasy’s Present Pasts – Call for Papers and Sessions – Centre for Fantasy and the Fantastic
fantasy.glasgow.ac.uk
November 9, 2025 at 5:58 PM
A reminder that we're hosting the first European Conference on the Fantastic, Fantasy's Present Pasts, in Glasgow next summer (23rd-25th June 2026). The Call for Papers and Sessions can be found here: fantasy.glasgow.ac.uk/index.php/20.... Closes 12th December. Please do consider submitting!
Reposted by Maria Damkjær
No slides, just words. Many words. Those were the days.
November 11, 2025 at 9:25 AM
No slides, just words. Many words. Those were the days.
Reposted by Maria Damkjær
Does anyone in the #bookhistory or #history space know of a good article about the “publishing war” between the Old Farmer’s Almanac and the Farmer’s Almanac?
November 10, 2025 at 8:05 PM
Does anyone in the #bookhistory or #history space know of a good article about the “publishing war” between the Old Farmer’s Almanac and the Farmer’s Almanac?
Reposted by Maria Damkjær
But on the bright side, the 18thC is clearly winning. @rezekjoe.bsky.social & @profchander.bsky.social bearing witness:
November 10, 2025 at 5:47 PM
But on the bright side, the 18thC is clearly winning. @rezekjoe.bsky.social & @profchander.bsky.social bearing witness:
Reposted by Maria Damkjær
Henry Tilney read the entirety of The Mysteries of Udolpho in only TWO DAYS! This is what phones have taken from us.
November 10, 2025 at 6:13 PM
Henry Tilney read the entirety of The Mysteries of Udolpho in only TWO DAYS! This is what phones have taken from us.
Reposted by Maria Damkjær
AHAHAHAHA *incoherent sobbing*
EPA To Monarch Butterflies: ‘Count Your Fucking Days’ https://theonion.com/epa-to-monarch-butterflies-count-your-fucking-days/
November 10, 2025 at 7:21 PM
AHAHAHAHA *incoherent sobbing*
Reposted by Maria Damkjær
is having sex with angels considered monster-fucking
kind of in a weird mood today, should we have an off piste skeet
November 10, 2025 at 1:43 PM
is having sex with angels considered monster-fucking