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James A. Hodges

@jameshodges.net
755 followers 433 following 728 posts

human scholar with phd (digital archives) • www.jameshodges.net

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James A. Hodges @jameshodges.net · 3h
"The Turing Test is one of the worst technologies in computing. It’s so fraudulent... it promises something like truth, but uses mimesis, which since Plato has been defined as an anti-truth technology" New interview w/ Alexander Galloway diffractionscollective.com/2026/09/20/a...
diffractionscollective.com
Postscript to Protocol: Digitality and Critique // Alexander R. Galloway
This is an interview by DIFFRACTIONS member Patrick Leftwich [Kitsumute] with Alexander R. Galloway. Alexander R. Galloway is an American media theorist, philosopher, and computer programmer known …
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James A. Hodges @jameshodges.net · 28/09/2026
“Mutton isn’t as tasty as pork: Why the sheep should all trust me, a wolf”
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James A. Hodges @jameshodges.net · 26/09/2026
I honestly think we could reduce vaccine hesitancy by emphasizing their protein content
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James A. Hodges @jameshodges.net · 24/09/2026
Starting very shortly! Let's talk about paradata, aka processual metadata.
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James A. Hodges @jameshodges.net · 23/09/2026
We should question the construction of decade-based periodization in historical narratives. Y2K and 9/11 make more sense in the middle of 1995-2005 than they do at the end (or just outside) of 1990-2000
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James A. Hodges @jameshodges.net · 17/09/2026
This is coming up soon! I'm honored as always to discuss my collaboration with the late Ciaran Trace
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James A. Hodges @jameshodges.net · 16/09/2026
Terms that would go hard in a new Sokal hoax today: surface n-dimensional intelligence lift token
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James A. Hodges @jameshodges.net · 15/09/2026
A “computer glitch” at this data center dumped 5,500 gallons of diesel into local waterways. The company responsible is 11% owned by BlackRock btw newjersey.news12.com/2026/09/14/d...
newjersey.news12.com
Secaucus mayor says 'computer glitch' cause of thousands of gallons of diesel to spill from Secaucus data center
The fuel entered Anderson Creek, which flows into the Hackensack River.
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James A. Hodges @jameshodges.net · 11/09/2026
My main recollection from 9/11/01 was seeing smoke over the horizon in my hometown 50mi away at the Jersey shore. But I always doubted myself-- was I just imagining it? Today I can confirm, that plume blew due south and was visible from space. Image from CBS17 in Raleigh NC, shared via FB today
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James A. Hodges @jameshodges.net · 11/09/2026
Shared this "Art of DJing" article with my students because it's a fun way to discuss knowledge organization: ra.co/features/3392 Upon review, I learned something new: Avalon Emerson appears to be left-handed. One of us, the rarified 10%
A woman with brown hair and glasses turning knobs on retro-looking audio gear. She is wearing a Casio watch on her right wrist.
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JW Mason @jwmason.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
”Communists have been reproached with the desire of abolishing the right of personally acquiring property… which is alleged to be the ground of personal freedom… There is no need to abolish that; the development of industry has to a great extent already destroyed it, and is destroying it daily.”
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James A. Hodges @jameshodges.net · 02/09/2026
I can’t wait to talk about my forthcoming book at UIUC next month: #PsychedelicSoftware 📀🌀 Revised manuscript went off to press yesterday! 🥳
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James A. Hodges @jameshodges.net · 20/08/2026
This train conductor seems to have a tasteful reverb and delay combo on his voice???
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James A. Hodges @jameshodges.net · 18/08/2026
New form of sportwashing just dropped, now with 24hr video www.surfline.com/surf-news/ev...
surfline.com
Every El Salvador Surf Cam and Forecast is Now Free
For the first time, Surfline is opening its cams and forecasts to an entire country.
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James A. Hodges @jameshodges.net · 15/08/2026
finished revisions on my book manuscript last night 🥳
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James A. Hodges @jameshodges.net · 06/08/2026
The big reason indie sleaze 1.0 could never happen today is that downtown parties are all sponsored by financialized junk like private equity and crypto, instead of Pabst Blue Ribbon
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James A. Hodges @jameshodges.net · 28/07/2026
Can't wait! I'll be talking about processual metadata as a key to documenting the function of complex systems (like LLMs).
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James A. Hodges @jameshodges.net · 24/07/2026
I don’t understand why any swim trunks would have an elastic waistband, ever. They will fall down if you actually swim, or even if you put anything in the pockets.
