iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by xiaochang

Jeffrey Yost @justcode.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Please join Us!! (Sept. 16th 1pm C.). Absolutely thrilled to announce an online book talk w/ thought-leading scholar @stanforduniversity.bsky.social @xiaochang.bsky.social on her stellar new book Divination Engines on NLP & AI! #criticalAI #histtech Registration (free): cse.umn.edu/cbi/events/d...

Flyer for talk with an image of Prof. Xiaochang Li other images and maroon, gold, and gray design elements and info on the event.

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

Look what arrived at my office! Thanks to @joecalamia.bsky.social and @uchicagopress.bsky.social for all the amazing work they did to turn my thoughts into a material object that actually exists in the world (and for the complimentary copies)!

Box with copies of the book Divination Engines: Natural Language Processing, Artificial Intelligence, and the Making of Algorithmic Culture (University of Chicago Press 2026) by Xiaochang Li

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

Ooh, can't wait! Also, I am absolutely loving this series from @mesonpress.bsky.social. Interventions from scholars from different specializations in conversation around a shared concept is the stuff of my interdisciplinary dreams. And each featuring an star-studded combo, just like this one.

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

Thank you Eileen! You're always such a wonderful resource and interlocutor. I'm still waiting on my copies from the press, but once I get them, I'd be happy to send you one. Just DM or email me a mailing address.

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

Thanks Jeff! I'm looking forward to my CBI talk in September!

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Not gonna lie, that absolutely makes sense and definitely did not even occur to me.

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

Right, so if they're good at messy input, it shouldn't matter (as much) if that input can be interpreted accurately word-for-word. So what's the point of having a mic designed to maximize speech intelligibility? The model doesn't care if the messiness is due to you or to acoustic compression.

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

Wait, so they don't actually even need sound recording/transmission tailored for speech because they're just using it for voice command, which doesn't require the same level of fidelity as dictation? They're just, I don't know, looking to change up the type of repetitive stress injury they acquire?

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

I would pay to watch you pitch "you should care about vibe coding" to Lisa. Also, are vibe coders using steno mics in a way similar to the purpose of dictaphones beyond having sound transmission tailored for speech? Serious question, because I can't reliably guess how/why vibe coders do anything.

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Oh, and I think David Morton's book Off the Record has a chapter on dictaphones/office dictation devices, though I haven't read it myself.

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Gitelman discusses early dictaphones (the generic device not the trademarked product) in both Always Already New and Scripts, Grooves, and Writing Machines, no? Though you might have to be more specific as to time period depending on what actual technology/application you mean by "dictaphone."

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

HI HELLO. Let's hang out next time I'm in NYC!

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

@uchicagopress.bsky.social is also offering a 30% discount for preorders from their website. Enter the discount code UCPNEW (for US orders, no expiration date that I'm aware of). To get the discount for EU and UK orders, email Chicago.csd@wiley.com and use the reference code XLI30 (expires Dec 31).

promotional flyer for the book Divination Engines offering 30% off at www.press.uchicago.edu with the code UCPNEW at checkout.

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

Resurfacing online to mention: my book on the history of Speech Rec, NLP, and data-driven AI is coming out in a couple of weeks! Just got my author's copy from @uchicagopress.bsky.social and it finally feels real! press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...

press.uchicago.edu

Divination Engines

A revealing and surprising origin story, showing how attempts to render human speech and language computable led from the era of big data to today’s AI. Since the advent of computers, society has fant...

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

So nice to be back among the @sigcisconf.bsky.social community, especially now that I can just enjoy the panels without having to be responsible for anything. Thanks to the organizing committee for putting together a fantastic stand-alone event this year!

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Reposted by xiaochang

Shannon Mattern @shannonmattern.bsky.social · 14/08/2025

"A living visual archive on cybernetics in the expanded field. Browse and contribute images of all kinds: diagrams, schematics, photos, graphic elements, and other visual fragments."

cyberneticsimagelibrary.dev

Cybernetics Image Library

A living visual archive on cybernetics in the expanded field.

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · 25/08/2025

It's already well-known in CS, but for those unfamiliar in humanities/social sciences doing historical/social critique of speech processing, NLP, and AI/ML, Dan and Jim's textbook + site is an incredible (and accessible) resource for gaining a foundational understanding of key techniques.

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · 21/07/2025

I am increasingly convinced that the problem is not so much that people don't seem to understand how computers work than it is that they seem to have forgotten what *language* does.

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · 20/07/2025

Some really interesting [massive media conglomerate] vs. [data-churning tech juggernaut] lawsuits might start hitting court dockets in 3-5 years.

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · 20/07/2025

See downthread re: v. cool forthcoming special issue on algorithms+occult, but as a tangent: is there a name for visual genre of merging vaguely late-antiquity/early-modern imagery w/digital/electronic iconography? Like sacred geometry+circuit schematic vibes. If not, can I propose glitch esoterica?

