Rob
@robarcand.bsky.social
phding @ mcgill | formerly pitchfork, spin | writer, editor, webdev, etc. | robarcand.info
Reposted by Rob
TODAY: @annamerlan.bsky.social on an extraordinary 1939 guide to New York City. “Reading the guidebook now gives the sense, not of a past city, but a parallel one, an unseen but strangely familiar river flowing just over the horizon.” flaminghydra.com/new-york-for...
New York, Forever Lost and Found
When I first moved to New York in 2009, the very first night I lay down to sleep in a coffin-narrow room in Harlem, I had a maddening sense of wonderful things happening just out of my reach: all the ...
flaminghydra.com
January 21, 2026 at 12:17 AM
TODAY: @annamerlan.bsky.social on an extraordinary 1939 guide to New York City. “Reading the guidebook now gives the sense, not of a past city, but a parallel one, an unseen but strangely familiar river flowing just over the horizon.” flaminghydra.com/new-york-for...
Reposted by Rob
Resignation letters from UVA Rector and Vice Rector to Youngkin.
Too long for full alts, but will post excerpts following.
Too long for full alts, but will post excerpts following.
January 17, 2026 at 6:32 PM
Resignation letters from UVA Rector and Vice Rector to Youngkin.
Too long for full alts, but will post excerpts following.
Too long for full alts, but will post excerpts following.
Reposted by Rob
One of the things that genuinely shocked me as I read through surveillance logs for the police is how much of their energy and attention is dedicated to shutting down vigils and other ceremonies of remembrance.
Anyway ICE was filmed desecrating Renee Nicole Good’s memorial & doing violence to people who found that distasteful. Might be too soon to say if this falls into some kind of pattern of behavior if you’re the stupidest motherfucker on earth.
It would appear that uncritically funding the people that hate us so much that they mint coins commemorating body counts instead of listening to the people who said that the institutional rot within the police is so deeply engrained that they represent a danger to us all has mysteriously backfired.
January 8, 2026 at 6:46 PM
One of the things that genuinely shocked me as I read through surveillance logs for the police is how much of their energy and attention is dedicated to shutting down vigils and other ceremonies of remembrance.
new year, new personal website robarcand.info
January 5, 2026 at 2:37 PM
new year, new personal website robarcand.info
earlier this year, i had a really thoughtful conversation with the science and technology scholar Paul N Edwards about his work on the history of climate measurement, its relationship to the history of computing, and the long shadow cast over both by the military-industrial complex
December 19, 2025 at 5:04 PM
earlier this year, i had a really thoughtful conversation with the science and technology scholar Paul N Edwards about his work on the history of climate measurement, its relationship to the history of computing, and the long shadow cast over both by the military-industrial complex
Reposted by Rob
Speaking as a private citizen on a matter of public concern, yes leadership is apparently planning to cut 50% of the faculty at the New School for Social Research in order to eliminate social research and replace scholarship with a trendy MA degree mill For the 21st Century 1/
December 6, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Speaking as a private citizen on a matter of public concern, yes leadership is apparently planning to cut 50% of the faculty at the New School for Social Research in order to eliminate social research and replace scholarship with a trendy MA degree mill For the 21st Century 1/
Reposted by Rob
I helped organize this memorial zine to my beloved doctoral advisor @jonathansterne.bsky.social. Thanks to all the contributors for their beautiful offerings. Sound ON for silly, apropos page turning sound effects.
intercomzine.com
intercomzine.com
Intercom! Zine
intercomzine.com
December 5, 2025 at 3:22 PM
I helped organize this memorial zine to my beloved doctoral advisor @jonathansterne.bsky.social. Thanks to all the contributors for their beautiful offerings. Sound ON for silly, apropos page turning sound effects.
intercomzine.com
intercomzine.com
Reposted by Rob
Warner is saying that any AI deals they'll agree to as a company will be opt-in only. That's consistent with the principles we all agreed to via Human Artistry Campaign. Even if you think gen AI music sucks, that's an important guardrail. www.wmg.com/news/growing...
Growing the Value of Music for Artists and Songwriters - Warner Music Group
AI is still in its early days. Investment is surging, talent is. . .
www.wmg.com
November 20, 2025 at 9:47 PM
Warner is saying that any AI deals they'll agree to as a company will be opt-in only. That's consistent with the principles we all agreed to via Human Artistry Campaign. Even if you think gen AI music sucks, that's an important guardrail. www.wmg.com/news/growing...
what would it take to reframe debates about streaming and cultural decline in marxist terms? for @nplusonemag.com i tried to think through the current crisis (AI! VC! A24!) and what a newly militant labor movement could mean for the culture industries www.nplusonemag.com/online-only/...
The Same Stream Twice | Rob Arcand
Two recent books, Liz Pelly’s Mood Machine and Andrew deWaard’s Derivative Media, explore the consequences of these technological intermediaries for the music, film, and television industries. While P...
www.nplusonemag.com
November 14, 2025 at 1:53 PM
what would it take to reframe debates about streaming and cultural decline in marxist terms? for @nplusonemag.com i tried to think through the current crisis (AI! VC! A24!) and what a newly militant labor movement could mean for the culture industries www.nplusonemag.com/online-only/...
