Posts by ryancordell@hcommons.social
(DIR) Post #AUM2Dc15KSTHeOF6TQ by ryancordell@hcommons.social
2023-04-05T21:34:12Z
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@grammargirl I hope you’ve seen the TikTok dances set to these tunes (and yes we have an LG too) https://www.tiktok.com/@happykelli/video/7202287648856149290
(DIR) Post #AUQ9RZhooYgKGfkX5c by ryancordell@hcommons.social
2023-03-20T14:05:37Z
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Oh my goodness this is the best thing I’ve ever printed. I’m giddy! For those curious about the 19th-century newspaper poem “The Dude,” I wrote about it briefly back in 2017, which is basically how long I’ve wanted to create my own edition of the poem. https://ryancordell.org/research/programmabletype/
(DIR) Post #AUQ9RaLASG9oEi9xQG by ryancordell@hcommons.social
2023-03-22T23:10:44Z
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Y’all, “The Dude” looks pretty incredible in copper ink, too!
(DIR) Post #AUS5DAeTuan96Qvt9U by ryancordell@hcommons.social
2023-04-08T19:25:54Z
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This is amazing from McSweeney’s: “Elden Ring or Tenure-Track Professor?” “1. You’ve invested an enormous amount of time and energy, and you still have no idea what is happening.2. Everybody you meet speaks in half riddles.3. Hours spent completing a task are rewarded with meaningless feedback and unhelpful awards.4. No matter how much you accomplish or how good you do, it’ll never be enough”https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/elden-ring-or-tenure-track-professor
(DIR) Post #AUZ70M6Lak4SrYhec4 by ryancordell@hcommons.social
2023-04-11T20:21:20Z
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I love this article by @andybaio , "Chasing Rainbows," which advocates for colorblind-aware design on the web & in data visualizations by simulating what (certain) colorblind viewers see. If you’re curious what a colorblind person—like me!—might perceive vs. what you perceive, this offers some context.Side note—I cannot echo this point strongly enough—"when you meet a colorblind person, don’t repeatedly point to things and ask what color they are"—that’s in fact a very typical response & it’s frustrating because 1. I don’t know how my colors differ from yours & 2. nor can I possibly know what I don’t seeFor instance, I can usually distinguish "pure" green from red, but struggle to distinguish shades—I can’t really tell purple from blue, because they’re only separated by red—& it’s all contextual based on exact shades, sizes, shapes, juxtaposition, &c. A big red & green dot would be fine—but thin green & red lines on a graph are impossible to parsehttps://www.theverge.com/23650428/colorblindness-design-ui-accessibility-wordle
(DIR) Post #AUakhWXojNrr4e5SjI by ryancordell@hcommons.social
2023-04-12T23:55:11Z
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Margo got her warm weather cut today & she looks so weird! Here’s a side-by-side comparison—I promise, that’s the same dog, only days older on the right
(DIR) Post #AUecGyFh3XNd6G2k7c by ryancordell@hcommons.social
2023-04-14T20:17:39Z
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My digital art skills are improving! All the versions I could find of this 18th-century woodcut were pretty low resolution, so I brought it into Illustrator to trace & clean up. Carved it on the laser, detailed it by hand, & it makes a gorgeous print!
(DIR) Post #AUswuKUMh2tQh66v1E by ryancordell@hcommons.social
2023-04-21T15:58:48Z
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I am increasingly convinced that there are academics whose skill is identifying connections—between things, fields, methods, theories, historical moments, &c. &c.—and those whose skill is identifying distinctions—between things, fields, methods, theories, historical moments, &c. &c.—and that ne’er the twain shall meet.
(DIR) Post #AUtJjZTsuU3Ix5j0pU by ryancordell@hcommons.social
2023-04-21T22:56:00Z
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@CitizenWald someone else pointed me to that dichotomy, which I’d not encountered before—very like what I’m getting at
(DIR) Post #AVISOYGfyumTeEb4Sm by ryancordell@hcommons.social
2023-05-04T01:41:06Z
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What a little weirdo
(DIR) Post #AVQqEj7aj4AqZtsJM0 by ryancordell@hcommons.social
2023-05-08T00:38:00Z
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She may look like she’s about to DJ a set at some east Berlin warehouse rave, but actually our senior dog is so terrified of thunder E put one of the kids’ sound-dampening concert headphones on her to block the sound. She’s stopped panting & laid down!
