Ryan Cordell
@ryancordell.org
he/him—textual technologies enthusiast—Associate Professor at UIUC's School of Information Sciences & Department of English—co-director of the Viral Texts Project (viraltexts.org) & Director @skeuomorphpress.org —also https://theanxiousbench.bandcamp.com
Pinned
Ryan Cordell
@ryancordell.org
· Sep 5
Exhalation EP, by The Anxious Bench
3 track album
theanxiousbench.bandcamp.com
Late this summer I got to go into the studio with @pablohutch.bsky.social & our buddy Tim to record some tunes—and our EP is up today on Bandcamp!
I feel a little weird as a middle-aged dude asking folks to listen to my band—but I'm pretty proud of these songs & would love if y’all gave em a listen
I feel a little weird as a middle-aged dude asking folks to listen to my band—but I'm pretty proud of these songs & would love if y’all gave em a listen
Merry Christmas y’all!
@eviedc.bsky.social has been holding onto this incredible hat—forged at the intersection of dad joke & Moby Dick fandom—since I saw it in Newport this summer
@eviedc.bsky.social has been holding onto this incredible hat—forged at the intersection of dad joke & Moby Dick fandom—since I saw it in Newport this summer
December 25, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Merry Christmas y’all!
@eviedc.bsky.social has been holding onto this incredible hat—forged at the intersection of dad joke & Moby Dick fandom—since I saw it in Newport this summer
@eviedc.bsky.social has been holding onto this incredible hat—forged at the intersection of dad joke & Moby Dick fandom—since I saw it in Newport this summer
The kids & I tried both the eggnog + orange soda concoction we learned from @judgejohnhodgman.bsky.social & the eggnog + Dr. Pepper concoction we saw on tiktok & I am surprised & delighted to report they are both *excellent*. The first tastes like a Creamsicle & the 2nd like a melted soda float
December 24, 2025 at 10:12 PM
The kids & I tried both the eggnog + orange soda concoction we learned from @judgejohnhodgman.bsky.social & the eggnog + Dr. Pepper concoction we saw on tiktok & I am surprised & delighted to report they are both *excellent*. The first tastes like a Creamsicle & the 2nd like a melted soda float
If you like me get a bit melancholy toward the end of December, maybe you’d enjoy this tune I wrote about the old Victorian house we lived in back in Massachusetts—"December is the longest month / in bad years & in good"—from an Anxious Bench performance last December:
IMG_9707.mov
drive.google.com
December 24, 2025 at 7:54 PM
If you like me get a bit melancholy toward the end of December, maybe you’d enjoy this tune I wrote about the old Victorian house we lived in back in Massachusetts—"December is the longest month / in bad years & in good"—from an Anxious Bench performance last December:
I’m dreaming of a cold Christmas
Just like the ones I used to know
Where the temp’s not 60
& the air’s at least nippy
& it’s not absurd to sing of snow
I’m dreaming of a cold Christmas
With every Christmas meme I post
It doesn’t have to feel like the North Pole
But Christmas could be a little cold
Just like the ones I used to know
Where the temp’s not 60
& the air’s at least nippy
& it’s not absurd to sing of snow
I’m dreaming of a cold Christmas
With every Christmas meme I post
It doesn’t have to feel like the North Pole
But Christmas could be a little cold
December 24, 2025 at 5:12 PM
I’m dreaming of a cold Christmas
Just like the ones I used to know
Where the temp’s not 60
& the air’s at least nippy
& it’s not absurd to sing of snow
I’m dreaming of a cold Christmas
With every Christmas meme I post
It doesn’t have to feel like the North Pole
But Christmas could be a little cold
Just like the ones I used to know
Where the temp’s not 60
& the air’s at least nippy
& it’s not absurd to sing of snow
I’m dreaming of a cold Christmas
With every Christmas meme I post
It doesn’t have to feel like the North Pole
But Christmas could be a little cold
Reposted by Ryan Cordell
Always love getting mail from @skeuomorphpress.org and @ryancordell.org !
