Javier Cha
@javiercha.bsky.social
Canadian in Hong Kong.
Work: digital historian @ HKU.
Research: medieval Korea, Neo-Confucianism, historical networks, data centres, infrastructure studies, and historical applications of AI.
Team: Big Data Studies Lab https://bigdatastudies.net/
Work: digital historian @ HKU.
Research: medieval Korea, Neo-Confucianism, historical networks, data centres, infrastructure studies, and historical applications of AI.
Team: Big Data Studies Lab https://bigdatastudies.net/
Reposted by Javier Cha
Spoilers: all 10 ended up being desk rejected.
- 1 paper withdrawn
- 1 author was too busy for a call
- 1 author no-showed
- Authors of 3 papers couldn't answer basic qs
- Authors of 3 papers could, but not technical qs
- 1 author answered all qs, but paper had a major flaw
- 1 paper withdrawn
- 1 author was too busy for a call
- 1 author no-showed
- Authors of 3 papers couldn't answer basic qs
- Authors of 3 papers could, but not technical qs
- 1 author answered all qs, but paper had a major flaw
September 16, 2026 at 8:33 PM
Spoilers: all 10 ended up being desk rejected.
- 1 paper withdrawn
- 1 author was too busy for a call
- 1 author no-showed
- Authors of 3 papers couldn't answer basic qs
- Authors of 3 papers could, but not technical qs
- 1 author answered all qs, but paper had a major flaw
- 1 paper withdrawn
- 1 author was too busy for a call
- 1 author no-showed
- Authors of 3 papers couldn't answer basic qs
- Authors of 3 papers could, but not technical qs
- 1 author answered all qs, but paper had a major flaw
Reposted by Javier Cha
TMLR has faced a deluge of submissions, necessitating stricter desk rejection policies due to limited reviewer capacity
Co-EiC Nihar Shah reached out to authors of 10 papers slated for desk reject. Could they answer questions about their *own* submission?
medium.com/@TmlrOrg/ask...
Co-EiC Nihar Shah reached out to authors of 10 papers slated for desk reject. Could they answer questions about their *own* submission?
medium.com/@TmlrOrg/ask...
Asking Authors About Their Own Papers
By Nihar B. Shah
medium.com
September 16, 2026 at 8:33 PM
TMLR has faced a deluge of submissions, necessitating stricter desk rejection policies due to limited reviewer capacity
Co-EiC Nihar Shah reached out to authors of 10 papers slated for desk reject. Could they answer questions about their *own* submission?
medium.com/@TmlrOrg/ask...
Co-EiC Nihar Shah reached out to authors of 10 papers slated for desk reject. Could they answer questions about their *own* submission?
medium.com/@TmlrOrg/ask...
After four weeks of nonstop coding, it's time to slow down a little and engage in some reflections. As I regularly remind my students and lab members, a digital humanities scholar who only engages in technical work without reading and reflecting isn't really in the humanities.
September 16, 2026 at 8:32 AM
After four weeks of nonstop coding, it's time to slow down a little and engage in some reflections. As I regularly remind my students and lab members, a digital humanities scholar who only engages in technical work without reading and reflecting isn't really in the humanities.
Reposted by Javier Cha
"LLMs are just n-dimensional classifiers" has a very similar flavor to "everything is just quantum mechanical interactions."
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
More Is Different
www.science.org
September 15, 2026 at 8:34 PM
"LLMs are just n-dimensional classifiers" has a very similar flavor to "everything is just quantum mechanical interactions."
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Javier Cha
Time flies! I've arrived here in Hong Kong already a week ago. I'm here for a month as a first part o my two-year role as guest professor at the University of Hong Kong's Faculty or Arts, specifically in the context of their "Arts Tech Lab". See: https://www.atlab.hku.hk/
September 13, 2026 at 10:06 AM
Time flies! I've arrived here in Hong Kong already a week ago. I'm here for a month as a first part o my two-year role as guest professor at the University of Hong Kong's Faculty or Arts, specifically in the context of their "Arts Tech Lab". See: https://www.atlab.hku.hk/
I also ask that journal editors and conference organizers please stop sending requests to review a manuscript or an abstract that obviously should've been desk-rejected or sent back to the author(s) for revision. I must be doing close to 40 reviews a year. This is unsustainable.
