University of Kansas: Bringing Black Authors’ Work Out Of Digital Shadows. “First, the Project on the History of Black Writing worked to preserve physical copies of novels by Black writers, often rescuing works from dusty attics and estate sales. In the 21st century, HBW began digitizing its library. And now, with the help of a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, it is moving to make the collection even more accessible to future scholars worldwide. For Maryemma Graham, the HBW project — growing out of her grad school discoveries in 1983 — came with her to the University of Kansas in 1999. Now the Distinguished Professor of English is one of three principal investigators for a $500,000, two-year grant that will bring the collection out of the digital shadows.”
writing
New York Times: My Name Is GPT-3 and I Approved This Article
New York Times: My Name Is GPT-3 and I Approved This Article. “GPT-3 is the culmination of several years of work inside the world’s leading artificial intelligence labs, including OpenAI, an independent organization backed by $1 billion dollars in funding from Microsoft, as well as labs at Google and Facebook. At Google, a similar system helps answer queries on the company’s search engine. These systems — known as universal language models — can help power a wide range of tools, like services that automatically summarize news articles and ‘chatbots’ designed for online conversation.”
Engadget: Google’s ‘Verse by Verse’ AI can help you write in the style of famous poets
Engadget: Google’s ‘Verse by Verse’ AI can help you write in the style of famous poets. “If you’ve ever fancied yourself as a poet but don’t quite have the lyrical and rhythmic skills one might require, Google’s Verse by Verse tool can help you to craft the most delectable verse. The company’s latest experiment with AI-driven poetry offers suggestions in the style of America’s most renowned wordsmiths.”
UC Irvine: UCI scholar launches database dedicated to German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
UC Irvine: UCI scholar launches database dedicated to German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. “An expert on the German philosophical tradition from the Enlightenment to the present, [Professor John H.] Smith has written previously on Goethe. As the co-editor-in-chief of the project, Smith is leading a transnational team of 22 scholars representing 17 universities. Their goal is to make Goethe’s thought available to scholars outside of the German-speaking world and to help scholars connect with Goethe’s work. Each year, they plan to add 10-15 entries on Goethe’s work for a total of 200-300 entries. This project’s ultimate aim though is to turn accepted ideas of how philosophy can influence art on their head by instead showing how a creative writer had input on philosophical thought.”
To Hold Nature in the Hand: Revealing the Wonders of the Mira Calligraphiae Monumenta (Getty)
Getty: To Hold Nature in the Hand: Revealing the Wonders of the Mira Calligraphiae Monumenta. “Small enough to hold in the hand, the allure of the Mira Calligraphiae Monumenta (Wondrous Monuments of Calligraphy) in the Getty Museum’s collection of manuscripts is undeniable. Hold the book close enough, and the butterflies seem to quiver before your eyes and the fruit looks good enough to eat….Viewable in a newly published facsimile and online, readers can now appreciate the impossibly tiny spiraling micro-writing; observe the subtle differences between the green leaves of the crossed tulips; almost feel the rusting surface of the apple; and be delighted by the hair-fine web spun by the spider.”
Penn State News: Behrend professor leading effort to create a digitized ‘Frankenstein’
Penn State News: Behrend professor leading effort to create a digitized ‘Frankenstein’. “In 2017, [Elisa] Beshero-Bondar joined colleagues at Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Maryland in an effort to digitally collate all five versions of ‘Frankenstein’: Shelley’s original draft, written in 1816 for a ghost story challenge at the home of the poet Lord Byron; the manuscript published in 1818; the ‘Thomas copy,’ in which Shelley had hand-written edits in the margins of the 1818 book; the 1823 version, which was published by Shelley’s father and was the first to recognize her as the author; and the 1831 edition, which is the version most familiar to anyone who read ‘Frankenstein’ in high school or college.” The entire manuscript collection is not online yet; it’s about 1/3 complete.