December 23, 2025 at 6:59 PM
Always love getting mail from @skeuomorphpress.org and @ryancordell.org !
Book history friends: just now learning about this episode of the Cautionary Tales podcast from earlier this year about the Arts & Crafts movement & the Doves Press (& its eventual downfall)
it’s worth a holiday listen!
it’s worth a holiday listen!
“Dangerously Near to Absolute Perfection” | Cautionary Tales
In 1900, two friends in the flourishing Arts and Crafts Movement in London share a vision: to print the ultimate edition of the Bible. Together they create The Doves Press, and its unique font, Doves....
www.pushkin.fm
December 23, 2025 at 5:34 PM
Book history friends: just now learning about this episode of the Cautionary Tales podcast from earlier this year about the Arts & Crafts movement & the Doves Press (& its eventual downfall)
it’s worth a holiday listen!
it’s worth a holiday listen!
So because of the controversy Weiss stirred up, more people will watch this segment than ever would have watched 60 Minutes—do I have that right?
My millennial heart is so happy watching everyone pirate and share the 60 Minutes piece like we’re all on 2002 Napster.
December 23, 2025 at 12:29 AM
So because of the controversy Weiss stirred up, more people will watch this segment than ever would have watched 60 Minutes—do I have that right?
Reposted by Ryan Cordell
Finished 2nd gallery wall in @scholarslab.bsky.social's Text Aisle w/art by @kennedyprints.bsky.social ("Architecture is shelter for the soul / Proceed and be bold! Sambo Mockbee"), @skeuomorphpress.org, @b0rk.jvns.ca @omarieclaire.bsky.social @innerloop-press.bsky.social, VA bookarts students, me +
December 21, 2025 at 9:53 AM
Finished 2nd gallery wall in @scholarslab.bsky.social's Text Aisle w/art by @kennedyprints.bsky.social ("Architecture is shelter for the soul / Proceed and be bold! Sambo Mockbee"), @skeuomorphpress.org, @b0rk.jvns.ca @omarieclaire.bsky.social @innerloop-press.bsky.social, VA bookarts students, me +
Reposted by Ryan Cordell
@skeuomorphpress.org Exciting mail day! Gorgeous, and while I'm feeling a little grumpy about it getting ripped in transit, I'm also appreciating that that's part of the materiality of the print.
December 19, 2025 at 7:29 PM
@skeuomorphpress.org Exciting mail day! Gorgeous, and while I'm feeling a little grumpy about it getting ripped in transit, I'm also appreciating that that's part of the materiality of the print.
At this point he’s so unpopular that even the bodacious, tubular, or the gnarly left might impeach him
If this doesn't motivate you to vote in the Midterms, nothing will.
December 22, 2025 at 11:15 PM
At this point he’s so unpopular that even the bodacious, tubular, or the gnarly left might impeach him
I think @skeuomorphpress.org *needs* one of these Commodore 64 Ultimate machines
I can relive being 7yo & playing Alf on the Commodore the Army bought for my dad when he went to get his Master’s—after he graduated he didn’t know what to use a computer for & it went in my room
www.commodore.net
I can relive being 7yo & playing Alf on the Commodore the Army bought for my dad when he went to get his Master’s—after he graduated he didn’t know what to use a computer for & it went in my room
www.commodore.net
Home | Commodore
Honouring the past. Innovating the future. This is the first real Commodore computer in over 30 years, and it's picked up a few new tricks.
