James E. Dobson
@jeddobson.bsky.social
Associate Professor of English and Creative Writing at Dartmouth College. Author of The Birth of Computer Vision (Minnesota), Critical Digital Humanities (Illinois), and co-author of Moonbit (punctum) and Perceptron (punctum). American Literature, ML/AI/DH
these are cable management geniuses--how did they do that?
September 23, 2025 at 3:28 PM
these are cable management geniuses--how did they do that?
What's in those files?
August 28, 2025 at 4:04 PM
What's in those files?
Why was Marvin Minsky such a jerk?
August 28, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Why was Marvin Minsky such a jerk?
Visiting @renamosteirin.bsky.social’s poem at the @poetrysociety.org in Brooklyn today! So happy and proud of her. Read “Your Father Came from a Movie.”
August 22, 2025 at 10:47 PM
Visiting @renamosteirin.bsky.social’s poem at the @poetrysociety.org in Brooklyn today! So happy and proud of her. Read “Your Father Came from a Movie.”
I return to the Eleanor Gibson- Frank Rosenblatt nexus that motivated some earlier work of mine on the history of the confusion matrix to think about Rosenblatt's comparative cat-child-machine studies.
August 20, 2025 at 9:15 PM
I return to the Eleanor Gibson- Frank Rosenblatt nexus that motivated some earlier work of mine on the history of the confusion matrix to think about Rosenblatt's comparative cat-child-machine studies.
I've got a new essay out. "Early Machine Learning and Artificial Animal Intelligences" appears in the latest volume of the Journal of the Midwest Modern Language Association in a special issue titled “Intelligence” and edited by Naomi Michalowicz and Nathan Jung. muse.jhu.edu/pub/140/arti...
August 20, 2025 at 9:09 PM
I've got a new essay out. "Early Machine Learning and Artificial Animal Intelligences" appears in the latest volume of the Journal of the Midwest Modern Language Association in a special issue titled “Intelligence” and edited by Naomi Michalowicz and Nathan Jung. muse.jhu.edu/pub/140/arti...
Here he is looking more happy with Katherine Sergeant Angell White.
July 8, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Here he is looking more happy with Katherine Sergeant Angell White.
And I've wanted to write about E.B. White for a while....even if he's occasionally a bit dour looking. This is him visiting Dartmouth for an honorary degree.
July 8, 2025 at 6:36 PM
And I've wanted to write about E.B. White for a while....even if he's occasionally a bit dour looking. This is him visiting Dartmouth for an honorary degree.
I’m about half way through this brilliant and very clear account of what went wrong with the humanities and language in the past and how to move forward in the AI-informed present. Well-researched, provocative, and funny—perfect summer ready for theory heads! Congrats @leifw.bsky.social!
July 7, 2025 at 6:53 PM
I’m about half way through this brilliant and very clear account of what went wrong with the humanities and language in the past and how to move forward in the AI-informed present. Well-researched, provocative, and funny—perfect summer ready for theory heads! Congrats @leifw.bsky.social!
I’m okay at spotting owls (although @renamosteirin.bsky.social found this one) but not so much luck with the pellets. If you’re in Maine, check out the UNE owl pellet project: sites.une.edu/maine-owl-pe...
January 2, 2025 at 2:16 PM
I’m okay at spotting owls (although @renamosteirin.bsky.social found this one) but not so much luck with the pellets. If you’re in Maine, check out the UNE owl pellet project: sites.une.edu/maine-owl-pe...
Our Neukom Postdoctoral Fellows! Application deadline for this fellowship is Dec 1st. neukom.dartmouth.edu/funding/facu...
November 27, 2024 at 4:01 PM
Our Neukom Postdoctoral Fellows! Application deadline for this fellowship is Dec 1st. neukom.dartmouth.edu/funding/facu...
With Tom Kurtz’s passing and thinking about our present concerns with GenAI, I’ve been reflecting on the shape of the project that created BASIC and brought timesharing to Dartmouth. This work was funded under the “Course Content Improvement Program” of the NSF.
November 26, 2024 at 6:21 PM
With Tom Kurtz’s passing and thinking about our present concerns with GenAI, I’ve been reflecting on the shape of the project that created BASIC and brought timesharing to Dartmouth. This work was funded under the “Course Content Improvement Program” of the NSF.