🧪 We are staring down a crisis with peer-review.
Editors needed 4.5 invitations to secure a single peer reviewer in 2025, double the effort required back in 2018. Meanwhile, we have half of surveyed scientists admit to using AI to draft their reviews.
This isn't sustainable.
#AcademicSky
Editors needed 4.5 invitations to secure a single peer reviewer in 2025, double the effort required back in 2018. Meanwhile, we have half of surveyed scientists admit to using AI to draft their reviews.
This isn't sustainable.
#AcademicSky
Can AI help solve the peer-review crisis? Here are its promises and pitfalls
Amid a shortage of human reviewers, tests indicate AI can assist—but is not a savior
www.science.org
September 4, 2026 at 3:51 PM
I also ask that journal editors and conference organizers please stop sending requests to review a manuscript or an abstract that obviously should've been desk-rejected or sent back to the author(s) for revision. I must be doing close to 40 reviews a year. This is unsustainable.
Reposted by Javier Cha
🧪 We are staring down a crisis with peer-review.
Editors needed 4.5 invitations to secure a single peer reviewer in 2025, double the effort required back in 2018. Meanwhile, we have half of surveyed scientists admit to using AI to draft their reviews.
This isn't sustainable.
#AcademicSky
Editors needed 4.5 invitations to secure a single peer reviewer in 2025, double the effort required back in 2018. Meanwhile, we have half of surveyed scientists admit to using AI to draft their reviews.
This isn't sustainable.
#AcademicSky
Can AI help solve the peer-review crisis? Here are its promises and pitfalls
Amid a shortage of human reviewers, tests indicate AI can assist—but is not a savior
www.science.org
September 4, 2026 at 3:02 PM
🧪 We are staring down a crisis with peer-review.
Editors needed 4.5 invitations to secure a single peer reviewer in 2025, double the effort required back in 2018. Meanwhile, we have half of surveyed scientists admit to using AI to draft their reviews.
This isn't sustainable.
#AcademicSky
Editors needed 4.5 invitations to secure a single peer reviewer in 2025, double the effort required back in 2018. Meanwhile, we have half of surveyed scientists admit to using AI to draft their reviews.
This isn't sustainable.
#AcademicSky
Reposted by Javier Cha
Me: to study the humanities is to cultivate a fuller understanding of the mind as we seek to find meaning in the past, present, and future of our individual and collective existence
Them: are you happy
Me: god no
Them: are you happy
Me: god no
September 2, 2026 at 11:59 PM
Me: to study the humanities is to cultivate a fuller understanding of the mind as we seek to find meaning in the past, present, and future of our individual and collective existence
Them: are you happy
Me: god no
Them: are you happy
Me: god no
Reposted by Javier Cha
Imagine if we decided, since the humanities == the good life, we have to hire whatever theorists empirically make ppl happiest.
Me: to study the humanities is to cultivate a fuller understanding of the mind as we seek to find meaning in the past, present, and future of our individual and collective existence
Them: are you happy
Me: god no
Them: are you happy
Me: god no
September 3, 2026 at 1:15 AM
Imagine if we decided, since the humanities == the good life, we have to hire whatever theorists empirically make ppl happiest.
Thanks to AI agents, I've managed to completely redesign two of my existing websites and create a brand new one ... in 6 days. Brave new world.
And I'm beyond pleased with the results.
Check out:
javiercha.com
bigdatastudies.net
samhan.ai
And I'm beyond pleased with the results.
Check out:
javiercha.com
bigdatastudies.net
samhan.ai
September 1, 2026 at 4:30 PM
Thanks to AI agents, I've managed to completely redesign two of my existing websites and create a brand new one ... in 6 days. Brave new world.
And I'm beyond pleased with the results.
Check out:
javiercha.com
bigdatastudies.net
samhan.ai
And I'm beyond pleased with the results.
Check out:
javiercha.com
bigdatastudies.net
samhan.ai
Wow! Retro to the max. Brings back so many memories.
Download dot com's most popular downloads at the end of 1996
August 28, 2026 at 1:28 PM
Wow! Retro to the max. Brings back so many memories.
