Stephen Chrisomalis
@schrisomalis.bsky.social
Linguistic anthropologist, Wayne State University. Numbers, cognition, writing and literacy, mathematics. Left, 🇨🇦, he/him. https://glossographia.com/ https://phrontistery.info
Pinned
Reckonings
Insights from the history of numerical notation suggest that how humans write numbers is an active choice involving cognitive and social factors.Over the pas...
mitpress.mit.edu
Hey folks, good to see new people here! I mostly post academic stuff. I do research on numbers as cultural and cognitive things. mitpress.mit.edu/978026204463...
But for those of you less book-inclined, let me point you to some podcasts I've featured on, by some amazing Bluesky folks: 1/
But for those of you less book-inclined, let me point you to some podcasts I've featured on, by some amazing Bluesky folks: 1/
There's definitely still time to apply for this TT position in Great Lakes / Midwest US archaeology in our department here at Wayne State. Ask me for any details (I'm not on the search comm though) - happy to help! Feel free to redistribute.
I am thrilled that we're hiring a tenure-track archaeologist in my department, focused on Great Lakes / Midwest US archaeology. My department is amazing and we'd love to have you as a colleague. I'm not on the search committee but would be happy to answer questions. Share widely!
Assistant Professor - Anthropology
The Department of Anthropology in the College
of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Wayne State University seeks a full-time tenure-track
Assistant Professo...
nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com
November 19, 2025 at 5:54 PM
There's definitely still time to apply for this TT position in Great Lakes / Midwest US archaeology in our department here at Wayne State. Ask me for any details (I'm not on the search comm though) - happy to help! Feel free to redistribute.
How number systems shape our thinking and what it means for learning, language and culture
theconversation.com/how-number-s...
theconversation.com/how-number-s...
How number systems shape our thinking and what it means for learning, language and culture
A new collection of research papers examines how humans conceptualize numbers and the numeral systems we’ve build around them.
theconversation.com
November 17, 2025 at 7:05 AM
How number systems shape our thinking and what it means for learning, language and culture
theconversation.com/how-number-s...
theconversation.com/how-number-s...
I just figured out that at least several of these editorial queries on these page proofs I'm doing have been generated by a really stupid AI system.
November 15, 2025 at 1:05 AM
I just figured out that at least several of these editorial queries on these page proofs I'm doing have been generated by a really stupid AI system.
As a Canadian in an era of threat from the south, I should be a good person and prefer homegrown Canadian things. But I will never, NEVER get behind Vancouver citation style. Doesn't make a lick of sense to me.
November 14, 2025 at 2:32 AM
As a Canadian in an era of threat from the south, I should be a good person and prefer homegrown Canadian things. But I will never, NEVER get behind Vancouver citation style. Doesn't make a lick of sense to me.
Reposted by Stephen Chrisomalis
Indiana University has reversed course on its decision to stop student journalists from including news coverage in the print version of their college newspaper, after weeks of intense criticism from the community and accusations of censorship. #USA www.nytimes.com/2025/10/31/b...
Indiana University Lifts Ban on Printing News in College Newspaper
www.nytimes.com
November 4, 2025 at 2:48 AM
Indiana University has reversed course on its decision to stop student journalists from including news coverage in the print version of their college newspaper, after weeks of intense criticism from the community and accusations of censorship. #USA www.nytimes.com/2025/10/31/b...
Reposted by Stephen Chrisomalis
geddy lee claps for the blue jays in 7/4 time
November 2, 2025 at 1:55 AM
geddy lee claps for the blue jays in 7/4 time
Really great to see my old MA advisee @arbray.bsky.social today who is doing amazing sociophonetic work on the speech of American hockey players and will be teaching here at Wayne State next semester!
October 31, 2025 at 10:32 PM
Really great to see my old MA advisee @arbray.bsky.social today who is doing amazing sociophonetic work on the speech of American hockey players and will be teaching here at Wayne State next semester!
Reposted by Stephen Chrisomalis
Okay but it is very funny to make a LIVING EDITION of your academic zombie handbook
October 30, 2025 at 4:18 PM
Okay but it is very funny to make a LIVING EDITION of your academic zombie handbook
Anyone who is really surprised that Justin Trudeau is dating Katy Perry should look up the list of who his dad Pierre was involved with throughout the 70s and 80s.
October 29, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Anyone who is really surprised that Justin Trudeau is dating Katy Perry should look up the list of who his dad Pierre was involved with throughout the 70s and 80s.