www.commodore.net
December 22, 2025 at 7:27 PM
I think @skeuomorphpress.org *needs* one of these Commodore 64 Ultimate machines
I can relive being 7yo & playing Alf on the Commodore the Army bought for my dad when he went to get his Master’s—after he graduated he didn’t know what to use a computer for & it went in my room
www.commodore.net
I can relive being 7yo & playing Alf on the Commodore the Army bought for my dad when he went to get his Master’s—after he graduated he didn’t know what to use a computer for & it went in my room
www.commodore.net
Reposted by Ryan Cordell
this is a good reminder of how things that are shitty but have been accepted as normal and inevitable can actually turn out to be abnormal and evitable with some science, time, education and political will
December 19, 2025 at 8:44 PM
this is a good reminder of how things that are shitty but have been accepted as normal and inevitable can actually turn out to be abnormal and evitable with some science, time, education and political will
As someone who’s probably on Bluesky blocklists for saying something other than "burn it all down" about AI, it also seems clear that asking for more nuance in these discussions in Dec 2025 is like asking for more nuanced discussion of immigration as masked ICE agents toss people in unmarked vans+
December 22, 2025 at 5:16 PM
As someone who’s probably on Bluesky blocklists for saying something other than "burn it all down" about AI, it also seems clear that asking for more nuance in these discussions in Dec 2025 is like asking for more nuanced discussion of immigration as masked ICE agents toss people in unmarked vans+
Reposted by Ryan Cordell
New article out by me and @ashleyblewer.com titled “Each character you create requires a full 15 blocks!” Preserving Video Game Memory Cards in the Age of Cloud Storage." In it, we examine the sociotechnical challenges of preserving video game memory cards.
Read it here:
tinyurl.com/53pnv64b
Read it here:
tinyurl.com/53pnv64b
“Each character you create requires a full 15 blocks!” preserving video game memory cards in the age of cloud storage
The act of saving in video games has shifted from a material, active practice to a passive, near imperceptible occurrence. However, until systems like the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 were releas...
www.tandfonline.com
December 20, 2025 at 4:46 PM
New article out by me and @ashleyblewer.com titled “Each character you create requires a full 15 blocks!” Preserving Video Game Memory Cards in the Age of Cloud Storage." In it, we examine the sociotechnical challenges of preserving video game memory cards.
Read it here:
tinyurl.com/53pnv64b
Read it here:
tinyurl.com/53pnv64b
Loaded Baldur’s Gate 3 to start a new playthrough over winter break but was immediately paralyzed by choice in character creation. It wasn’t this hard the first time for some reason!
December 22, 2025 at 5:11 AM
Loaded Baldur’s Gate 3 to start a new playthrough over winter break but was immediately paralyzed by choice in character creation. It wasn’t this hard the first time for some reason!
Right now @eviedc.bsky.social is doing a jam-off tasting/ranking of the samples in her jam advent calendar.
Of the strawberry-passion fruit, the 17yo just declared in his best gamer-bro voice: “That is a jam-ass jam. When I think of jam, I think of that fucking jam” 😆
Of the strawberry-passion fruit, the 17yo just declared in his best gamer-bro voice: “That is a jam-ass jam. When I think of jam, I think of that fucking jam” 😆
December 21, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Right now @eviedc.bsky.social is doing a jam-off tasting/ranking of the samples in her jam advent calendar.
Of the strawberry-passion fruit, the 17yo just declared in his best gamer-bro voice: “That is a jam-ass jam. When I think of jam, I think of that fucking jam” 😆
Of the strawberry-passion fruit, the 17yo just declared in his best gamer-bro voice: “That is a jam-ass jam. When I think of jam, I think of that fucking jam” 😆
Have been working to make a relatively large purchase for the press from a private seller in his mid 80s, & I’ll just say that I can understand why the long machinations of processing a transaction through our giant public university might raise fears that you’re being scammed somehow 😆
December 20, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Have been working to make a relatively large purchase for the press from a private seller in his mid 80s, & I’ll just say that I can understand why the long machinations of processing a transaction through our giant public university might raise fears that you’re being scammed somehow 😆
I think this post nails the actual problem, for researchers at least—AI hallucinations would simply not be a problem in academic work if we’d not normalized citation-as-signaling rather than actual engagement—you can only cite a fake paper if you’re not in the habit of reading the papers you cite
Do not cite an academic paper unless you’ve read it
AI Is Inventing Academic Papers That Don't Exist -- And They're Being Cited in Real Journals
Academic articles from authors using large language model are creating an ecosystem of fake research that threatens human knowledge itself.