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James A. Hodges @jameshodges.net · 24/07/2026
SJSU mentioned! 🥳 (from Benjamin Breen's "Tripping on Utopia)
excerpt reading as follows: Lilly’s near-death experience—what he called his “incident”—took place on May 7, 1964, a Thursday. That Saturday, Gregory Bateson could be found sitting in an auditorium at San Jose State University, participating in a symposium on the “problems and potentialities” of LSD. The event had been organized by one of Bateson’s former colleagues from the Mental Research Institute. Frank Barron was also there, having fled the Leary circle by this time, but still a true believer in the transformative power of psychedelics.
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James A. Hodges @jameshodges.net · 23/07/2026
i don't know how yet, but i assume eric adams has something to do with this too www.reuters.com/world/protes...
reuters.com
Protesters clash with Albanian police in demonstrations triggered by Kushner resort plan
Albanian police used water cannons and tear gas on Thursday to disperse protesters who threw eggs and bottles at officers, in the latest flare-up of ​demonstrations triggered by Jared Kushner's plans ...
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James A. Hodges @jameshodges.net · 22/07/2026
I went to a new “listening bar” in downtown Vancouver last night. I’ve now been to several “listening bars” around North America. They are generally not cool, no matter how hard they try to convince you otherwise
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The Baffler @thebaffler.com · 16/07/2026
No matter the format, recording music has always carried environmental costs. That’s to say nothing of the carbon emissions that an international concert tour can generate. @robarcand.bsky.social considers a new book on climate and culture.
thebaffler.com
It’s Not Easy Being Green | Rob Arcand
In his new book, Kyle Devine examines various efforts—and their shortcomings—to make the music industry greener.
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James A. Hodges @jameshodges.net · 09/07/2026
Bumping this post because I had fun working on revisions today
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James A. Hodges @jameshodges.net · 24/06/2026
I don’t think people outside of NYC realize how funny it is that Jen Rajkumar lost yesterday. She showed up at my door 3 times. She called multiple times a day, even after we blocked her number. She parked a billboard truck at our polling place. And still lost www.cityandstateny.com/politics/202...
cityandstateny.com
New WFP ad attacks Rajkumar as ‘Modi’s best friend in Queens’
The progressive group is supporting challenger David Orkin in the Queens Assembly race.
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MIT Press @mitpress.bsky.social · 14/06/2026
"No human musician could stay in time counting as slowly as these whales do."
thereader.mitpress.mit.edu
The Cold War’s Accidental Whale Observatory
Built to track enemy submarines, the Navy’s underwater listening network inadvertently revealed that whales may be singing across entire oceans.
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James A. Hodges @jameshodges.net · 14/06/2026
Your neighborhood’s choice of NYC-themed rap song for last night’s celebration says a lot. If they were singing “Empire State of Mind,” you’re surrounded by transplants
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James A. Hodges @jameshodges.net · 11/06/2026
Not actually surprising for anyone who paid attention when it launched dronexl.co/2026/06/09/p...
dronexl.co
Pokémon Go Scans Quietly Trained The Navigation Tech Now Headed Into Military Drones
Pokémon Go players' 30 billion scans trained navigation tech now bound for military drones, via Niantic Spatial's defense partnership with Vantor.
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James A. Hodges @jameshodges.net · 09/06/2026
"No one knows anymore whether a door opens to the imaginary or to the real. We are all unhinged.” -Bernhard Siegert
static.klipy.com
Big Bird Appears in Doorway
ALT: Big Bird Appears in Doorway
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James A. Hodges @jameshodges.net · 08/06/2026
new blog post on my website: www.jameshodges.net/blog/coming-... on substack: jameshodges.substack.com/p/coming-soo...
jameshodges.net
Coming Soon: Psychedelic Software — James A. Hodges, Ph.D.
My book is under contract. It started as a grad school project in 2013, looking at the archival preservation of unreleased software. Over the next decade-plus it slowly grew into a book about ways tha...
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Travis Wagner (they/them) @drtlwagner.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
It is the last day of my Preserving Information Resources through Media Archaeology class and students are reading @jameshodges.net new article on historicizing data from Surfrider. The article is 🔥 or perhaps more accurately 🌊. Either way, it is worth your time! www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1...
tandfonline.com
Historicising web-based environmental data dashboards: surfrider.org, 1997-2025
Web-based data dashboards provide critical points of access for users hoping to gain knowledge concerning environmental phenomena, yet their historical development has not been explicitly tracked i...
