Category: Editors’ Choice

Sentiment analysis, particularly with the advent of large language models, is reshaping our understanding of narrative. Emotional arcs in both fictional and non-fictional narratives surface latent structures that challenge traditional notions of plot and character. One reason is that feature extraction correlates with passages often selected for close reading, suggesting the role of emotion in […]

All four cases circle a central question around who controls digital content. We are no longer in an era where content is just content that humans read, and so in an age where AI and large-scale reuse are possible, who controls digital content is a question that needs to be answered. OCLC’s fight over library […]

This is the third part of an initial 5,000 word draft of a specially commissioned piece on the commons and Creative Commons. It’s for an open-access online glossary on the contemporary condition and near future that’s being produced by the Chinese Academy of Art.  Creative Commons has been widely praised for fostering a culture of […]

Is AI saving the world or breaking it? As the era-defining technology leapfrogs from what-if to what-next, it can be hard for us humans to know what to make of it all. You might be hopeful and excited, or existentially concerned, or both. AI can track Antarctic icebergs 10,000 times faster than humans and optimize […]

It’s been five months since Alison Gopnik, Cosma Shalizi, James Evans and myself wrote to argue that we should not think of Large Language Models (LLMs) as “intelligent, autonomous agents” paving the way to Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), but as cultural and social technologies. In the interim, these models have certainly improved on various metrics. […]

In the digital age, historical maps hold a wealth of information, but unlocking their full potential for geospatial analysis and historic research often requires labor-intensive georeferencing. An innovative project the University of Texas Libraries is evolving this process through the power of machine learning. See full post.

Between 2019 and 2022, I also worked on a project called Books of Hours as Transformative Works. If you’re not familiar with the term “transformative work,” it comes out of fandom studies—think of fan fiction or fan art—where people respond emotionally and creatively to something they love. I wanted to apply this framework to Books […]

Yesterday I gave a talk on AI and archives at the Colby/Bates/Bowdoin Special Collections and Archives Staff Retreat. Thanks to the staff of the George J. Mitchell Department of Archives and Special Collections and the Bowdoin Library, the amazing Schiller Center for Coastal Studies, where the event was held, and Bowdoin’s Hastings Initiative for AI […]