www.rollingstone.com
December 19, 2025 at 7:01 PM
I think this post nails the actual problem, for researchers at least—AI hallucinations would simply not be a problem in academic work if we’d not normalized citation-as-signaling rather than actual engagement—you can only cite a fake paper if you’re not in the habit of reading the papers you cite
My email snooze function should really have a "next year" option
December 19, 2025 at 6:56 PM
My email snooze function should really have a "next year" option
grades are submitted. I had a few other to-dos I really wanted to check off today once grading was done, but my brain is rapidly shutting off
December 19, 2025 at 4:34 PM
grades are submitted. I had a few other to-dos I really wanted to check off today once grading was done, but my brain is rapidly shutting off
I was hoping to catch the Rock-Nugent Classical Patriotfest at the Trump-Kennedy Center, but my flight to Trump-Regan was delayed due to “hard smog”—whatever that is. Then the hyperloop into Trumpshington, DTC wad also delayed! I was able to catch the memecoin retrospective at the Trumpsonian though
December 18, 2025 at 10:44 PM
I was hoping to catch the Rock-Nugent Classical Patriotfest at the Trump-Kennedy Center, but my flight to Trump-Regan was delayed due to “hard smog”—whatever that is. Then the hyperloop into Trumpshington, DTC wad also delayed! I was able to catch the memecoin retrospective at the Trumpsonian though
Reposted by Ryan Cordell
Very happy to introduce a new tool, BookReconciler!
You can take spreadsheets with book data and add subject headings, descriptions, ISBNs, HathiTrust IDs, & more. You can also cluster editions & variations of the same "Work."
Led by @thisismattmiller.com and supported by @post45data.bsky.social.
You can take spreadsheets with book data and add subject headings, descriptions, ISBNs, HathiTrust IDs, & more. You can also cluster editions & variations of the same "Work."
Led by @thisismattmiller.com and supported by @post45data.bsky.social.
December 17, 2025 at 9:37 PM
Very happy to introduce a new tool, BookReconciler!
You can take spreadsheets with book data and add subject headings, descriptions, ISBNs, HathiTrust IDs, & more. You can also cluster editions & variations of the same "Work."
Led by @thisismattmiller.com and supported by @post45data.bsky.social.
You can take spreadsheets with book data and add subject headings, descriptions, ISBNs, HathiTrust IDs, & more. You can also cluster editions & variations of the same "Work."
Led by @thisismattmiller.com and supported by @post45data.bsky.social.
This post has me thinking about a paradoxical moral-praxis dynamic in my "Writing with Robots" seminar this semester which would inform attempts to develop such policies—my sample size is obviously limited but I suspect this paradox is widespread among undergrad & grad students—& many faculty tbh+
PSA: your graduate program, even if in the humanities, needs an AI policy. Now.
December 18, 2025 at 8:19 PM
This post has me thinking about a paradoxical moral-praxis dynamic in my "Writing with Robots" seminar this semester which would inform attempts to develop such policies—my sample size is obviously limited but I suspect this paradox is widespread among undergrad & grad students—& many faculty tbh+
Welp there’s a playlist for the Counting Crows documentary releasing tonight so there’s my musical day sorted countingcrows.lnk.to/HBOdocTAC
Counting Crows - Counting Crows: Have You Seen Me Lately? (Songs from the HBO Original Documentary)
Listen to Counting Crows: Have You Seen Me Lately? (Songs from the HBO Original Documentary) by Counting Crows.
countingcrows.lnk.to
December 18, 2025 at 7:14 PM
Welp there’s a playlist for the Counting Crows documentary releasing tonight so there’s my musical day sorted countingcrows.lnk.to/HBOdocTAC
Reposted by Ryan Cordell
Not too late to snap up those stocking stuffers, folks
December 18, 2025 at 6:45 PM
Not too late to snap up those stocking stuffers, folks