(DIR) Post #AVTvDXrafG0tBQod84 by ryancordell@hcommons.social
2023-05-09T14:34:57Z
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Crowdsourcing: give me your best eighteenth or nineteenth-century insults? I promise this has (kindof) a research purpose
(DIR) Post #AVYvDxQ8cB8cEoyH32 by ryancordell@hcommons.social
2023-05-12T00:30:03Z
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I’ve been hiding every ad I get on FB for about 3 months now & let me tell you, the algorithm is really scraping the barrel bottom trying to serve me literally anything. It’s getting weird over there.
(DIR) Post #AVhDOl2GM5QzS2marw by ryancordell@hcommons.social
2023-05-15T21:03:28Z
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A small data point, but a non-negligible number of my students new to programming reported using ChatGPT to help brainstorm ideas or figure out how to translate something they wanted to do into Python or R code. That fact inspires two quick thoughts:1. when students simply report about using LLMs matter-of-factly in their process description, it does dial the temperature waaaay down from the moral panic over whether students will "use it to CHEAT!!!!@#!!!" 2. None of them reported generating code wholesale in ChatGPT. I mean, maybe they did, but see #1 above—it all seems pretty above board. Instead, they report using it the same way you might use Stack Overflow, with the same mixed results. That's not a profound discovery, maybe, but seems notable.
(DIR) Post #AVj3dxQc5pcwKEoqG0 by ryancordell@hcommons.social
2023-05-16T21:55:57Z
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For the past few years I've experimented with "Consultative Grading" in my graduate classes—it's essentially a variation on contract grading tailored for older students, or really for junior colleagues—students write what are essentially performance evaluations that are by design wholistic—a student can, for instance, write about how they fell short of one expectation but went above and beyond on another—much like we do, I would suggest, when writing our own annual review materials. Reading this semester's student self-evaluations, I truly cannot recommend this approach more highly. Students are so thorough and honest and introspective, and if anything tend to assess themselves more harshly than I would (or will when I enter grades). And more than one has mentioned in their assessments that this process feels more like how they will be evaluated when they start jobs in departments & libraries https://s23bl.ryancordell.org/assessment.html
(DIR) Post #AXSovwUoI1ORDply9A by ryancordell@hcommons.social
2023-07-07T17:37:57Z
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My new social media app is called Grouse. You can only post criticism of the 3,000 other new social media apps. Posts are called “Gripes.” No likes or reposts—just one button to “Commiserate.” If a Gripe receives enough Commiseration it’s elevated by the algorithm into a “Complaint.”Also there’s an academic version called “Faculty Meeting.”
(DIR) Post #AXWlsqnNVNMHRY8DGi by ryancordell@hcommons.social
2023-07-09T19:27:43Z
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Welp it seems my parents have decided that it’s more important they be “allowed” to call our kid by their deadname than for us to visit them this summer (or ever??). I knew there was a strong change they’d pick their religious ideology over their grandkids, but fuck it hurts to read the message where they actually did. And now I get to have a very hard chat with that grandkid. Goddamn it.
(DIR) Post #AqTowuE1L2rqVqnC1w by ryancordell@hcommons.social
2025-01-26T03:37:39Z
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Folded & assembled proof sheets for Skeuomorph Press’ forthcoming letterpress edition of Ursula K. Le Guin’s "A Rant About Technology"—a practicum student created the woodcut illustrations of tech mentioned in the text—I set type for the book & fold-out posterI’m still tinkering with ink & paper options & deciding about binding—but seeing it come together as a book made my heart leap—I am grateful to Le Guin’s estate for giving us permission to produce these
(DIR) Post #AqTowztKGtsY5P9kbg by ryancordell@hcommons.social
2025-01-26T03:39:18Z
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If you’ve never read Le Guin’s "A Rant About 'Technology,'" take 10 minutes to do so—in many ways my whole research & pedagogical philosophy are wrapped up in this short, brilliant text—it’s usually day 1 reading in my classes https://www.ursulakleguin.com/a-rant-about-technologyIf you want to ask "How can I get one of these?" all I’ll say is "watch this space." We’ll probably take pre-orders & then produce the books, up to a pre-set limit—I’m still getting the infrastructure in place but will announce here & on Bluesky
(DIR) Post #AqTox5r46DdSa891uq by ryancordell@hcommons.social
2025-01-26T03:40:31Z
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Also for those curious, it takes this much type for even such a short textWhy are some pages in larger type than others, Ryan?—were you commenting on which passages are key to interpreting the text? Yes, sure, of course—but also I realized I was going to run out of "o" if I didn’t do something. A text with so many instances of "technology" throws off the distribution