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J. Stephen Downie

@profdownie.bsky.social
814 followers 1.3K following 148 posts

Professor, Executive Associate Dean, School of Information Sciences, University of Illinois. Digital Humanities-Music Information Retrieval-Library and Information Science

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Reposted by J. Stephen Downie
Ian Milligan @ianmilligan1.bsky.social · 20h
Our new School is happy to announce our very first tenure-track hiring opportunity. We're hiring a tenure track position at the rank of Assistant Professor in International Relations beginning 1 July 2027. Please share with your networks. universityaffairs.ca/search-jobs/...
universityaffairs.ca
Search Jobs - University Affairs
Explore the latest academic and higher education job opportunities on the University Affairs Jobs board. Updated daily, our job board features hundreds of teaching, research, postdoctoral, administrat...
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Ryan Cordell @ryancordell.org · 28/09/2026
This post is justifiably ratio’ed there’s nothing I love more than when engineering students come into @skeuomorphpress.org—they’re fascinated by our collections in ways distinct from history/humanities students & their responses enrich learning for everyone Education should be broad, not narrow
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NISO @nisoinfo.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Special thanks to Working Group co-chairs Bill Kasdorf, Jacob Jett, and @profdownie.bsky.social !
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Ryan Cordell @ryancordell.org · 26/09/2026
Today Craig—the retired Iowan printer we bought ~250 cases of type from last year—visited @skeuomorphpress.org with his family. @sophie-rose-reads.bsky.social & I really enjoyed showing them the press & chatting about the history of Craig’s press we inherited & hope to pass on to the next generation
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NISO @nisoinfo.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Our draft Accessibility Remediation Metadata (ARM) standard is now available for public comment! The deadline for feedback is November 9. Thank you to our ARM Working Group members for their efforts to help make educational resources more accessible to all: www.niso.org/press-releas...
Cover page of NISO Z39.107-202x, ISSN 1041-5653, titled "Accessibility Remediation Metadata." Beneath the NISO logo and tagline "How the information world connects," the abstract explains that the standard provides a vocabulary for expressing how, and how far, a resource has been remediated to be more accessible to people with disabilities. It is offered in both human-readable and machine-readable forms.
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Jim Casey @jimccasey1.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
We've made a lot of progress on OCR + HTR, but nothing breaks a layout parser like Cattle Text Recognition (CTR)
Screenshot of a newspaper page from 1908 with little pictures of cows and their brands.
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Quinn Daedal @quinnanya.me · 19/09/2026
Of all the ways I imagined Google Scholar going up in flames, being made inaccessible from university IP addresses due to AI-driven scraping wasn't at the top of my list.
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David Mimno @dmimno.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
A university founded in the Middle Ages in a city that centers itself around a Medieval castle does not see a need to study Medieval History
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Lauren Klein @laurenfklein.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
My students! My team! Their smiling faces!
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Theo Ward @theoward.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Excited to participate in the opening of London, Ontario's inaugural (unbelievably so) IRISH FEST. A chat and a reading of new work by our own Emma Donoghue, followed by music from Michael Darcy & The Atlantic Tramps. Lots more music and fun on Saturday in Wortley Village if you're nearby! #LdnOnt
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Brett Bobley @brettbobley.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Congratulations to the best paper awardees at the AI4LAM Fantastic Futures conference. The awards are sponsored by @schmidtsciences.bsky.social. #FF2026
12 people on stage to receive their awards.Electronic sign that says AI4LAM FF2026 Conference Reception and Innovation Awards and a Schmidt Sciences logo.
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Ian Petrie @icpetrie.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
JOB: TT Assistant Professor, Philosophy, University of Toronto Mississauga Ethics and/or Social and Political Philosophy The capacity to teach Feminist Philosophy is an asset for this position universityaffairs.ca/search-jobs/...
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SHARP News @sharpnews.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Did you or a friend complete a thesis or dissertation on a book history topic between 2024 and 2025? Submit the information here to have it included in our SHARP 2024-2025 Thesis and Dissertation Biliography! #Thesis #Dissertation #Research #BookHistory Submit: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
docs.google.com
SHARP Thesis/Dissertation Bibliography Submission Form 2024/2025
Use this form to submit citation information about book history theses and dissertations completed between 2024 and 2025. Guidelines Dissertations and theses about book history (interpreted broadly, ...