Asahi Shimbun: Multi-database search system for old kanji a 1st for researchers
Asahi Shimbun: Multi-database search system for old kanji a 1st for researchers. “Archaic forms of kanji that are difficult to decipher in the modern age are being compiled into an online image retrieval system so scholars and others can gain a better grasp of what people were writing about in bygone times. Six research institutes were involved in developing the Multi-Database Search System for Historical Chinese Characters, the first of its kind that collates old kanji from various regions and periods in history.”
Fine Books & Collections: International Collaboration to Digitize Archive of Dylan Thomas
Fine Books & Collections: International Collaboration to Digitize Archive of Dylan Thomas. “A digital collection of manuscripts and photographs related to Welsh poet and writer Dylan Thomas will soon be available online thanks to an international collaboration. Manuscripts, correspondence, notebooks, drawings, financial records, photographs, proofs, and broadcast scripts of the famous Swansea-born poet, whose works include the poem Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night, and the play Under Milk Wood, among many others, will be made available worldwide through a collaboration that includes the Harry Ransom Center at The University of Texas, Swansea University, and the Dylan Thomas Trust.”
Hollywood Reporters: How A TV Writers Brunch Group Is Creating Its Own Latinx Pipeline
Hollywood Reporter: How A TV Writers Brunch Group Is Creating Its Own Latinx Pipeline. “The group, 150 Latina writers strong, has launched a writer’s assistant mentorship program and a public database of Latinx scribes after five years of meetups.”
ScienceBlog: Why Writing By Hand Makes Kids Smarter
ScienceBlog: Why Writing By Hand Makes Kids Smarter. “Professor Audrey van der Meer at NTNU believes that national guidelines should be put into place to ensure that children receive at least a minimum of handwriting training. Results from several studies have shown that both children and adults learn more and remember better when writing by hand. Now another study confirms the same: choosing handwriting over keyboard use yields the best learning and memory.”
Michigan Health: Feeling Stressed or Down in a World with COVID? Try This Writing Tool
Michigan Health: Feeling Stressed or Down in a World with COVID? Try This Writing Tool. “The University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center created a new expressive writing tool called Making Meaning that allows people to put their thoughts and feelings into words to help relieve stress and anxiety.”
The Guardian: Could you help with the archive’s shorthand transcription project?
The Guardian: Could you help with the archive’s shorthand transcription project?. “We have digitised a set of notebooks from our Clyde Sanger archive. Sanger worked as a Guardian journalist in the mid-20th century, starting as the paper’s first Africa correspondent and going on to serve as UN correspondent and Canada correspondent. His notes are written in a mixture of longhand and Pitman’s New Era shorthand, and we’re looking for volunteers able to read the shorthand and willing to try transcribing it from the digital scans.”
CBC: L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables manuscript going online
CBC: L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables manuscript going online. “Starting in 2022, people will be able to read Anne of Green Gables online thanks to a new digital version of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s original manuscript. The hand-written manuscript will be the centrepiece of a digital exhibition involving the Confederation Centre Art Gallery (CCAG) and the University of Prince Edward Island’s L.M. Montgomery Institute and the Robertson Library.”
PBS: Writer Milan Kundera donating archive to Czech library
PBS: Writer Milan Kundera donating archive to Czech library. “Milan Kundera, the 91-year-old author of ‘The Unbearable Lightness of Being’ and other acclaimed novels, has decided to donate his private library and archive to a public library in the Czech city where he was born and spent his childhood. The Moravian Library in the city of Brno said Thursday that the entire collection would be transported from Kundera’s apartment in Paris in the fall.”
Neowin: Grammarly expands support for Google Docs, brings premium features and more
Neowin: Grammarly expands support for Google Docs, brings premium features and more. “Grammarly is expanding the features available for users of the Chrome extension on Google Docs, bringing some premium features to the search giant’s online service. The company launched the service in beta form for Google docs back in 2018. Now, the extension is getting new additions such as a dedicated sidebar for suggestions, and premium features that include feedback on ‘clarity, engagement, and delivery’, and more.”