Whitney Trettien
@whitneytrettien.bsky.social
Penn professor & faculty director of the Price Lab for Digital Humanities. Author, CUT/COPY/PASTE (2021). Weird old books & technologies, thinking about data, craftwork, feminist media histories. Creative/critical. Libraries are dope. Still a punk.
Reposted by Whitney Trettien
Post-doc applications for next year's seminar on "Translation" at Rutgers' Center for Cultural Analysis are "live"! The seminar will be co-ed by Preetha Mani and Jeff Lawrence. Fellow academics: let your early-career colleagues, students, and former students know! jobs.rutgers.edu/postings/263...
November 19, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Post-doc applications for next year's seminar on "Translation" at Rutgers' Center for Cultural Analysis are "live"! The seminar will be co-ed by Preetha Mani and Jeff Lawrence. Fellow academics: let your early-career colleagues, students, and former students know! jobs.rutgers.edu/postings/263...
Reposted by Whitney Trettien
JOB POSTING!
Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Rare Books and Prints at the @folger.edu
amherst.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/FSL_Em...
Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Rare Books and Prints at the @folger.edu
amherst.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/FSL_Em...
Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Rare Books and Prints
The Folger Shakespeare Library knows that an exceptional staff is the backbone of any great organization. We hire exceptionally qualified individuals who are committed to the mission, vision, and valu...
amherst.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com
November 19, 2025 at 1:34 AM
JOB POSTING!
Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Rare Books and Prints at the @folger.edu
amherst.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/FSL_Em...
Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Rare Books and Prints at the @folger.edu
amherst.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/FSL_Em...
Reposted by Whitney Trettien
Today @natmcgartland.bsky.social, PhD candidate in English at the University of Maryland, spoke to us about data representation through textiles. From Jacquard loom punch cards to crochet patterns to paper weaving, Nat showed us that weaving & textile work has always been a form of data practice 🧶📊
November 17, 2025 at 9:39 PM
Today @natmcgartland.bsky.social, PhD candidate in English at the University of Maryland, spoke to us about data representation through textiles. From Jacquard loom punch cards to crochet patterns to paper weaving, Nat showed us that weaving & textile work has always been a form of data practice 🧶📊
I was lucky to have Milan Terlunen join my Intro to Digital Humanities class today to discuss his work with Sierra Eckert tracking which parts of Middlemarch get most quoted, and why. Read their article: muse.jhu.edu/pub/3/articl...
Project MUSE - What We Quote: Disciplinary History and the Textual Atmospheres of Middlemarch
muse.jhu.edu
November 17, 2025 at 8:57 PM
I was lucky to have Milan Terlunen join my Intro to Digital Humanities class today to discuss his work with Sierra Eckert tracking which parts of Middlemarch get most quoted, and why. Read their article: muse.jhu.edu/pub/3/articl...
Reposted by Whitney Trettien
I curated some readings for class on "data tensions" and the list felt worth sharing. Come on a tour of datasets, books, the web, and AI with me...
We'll start with this piece on the Google Books project: the hopes, dreams, disasters, and aftermath of building a public library on the internet.
1/n
We'll start with this piece on the Google Books project: the hopes, dreams, disasters, and aftermath of building a public library on the internet.
1/n
Torching the Modern-Day Library of Alexandria
“Somewhere at Google there is a database containing 25 million books and nobody is allowed to read them.”
www.theatlantic.com
November 14, 2025 at 4:39 PM
I curated some readings for class on "data tensions" and the list felt worth sharing. Come on a tour of datasets, books, the web, and AI with me...
We'll start with this piece on the Google Books project: the hopes, dreams, disasters, and aftermath of building a public library on the internet.
1/n
We'll start with this piece on the Google Books project: the hopes, dreams, disasters, and aftermath of building a public library on the internet.
1/n
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 Whitney Trettien
The Post45 Data Collective invites graduate students in the humanities or adjacent fields to explore cultural data reflexively and collaboratively in a mini-workshop hosted virtually on Friday, March 13. Details here: data.post45.org/news/grad-wo...
November 12, 2025 at 4:12 PM
The Post45 Data Collective invites graduate students in the humanities or adjacent fields to explore cultural data reflexively and collaboratively in a mini-workshop hosted virtually on Friday, March 13. Details here: data.post45.org/news/grad-wo...
Reposted by Whitney Trettien
If you want to know more about how we built the cooperative that supports @transkribus.bsky.social, and how coops are a way to actually operationalise responsible AI, then please read our paper, which was the basis of my talk. This is about community open-research-europe.ec.europa.eu/articles/5-16
open-research-europe.ec.europa.eu
November 13, 2025 at 11:51 AM
If you want to know more about how we built the cooperative that supports @transkribus.bsky.social, and how coops are a way to actually operationalise responsible AI, then please read our paper, which was the basis of my talk. This is about community open-research-europe.ec.europa.eu/articles/5-16
Reposted by Whitney Trettien
What are the risks—and opportunities—of drawing close to one's objects of study as a feminist scholar? Alix Beeston reflects on her experience of writing a critical–creative account of women and girls in photography history. @alixbeeston.bsky.social
Open access now: doi.org/10.1525/fmh....