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iSchool at Illinois @ischoolui.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
#iSchoolUI Professor Jingrui He and Professor Hanghang Tong (Siebel School) are part of a $14.2M @departmentofenergy.bsky.social project developing GridFM, a next-generation AI foundation model for the electric grid. The project aims to accelerate grid expansion planning. ▶️ bit.ly/4r0HloT
iSchool Professor Jingrui He
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David Silkenat @davidsilkenat.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Assistant Prof in American Legal History at UF explore.jobs.ufl.edu/en-us/job/54...
explore.jobs.ufl.edu
University of Florida - Details - Assistant Professor US Legal History– Tenure Accruing, Department of History
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Skeuomorph Press & BookLab @skeuomorphpress.org · 31/08/2026
On Dec. 4th, Bonnie Mak & Julia Pollack will join to us for “If these pages were blank, it would have been intentional.” No flyer for that one yet, but there’s more info at skeuomorph.ischool.illinois.edu/our-research... We are excited for talks that bridge information science & the humanities!
skeuomorph.ischool.illinois.edu
“Media Necromancy” Series – Skeuomorph Press
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Theodor Dunkelgrün @theodunkelgrun.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
The Department of History at @princeton.edu invites applications from scholars who specialize in the history of Britain and its empire for a tenure-track job in #earlymodern or #modern #british #history apply.interfolio.com/190698
apply.interfolio.com
Apply - Interfolio {{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
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Travis Wagner (they/them) @drtlwagner.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
If you haven’t had the fortune of seeing @jameshodges.net talk about his work it is always a good time and it is incredible to see him talk through the deeply social realities of engaging with technology in a historic way. Put simply, this talk is gonna rip!
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Skeuomorph Press & BookLab @skeuomorphpress.org · 31/08/2026
We have great talks coming up in our “Media Necromancy” speaker series this fall! On Oct. 30th @jameshodges.net will help us launch the Undead Media Lab with “Converting Consciousness into Digital Data: A Haunting History of Information Technologies” skeuomorph.ischool.illinois.edu/our-research...
Converting Consciousness into Digital Data: A Haunting History of Information Technologies
When: Friday, October 30th 12-1pm
Who: James A. Hodges, San José State University School of Information
Where: Skeuomorph Press, CU Community Fablab, 1301 S. Goodwin Ave. Urbana, IL 61801
Also: There will be snacks!
Additional note: This talk will also be part of our official launch of Skeuomorph’s Undead Media Lab!
A specter is haunting digital media— the specter of print. Presenting an overview of case studies from his forthcoming book Psychedelic Software (MIT Press, 2027), James A. Hodges will excavate the printed origins of contemporary ideographic and time-stamped writing forms in mid-1960s experiments with Xerox machines, a modified “lie detector,” and psychoactive chemicals like psilocybin and LSD. These media experiments, undertaken along the margins of MIT and Harvard by countercultural researchers heavily inspired by Marshall McLuhan, pioneered the translation of conscious experience into codified data using electronic information technologies. Although they were motivated by a quest for self-actualization, they also conjured up new forms of surveillance and alienation. Using tools like a modified polygraph or a printed checklist to track their spiritual awakenings under LSD, participants in these studies were tasked with recording their own deeply personal experiences as if they were business memos. By closely examining both the formal and political histories of these information practices, this talk will also reveal the legacies of exploited labor, prison research, mind control, and drug abuse that haunt now-ubiquitous forms of communication like social media and emoji.
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Andromeda Yelton @thatandromeda.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
HI are you an engineering manager? Do you want to manage MY TEAM and do mission-focused work helping people get college degrees? I have been dual-classed as our lead and our manager for the last few months so I'm happy to answer questions about how awesome the team is. www.ithaka.org/job/47282830...
ithaka.org
Engineering Manager, Transfer Explorer - ITHAKA
ITHAKA’s mission is to expand access to knowledge and education around the world. Our services — JSTOR, Portico, and Ithaka S+R — enable people everywhere to learn, to grow, and to overcome barriers t...
