A Philadelphian with professional interests in libraries, technology, copyright, and culture, and nonprofessional interests that include singing, reading, hiking, biking. Also other personal interests that you might pick up from my posts over time.
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2026-08-22T23:18:31Z Event JSON
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Last Notes npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom Extensive discussion of the Wikimedia Foundation's layoffs, the wish-list team disbandment, and the union drive, from various points of view (including some WMF representatives) can be found at the Village Pump on Wikipedia. Discussion may eventually move to a dedicated page, but here's one starting point: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Village_pump_(WMF)#WMF_Community_Tech_team_has_been_disbanded,_engineers_laid_off npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom From LB: "In ten days last month, the Wikimedia Foundation fired the longtime lead developer of MediaWiki and disbanded the team whose entire job was to listen to volunteers. Most of the people they fired were union organizers. Wikipedia’s editors are now threatening to strike.... npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom Great to get to hear @nprofile…fwps present (remotely) at #c4l26 on "Cultivating Knowledge in the Age of Agnotology". npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom A number of pages and sites removed recently from .gov sites now have archives viewable at govarchive.us - just substitute "govarchive.us" for "gov" in the URL that doesn't seem to work any more, and see what you find! https://govarchive.us/ #c4l26 npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom "An agency, whether the Department of the Interior, NPS, or any other agency, cannot arbitrarily decide what is true, based on its own whims or the whims of the new leadership, regardless of the evidence before it." npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom I have a listing of links to unofficial copies of the CIA World Factbook from various years, so readers can still consult them now that the CIA has discontinued the publication and apparently removed copies from its own website: https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/serial?id=worldfactbook npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom LiAnna Davis at WikiEdu on a new study showing why one "should never copy and paste the output from generative AI chatbots like ChatGPT into Wikipedia articles" (or other trusted work). npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom @nprofile…m8u8 I've never needed an app of any sort to get into a taxi at an airport. (Eventually I'll need to pay, of course, but I can either do that with cash or by using the taxi's credit card machine while I'm riding in it.) Is it different in the Bay Area? npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom Hugh Rundle has a great talk on how his work with the open source development community around BookWyrm "helped me think differently about librarianship, the nature of expertise, and... how you can get your professional mojo back if you're feeling burned out." npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom @nprofile…tkx6 @nprofile…npxu @nprofile…7nug Yes, you can trace the idea back to that verse, as you can trace back other parts of the Creed to other Biblical verses and Christian traditions. But we also know some about of the historical context that prompted the addition of that bit, which wasn't in the original creed adopted at Nicea, in the later council of Constantinople. npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom @nprofile…tkx6 @nprofile…npxu @nprofile…7nug We still have one explicit, if indirect, contribution of Donatism to present-day culture, and that's the "one baptism" bit in the Nicene-Constantinople Creed, added to counter the Donatist idea that those who sinned gravely had to start all over again and get baptized a second time. npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom @nprofile…tkx6 @nprofile…7nug But it he's really defending a "philosophy" and not a "philosopher", then why does his headline, and much of his article, focus on the "philosopher"? Why can't the "philosophy", which as far as I can tell has no defendable reason to be dependent on any particular person, be championed and defended in its own right? (And if it can't, or hasn't, is the philosophy really as sound as claimed?) npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom Step by step walkthrough of how to add the No-AI version of Duck Duck Go as default search engine in Firefox for Mac: npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom It's not a good idea to rely on a chatbot for advice, but it's *especially* not good to rely on it when the answer to a vital question varies greatly depending on context. npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom @nprofile…mwft If that's the 1930 edition, it might be public domain already. (The 1938 revised edition has a copyright renewal, but I can't find one for the 1930 edition, and any renewals for earlier editions, like the 1928 _Home Dietitian_ have expired by now.) npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom "Last week, the Library sent its staff a newsletter acknowledging the precarious financial situtuation faced by many of its workers - not to offer support, but to encourage workers to forego Christmas presents this year." npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom Got a message on my answering machine from someone claiming to be a process server, referring to an address that is not ours (but is in our neighborhood). It appears to be a phishing scam. Such robocalls are also going out to many other numbers. Here's more on it from the BBB: https://www.bbb.org/article/scams/28919-bbb-scam-alert-this-phishing-scam-claims-a-process-server-is-looking-for-you npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom Google stopped letting owners of early Nest themostats remotely control their devices last