Open access now: doi.org/10.1525/fmh....
November 12, 2025 at 11:39 PM
What are the risks—and opportunities—of drawing close to one's objects of study as a feminist scholar? Alix Beeston reflects on her experience of writing a critical–creative account of women and girls in photography history. @alixbeeston.bsky.social
Open access now: doi.org/10.1525/fmh....
Open access now: doi.org/10.1525/fmh....
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.
The four-year-old is having an absolute meltdown about going to bed.
“I HATE how the earth SPINS!! EVERY DAY it’s night to day night to day night to day ALWAYS WITH THE NIGHT TO DAY! when will it EVER END!!!”
“I HATE how the earth SPINS!! EVERY DAY it’s night to day night to day night to day ALWAYS WITH THE NIGHT TO DAY! when will it EVER END!!!”
November 12, 2025 at 1:25 AM
The four-year-old is having an absolute meltdown about going to bed.
“I HATE how the earth SPINS!! EVERY DAY it’s night to day night to day night to day ALWAYS WITH THE NIGHT TO DAY! when will it EVER END!!!”
“I HATE how the earth SPINS!! EVERY DAY it’s night to day night to day night to day ALWAYS WITH THE NIGHT TO DAY! when will it EVER END!!!”
JD gives this talk to my class every semester and it's still the best explanation of generative AI I've seen. Better educating students and colleagues on how the tech actually works feels like a small win these days.
This week, J.D. Porter speaks to our grad student working group about AI & LLMs—whether you love them or hate them, tools like ChatGPT and Gemini are increasingly hard to ignore in academic research. J.D. will explain how these tools actually work, enabling us to be better users/critics of AI.
November 11, 2025 at 7:00 PM
JD gives this talk to my class every semester and it's still the best explanation of generative AI I've seen. Better educating students and colleagues on how the tech actually works feels like a small win these days.
Reposted by Whitney Trettien
Great news! This is out: Opening the black box of EEBO academic.oup.com/dsh/advance-...
Opening the black box of EEBO
Abstract. Digital archives that cover extended historical periods can create a misleading impression of comprehensiveness while in truth providing access t
academic.oup.com
November 9, 2025 at 10:30 AM
Great news! This is out: Opening the black box of EEBO academic.oup.com/dsh/advance-...
Reposted by Whitney Trettien
As part of the Fredson Bowers award from @bibsoc.bsky.social (🙏) I’ll be giving a short talk on ‘The reassembly, analysis and appraisal of John Bellingham Inglis (1780-1870): #rarebooks collector; savant; scholar; slave owner’
November 18th, 5-7pm.
In person / online bibsoc.org.uk/event/panel-...
November 18th, 5-7pm.
In person / online bibsoc.org.uk/event/panel-...
November 2, 2025 at 9:13 AM
As part of the Fredson Bowers award from @bibsoc.bsky.social (🙏) I’ll be giving a short talk on ‘The reassembly, analysis and appraisal of John Bellingham Inglis (1780-1870): #rarebooks collector; savant; scholar; slave owner’
November 18th, 5-7pm.
In person / online bibsoc.org.uk/event/panel-...
November 18th, 5-7pm.
In person / online bibsoc.org.uk/event/panel-...
Reposted by Whitney Trettien
Job Announcement: Head of Preservation, Conservation, and Digitization at Pennsylvania State University digital-scholarship....
November 5, 2025 at 5:31 PM
Job Announcement: Head of Preservation, Conservation, and Digitization at Pennsylvania State University digital-scholarship....
Reposted by Whitney Trettien
Really pleased to announce the launch of the all-new, all-dancing, London Lives website - www.londonlives.org It has been thoroughly re-engineered to facilitate more types of search, and redesigned for phones and tablets. The team very much hopes peope like it. 1/
London Lives
www.londonlives.org
November 5, 2025 at 11:24 AM
Really pleased to announce the launch of the all-new, all-dancing, London Lives website - www.londonlives.org It has been thoroughly re-engineered to facilitate more types of search, and redesigned for phones and tablets. The team very much hopes peope like it. 1/
Reposted by Whitney Trettien
Really exciting book news out of Norway. And while the article focusses on the sealskin binding, I'm even more excited by the fact that these neumes are not square, which suggests a date well before 1200.
November 4, 2025 at 7:48 AM
Really exciting book news out of Norway. And while the article focusses on the sealskin binding, I'm even more excited by the fact that these neumes are not square, which suggests a date well before 1200.
