Dr Sam Bowker
@drsambowker.bsky.social
Academic. Art Historian. Regional Australian. Egyptian Tentmakers and Shadow Theatre.
Pinned
Dr Sam Bowker
@drsambowker.bsky.social
· Nov 18
First post. This khayamiya was completed by Hany Mahmoud of the Tentmakers of Cairo. I drew this from Egyptian khayal al-zill shadow puppets in the Lindenmuseum, Stuttgart (originally from Al-Manzala near Damietta, Egypt). This represents the intersection of research, imagination and collaboration.
Reposted by Dr Sam Bowker
August 4, 2025 at 10:15 PM
Reposted by Dr Sam Bowker
'Unless we take a collective stand now—in the form of putting pressure on publishers and learned societies to ban the use of ChatGPT in the production of text altogether—we fear the death of Homo academicus is a high-probability outcome.' (Lindebaum/Fleming)
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...
ChatGPT Undermines Human Reflexivity, Scientific Responsibility and Responsible Management Research
With ChatGPT being promoted to and by academics for writing scholarly articles more effectively, we ask what kind of knowledge does ChatGPT produce, what this means for our reflexivity as responsible...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
May 16, 2025 at 1:19 PM
'Unless we take a collective stand now—in the form of putting pressure on publishers and learned societies to ban the use of ChatGPT in the production of text altogether—we fear the death of Homo academicus is a high-probability outcome.' (Lindebaum/Fleming)
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...
Reposted by Dr Sam Bowker
Academic Book #1: The book you hope will get you a job (or even tenure).
Academic Book #2: The book you hope will get you a promotion.
Academic Book #3: The book where you have little to gain and nothing to lose, so you go OFF THE CHAIN.
Academic Book #2: The book you hope will get you a promotion.
Academic Book #3: The book where you have little to gain and nothing to lose, so you go OFF THE CHAIN.
May 12, 2025 at 9:29 PM
Academic Book #1: The book you hope will get you a job (or even tenure).
Academic Book #2: The book you hope will get you a promotion.
Academic Book #3: The book where you have little to gain and nothing to lose, so you go OFF THE CHAIN.
Academic Book #2: The book you hope will get you a promotion.
Academic Book #3: The book where you have little to gain and nothing to lose, so you go OFF THE CHAIN.
Reposted by Dr Sam Bowker
Reposted by Dr Sam Bowker
7. That feeling when you're reading some scholarship and your brain clicks and everything starts to whir and you're in flow, and suddenly the universe gets bigger and more interesting and more intricate.
January 22, 2025 at 5:36 PM
7. That feeling when you're reading some scholarship and your brain clicks and everything starts to whir and you're in flow, and suddenly the universe gets bigger and more interesting and more intricate.
Teaching ART317: Art and Books for the first time this year. Planning a new assessment item - create and bind a commonplace book, then fill it with handwritten reflections and notes sourced from the lectures, readings, tutorial discussions and video resources.
How does that sound?
How does that sound?
January 30, 2025 at 9:36 AM
Teaching ART317: Art and Books for the first time this year. Planning a new assessment item - create and bind a commonplace book, then fill it with handwritten reflections and notes sourced from the lectures, readings, tutorial discussions and video resources.
How does that sound?
How does that sound?
Reposted by Dr Sam Bowker
Once upon a time in Palestine, there was and there was not a poor couple whose life is changed forever when an act of kindness releases a djinn. But can wealth beyond their dreams satisfy when all the poor man wants is a lentil?
The Lentil is a Palestinian folktale.
#2025pit #C #PB #F #HA
The Lentil is a Palestinian folktale.
#2025pit #C #PB #F #HA
January 27, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Reposted by Dr Sam Bowker
Getting ready to teach my medieval manuscripts class this semester. First week of class we learn...the beautiful, condensed language of catalogue entries. I made this annotated graphic of one to show everything we learn from this brief entry.
January 27, 2025 at 5:03 PM
Getting ready to teach my medieval manuscripts class this semester. First week of class we learn...the beautiful, condensed language of catalogue entries. I made this annotated graphic of one to show everything we learn from this brief entry.
Reposted by Dr Sam Bowker
How delicately a Romanesque angel uses the lightest touch of a finger to wake one of the magi, snuggled with the other 2 under their crochet-trimmed circular blanket at St Lazare, Autun, c1130 (& how beautifully the textures of pillow & blanket are represented).
Season's greetings to you all!
Season's greetings to you all!