month. But it's still remotely collecting extensive surveillance data from them: https://www.theverge.com/news/820600/google-nest-learning-thermostat-downgraded-data-collection #privacy npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom There's actually one "AI" feature in Firefox that I do like: the machine translation option (that confines its data to the browser, and doesn't run unless I ask it to). I don't need any "generative" AI features, though, and don't want AI features running in my browser that I didn't ask for or proactively consent to. npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom As of now, all 76 replies on Mozilla's AI feature announcement on its own forum are "don't do this" (the majority) or at the very least "don't force users into it": https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/discussions/building-ai-the-firefox-way-shaping-what-s-next-together/td-p/109922 npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom One of the reasons I turn off generative-AI "features" as soon as I notice them in software and websites that I use is that I suspect I may find them dangerously addictive. npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom ArXIv has stopped routinely accepting review/survey articles and position papers in computer science, due to a surge in such papers generated by LLMs. npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom "About two thirds of the way through reading a Web page about myself, Tim Bray, I succumbed to boredom and killed the tab. Thus my introduction to Grokipedia." https://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/202x/2025/10/28/Grokipedia npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom @nprofile…j0re https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/17/nyregion/wikipedia-conference-gunman.html npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom My immense gratitude to Wikipedians Richard Knipel and Andrew Lih, whose quick and courageous actions prevented an atrocity at this weekend's conference in New York. And my sympathies to the others who were there. npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom Nice surprise! Spouse got the updated #COVID vaccine today at our local ACME as a walk-in, covered by our insurance. Pennsylvania's State Board of Pharmacy voted on Wednesday to let pharmacies follow vaccine guidelines from any of 4 recognized organizations (the ACOG, AAP, AAFP, or FDA) instead of having to use now-questionable CDC guidance: https://www.wgal.com/article/pennsylvania-covid-vaccine-pharmacies-guidelines/65978857. npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom @nprofile…hujc Sorry to hear. There may be other UK libraries with the volume you need, and the librarians at Bristol might be able to arrange getting you a copy without you having to travel to the holding library. npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom @nprofile…hujc You're welcome. (I would recommend talking to your local librarians first-- I think you're at U-Bristol? since they might be able to save you a longer trip, depending on what services they offer.) npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom @nprofile…hujc Ask your uni librarian about what they can do; they're generally happy to help, if they're not swamped. npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom @nprofile…hujc Would it be feasible to make a new image from a print copy? Some UK libraries have bound copies of the Century Magazine from that time period. (Jisc's union catalog tells me that Cardiff University does, for instance, and I believe you're not far from there. Inter-library loan, or librarian-mediated scanning and delivery, might also be possible.) npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom "...For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury ....For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences.... For abolishing the free System of English Laws.. establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule..." npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom I've been active on a big Fediverse server for a few years now. I like it here, and I enjoy my experience more in some ways *because* it's a big server. npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom @nprofile…7nxw @nprofile…2x6k I'm not sure how DPLA is funded at present, but if they do still have funds I wonder if it'd be better for them to find a new organization to transfer them to (whether for the sort of digital materials aggregation they used to be more supported and trusted for, or something else worthwhile) than to find a new project. There's no shortage of program-driven DL orgs needing funds, and I'd think they'd be better investments than a funding-driven DL org needing a program. npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom @nprofile…fle4 You can ask the partner libraries (many of whom also have their books in HathiTrust), but I haven't heard of any of them consenting to have large portions of their holdings destroyed. And you can also find lots of images of fingers in the Google Books scans (where they hired folks to turn the pages one by one, something you don't need to do if you're going to just cut the pages off the bindings and put them into t a sheet feeder): https://www.wired.com/story/google-books-glitches-gallery/ npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom @nprofile…fle4 As far as I'm aware, Google Books scanned at scale non-destructively, as they borrowed the books from partner libraries and returned them afterwards. The Internet Archive also has worked with some libraries to scan their books on cradle scanners and return them to the shelves. npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom The White House's "Make America Healthy Again" report cites papers that appear not to exist: npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom Wishing that more content management systems included built-in redirect support for the old URLs of migrated documents, and the relevant URLs were easily and automatically included in the redirects upon