Every Sunday, These Historians Go to the Movies — All in the Name of Digital Community

Have you ever, while watching the movie Julie & Julia, drawn comparisons between Julia Child's struggle to find the right publisher and the mercurial marketplace of academic publishing?

You probably haven't. But historians have.

The comparison is one of many under the Twitter hashtag #HATM. The abbreviation stands for Historians At The Movies and was created by Jason Herbert, a doctoral candidate at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities who now lives in Florida where he studies indigenous people and ecology.

Every Sunday at 8 p.m. ET, Herbert and other historians, plus people who just enjoy history, watch the same movie. They tweet along, sharing insight, tidbits, and punchlines. They prepared for the 2019 Oscars by watching Roma, a Best Picture nominee. On Sunday they'll live-tweet the awards ceremony — which will be fun and a break from the norm, Herbert says.