December 24, 2024 at 4:45 PM
How delicately a Romanesque angel uses the lightest touch of a finger to wake one of the magi, snuggled with the other 2 under their crochet-trimmed circular blanket at St Lazare, Autun, c1130 (& how beautifully the textures of pillow & blanket are represented).
Season's greetings to you all!
Season's greetings to you all!
Gingertecture 2024: Qamarīyāt (An Egyptian stained glass window)
Qamarīyāt are vibrant and fragile windows found in historic homes, shrines, Coptic churches and mosques across North Africa, including Egypt through Syria, Iran and Türkiye, and museums worldwide.
Qamarīyāt are vibrant and fragile windows found in historic homes, shrines, Coptic churches and mosques across North Africa, including Egypt through Syria, Iran and Türkiye, and museums worldwide.
December 23, 2024 at 12:58 AM
Gingertecture 2024: Qamarīyāt (An Egyptian stained glass window)
Qamarīyāt are vibrant and fragile windows found in historic homes, shrines, Coptic churches and mosques across North Africa, including Egypt through Syria, Iran and Türkiye, and museums worldwide.
Qamarīyāt are vibrant and fragile windows found in historic homes, shrines, Coptic churches and mosques across North Africa, including Egypt through Syria, Iran and Türkiye, and museums worldwide.
Reposted by Dr Sam Bowker
Tobias’ Angel, c. 1590
Husayn, India (Musée du Louvre)
Husayn, India (Musée du Louvre)
December 19, 2024 at 10:22 AM
Tobias’ Angel, c. 1590
Husayn, India (Musée du Louvre)
Husayn, India (Musée du Louvre)
Reposted by Dr Sam Bowker
This is a problem of how we conflate engineering and science. Students using LLMs to write is like building a robot to lift weights for you at the gym. The point of lifting the weights is for your training, not because weights need lifting
December 12, 2024 at 3:38 PM
This is a problem of how we conflate engineering and science. Students using LLMs to write is like building a robot to lift weights for you at the gym. The point of lifting the weights is for your training, not because weights need lifting
Reposted by Dr Sam Bowker
Looking forward to the publication of:
📕 Portraits of Academic Life in Higher Education
I was delighted to contribute the following chapter:
👉 From Third Space Professional to First-Generation Academic: Navigating New Identities
#loveLD #HigherEd #AcademicSky #UKHE #LTHEchat #Career #Transition
📕 Portraits of Academic Life in Higher Education
I was delighted to contribute the following chapter:
👉 From Third Space Professional to First-Generation Academic: Navigating New Identities
#loveLD #HigherEd #AcademicSky #UKHE #LTHEchat #Career #Transition
Portraits of Academic Life in Higher Education
"Portraits of Academic Life in Higher Education" published on 19 Dec 2024 by Brill.
brill.com
December 12, 2024 at 6:34 PM
Looking forward to the publication of:
📕 Portraits of Academic Life in Higher Education
I was delighted to contribute the following chapter:
👉 From Third Space Professional to First-Generation Academic: Navigating New Identities
#loveLD #HigherEd #AcademicSky #UKHE #LTHEchat #Career #Transition
📕 Portraits of Academic Life in Higher Education
I was delighted to contribute the following chapter:
👉 From Third Space Professional to First-Generation Academic: Navigating New Identities
#loveLD #HigherEd #AcademicSky #UKHE #LTHEchat #Career #Transition
Reposted by Dr Sam Bowker
It's that time of year again. The extended anticipation of knowing exactly what you want but wondering if you'll get it. 🎁
#AcademicSky #postdoc #PhDsky
[Comic by The Upturned Microscope]
#AcademicSky #postdoc #PhDsky
[Comic by The Upturned Microscope]
December 9, 2024 at 7:51 AM
It's that time of year again. The extended anticipation of knowing exactly what you want but wondering if you'll get it. 🎁
#AcademicSky #postdoc #PhDsky
[Comic by The Upturned Microscope]
#AcademicSky #postdoc #PhDsky
[Comic by The Upturned Microscope]
Reposted by Dr Sam Bowker
A photo I posted of graffiti in Syria in 2014.
"One day the war will be over and I will return to my poem"
I hope they will return to their poem
"One day the war will be over and I will return to my poem"
I hope they will return to their poem
December 8, 2024 at 2:51 AM
A photo I posted of graffiti in Syria in 2014.
"One day the war will be over and I will return to my poem"
I hope they will return to their poem
"One day the war will be over and I will return to my poem"
I hope they will return to their poem
Reposted by Dr Sam Bowker
Students should study the humanities not because it makes them better workers but because it rips you open and breaks your brain and changes everything you thought you knew. I *promise* you this. I *promise* it has this ability, no matter how smart you think you are. I have seen it countless times.