Reposted by Javier Cha
Download dot com's most popular downloads at the end of 1996
August 28, 2026 at 1:07 PM
Download dot com's most popular downloads at the end of 1996
Reposted by Javier Cha
Truly, end of an era.
Amazon is officially shutting down Mechanical Turk next month. It feels like the end of an era.
I've written about the platform on and off for close to a decade. We wouldn't have the AI tools we do now if it weren't for the low-paid, largely invisible labor of MTurkers
I've written about the platform on and off for close to a decade. We wouldn't have the AI tools we do now if it weren't for the low-paid, largely invisible labor of MTurkers
August 28, 2026 at 12:59 AM
Truly, end of an era.
Reposted by Javier Cha
It’s Lake Ontario.
August 27, 2026 at 7:26 PM
It’s Lake Ontario.
Reposted by Javier Cha
Yayoi Kusama (1929-2026) RIP
August 27, 2026 at 5:02 AM
Yayoi Kusama (1929-2026) RIP
Reposted by Javier Cha
📚 What looks like the work of a solitary author can be the product of a system.
In BIG FICTION, Emory professor Dan Sinykin argues books are shaped by a larger system: agents, editors, marketers & others whose decisions shape the page.
🎧Listen: futureknowledge.transistor.fm/episodes/big...
🧵
In BIG FICTION, Emory professor Dan Sinykin argues books are shaped by a larger system: agents, editors, marketers & others whose decisions shape the page.
🎧Listen: futureknowledge.transistor.fm/episodes/big...
🧵
August 27, 2026 at 2:00 AM
📚 What looks like the work of a solitary author can be the product of a system.
In BIG FICTION, Emory professor Dan Sinykin argues books are shaped by a larger system: agents, editors, marketers & others whose decisions shape the page.
🎧Listen: futureknowledge.transistor.fm/episodes/big...
🧵
In BIG FICTION, Emory professor Dan Sinykin argues books are shaped by a larger system: agents, editors, marketers & others whose decisions shape the page.
🎧Listen: futureknowledge.transistor.fm/episodes/big...
🧵
Reposted by Javier Cha
📢 AI and History Conference 2026
📍 October 15–16, 2026 | Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
🔗 The conference program is available at: proflouishyman.github.io/ai_conferenc...
⏰️ Registration closes September 15, 2026.
🔗 More info & registration: proflouishyman.github.io/ai_conferenc...
📍 October 15–16, 2026 | Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
🔗 The conference program is available at: proflouishyman.github.io/ai_conferenc...
⏰️ Registration closes September 15, 2026.
🔗 More info & registration: proflouishyman.github.io/ai_conferenc...
AI and History Conference 2026
A practitioner-focused conference for historians using AI and computational methods, October 15–16, 2026 at Johns Hopkins University.
proflouishyman.github.io
August 25, 2026 at 8:30 AM
📢 AI and History Conference 2026
📍 October 15–16, 2026 | Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
🔗 The conference program is available at: proflouishyman.github.io/ai_conferenc...
⏰️ Registration closes September 15, 2026.
🔗 More info & registration: proflouishyman.github.io/ai_conferenc...
📍 October 15–16, 2026 | Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
🔗 The conference program is available at: proflouishyman.github.io/ai_conferenc...
⏰️ Registration closes September 15, 2026.
🔗 More info & registration: proflouishyman.github.io/ai_conferenc...
Reposted by Javier Cha
Before Europeans arrived, these were some of the names for The Great Lakes:
Superior: gichi-gami (great sea)
Erie: erielhonan (long tail)
Michigan: michigami (long body of water)
Ontario: Ontarí'io\kanadario (great lake\beautiful water)
Huron: karegnondi (fresh water sea)
Superior: gichi-gami (great sea)
Erie: erielhonan (long tail)
Michigan: michigami (long body of water)
Ontario: Ontarí'io\kanadario (great lake\beautiful water)
Huron: karegnondi (fresh water sea)
August 25, 2026 at 1:12 PM
Before Europeans arrived, these were some of the names for The Great Lakes:
Superior: gichi-gami (great sea)
Erie: erielhonan (long tail)
Michigan: michigami (long body of water)
Ontario: Ontarí'io\kanadario (great lake\beautiful water)
Huron: karegnondi (fresh water sea)
Superior: gichi-gami (great sea)
Erie: erielhonan (long tail)
Michigan: michigami (long body of water)
Ontario: Ontarí'io\kanadario (great lake\beautiful water)
Huron: karegnondi (fresh water sea)
Reposted by Javier Cha
Highly recommended reading from my wonderful former colleague at NEH, Molly Hardy. (Related aside: I once asked one of the DOGE boys "who would ever want to work here after what you've done?" To which he replied, "oh, NEH will be so much better soon." Yeah, fuck off.)
