Heat wave and historical linguistics in Essen 1

Heat wave and historical linguistics in Essen
For university faculty, summer does not simply equal vacation. It is also a prime time for international conferences that are part of our work as researchers. In the end of August, historical linguists flocked to Essen, Germany for the 19th biennial ICEHL conference (22–26 August). ICEHL stands for “International Conference on English Historical Linguistics”. The ...

Battle and Hastings 1

Battle and Hastings
My three-year research project on multilingual practices in England in the ‘long twelfth century’ ended in August, when its last research trip took me to the UK for the sixth time since 2012. In addition to doing library work, I paid a visit to the place where my long century began: Hastings, on the south ...

A Heat Wave of Digital Humanities

A Heat Wave of Digital Humanities
It’s not summer for a doctoral student if it doesn’t include an intensive training week or two. We two intrepid travellers from the Department attended the sixth European Summer University in Digital Humanities (ESU DH), “Culture and Technology”, held at Universität Leipzig July 28-August 7. Founded by Prof. Elisabeth Burr, ESU DH is a multilingual, ...

The Department by the River

The Department by the River
As mentioned earlier in the Tale of Two Departments, there are two Departments of English here in Turku. Situated as we are on the University Hill, our department is known as the Department Up the Hill, while our Åbo Akademi sister department (right at the brink of the river Aura) is known as the Department ...

Seven Wonders of the Frankfurt Book Fair

Seven Wonders of the Frankfurt Book Fair
Have you ever considered how brain waves can be transferred into poetry? Don’t worry. The Helsinki-based Brains on Art collective has solved the problem for us. With the help of a tinfoil hat – i.e. a sensor helmet – and computer magic, brain waves create poems. This is first of the wonders I found in ...

The world’s knowledge, and some cakes

The world’s knowledge, and some cakes
I’m doing something I probably shouldn’t be doing: writing a blog entry under the watchful eye of George Bernard Shaw (well, his bust really). This is the Manuscripts Reading Room in one of my favourite buildings in London, the British Library, next to King’s Cross and St Pancras stations. I have been coming here every ...