Several People Are Typing is a book that I think about all the time and loved. It's only very loosely adjacent to your topic but maybe?

Light from Uncommon Stars also has some discussion of digital records but more in a "what if the devil deleted the past" way.

Absolutely! And also, it is really hard to build organizing power when people know that their employment will only last a couple of years at most. It's one reason organizations like contingent labor so much.

(Side note: if you have funding for a one year position, consider a virtual fellowship - something unheard of in 2019. I can imagine a great position that allowed fellows to stay at home while implementing online professional development and community building plus carefully planned site visits.)

More generally! It's so easy to forget that postdocs are not the same as, say, fellowships or writing residencies. They are transitional positions for people with doctoral-level training who are pursuing academic or adjacent careers. It is on us to make sure they live up to that promise.

Now that I am mid-career, I understand better why organizations post one-year postdocs. For someone with a tenure-line position, a year away from home to think and write and meet new people is a dream come true.

But if you have no home or job to return to when the year is up? It's not the same.

My favorite point, and the one I return to most often, is this:

✨one year is not enough✨

It's such a weird thing to get angry about. I was writing about someone from Brazil and someone from the US and like, they're both clearly American?

Usonian is my preference and it's such a bummer that you can't just use it in everyday speech.

It's perfect!

Whatever strategy you’re about to suggest, we’ve thought about it. docs.google.com/document/d/1...

I'm starting to think there are a lot of people using the word efficiency to mean something else entirely

today and every day lmao