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Poured myself a cup of ambition and sat down to the paper. Not bad for a girl born to be a stereotype…and Dolly, of course.
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Melissa Terras @melissaterras.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Pleased to say our new book "Critical Approaches to Automated Text Recognition: Transcribing Historical Documents in the Age of Artificial Intelligence" has just been submitted to Facet! Co-edited with @jnockels.bsky.social @semames.bsky.social & Paul Gooding. 10 chapters of 🧐 to 👩‍💻📜. Out Spring 27!
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Ryan Cordell @ryancordell.org · 27/08/2026
Ok I can share—today MSLIS student Nadja Robot donated a teletype machine to @skeuomorphpress.org’s Undead Media Lab But this is not just any teletype—it’s the one Michael S. Hart used to digitize the Declaration of Independence & Alice in Wonderland—the 1st texts in what became Project Gutenberg
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James Cummings @jamescummings.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Very interesting reflections.
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Quinn Daedal @quinnanya.me · 26/08/2026
Glad to get almost a year's head start in making things riffing on red sailboats, as soon as I finish the #DH2026 logo sweater! #DHmakes
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Melissa Terras @melissaterras.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
An explanation of the viral bakery I visited in Daejeon, in Korea!
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Dr. Carol Tilley 🏳️‍🌈 @anuncivilphd.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Watch this and then donate to Dolly's Imagination Library.
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Jennifer Serventi @jenserventi.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Looking forward to tuning into the NEH-funded documentary "Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World" premiering tonight on public television's American Masters series. As always with public television, check your local listings. www.pbs.org/wnet/america...
pbs.org
Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World | American Masters | PBS
Celebrate the work of writer Mary Oliver, who published more than 30 collections of poetry and essays on nature, beauty, and love.
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Quinn Daedal @quinnanya.me · 26/08/2026
#DHmakes for good
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Ryan Cordell @ryancordell.org · 19/08/2026
Not sure why people started replying/quoting this post again—maybe the new academic year?—but happy to hear more banal/mindblowing facts from your fields!
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Ryan Cordell @ryancordell.org · 19/08/2026
I’ve been doing a deep dive into 20th-century vocational films & documentaries about printing with an eye toward how print gets mythologized in these accounts This one goes so hard on that front, taking the 2001 A Space Odyssey route: “For countless years, a silent earth orbited the new-born sun”
youtube.com
"THE HISTORY OF PRINTING" 1970s DOCUMENTARY FILM GUTENBERG TO LINOTYPE TO ROTARY PRESS GG48405
YouTube video by PeriscopeFilm
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J. Stephen Downie @profdownie.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Last road trip before term. Davenport, IA, here I come! Vroom, vroom, vroom......
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Quinn Daedal @quinnanya.me · 15/08/2026
Matthew Sag collaborated with the Data-Sitters Club on a fair use and copyright piece too! Really looking forward to reading his new textbook especially around the still messy and unresolved AI landscape. datasittersclub.github.io/site/dsc7/
datasittersclub.github.io
DSC #7: The DSC and Mean Copyright Law - The Data-Sitters Club
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James Cummings @jamescummings.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
It was an excellent conference! Thanks to all the #TEI2026 organisers, volunteers, participants, reviewers, etc. ❤️
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Matthew Sag @matthewsag.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
My new textbook on Copyright Law in the Age of AI is now up on my website as a free pdf. I will move it to a dedicated website soon, but for now matthewsag.com/copyright-la...
matthewsag.com
Copyright Law in the Age of AI – Matthew Sag
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J. Stephen Downie @profdownie.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
A very pleasant evening in Urbana, IL.
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J. Stephen Downie @profdownie.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
A very pleasant evening in Urbana, IL.
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Dr. Carol Tilley 🏳️‍🌈 @anuncivilphd.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Comics were more popular with kids in the 1940s than either video games or social media today are today.
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Dr. Carol Tilley 🏳️‍🌈 @anuncivilphd.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Also, in 1952, there were nearly 1 BILLION new comic book issues sold in the US alone. And while comic book shops didn't exist, there was still a steady market in used comics via bookstores, magazine shops, kids swapping and selling comics, etc.