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James A. Hodges @jameshodges.net · 01/06/2026
Wearing wired earbuds like a scarf
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James A. Hodges @jameshodges.net · 29/05/2026
Returned to the site of my PhD for an IMLS symposium on provenance
Me standing in front of a Rutgers sign
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James A. Hodges @jameshodges.net · 22/05/2026
Greetings from Silicon Valley! Enjoy the funny dance now because these things will probably be committing atrocities in a year or two 🥳
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James A. Hodges @jameshodges.net · 21/05/2026
🚨 New article out now in Internet Histories! 🌊 A History of water quality data on the web, from 1997-2025 🤔 How do we know what's in our water? Through web-based data dashboards, which have changed a LOT in the last 20 years ➡️ Free eprints available now! www.tandfonline.com/eprint/KS8KK...
tandfonline.com
Historicising web-based environmental data dashboards: surfrider.org, 1997-2025
Web-based data dashboards provide critical points of access for users hoping to gain knowledge concerning environmental phenomena, yet their historical development has not been explicitly tracked i...
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James A. Hodges @jameshodges.net · 21/05/2026
🚨 New article out now in Internet Histories! 🌊 A History of water quality data on the web, from 1997-2025 🤔 How do we know what's in our water? Through web-based data dashboards, which have changed a LOT in the last 20 years ➡️ Free eprints available now! www.tandfonline.com/eprint/KS8KK...
tandfonline.com
Historicising web-based environmental data dashboards: surfrider.org, 1997-2025
Web-based data dashboards provide critical points of access for users hoping to gain knowledge concerning environmental phenomena, yet their historical development has not been explicitly tracked i...
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James A. Hodges @jameshodges.net · 18/05/2026
Submitted grades to the registrar. Spring 2026 is a wrap 🥳
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James A. Hodges @jameshodges.net · 13/05/2026
To all who say "Let people enjoy things," I say "Let people hate things"
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James A. Hodges @jameshodges.net · 12/05/2026
MacBook with aftermarket 'bass boost' button
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James A. Hodges @jameshodges.net · 11/05/2026
Is WSOU the only radio station in America that regularly plays E-Town Concrete?
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James A. Hodges @jameshodges.net · 08/05/2026
My paper "Historicizing Web-Based Environmental Data Dashboards: Surfrider.org, 1997-2025" has been accepted for publication in Internet Histories 🥳 It compares data structures, web source, and supporting documents from 1997 to 2025, to show how citizen science data curation changes over time
Slide with title of paper and image of San Clemente pier in Orange County, California (long pier into ocean framed by palm trees)Diagram of research method listing three steps: 1: Capture samples (1997, 2011, 2025), 2: Analyze Data Structures (format, fields), 3: Analyze Web interfaces (source code, visual design)
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James A. Hodges @jameshodges.net · 04/05/2026
You know what's even funnier than typing "pubic" instead of "public"? Typing "sharting" instead of "sharing"
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James A. Hodges @jameshodges.net · 27/04/2026
🚨BIG NEWS🚨 I just signed a contact with MIT Press for my book "Psychedelic Software" 🥳 We all know the 60s counterculture influenced home computing conceptually, but this book uses digital forensics to show how hippie theories of consciousness were baked into software at a technical level too
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James A. Hodges @jameshodges.net · 10/04/2026
Big update, this article now has a volume number (62) and issue number (2)
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James A. Hodges @jameshodges.net · 09/04/2026
In honor of the Artemis II mission, I decided to open this “Apollo Space Pen,” which I purchased as a souvenir from the Kennedy Space Center as a child in the 1990s. It didn’t work, but I have contacted the Fischer Space Pen company regarding their lifetime guarantee
“Apollo space pen,” new in faded packaging which claims ability to write at any angle, upside down, under water, over grease, and in extreme temperatures
Back side of Apollo space pen package
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James A. Hodges @jameshodges.net · 08/04/2026
Just registered for the Archival Education and Research Initiative conference at University of British Columbia this summer. I'll be speaking on the Digital Curation in Archival Education Roundtable. #AERI #AERI2026 Revisiting the 2010s "Canadian Riviera" sound in preparation ra.co/features/2740
ra.co
Vancouver: Rhythms of the Canadian Riviera · Feature ⟋ RA
Vancouver is currently thriving, with a distinctive sound and a vibrant music community. Andrew Ryce surveys the scene.
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James A. Hodges @jameshodges.net · 01/04/2026
Someone told me I have a “Portland vibe” and I don’t know how to take it
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James A. Hodges @jameshodges.net · 31/03/2026
If Elf Bars and Galaxy Gas can have fun fruit flavors, I think my asthma inhalers should too
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James A. Hodges @jameshodges.net · 27/03/2026
several of my students called me 'john hodges' this week and i can't tell if it's an honest mistake (easy to make, for sure), or if i'm being trolled
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James A. Hodges @jameshodges.net · 25/03/2026
Big congratulations to the contract faculty at NYU who went on strike to secure better contracts and won this week 🫡🫡🫡 www.nytimes.com/2026/03/25/n...
nytimes.com
N.Y.U. Professors Reach a Deal on a Contract to End Strike After 2 Days
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