Reposted by Rob
I skipped this article for a while because I figured I'd read enough about the NYT's Mamdani coverage. I don't want to say the headline does the article a disservice - it is also very much about that - but goes well beyond as well
This is fucking brilliant, and you should read it: lithub.com/maybe-dont-t...
Maybe Don’t Talk to the New York Times About Zohran Mamdani
It’s remarkable, the people you’ll hear from. Teach for even a little while at an expensive institution—the term they tend to prefer is “elite”—and odds are that eventually someone who was a studen…
lithub.com
November 9, 2025 at 3:13 AM
I skipped this article for a while because I figured I'd read enough about the NYT's Mamdani coverage. I don't want to say the headline does the article a disservice - it is also very much about that - but goes well beyond as well
Reposted by Rob
MAMDANI CAME OUT TO JA RULE "NEW YORK" AND IMMEDIATELY QUOTED EUGENE DEBS
November 5, 2025 at 4:21 AM
MAMDANI CAME OUT TO JA RULE "NEW YORK" AND IMMEDIATELY QUOTED EUGENE DEBS
really great www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/sta...
October 31, 2025 at 3:52 PM
really great www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/sta...
Reposted by Rob
Fred Turner on "The Texan Ideology"
The Texan Ideology | Fred Turner
The Texan Ideology reflects a century-old fusion of the oil industry and millenarian Christianity.
thebaffler.com
October 31, 2025 at 2:43 PM
Fred Turner on "The Texan Ideology"
Reposted by Rob
"The digital image is dead, long live whatever fluid vessel has taken its place this week." @robarcand.bsky.social reviews Hito Steyerl’s new collection, "Medium Hot: Images in the Age of Heat." https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/a-network-of-global-incinerators/
October 19, 2025 at 3:30 PM
"The digital image is dead, long live whatever fluid vessel has taken its place this week." @robarcand.bsky.social reviews Hito Steyerl’s new collection, "Medium Hot: Images in the Age of Heat." https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/a-network-of-global-incinerators/
Reposted by Rob
My friend @rorshock.bsky.social — CS undergrad, humanities PhD — has built a brilliant prgm @ The New School: “Code as a Liberal Art” nurtures “code + computational thinking as tools for critical + creative inquiry,” and as forces for 👍+👎 social change. His spring Software Engineering class looks 🌟
Software Engineering Applications
Software Engineering Applications Spring 2026 Code as a Liberal Art, Eugene Lang College, The New School This course gives students the opportunity to experience and critically examine the software e...
docs.google.com
October 3, 2025 at 3:30 PM
My friend @rorshock.bsky.social — CS undergrad, humanities PhD — has built a brilliant prgm @ The New School: “Code as a Liberal Art” nurtures “code + computational thinking as tools for critical + creative inquiry,” and as forces for 👍+👎 social change. His spring Software Engineering class looks 🌟
Reposted by Rob
Tomorrow I start as an Asst Prof in Communication, Media and Arts at Seton Hall. Last spring, news that this opportunity would pan out coincided very closely with the passing of my advisor, Jonathan Sterne. Some overdue reflections on that, mostly on Jonathan, here: akstuhl.net/blog/2025-08...
Jonathan Sterne; romantic pragmatism; job news
When my beloved PhD advisor, Jonathan Sterne, entered hospice care this past March, waves of appreciation and then mourning rippled out from the many communi...
akstuhl.net
August 25, 2025 at 2:36 AM
Tomorrow I start as an Asst Prof in Communication, Media and Arts at Seton Hall. Last spring, news that this opportunity would pan out coincided very closely with the passing of my advisor, Jonathan Sterne. Some overdue reflections on that, mostly on Jonathan, here: akstuhl.net/blog/2025-08...
Reposted by Rob
i did literally nothing to bring this together except lend them an essay that i already wrote, but i'm totally geeking out about this zine.
just go look at the collection of art in the first couple of pages, i'm so enthralled right now, i love it. i desperately want to buy a physical copy.
just go look at the collection of art in the first couple of pages, i'm so enthralled right now, i love it. i desperately want to buy a physical copy.
AI_Anxiety
AI_AnxietyProduced by Jordi Viader Guerrero, Dmitry Muravyov, Erica Gargaglione, Aarón Moreno Inglés, Mariana Fernández Mora, and Orestis KollyrisWith contributions by Dmitry Muravyov, Jord
networkcultures.org
August 26, 2025 at 8:58 PM
i did literally nothing to bring this together except lend them an essay that i already wrote, but i'm totally geeking out about this zine.
just go look at the collection of art in the first couple of pages, i'm so enthralled right now, i love it. i desperately want to buy a physical copy.
just go look at the collection of art in the first couple of pages, i'm so enthralled right now, i love it. i desperately want to buy a physical copy.