New at Can We Still Govern?
Molly Hardy was the Employee of the Year at the National Endowment for the Humanities in 2024. She was fired as a result of DOGE cuts in 2025. Here, she writes about why, when given a chance to return, she chose not to do so. 🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/castles-ma...
Molly Hardy was the Employee of the Year at the National Endowment for the Humanities in 2024. She was fired as a result of DOGE cuts in 2025. Here, she writes about why, when given a chance to return, she chose not to do so. 🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/castles-ma...
Castles Made of Sand
Why I Did Not Return to the Government Job I Loved
donmoynihan.substack.com
August 25, 2026 at 9:35 PM
Highly recommended reading from my wonderful former colleague at NEH, Molly Hardy. (Related aside: I once asked one of the DOGE boys "who would ever want to work here after what you've done?" To which he replied, "oh, NEH will be so much better soon." Yeah, fuck off.)
Reposted by Javier Cha
📣Call for Papers: Hong Kong Association for Digital Humanities Annual Conference (HKADH) | Model/Making: Toward Generative Humanities
⏰️Submission deadline: September 1, 2026
🔗 More information: 2027.hkadh.org#cfp
🔗 Learn more about HKADH: hkadh.org
⏰️Submission deadline: September 1, 2026
🔗 More information: 2027.hkadh.org#cfp
🔗 Learn more about HKADH: hkadh.org
HKADH 2027
Model/Making: Toward Generative Humanities. 21-24 January 2027, Hong Kong.
2027.hkadh.org
August 25, 2026 at 4:45 PM
📣Call for Papers: Hong Kong Association for Digital Humanities Annual Conference (HKADH) | Model/Making: Toward Generative Humanities
⏰️Submission deadline: September 1, 2026
🔗 More information: 2027.hkadh.org#cfp
🔗 Learn more about HKADH: hkadh.org
⏰️Submission deadline: September 1, 2026
🔗 More information: 2027.hkadh.org#cfp
🔗 Learn more about HKADH: hkadh.org
CFP deadline is approaching! In my original post, I shared the wrong deadline. 🫣 Please submit your abstract by 1 September. #HKADH2027
The Education University of Hong Kong will host HKADH2027 on 21-24 January 2027. This will be the third iteration of the Hong Kong Association for Digital Humanities' annual conference, which has played an important role in raising Hong Kong's profile in the global digital humanities community.
August 24, 2026 at 3:07 AM
CFP deadline is approaching! In my original post, I shared the wrong deadline. 🫣 Please submit your abstract by 1 September. #HKADH2027
Reposted by Javier Cha
Very happy that the Hong Kong Association of Digital Humanities (HKADH) has joined @adho-org.bsky.social! Announced at #DH2026.
July 28, 2026 at 9:08 AM
Very happy that the Hong Kong Association of Digital Humanities (HKADH) has joined @adho-org.bsky.social! Announced at #DH2026.
Reposted by Javier Cha
🎉 We are delighted to welcome the Hong Kong Association for Digital Humanities (HKADH) as the newest constituent organization of the Association for Digital Humanities Organizations (ADHO)!
Please join us in welcoming HKADH to the ADHO community!
Learn more about HKADH: hkadh.org
#DH #ADHO #HKADH
Please join us in welcoming HKADH to the ADHO community!
Learn more about HKADH: hkadh.org
#DH #ADHO #HKADH
Hong Kong Association for Digital Humanities
Advancing New Pathways in Digital Humanities in Asia’s World City
hkadh.org
July 29, 2026 at 10:29 AM
Reposted by Javier Cha
Sid Meier's Civilization II (1996)
August 21, 2026 at 4:09 PM
Sid Meier's Civilization II (1996)