migration. npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom @nprofile…jec2 Is there no way for a patron to tell Bibliocommons not to save that information (or delete it if it was saved earlier)? Seems like a privacy risk even if you never share it publicly. npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom As far as I'm aware, the President *can't* fire the Librarian of Congress (though he can appoint a replacement when her term is up in 2026) since LC is an agency of Congress, not of the executive branch. Anyone have information otherwise? (This is re: https://democrats-appropriations.house.gov/news/press-releases/delauro-firing-librarian-congress-dr-carla-hayden ) #uspol #libraries npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom @nprofile…hujc Me, I've considered at various times replacing the email address on my website with a contact form, as I've seen other organizations also do over time. It's easier for me to do spam control with the form, and it puts it directly into a structured ticketing system I have a lot more control over than my inbox. npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom @nprofile…hujc @nprofile…ulux It is to a large extent now. But that's something that can change, if we can make them aware that there's more cost, and less benefit, to them in following his dictates than they think now. npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom @nprofile…hujc @nprofile…ulux If I recall correctly, all of Trump's annual budget proposals in his first term also proposed zeroing out most or all of these agencies. But Congress kept putting their funding back in. They can do so again this time if we make it clear to Congress that we want them funded. npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom "This is an injunction, not a negotiation. There are no do-overs once a party willfully disregards a court order." npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom OCLC's complaint in its latest suit over records from Worldcat, this one against Baker & Taylor, makes it clear they intend Worldcat to be a monopoly ("*the* authoritative source of bibliographic records for libraries and academic institutions", emphasis mine), not limited to MARC records (not mentioned at all in the complaint, though Worldcat Entities are), and that any library "taking steps [to] devalue WorldCat" including unrestricted sharing, violates OCLC's contract: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ohsd.301354/gov.uscourts.ohsd.301354.1.0.pdf npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom Nearly 1000 Yale faculty so far have signed a letter to the university's administration urging it to stand firm against "extraordinary attacks that threaten the bedrock principles of a democratic society, including rights of free expression, association, and academic freedom". The last of the 6 actions urged in the letter is to "work purposefully and proactively with other colleges and universities in collective defense". https://sites.google.com/view/yalefacultyletter2025/home #HigherEd #USPol npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom From an open letter by Harvard's president published today: "We have informed the administration through our legal counsel that we will not accept their proposed agreement. The University will not negotiate over its independence or its constitutional rights." https://www.harvard.edu/president/news/2025/the-promise-of-american-higher-education/ npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom @nprofile…jenf It looks like Springer may have withdrawn the book; the link I had in my post now goes to a "page not found" message rather than a book cover page. (It still shows up in SpringerLink search hits, but unlike other book hits lacks a working link.) npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom If you're interested in this post, you might also be interested in helping save IMLS, which is now under DOGE attack. Here's something I wrote yesterday about the great stuff they do for libraries and museums, and how you can speak up for them to public officials who can ensure IMLS's healthy future: https://everybodyslibraries.com/2025/03/23/support-the-imls/ npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom Our library has access to a book published by Springer, _Advanced Nanovaccines for Cancer Immunotherapy: Harnessing Nanotechnology for Anti-Cancer Immunity_. Credited to Nanasaheb Thorat, it sells for $160 in hardcover: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-86185-7 npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom @nprofile…hujc LC's position as a unit in the legislative branch (it answers to Congress) rather than the executive branch (which Musk and his minions are trashing at the moment) appears to have kept it largely out of the main conflagrations to date. No guarantee of how long that will last, though. npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom Not sure if my first failures to download the latest LCSH bulk file were due to unusually high demand, or just the usual server issues in this age of aggressive AI crawlers, but it took me three tries to get it just now. npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom The Inquirer has a good writeup with pictures from today's #StandUpForScience rally in #Philly. (Folks who know our family might spot at least one of us in the pictures.) https://www.inquirer.com/health/trump-research-dei-cuts-protest-city-hall-20250307.html. Folks were on all sides of the stage by City Hall, with a total attendance probably around 1000. npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom @nprofile…fle4 McCormick is Republican, but it's still worth Pennsylvanians calling him to make their views known. npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom "All the Christian faithful and people of good will are called upon to consider the legitimacy of norms and public policies in the light of the dignity [and rights] of the person, not vice versa… npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom "'I have told officials at the highest level