Reposted by Rob
When we lost Jonathan Sterne last spring I had made this list of Jonathanisms. Now that I'm sitting down to prep syllabi, I thought of him a bit this morning. Anyway, sharing it here too. bonpourlorient.tumblr.com/post/7783226...
bonpourlorient.tumblr.com
August 7, 2025 at 12:18 PM
When we lost Jonathan Sterne last spring I had made this list of Jonathanisms. Now that I'm sitting down to prep syllabi, I thought of him a bit this morning. Anyway, sharing it here too. bonpourlorient.tumblr.com/post/7783226...
Reposted by Rob
‘Weren’t all Black people owed something for the dispossession that accumulated over generations? Or was the university’s primary function only to pursue knowledge about the history that gave rise to these questions?’
Vincent Brown reviews ‘Yale and Slavery’: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Vincent Brown reviews ‘Yale and Slavery’: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Vincent Brown · What Universities Owe
When challenged to justify past investment in slavery – or current investments in, say, fossil fuel extraction or arms...
www.lrb.co.uk
July 27, 2025 at 4:10 PM
‘Weren’t all Black people owed something for the dispossession that accumulated over generations? Or was the university’s primary function only to pursue knowledge about the history that gave rise to these questions?’
Vincent Brown reviews ‘Yale and Slavery’: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Vincent Brown reviews ‘Yale and Slavery’: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Reposted by Rob
“No Other Land” Co-Director Hamdan Ballal Freed, Says Yuval Abraham
Via Deadline
Via Deadline
‘No Other Land’ Co-Director Hamdan Ballal Freed, Says Yuval Abraham
The filmmaker had reportedly been attacked by settlers and detained by Israeli police, sparking international outcry.
deadline.com
March 25, 2025 at 2:37 PM
“No Other Land” Co-Director Hamdan Ballal Freed, Says Yuval Abraham
Via Deadline
Via Deadline
Reposted by Rob
‘No populism, right or left, has so far produced a powerful remedy for the ills it denounces. Programmatically, the contemporary opponents of neoliberalism are still for the most part whistling in the dark.’
New: Perry Anderson on neoliberalism after the crash. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
New: Perry Anderson on neoliberalism after the crash. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Perry Anderson · Regime Change in the West?
Where amid this turmoil does neoliberalism stand? In emergency conditions it has been forced to take measures –...
www.lrb.co.uk
March 24, 2025 at 5:58 PM
‘No populism, right or left, has so far produced a powerful remedy for the ills it denounces. Programmatically, the contemporary opponents of neoliberalism are still for the most part whistling in the dark.’
New: Perry Anderson on neoliberalism after the crash. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
New: Perry Anderson on neoliberalism after the crash. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Reposted by Rob
like this is how to study technology
March 21, 2025 at 1:51 PM
like this is how to study technology
Reposted by Rob
Here's a more fulsome post from the Press. So sad.
Farewell to Jonathan Sterne dukeupress.wordpress.com/2025/03/21/f...
Farewell to Jonathan Sterne dukeupress.wordpress.com/2025/03/21/f...
Farewell to Jonathan Sterne
We are very sad to learn of the death of communication scholar Jonathan Sterne, after a long battle with cancer. He was 54 years old. Sterne was James McGill Professor of Culture and Technology at …
dukeupress.wordpress.com
March 21, 2025 at 5:35 PM
Here's a more fulsome post from the Press. So sad.
Farewell to Jonathan Sterne dukeupress.wordpress.com/2025/03/21/f...
Farewell to Jonathan Sterne dukeupress.wordpress.com/2025/03/21/f...
Reposted by Rob
🗣️ Great news! The panel I co-organized with @robarcand.bsky.social, Marie Lecuyer, Owen Stewart-Robinson, and @hnnht.bsky.social has been accepted to 4S 2025 in Seattle 🥳
🗣️ Catch us this September, speaking on "Oceans of Data: Knowledge Production in Aquatic Environments" 🐬
🗣️ Catch us this September, speaking on "Oceans of Data: Knowledge Production in Aquatic Environments" 🐬
March 17, 2025 at 8:11 PM
🗣️ Great news! The panel I co-organized with @robarcand.bsky.social, Marie Lecuyer, Owen Stewart-Robinson, and @hnnht.bsky.social has been accepted to 4S 2025 in Seattle 🥳
🗣️ Catch us this September, speaking on "Oceans of Data: Knowledge Production in Aquatic Environments" 🐬
🗣️ Catch us this September, speaking on "Oceans of Data: Knowledge Production in Aquatic Environments" 🐬
Reposted by Rob
I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Jonathan for the past 15 years or so, and I’ve admired + aimed to emulate his creativity, kindness, and generosity for my entire career. i was honored to be asked to extol his virtues in recommendation letters over the past several years. Jonathan deserves all the 🏆
March 13, 2025 at 9:29 PM
I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Jonathan for the past 15 years or so, and I’ve admired + aimed to emulate his creativity, kindness, and generosity for my entire career. i was honored to be asked to extol his virtues in recommendation letters over the past several years. Jonathan deserves all the 🏆