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
Then later in February @drtlwagner.bsky.social will kick off a new "Media Necromancy" speaker series—we’re still chatting with folks about ideas, but are hoping for 1-2 more talks in this series over the spring semester, with more next year skeuomorph.ischool.illinois.edu/our-research...
January 16, 2026 at 4:56 PM
Then later in February @drtlwagner.bsky.social will kick off a new "Media Necromancy" speaker series—we’re still chatting with folks about ideas, but are hoping for 1-2 more talks in this series over the spring semester, with more next year skeuomorph.ischool.illinois.edu/our-research...
In a few weeks Ben Blount will be leading a public workshop "Making an Artist’s Book"—& a private workshop to develop exhibit materials with the "Virality of Racial Terror" research group—more info & a registration link for the public workshop here: skeuomorph.ischool.illinois.edu/making-an-ar...
January 16, 2026 at 4:52 PM
In a few weeks Ben Blount will be leading a public workshop "Making an Artist’s Book"—& a private workshop to develop exhibit materials with the "Virality of Racial Terror" research group—more info & a registration link for the public workshop here: skeuomorph.ischool.illinois.edu/making-an-ar...
I have plans for a more elaborate & historically-informed project, but there was red ink on the press so I’m starting today with a more straightforward chipboard print
January 12, 2026 at 5:49 PM
I have plans for a more elaborate & historically-informed project, but there was red ink on the press so I’m starting today with a more straightforward chipboard print
For no reason than I want to share it, I’ll end with this picture of grandaddy when he was a sailor in WWII—its story is also less romantic than its visual rhetoric—he hit his eye while working on the ship & wore an eyepatch for a few weeks—but he looked pretty badass in this picture nonetheless
January 10, 2026 at 6:59 PM
For no reason than I want to share it, I’ll end with this picture of grandaddy when he was a sailor in WWII—its story is also less romantic than its visual rhetoric—he hit his eye while working on the ship & wore an eyepatch for a few weeks—but he looked pretty badass in this picture nonetheless
Here’s where I landed on wording for the lab report assignment—hoping this framework of illustrate, clarify, complicate, extend will help students see how to put the readings into critical dialogue with the lab activities s26bl.ryancordell.org/pages/assign...
January 8, 2026 at 3:04 AM
Here’s where I landed on wording for the lab report assignment—hoping this framework of illustrate, clarify, complicate, extend will help students see how to put the readings into critical dialogue with the lab activities s26bl.ryancordell.org/pages/assign...
I wasn’t sure how to distinguish "visited here" & "stayed here," so decided "stayed" meant a longer visit? But either way, you can see the army brat turned academic in all those "lived here" spots
tenpages.github.io/us-level/us....
tenpages.github.io/us-level/us....
January 6, 2026 at 9:03 PM
I wasn’t sure how to distinguish "visited here" & "stayed here," so decided "stayed" meant a longer visit? But either way, you can see the army brat turned academic in all those "lived here" spots
tenpages.github.io/us-level/us....
tenpages.github.io/us-level/us....
I know only a few locals follow me here but my band, The Anxious Bench, will be kicking off CU Folk & Roots’ Winter Weekend w/the Americana Happy Hour—5-7pm, Thu Feb 5th!
Come unwind after work at the Rose Bowl Tavern with a mix of originals & Americana classics folkandroots.org/winter-weeke...
Come unwind after work at the Rose Bowl Tavern with a mix of originals & Americana classics folkandroots.org/winter-weeke...
January 4, 2026 at 5:48 PM
I know only a few locals follow me here but my band, The Anxious Bench, will be kicking off CU Folk & Roots’ Winter Weekend w/the Americana Happy Hour—5-7pm, Thu Feb 5th!
Come unwind after work at the Rose Bowl Tavern with a mix of originals & Americana classics folkandroots.org/winter-weeke...
Come unwind after work at the Rose Bowl Tavern with a mix of originals & Americana classics folkandroots.org/winter-weeke...
A chilly lovely New Year’s hike with @eviedc.bsky.social & Margo
January 1, 2026 at 8:30 PM
A chilly lovely New Year’s hike with @eviedc.bsky.social & Margo
Side note but the distinction @themountaingoats.bsky.social draws in the book’s preface between *writing* & *making* a book reminds me of @sarahebull.bsky.social’s Book History article on Victorian book making as a distinct practice from authorship rshare.library.torontomu.ca/articles/jou...
January 1, 2026 at 5:04 PM
Side note but the distinction @themountaingoats.bsky.social draws in the book’s preface between *writing* & *making* a book reminds me of @sarahebull.bsky.social’s Book History article on Victorian book making as a distinct practice from authorship rshare.library.torontomu.ca/articles/jou...