Teaching the excited students of ENGL 54.41 "Critical AI" this fall at Dartmouth College.
November 20, 2024 at 10:54 PM
Teaching the excited students of ENGL 54.41 "Critical AI" this fall at Dartmouth College.
Hello SCMS24! Morning visit to the @uminnpress.bsky.social booth.
March 15, 2024 at 3:04 PM
Hello SCMS24! Morning visit to the @uminnpress.bsky.social booth.
New book panel (Zoom!) on Machine Vision tomorrow, Jan 23rd (18:00 Oslo, 12pm ET, 9am PT) feat. Jill Walker Rettberg, Jussi Parikka, and me. Register here: uib.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
January 22, 2024 at 2:12 PM
New book panel (Zoom!) on Machine Vision tomorrow, Jan 23rd (18:00 Oslo, 12pm ET, 9am PT) feat. Jill Walker Rettberg, Jussi Parikka, and me. Register here: uib.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
If you are interested in the history of computer and machine vision and machine learning, please join this Zoom-based panel with Jill Walker Rettberg, Jussi Parikka, and me! Wed, January 23rd at 12:00pm Eastern/9:00am Pacific. Zoom registration here:
uib.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
uib.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
January 16, 2024 at 3:47 PM
If you are interested in the history of computer and machine vision and machine learning, please join this Zoom-based panel with Jill Walker Rettberg, Jussi Parikka, and me! Wed, January 23rd at 12:00pm Eastern/9:00am Pacific. Zoom registration here:
uib.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
uib.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
Trying to do research while an academic administrator.
October 1, 2023 at 6:21 PM
Trying to do research while an academic administrator.
Frank Ferdinand’s work touched many thousands of lives and he was widely mourned. Some of his records are held by the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research and the JDC Archives
September 25, 2023 at 3:05 PM
Frank Ferdinand’s work touched many thousands of lives and he was widely mourned. Some of his records are held by the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research and the JDC Archives
Back in NY, continuing work for the JDC, he started a publishing company. Frank-Maurice (after himself and his first-born son) took over a failed press and began publishing in 1925. They published beautiful books on topics including Jewish tales and legends as well as literary work and translations.
September 25, 2023 at 3:04 PM
Back in NY, continuing work for the JDC, he started a publishing company. Frank-Maurice (after himself and his first-born son) took over a failed press and began publishing in 1925. They published beautiful books on topics including Jewish tales and legends as well as literary work and translations.
After the PhD, he went to work for two major Jewish organizations: Joint Distribution Committee and the Bureau of Jewish Social Research. This brought him back to Russia, Lithuania, and Czechoslovakia. He raised funds from American Jews to help aid the estimated 1.5m Ukrainian Jewish pogrom victims.
September 25, 2023 at 3:02 PM
After the PhD, he went to work for two major Jewish organizations: Joint Distribution Committee and the Bureau of Jewish Social Research. This brought him back to Russia, Lithuania, and Czechoslovakia. He raised funds from American Jews to help aid the estimated 1.5m Ukrainian Jewish pogrom victims.
Let’s talk about Frank Rosenblatt’s father today. Frank Ferdinand Rosenblatt is the other Dr. Frank Rosenblatt (Frank, the younger, did not have a middle name). He was born as Ephraim in Luboml in Volhynia, Ukraine and likely on May 11, 1884 (records differ on the year).
September 25, 2023 at 2:58 PM
Let’s talk about Frank Rosenblatt’s father today. Frank Ferdinand Rosenblatt is the other Dr. Frank Rosenblatt (Frank, the younger, did not have a middle name). He was born as Ephraim in Luboml in Volhynia, Ukraine and likely on May 11, 1884 (records differ on the year).
I have a forthcoming co-authored (w/ Rena Mosteirin) biographical account of the Perceptron and Frank Rosenblatt (Perceptron, punctum books, S24). I want to share some of my research into this fascinating figure and his foundational work on what we are (unfortunately) once again calling AI.
September 25, 2023 at 2:57 PM
I have a forthcoming co-authored (w/ Rena Mosteirin) biographical account of the Perceptron and Frank Rosenblatt (Perceptron, punctum books, S24). I want to share some of my research into this fascinating figure and his foundational work on what we are (unfortunately) once again calling AI.