of the University that they only have two options: fire me, or let the [Harvard Slavery Remembrance Program] do this work properly,' Cellini wrote in a September statement to The Crimson. npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom @nprofile…hujc One of the ones we watched was what I gather is a third Christmas episode. (I'd previously seen their Santa Claus/Father Christmas one and their Nativity one, but the Christmas Carol one was new to me.) npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom @npub1ept…jcl3 That's often a good way to go. From where I sit in PA, I have to weigh likeihood of hijinks on the day against the likelihood of hijinks against my mail-in ballot. I know a number of folks have tried to get such ballots thrown out in my state for various reasons (including some dubious ones), and I'm also quite sure I can get to my polling place a couple of blocks away on Nov 5. So that's when I'll vote. npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom @npub1lrv…tth9 I like their alternative settlement proposal: "P.S. We will also accept Twitter.com as compensation." npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom I'm trying to provide feedback for a draft recommendation, and there's no way for me to do so unless I fill out a form that requires that I answer every question they ask (some of which involve complex interactions and/or don't give a "I have no opinion on this" option). This is not a good way to get broad feedback from your audience. npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom "My beliefs are simple, and hardly radical: Libraries are critical infrastructure. Access to information is a human right. When you buy a book you should truly own it. When a library buys a book, they should be able to lend it. Readers should be able to read without any third parties spying over their shoulders, or preventing them from accessing the materials they have legally obtained." Molly White on what's all too often lost going from print to licensed ebooks: https://www.citationneeded.news/hachette-v-internet-archive/ npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom "1. Moving physical books around in meatspace is a stupid thing to do in 2024." npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom Finale announces it's no longer updating its software, first published in 1988 for creating and editing musical scores: https://www.finalemusic.com/ npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom In a 2022 DLF Forum session on crowdsourcing, one of the speakers (whose name I didn't record) said "avoid the cardinal sin of asking volunteers to do work that you will never use". npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom @npub1vcl…k6t3 Me, I'm kind of disappointed that the new Wawa SEPTA station doesn't have a Wawa in it. (The closest one is about a mile away, I believe.) npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom One writer's experience with AI summarizers: "ChatGPT isn’t summarising at all, it only looks like it. What it does is something else and that something else only becomes summarising in very specific circumstances." (Depending on the text, the training sets, and parameters, the writer notes it condensing the text without regard to its most salient points, recycling others' summaries of the same or similar texts, or fabricating details when asked for more information.) https://ea.rna.nl/2024/05/27/when-chatgpt-summarises-it-actually-does-nothing-of-the-kind/ npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom @npub1gpa…xlk0 And sometimes, as some commenters on Freud have noted, a cigar is just a cigar. But in this case, it's not too hard to discern the cultural context of ASF's use of the feather. npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom My thanks and appreciation for everyone who's served on moderation duty here and in other online forums over the last 24 hours. They've had to deal with a lot of trauma and ugliness, often from more directions than many people would anticipate. npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom @npub13vv…0sze That looked interesting enough for me to do a search for it, and be disappointed that it's not going to be released for another 6 weeks. But I'd like to look for it when it does com out. npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom IANAL, but, it looks to me like #SCOTUS radically changed the nature of US government this week. Specifically: npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom cOAllition S will end support for their Transformative Journals program this year, saying "[We] believe that the strategy of providing financial support for these arrangements beyond this date would significantly increase the risk that these arrangements will become permanent and perpetuate hybrid Open Access, which cOAlition S has always firmly opposed." npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom CLOCKSS has now publicly announced they have triggered the chemistry journal _Heterocycles_, and that copies are now freely available at EDINA at the University of Edinburgh, and at Stanford: https://clockss.org/triggered-content/heterocycles/ npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom @npub1su4…a0dw Not surprisingly, the details of the story make it clear that Sony's not opposed in principle, but that they want to make sure they get a suitable cut of any revenues. npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom The full list of 2024 #PulitzerPrize winners and finalists has now been posted: https://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-year Along with awards in the usual prize categories, two special citations were also awarded, one for late writer and critic Greg Tate, and one generally for journalists and media workers covering the war in #Gaza. npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom "On March 28, 149 Penn alumni and current students sent a letter calling for the punishment of eight Penn professors to Interim Penn President Larry Jameson. Unlike many of the letter's signatories, we are Jewish students who