For Christmas the kids got me *This Year* by @themountaingoats.bsky.social which I’ve decided to read like the evangelical dads I grew up around read the Bible—each day in 2026 I’ll listen to that day’s song, reading the lyrics, & then sit with John Darnielle’s reflections—Jan. 1 is “Alphabetizing”
January 1, 2026 at 5:04 PM
For Christmas the kids got me *This Year* by @themountaingoats.bsky.social which I’ve decided to read like the evangelical dads I grew up around read the Bible—each day in 2026 I’ll listen to that day’s song, reading the lyrics, & then sit with John Darnielle’s reflections—Jan. 1 is “Alphabetizing”
R’s about to lead a family holiday D&D one shot
December 28, 2025 at 7:44 PM
R’s about to lead a family holiday D&D one shot
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 final tier chart
December 21, 2025 at 4:31 PM
The final tier chart
powering through final grading requires a coffee flight
December 18, 2025 at 4:43 PM
powering through final grading requires a coffee flight
Call it blasphemy, but I had some leftover pulled pork & I made a carbonara & subbed in the pork for the typical pancetta & this is 🔥
December 18, 2025 at 12:32 AM
Call it blasphemy, but I had some leftover pulled pork & I made a carbonara & subbed in the pork for the typical pancetta & this is 🔥
UVA Library’s new fundraiser asks folks to donate $20 to cover the library fee Edgar Allan Poe left at the university
1. For a fundraising campaign this is very clever
2. Every year the Dean of the library should symbolically forgive Poe’s fee in a ceremony like the Thanksgiving turkey pardon
1. For a fundraising campaign this is very clever
2. Every year the Dean of the library should symbolically forgive Poe’s fee in a ceremony like the Thanksgiving turkey pardon
December 16, 2025 at 1:19 PM
UVA Library’s new fundraiser asks folks to donate $20 to cover the library fee Edgar Allan Poe left at the university
1. For a fundraising campaign this is very clever
2. Every year the Dean of the library should symbolically forgive Poe’s fee in a ceremony like the Thanksgiving turkey pardon
1. For a fundraising campaign this is very clever
2. Every year the Dean of the library should symbolically forgive Poe’s fee in a ceremony like the Thanksgiving turkey pardon
Our inaugural speaker will be @drtlwagner.bsky.social on "The Persistence of Obsolescence in Queer Information & Media Technologies," showing how "obsolescence can serve as a generative tool to think about the past, present, & future of queer archives" skeuomorph.ischool.illinois.edu/our-research...
December 15, 2025 at 6:18 PM
Our inaugural speaker will be @drtlwagner.bsky.social on "The Persistence of Obsolescence in Queer Information & Media Technologies," showing how "obsolescence can serve as a generative tool to think about the past, present, & future of queer archives" skeuomorph.ischool.illinois.edu/our-research...
Man I love how innovative students can be sometimes. One of the remote students in "Intro to DH"—it’s an online class because of all our online-only MSLIS students—DIY’d her own book digitization rig for work on her final project—it’s incredible
December 15, 2025 at 2:33 AM
Man I love how innovative students can be sometimes. One of the remote students in "Intro to DH"—it’s an online class because of all our online-only MSLIS students—DIY’d her own book digitization rig for work on her final project—it’s incredible
Out there winter wonderlanding today
December 13, 2025 at 7:36 PM
Out there winter wonderlanding today
The Illinois Luddite Society’s last project of the semester is a (badass) cover for a forthcoming course packet.
Their guillotine cut has now joined @skeuomorphpress.org’s Lino library, where I suspect it will be popular
Their guillotine cut has now joined @skeuomorphpress.org’s Lino library, where I suspect it will be popular
December 11, 2025 at 6:55 PM
The Illinois Luddite Society’s last project of the semester is a (badass) cover for a forthcoming course packet.
Their guillotine cut has now joined @skeuomorphpress.org’s Lino library, where I suspect it will be popular
Their guillotine cut has now joined @skeuomorphpress.org’s Lino library, where I suspect it will be popular
Continuing the animal themes, Grace was fascinated by the automata we explored midway through the semester & imagined a complement to de Vaucanson’s "digesting duck," an anatomical rat, which she modeled in clay—all the various innards were moveable which I found delightful!
December 10, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Continuing the animal themes, Grace was fascinated by the automata we explored midway through the semester & imagined a complement to de Vaucanson’s "digesting duck," an anatomical rat, which she modeled in clay—all the various innards were moveable which I found delightful!
Abbie wove cut-up poetry—assembled through "stochastic procedure" she outlines in the her longer statement—into her portrait of a parrot, evoking Bender et al’s famous critique of LLMs—beyond the critical framing underlying its assembly, the result is a lovely work of art+
December 10, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Abbie wove cut-up poetry—assembled through "stochastic procedure" she outlines in the her longer statement—into her portrait of a parrot, evoking Bender et al’s famous critique of LLMs—beyond the critical framing underlying its assembly, the result is a lovely work of art+
Kaitlyn’s hexagonal design evokes Borges’ "Library of Babel," and each "room" is a tarot-card interpretation of a key text or idea from our class discussion—a possible hex in the infinite library—I especially appreciate Reddit as "the devil" & Murderbot as "the hermit" in this interpretation+
December 10, 2025 at 5:49 PM
Kaitlyn’s hexagonal design evokes Borges’ "Library of Babel," and each "room" is a tarot-card interpretation of a key text or idea from our class discussion—a possible hex in the infinite library—I especially appreciate Reddit as "the devil" & Murderbot as "the hermit" in this interpretation+
Anu designed a card game called "The Transformer" in which you draw cards from a pile of "big data" to create contextualized meaning until you reach "literacy"—but other players have to agree that meaning was generated!—it’s a clever concept that I wish we had been able to play test in class! +
December 10, 2025 at 5:44 PM
Anu designed a card game called "The Transformer" in which you draw cards from a pile of "big data" to create contextualized meaning until you reach "literacy"—but other players have to agree that meaning was generated!—it’s a clever concept that I wish we had been able to play test in class! +