I just wrote my response to reviewers *before* making (mainly minor) revisions to a manuscript, so that I can use my response letter as a template for the revisions I'm about to do. (I'll add page numbers etc. later). Is this madness? Has anyone else tried this?
October 29, 2025 at 7:08 PM
I just wrote my response to reviewers *before* making (mainly minor) revisions to a manuscript, so that I can use my response letter as a template for the revisions I'm about to do. (I'll add page numbers etc. later). Is this madness? Has anyone else tried this?
Just in the past day or so, various social media places are throwing ads for this game at me. Feels like too much, don't you think? Maybe too likely to lead me to tears to be enjoyable? Has anyone actually played this thing? publishorperish.games
Publish or Perish: A Humorous Party Game about Academic Publish
Welcome to the chaotic life of academic publishing. In this game, you are a clueless researcher trying to do the one and only thing that matters in your academic life: churning out publications, fast....
publishorperish.games
October 25, 2025 at 10:27 PM
Just in the past day or so, various social media places are throwing ads for this game at me. Feels like too much, don't you think? Maybe too likely to lead me to tears to be enjoyable? Has anyone actually played this thing? publishorperish.games
It's remarkable, in the micro-field of numerals, where there might be 5 good new papers in an average year, to foresee the impact of 17 great new papers coming out in the same day in this major journal. If I cared about citation counts, by that metric it's by far the most impactful day of my career.
New special issue of #PhilTransB today, "A solid base for scaling up: The structure of numeration systems", to which I am a contributor. We have had only a shockingly fuzzy idea what a numerical 'base' is, and this interdisciplinary set of papers addresses that big question, and many smaller ones.
royalsocietypublishing.org
October 24, 2025 at 6:15 PM
It's remarkable, in the micro-field of numerals, where there might be 5 good new papers in an average year, to foresee the impact of 17 great new papers coming out in the same day in this major journal. If I cared about citation counts, by that metric it's by far the most impactful day of my career.
Reposted by Stephen Chrisomalis
We have gathered some resources for creating and presenting posters at conferences. These resources include examples of past posters presented at AAA or SfAA, as well as websites with additional information on guidelines and advice.
www.societyforanthropologicalsciences.org/p/poster-pre....
www.societyforanthropologicalsciences.org/p/poster-pre....
Poster Presentation Workshop
The following are examples of poster presentations by SAS members: Groves, Katy, and Kathryn S. Oths. 2008. "Planting the Seeds of Change: ...
www.societyforanthropologicalsciences.org
October 24, 2025 at 3:56 PM
We have gathered some resources for creating and presenting posters at conferences. These resources include examples of past posters presented at AAA or SfAA, as well as websites with additional information on guidelines and advice.
www.societyforanthropologicalsciences.org/p/poster-pre....
www.societyforanthropologicalsciences.org/p/poster-pre....
I don't know how things work in American municipal elections, but based on my experience, getting the endorsement of a widely reviled former candidate who called you horrible names in the recent past is pretty much guaranteed to hurt you rather than help.
October 23, 2025 at 5:08 PM
I don't know how things work in American municipal elections, but based on my experience, getting the endorsement of a widely reviled former candidate who called you horrible names in the recent past is pretty much guaranteed to hurt you rather than help.
The Indian scammer who just called me had a phone exchange number from the community of Delhi, Ontario. Coincidence or someone's idea of a joke?
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delhi,_...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delhi,_...
Delhi, Ontario - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
October 23, 2025 at 3:13 PM
The Indian scammer who just called me had a phone exchange number from the community of Delhi, Ontario. Coincidence or someone's idea of a joke?
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delhi,_...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delhi,_...
Well I'm not much of a baseball fan anymore, but I sure can tell (here in Windsor) who just won the game.
October 21, 2025 at 3:02 AM
Well I'm not much of a baseball fan anymore, but I sure can tell (here in Windsor) who just won the game.
Reposted by Stephen Chrisomalis
My paper "Base structures across lexical and notational numeral modalities" (PhilTransB) addresses a whole class of questions around the role that semiotic modality, and specifically number words vs. number symbols, plays in the structure of numerical systems.
Base structures across lexical and notational numeral modalities | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
The base concept in number systems is realized differently across multiple representational modalities—frameworks that incorporate sensory channel, medium of expression and semantic structures into integrated semiotic systems. Because these three factors ...
royalsocietypublishing.org
October 20, 2025 at 3:22 PM
My paper "Base structures across lexical and notational numeral modalities" (PhilTransB) addresses a whole class of questions around the role that semiotic modality, and specifically number words vs. number symbols, plays in the structure of numerical systems.