Reposted by Whitney Trettien
For Penn undergrads with a nascent interest in DH, J.D. Porter’s spring course offers a practical introduction to computational methods for humanities research. No prior programming knowledge is required! More info on Path@Penn.
November 3, 2025 at 4:25 PM
For Penn undergrads with a nascent interest in DH, J.D. Porter’s spring course offers a practical introduction to computational methods for humanities research. No prior programming knowledge is required! More info on Path@Penn.
Reposted by Whitney Trettien
Added this mind-boggling slide from Chris’s research to the episode homepage.
November 3, 2025 at 1:25 PM
Added this mind-boggling slide from Chris’s research to the episode homepage.
Reposted by Whitney Trettien
Do you work at a small U.S. liberal arts college or at a university with 5,000 or fewer undergrads? If so, check out Rare Book School’s 𝗠. 𝗖. 𝗟𝗮𝗻𝗴 𝗙𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗶𝗻 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗛𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆, 𝗕𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗵𝘆, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗛𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗛𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀!
Application deadline: 𝟳 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱
rarebookschool.org
Application deadline: 𝟳 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱
rarebookschool.org
October 15, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Do you work at a small U.S. liberal arts college or at a university with 5,000 or fewer undergrads? If so, check out Rare Book School’s 𝗠. 𝗖. 𝗟𝗮𝗻𝗴 𝗙𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗶𝗻 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗛𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆, 𝗕𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗵𝘆, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗛𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗛𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀!
Application deadline: 𝟳 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱
rarebookschool.org
Application deadline: 𝟳 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱
rarebookschool.org
A spooky listen, full of higher ed ghosts ‘n’ ghouls.. but also rich with fresh ideas & possibility for the humanities. Thanks to @mattseybold.bsky.social for having me on & @cnewf.bsky.social for his vision!
The 100th episode of American Vandal. Launching the 12th season. Live at UPenn English Faculty Lounge with @cnewf.bsky.social, @whitneytrettien.bsky.social, & an incredible assembly of faculty, students, visiting scholars, & friends of the pod.
Criticism & The Chatbot Bubble (Vandal Live at UPenn English)
with Christopher Newfield & Whitney Trettien
theamericanvandal.substack.com
October 31, 2025 at 5:29 PM
A spooky listen, full of higher ed ghosts ‘n’ ghouls.. but also rich with fresh ideas & possibility for the humanities. Thanks to @mattseybold.bsky.social for having me on & @cnewf.bsky.social for his vision!
My "Intro to DH" students are working through the various ways to model a book digitally. One student tried using GPT to HTR a manuscript from 1750. They discovered that many words in the output text were silently replaced with synonyms -- like "kid" for "child."
October 29, 2025 at 1:58 PM
My "Intro to DH" students are working through the various ways to model a book digitally. One student tried using GPT to HTR a manuscript from 1750. They discovered that many words in the output text were silently replaced with synonyms -- like "kid" for "child."
Reposted by Whitney Trettien
Today on the blog: a magnificent find by @franceswolfreston.bsky.social of a book that the poet Katherine Philips gave to Mary Jeffreys; a discussion with important scholarly implications for the study of Philips earlymodernfemalebookownership.wordpress.com/2025/10/27/h... #EarlyModern #HerBook
October 27, 2025 at 6:41 PM
Today on the blog: a magnificent find by @franceswolfreston.bsky.social of a book that the poet Katherine Philips gave to Mary Jeffreys; a discussion with important scholarly implications for the study of Philips earlymodernfemalebookownership.wordpress.com/2025/10/27/h... #EarlyModern #HerBook
Reposted by Whitney Trettien
These "Teaching the Codex" blog posts introducing collation formulas from Dr. Sian Witherden @sianwitherden.bsky.social
have particularly good illustrations that make it clear for students learning about it for the first time. 📜
teachingthecodex.com/author/teach...
have particularly good illustrations that make it clear for students learning about it for the first time. 📜
teachingthecodex.com/author/teach...
Teaching the Codex
Teaching the Codex is an interdisciplinary project on the teaching of palaeography and codicology.
teachingthecodex.com
October 26, 2025 at 5:26 PM
These "Teaching the Codex" blog posts introducing collation formulas from Dr. Sian Witherden @sianwitherden.bsky.social
have particularly good illustrations that make it clear for students learning about it for the first time. 📜
teachingthecodex.com/author/teach...
have particularly good illustrations that make it clear for students learning about it for the first time. 📜
teachingthecodex.com/author/teach...
Reposted by Whitney Trettien
That very MUNDANE action that you don't take because you are too busy fantasizing about being a superhero instead would actually DO something for someone. Your fantasy does not.
October 25, 2025 at 1:10 PM
That very MUNDANE action that you don't take because you are too busy fantasizing about being a superhero instead would actually DO something for someone. Your fantasy does not.