know these professors.... We are writing in defense of our professors who are being slandered and used as political pawns in the ongoing attack on academic freedom and free speech. We stand by all eight professors." And they go into detail why: https://www.thedp.com/article/2024/05/jewish-students-professor-antisemitism-accusation-defense npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom USGS now identifies this morning's New Jersey #earthquake (now reported at 4.8 magnitude) as "the potential mainshock of an earthquake sequence". The first in the sequence was observed to be very close to this one, and occurred on March 14 with magnitude 2.2, too small for most people to notice. npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom @npub13vv…0sze So, Vermont got a big snowstorm, then an earthquake, and soon the sun will be blotted out? Quite the week for you all. npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom @npub1lrv…tth9 This just crossed my timeline just before I saw your post. Might fit the bill: https://werd.io/2024/share-openly npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom "In relaunching Communications of the ACM as an open access publication, all legacy and future CACM articles will be freely available to and accessible by everyone on the CACM website and in the ACM Digital Library." https://www.acm.org/media-center/2024/march/cacm-relaunch Here's the full issue archive: https://dl.acm.org/loi/cacm npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom @npub1g57…y839 @npub1cp2…pnej Interesting-looking book! I knew about Wells-Barnett's _Red Record_ (and it's well worth its chapter here), but I hadn't heard of a number of the other works discussed in other chapters. Hope to track some of them down and catalog them in the near future. npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom My last boost is also the last of my #PublicDomainDayCountdown this year. You can read the full list at https://everybodyslibraries.com/ npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom Hope everyone who celebrates it has a happy Hanukkah! Glad to have you here, and to hear how you're doing. npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom @npub1lrv…tth9 @npub16nx…rj8k It also openly waters down the recusal rules for dubious reasons. They say "The absence of one Justice risks the affirmance of a lower court decision by an evenly divided Court, potentially preventing the Court from providing a uniform national rule of decision on an important issue". npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom @npub178r…qekt Interesting. The code for lower courts uses "should" more than "shall", but it does use "shall" at some key points, including the policy for recusal. (The Supreme Court's code has a similar section on recusal but uses "should" in place of "shall" at the start) npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom "And then I made my decision. I would not trust the computer." npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom "'We do not share SAT scores or GPAs with Facebook or TikTok, and any other third parties using pixel or cookies,” said a College Board spokesperson. 'In fact, we do not send any [PII] through our pixels on the site....' npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom Longtime developer Jamie Zawinski (who worked on Netscape back in the day and coined the name "Mozilla") details how Mastodon's handling of replies to posts is seriously broken, and suggests a way it could be remedied. (His suggestion would also help with the problem of Mastodon servers DDOSing a site when a popular account posts a link to it): https://www.jwz.org/blog/2023/08/mastodons-mastodonts/ npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom @npub1qgg…pvfw Possibly an editing error then; in the piece I read, there's a sentence that starts "Hart wrote this book more than a century ago..." npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom @npub1qgg…pvfw Glad to hear you've read it. (I wasn't sure based on the way it was characterized, such as the paragraph becoming first "an essay on masculinity in something called Harvard Graduates’ Magazine", and later "this book" by Hart). Personally, I'd find the reading a bit strained if it's just based on Hart's piece there, but I haven't read Kim Townsend's book, which may well give more perspective and context backing the reading. npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom @npub1qgg…pvfw Thanks! The Harvard Graduates' Magazine essay you refer to in the article is "Ten Years of Harvard", which ran in the September 1902 issue (pp. 58-69): https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044092634195&view=1up&seq=78&q1=%22ten%20years%20of%20harvard%22 "Harvard Manhood" is the heading on one of its paragraphs (on pp. 68-69). It does note class population changes, both of national origins and of class size, though links between nationality mix and noted changes in student character (either for better or worse) don't appear to be clearly stated there. npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom @npub1mdk…aptk What happens if they federate but (pre-emptively) Limit? My naive understanding is that the hater brigades on Threads won't be able to get through, unless they're being followed here. (The ones already on non-Threads Fediverse nodes might, at least till they're blocked or thrown off the servers, but they'd be able to do that even if Threads itself was defederated, since they're not posting from it.) Or am I missing something? npub10a8y9hjrle5jua0r2uejftv7rjv86vn2vfaq8f8dcc9eltypckcs0mw9ua John Mark Ockerbloom @npub1lrv…tth9 Right now, I have a two-tier search strategy. For general searches, I use DuckDuckGo, and find its results generally useful without a lot of ad-cruft. For precision searches (where I'm looking for sites with particular phrases, and use quote marks) I still find Google gives me better results, as it finds sites that DDG doesn't turn up (I think it does deeper web crawls) , and Google doesn't seem to throw up nearly as much ad-cruft on very specific searches.