Hearing the president of KU say that the way the humanities can protect itself - a question asked by a humanities professor of Spanish - is that her field should direct its public voice to how the Spanish language can impact AI versus the third study of an obscure play…. Just sigh.
December 5, 2024 at 10:15 PM
Students should study the humanities not because it makes them better workers but because it rips you open and breaks your brain and changes everything you thought you knew. I *promise* you this. I *promise* it has this ability, no matter how smart you think you are. I have seen it countless times.
Reposted by Dr Sam Bowker
Please please put your stuff in an institutional repository instead of Academia or ResearchGate. They're so scammy and truly, they aren't necessary.
This is such an old topic, but still: when rsch leads me to pubs on academia[dot]edu, I always look for an alternative route to access. It's a commercial site that sells your data and creates Analytics Panic.
www.chronicle.com/article/metr...
kfitz.info/academia-not...
archive.org/details/Boyc...
www.chronicle.com/article/metr...
kfitz.info/academia-not...
archive.org/details/Boyc...
Metrics Mania
The academy has always been a hothouse of invidious comparison. This website makes it worse.
www.chronicle.com
December 5, 2024 at 5:56 PM
Please please put your stuff in an institutional repository instead of Academia or ResearchGate. They're so scammy and truly, they aren't necessary.
Reposted by Dr Sam Bowker
Feeling seen.
December 6, 2024 at 9:50 AM
Feeling seen.
Hear hear! Even if you are an independent scholar, you **do not need** these scam sites.
Please please put your stuff in an institutional repository instead of Academia or ResearchGate. They're so scammy and truly, they aren't necessary.
This is such an old topic, but still: when rsch leads me to pubs on academia[dot]edu, I always look for an alternative route to access. It's a commercial site that sells your data and creates Analytics Panic.
www.chronicle.com/article/metr...
kfitz.info/academia-not...
archive.org/details/Boyc...
www.chronicle.com/article/metr...
kfitz.info/academia-not...
archive.org/details/Boyc...
December 6, 2024 at 10:24 AM
Hear hear! Even if you are an independent scholar, you **do not need** these scam sites.
An excellent thread. It’s not just the UK, this happened to us a few years ago and will continue happening worldwide.
Staff directly impacted by the widespread redundancies across UK universities will be going through all kinds of emotions, fears, and practical concerns. Unless you want it, redundancy is a brutal thing. It serves the additional threat to those still with a job - maintaining obedience and silence.
December 4, 2024 at 12:19 PM
An excellent thread. It’s not just the UK, this happened to us a few years ago and will continue happening worldwide.
I loved this short story when I first read it. Nice to see it re-paced and illustrated in this way.
December 3, 2024 at 9:42 PM
I loved this short story when I first read it. Nice to see it re-paced and illustrated in this way.
Reposted by Dr Sam Bowker
Non-artists: please gently let your well-intentioned niche blogger friends know that generating an AI illustration for their posts is not a harmless novelty. There are so many sources for free, eye-pleasing, not-environmentally-rapacious images. Creative Commons licenses, public domain art history.
October 8, 2024 at 5:40 PM
Non-artists: please gently let your well-intentioned niche blogger friends know that generating an AI illustration for their posts is not a harmless novelty. There are so many sources for free, eye-pleasing, not-environmentally-rapacious images. Creative Commons licenses, public domain art history.
University of Limerick :)
There was was a job about history
Who’d get it was quite a big mystery
Won’t know if you don’t try
So go ahead and apply
And maybe you’ll have a big victory
#sorrynotsorry
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DKP343/f...
Who’d get it was quite a big mystery
Won’t know if you don’t try
So go ahead and apply
And maybe you’ll have a big victory
#sorrynotsorry
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DKP343/f...
www.jobs.ac.uk
November 28, 2024 at 7:41 PM
University of Limerick :)
Reposted by Dr Sam Bowker
Halton Moor Lancs, a hoard deposited c. AD 1027 in a fine Carolingian vessel, discovered in 1815. Other items include a Scandinavian style neck-ring of plaited silver rods, 2 stamped gold discs and 860 silver coins (many from York). Some finds are now in BM. Cup similar to Vale of York #medievalsky
November 28, 2024 at 10:14 AM
Halton Moor Lancs, a hoard deposited c. AD 1027 in a fine Carolingian vessel, discovered in 1815. Other items include a Scandinavian style neck-ring of plaited silver rods, 2 stamped gold discs and 860 silver coins (many from York). Some finds are now in BM. Cup similar to Vale of York #medievalsky