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · 19/07/2025

So . . . what do we think is going to happen when they eventually incorporate all that text that people have been scraping from *fanfiction archives* into these datasets?

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Reposted by xiaochang

lauren @lauren.rotatingsandwiches.com · 18/07/2025

the curse of enjoying the early internet is having to watch all its silly little aspects get churned up and spat out in its final form as a civilization-eating demogorgon

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

I would say that only 95% of my writing problems are, in fact, thinking problems. The remaining 5% are the result of my doomed attempts to turn my point into a pun.

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · 14/07/2025

Damn, they can't even bother putting some effort into their soulless commercialism. I guess no one knows what it means to work anymore.

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · 14/07/2025

"to solve DoD use cases"--I've read decades-worth of documentation from NLP-related DoD projects since 1940s & seen proposed use cases from run-of-the-mill mass surveillance to "idk, we try telepathy yet?" I can't think of one for this that isn't just to watch the world burn.

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · 14/07/2025

Me, an absolute monster, with curiosity borne from deepest void of late capitalist despair: "what kind of ads were they?"

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · 14/07/2025

No idea why Mariners are trending since I don't follow baseball and never have, but this 3.5+ hour documentary that @secretbase.bsky.social put out some years ago might be one of my favorite pieces of media of all time. Fully serious. It's this and vol. 3 of Proust. www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIgK...

youtube.com

The History of the Seattle Mariners: Supercut Edition

YouTube video by Secret Base

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · 14/07/2025

Okay, while I'm here, something sound studies and media tech history folks may find of interest: the Ray Dolby papers were recently processed and are now available for research at Stanford's Silicon Valley Archives. A bunch of stuff has been digitized too: exhibits.stanford.edu/dolby

"Copy of series of graphs showing the 'guitar' spike alone and with various Dolby SR adjustments."

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · 14/07/2025

Ah, so it's like a list, but "list" didn't project enough multi-level marketing scam energy.

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · 14/07/2025

That was written specifically for the target audience of me, the person who is very relieved not to have to haul myself to Luxembourg this year.

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · 14/07/2025

What the hell is a starter pack.

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · 14/07/2025

I also can't take any credit for that CFP--all that goes to my brilliant co-organizers. I think the only thing my book-frazzled brain managed to contribute when we were putting it together this year was positive vibes. 😅

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · 14/07/2025

I've been a complete hermit while finishing up the book. I'm torn between "wow, has it been that long?" and "how has it only been two years, it feels like 86."

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · 14/07/2025

Wow, I couldn't even remember to put a link to the actual @sigcisconf.bsky.social account in my repost. It's social media amateur hour over here. (Don't worry, I'm not going to be the one actually running the SIGCIS bsky account.)

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · 14/07/2025

Reminder that the extended deadline for SIGCIS proposals is tomorrow 7/14! We're on our all-virtual rotation this year, which means registration will be Pay-What-You-Can and you don't have to travel to Luxembourg.

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · 14/07/2025

Hello! Nice to see a familiar face on my twice-yearly peak onto social media!

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · 14/07/2025

I should probably be making my own "go follow the new SIGCIS account" post, but instead I'm just going to repost Laine's:

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Reposted by xiaochang

Ed Zitron @edzitron.com · 28/12/2024

Yeah I need way more money than anyone ever got before. I need it because my shit is difficult right now. But it's important in ways even I haven't been able to work out. OpenAI is a serious business. Help me. Please help me please my serious company is so good. Help me www.cnbc.com/2024/12/27/o...

OpenAl says it needs 'more capital than we'd
imagined' as it lays out for-profit plan

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · 28/12/2024

File under: tech company execs eventually "innovate" themselves into an slightly worse version of the very thing they sought to disrupt. This is just how a lot of long-running procedural shows on network tv worked.

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · 15/12/2024

Hi, thank you! I'm occasionally active, meaning I basically check in every few months, attempt to clear out the backlog of notifications, and then disappear again. 😅

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · 19/02/2024

2024 is absolutely nailing it: "Air Canada essentially argued that 'the chatbot is a separate legal entity that is responsible for its own actions,' a court order said." Impeccable, no notes. 🙃 arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...

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Reposted by xiaochang

SHOT, Society for the History of Technology @shothisttech.bsky.social · 31/01/2024

UPDATED DEADLINE for submissions for SIGCIS Conference 2024 (July 14th in Viña del Mar, Chile) by Monday, February 12th. Please find the CfP on the SIGCIS conference website meetings.sigcis.org.

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · 29/01/2024

*Actually almost 17 years ago. Enough time to start counting only in 5-year increments.

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xiaochang @xiaochang.bsky.social · 29/01/2024

I first set up my twitter account 15 years ago, so I truly have no recollection of how I'm supposed to do this.

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