My paper "Base structures across lexical and notational numeral modalities" (PhilTransB) addresses a whole class of questions around the role that semiotic modality, and specifically number words vs. number symbols, plays in the structure of numerical systems.
Base structures across lexical and notational numeral modalities | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
The base concept in number systems is realized differently across multiple representational modalities—frameworks that incorporate sensory channel, medium of expression and semantic structures into integrated semiotic systems. Because these three factors ...
royalsocietypublishing.org
October 20, 2025 at 3:22 PM
My paper "Base structures across lexical and notational numeral modalities" (PhilTransB) addresses a whole class of questions around the role that semiotic modality, and specifically number words vs. number symbols, plays in the structure of numerical systems.
New special issue of #PhilTransB today, "A solid base for scaling up: The structure of numeration systems", to which I am a contributor. We have had only a shockingly fuzzy idea what a numerical 'base' is, and this interdisciplinary set of papers addresses that big question, and many smaller ones.
royalsocietypublishing.org
October 20, 2025 at 3:09 PM
New special issue of #PhilTransB today, "A solid base for scaling up: The structure of numeration systems", to which I am a contributor. We have had only a shockingly fuzzy idea what a numerical 'base' is, and this interdisciplinary set of papers addresses that big question, and many smaller ones.
Reposted by Stephen Chrisomalis
"In reality, AI erodes academic freedom, weakens critical reading, and subordinates the pursuit of knowledge to corporate interests." www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/a... (archive: archive.ph/Y6855)
AI Is Hollowing Out Higher Education
Olivia Guest & Iris van Rooij urge teachers and scholars to reject tools that commodify learning, deskill students, and promote illiteracy.
www.project-syndicate.org
October 18, 2025 at 6:30 PM
"In reality, AI erodes academic freedom, weakens critical reading, and subordinates the pursuit of knowledge to corporate interests." www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/a... (archive: archive.ph/Y6855)
Reposted by Stephen Chrisomalis
I am thrilled that we're hiring a tenure-track archaeologist in my department, focused on Great Lakes / Midwest US archaeology. My department is amazing and we'd love to have you as a colleague. I'm not on the search committee but would be happy to answer questions. Share widely!
Assistant Professor - Anthropology
The Department of Anthropology in the College
of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Wayne State University seeks a full-time tenure-track
Assistant Professo...
nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com
October 17, 2025 at 8:29 PM
I am thrilled that we're hiring a tenure-track archaeologist in my department, focused on Great Lakes / Midwest US archaeology. My department is amazing and we'd love to have you as a colleague. I'm not on the search committee but would be happy to answer questions. Share widely!
I am thrilled that we're hiring a tenure-track archaeologist in my department, focused on Great Lakes / Midwest US archaeology. My department is amazing and we'd love to have you as a colleague. I'm not on the search committee but would be happy to answer questions. Share widely!
Assistant Professor - Anthropology
The Department of Anthropology in the College
of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Wayne State University seeks a full-time tenure-track
Assistant Professo...
nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com
October 17, 2025 at 8:29 PM
I am thrilled that we're hiring a tenure-track archaeologist in my department, focused on Great Lakes / Midwest US archaeology. My department is amazing and we'd love to have you as a colleague. I'm not on the search committee but would be happy to answer questions. Share widely!
Bibliometrics folks: I know about Price's law about relative productivity in some field. But is there similar (Zipfian?) work on individual scholars' citation counts on their various publications? I.e., is a person's most-cited work cited 2x as often as their second-most-cited, or some such?
October 17, 2025 at 7:46 PM
Bibliometrics folks: I know about Price's law about relative productivity in some field. But is there similar (Zipfian?) work on individual scholars' citation counts on their various publications? I.e., is a person's most-cited work cited 2x as often as their second-most-cited, or some such?
Reposted by Stephen Chrisomalis
Four down.
Five to go.
Let’s go.
Join our National Teach-In on Trump’s Loyalty Oaths.
Register Here: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
#DefendHigherEd
Five to go.
Let’s go.
Join our National Teach-In on Trump’s Loyalty Oaths.
Register Here: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
#DefendHigherEd
October 17, 2025 at 3:07 AM
Four down.
Five to go.
Let’s go.
Join our National Teach-In on Trump’s Loyalty Oaths.
Register Here: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
#DefendHigherEd
Five to go.
Let’s go.
Join our National Teach-In on Trump’s Loyalty Oaths.
Register Here: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
#DefendHigherEd