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iSchool at Illinois @ischoolui.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
#iSchoolUI Professor Jingrui He is one of 5 professors at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to be recognized as a 2026 University Scholar. The program honors faculty excellence and provides $15,000 for 3 years. Learn more ▶️ bit.ly/3RNPOPh Congratulations, Jingrui! 🎉
Professor Jingrui He
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iSchool at Illinois @ischoolui.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Congrats to #iSchoolUI Associate Professor @crhinesmith.bsky.social on being named a 2026–27 PEPP Fellow! 🎉   His project will examine the impact of Illinois’ broadband investments, particularly in rural communities, and help inform future broadband policy.   Learn more ▶️ bit.ly/4wUoTQQ
Associate Professor Colin Rhinesmith
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iSchool at Illinois @ischoolui.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
#iSchoolUI Professor Yang Wang is a recipient of Amazon’s Build on Trainium program! The award supports “Safeguarding Youths in Multimodal Generative AI,” research conducted with Associate Professor Yun Huang and PhD alum Yaman Yu (PhD ’26). Congratulations! 🎉
Professor Yang Wang, Associate Professor Yun Huang, and PhD alum Yaman Yu (PhD ’26)
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Alex Wingate @bibliowingate.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
#BookHistory
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J. Stephen Downie @profdownie.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Friday night in Champaign. Weather very cooperative.
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Digital Humanities Potsdam @dhpotsdam.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Ten years, 114 papers, one plot twist: drama research got fancier tools (hi transformers! 🤖) but never broke up with 1970s theory🥸. At #DH2026, @lucagiovannini.bsky.social presented our dive into the DraCor bibliography (2015-2025): what changed, and what stubbornly did not. Slides: plu.sh/decadrama
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Melissa Terras @melissaterras.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
For the past week at #dh2026 we’ve watched people queue for hours in a heatwave to get into the very viral Sungsimdang Cake Boutique in #Daejeon As the conference ended I walked past and at 7pm there was no queue! A fab way to end the week. Can report the chocolate cake was 🤤
Cake queueInside the shop! Bedlam 😂Lovely cakes, like!
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DHSS FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg @dhssfau.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
🇰🇷 Our colleagues have just concluded a brilliant DH conference in Daejeon, and shared this photo with us from overseas. We're delighted to have such a strong presence there. @mila-oiva.bsky.social @anastasiaglawion.bsky.social @katrohrbacher.bsky.social @tillmannohm.bsky.social #DH2026
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Brett Bobley @brettbobley.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Congratulations to Julia Flanders, who just won the Busa prize for lifetime achievement! @juliaflanders.bsky.social #DH2026
Busa Prize: Julia Flanders (Northeastern University)

Julla Flanders has spent over three decades building and sustaining the digital Infrastructure that humanities scholarship depends on, most notably as director of the Women Writers Project since 2000. She is a founding editor and, since 2007, editor-in-chief of Digital Humanities Quarterly (DHQ), one of the field's flagship Journals, shaping its enduring commitment to open access, multilingual publishing, and collaborative scholarly communication. Through DHQ and her leadership roles at ACH, ADHO, and the TEI Consortium, she has helped define the Institutional and intellectual foundations of digital humanities as a field. She has also trained hundreds of scholars in text encoding and digital editing through workshops and Institutes, extending her Influence well beyond her own publications. Taken together, her sustained work as an infrastructure buil Journal editor, teacher, and scholar exemplifies the Bo Prize.
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James Cummings @jamescummings.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Next venues for the @adho-org.bsky.social DH conferences mentioned in #DH2026 closing ceremony. - #DH2027 28 June - 3 July 2027, Galway, Ireland dh2027.adho.org - #DH2028 4-7 July 2028 Capetown, South Africa - #DH2029 2029, Padua, Italy Hope that I can make some of these!
dh2027.adho.org
DH2027
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Ryan Cordell @ryancordell.org · 30/07/2026
I can’t quite wrap my head around the @ischoolui.bsky.social welcoming *13 new faculty* members this academic year, with PhDs in everything from computer science to history to education to anthropology—excited to have so many new colleagues!
ischool.illinois.edu
Record number of new faculty to join iSchool this fall
A record number of new faculty will join the iSchool this fall: 13 across ranks and disciplines.
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