Ryan Heuser
@heuser.bsky.social
Assistant Professor of Digital Humanities @camdighum.bsky.social. Florida man abroad, lapsed Catholic, vulgar marxist; phd'd Stanford English, alum of Literary Lab. I make data about culture and write about forms of abstraction in (C18) literary history.
Pinned
Ryan Heuser
@heuser.bsky.social
· Oct 13
Generative Aesthetics: On formal stuckness in AI verse | Published in Journal of Cultural Analytics
By Ryan Heuser. This paper examines the formal and aesthetic patterns of AI-generated poems through a series of computational experiments.
culturalanalytics.org
Excited to share my latest publication, "Generative Aesthetics: On formal stuckness in AI verse." It's published in a special issue in the Journal of Cultural Analytics, expertly edited by Tess McNulty and Laura Chapot, on "Computation and Form, Reconsidered."
culturalanalytics.org/article/1448...
culturalanalytics.org/article/1448...
Such a rich paper by @jeddobson.bsky.social on the challenges of "the interpretation of computational interpretations": i.e. interpreting cultural objects using methods like LLMs which are themselves so actively interpreting. Discussing it with my students tomorrow.
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
November 27, 2025 at 11:10 PM
Such a rich paper by @jeddobson.bsky.social on the challenges of "the interpretation of computational interpretations": i.e. interpreting cultural objects using methods like LLMs which are themselves so actively interpreting. Discussing it with my students tomorrow.
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Every few weeks I give bluesky a chance but then immediately see this sort of braindead liberalism (here, that pinkwashing empire is "infinitely better" than empire, etc etc). Anyway, back to twitter for me
I hate this sort of meme.
“The only difference between the parties is whether the power to destroy human civilization rests in the hands of leaders who think gays, women, and black people should have their rights acknowledged.”
Even if true, how is Rainbow B-52 not infinitely preferable?
“The only difference between the parties is whether the power to destroy human civilization rests in the hands of leaders who think gays, women, and black people should have their rights acknowledged.”
Even if true, how is Rainbow B-52 not infinitely preferable?
November 20, 2025 at 8:33 PM
Every few weeks I give bluesky a chance but then immediately see this sort of braindead liberalism (here, that pinkwashing empire is "infinitely better" than empire, etc etc). Anyway, back to twitter for me
Reposted by Ryan Heuser
Israel killed 3 Palestinians today
Israel is still not allowing UNRWA to deliver aid. UNRWA said they have enough food to supply Palestinians for 3 months. Israel hasn’t let them bring any aid into Gaza in 7 months.
Israel is still not allowing UNRWA to deliver aid. UNRWA said they have enough food to supply Palestinians for 3 months. Israel hasn’t let them bring any aid into Gaza in 7 months.
October 16, 2025 at 10:43 AM
Israel killed 3 Palestinians today
Israel is still not allowing UNRWA to deliver aid. UNRWA said they have enough food to supply Palestinians for 3 months. Israel hasn’t let them bring any aid into Gaza in 7 months.
Israel is still not allowing UNRWA to deliver aid. UNRWA said they have enough food to supply Palestinians for 3 months. Israel hasn’t let them bring any aid into Gaza in 7 months.
Reposted by Ryan Heuser
Exciting book out early next year! It will be open access 6 months after print publication. I have a chapter in there on shadow libraries as infrastructure.
Edited by @alanyliu.bsky.social, Urszula Pawlicka-Deger, and James Smithies
www.upress.umn.edu/978151791608...
Edited by @alanyliu.bsky.social, Urszula Pawlicka-Deger, and James Smithies
www.upress.umn.edu/978151791608...
Critical Infrastructure Studies and Digital Humanities
How digital humanities can shape and be shaped by the infrastructures that sustain our worldCritical Infrastructure Studies and Digital Humanities reimagines...
www.upress.umn.edu
October 16, 2025 at 9:34 AM
Exciting book out early next year! It will be open access 6 months after print publication. I have a chapter in there on shadow libraries as infrastructure.
Edited by @alanyliu.bsky.social, Urszula Pawlicka-Deger, and James Smithies
www.upress.umn.edu/978151791608...
Edited by @alanyliu.bsky.social, Urszula Pawlicka-Deger, and James Smithies
www.upress.umn.edu/978151791608...
Reposted by Ryan Heuser
🎉 We're excited to share the second half of our Special Issue "Computation and Form, Reconsidered"! 🟧
October 15, 2025 at 4:28 PM
🎉 We're excited to share the second half of our Special Issue "Computation and Form, Reconsidered"! 🟧
Excited to share my latest publication, "Generative Aesthetics: On formal stuckness in AI verse." It's published in a special issue in the Journal of Cultural Analytics, expertly edited by Tess McNulty and Laura Chapot, on "Computation and Form, Reconsidered."
culturalanalytics.org/article/1448...
culturalanalytics.org/article/1448...
Generative Aesthetics: On formal stuckness in AI verse | Published in Journal of Cultural Analytics
By Ryan Heuser. This paper examines the formal and aesthetic patterns of AI-generated poems through a series of computational experiments.
culturalanalytics.org
October 13, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Excited to share my latest publication, "Generative Aesthetics: On formal stuckness in AI verse." It's published in a special issue in the Journal of Cultural Analytics, expertly edited by Tess McNulty and Laura Chapot, on "Computation and Form, Reconsidered."
culturalanalytics.org/article/1448...
culturalanalytics.org/article/1448...
Glad to see the tide finally turning back to it being acceptable to say Taylor Swift makes bad music. Some of us have been holding the torch of hate in the darkness all this time
October 5, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Glad to see the tide finally turning back to it being acceptable to say Taylor Swift makes bad music. Some of us have been holding the torch of hate in the darkness all this time
Reposted by Ryan Heuser
The UC Berkeley School of Information is hiring an assistant professor in the broad field of Information--including areas of info seeking/retrieval, digital humanities, cultural analytics, info viz, & philosophy of information (among others). Deadline Nov 1! aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05014
Assistant Professor - Information - School of Information
University of California, Berkeley is hiring. Apply now!
aprecruit.berkeley.edu
September 23, 2025 at 2:43 PM
The UC Berkeley School of Information is hiring an assistant professor in the broad field of Information--including areas of info seeking/retrieval, digital humanities, cultural analytics, info viz, & philosophy of information (among others). Deadline Nov 1! aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05014
For the LA Times, two brilliant friends of mine wrote a brilliant take on the "Department of War" name change: that it's good.
I co-wrote a piece with T. Banerjee for the @latimes.com on the Department of Defense’s renaming. “Defense” has long made military action sound inevitable while masking its true objectives. Calling it “War” is more honest about American history—and could mean less military funding in the future.
Contributor: 'Department of War' is a more accurate label than 'Defense'
President Trump's idea to rename the department invites Americans to reckon more honestly with the nation’s use of military power.
www.latimes.com
September 19, 2025 at 7:59 PM
For the LA Times, two brilliant friends of mine wrote a brilliant take on the "Department of War" name change: that it's good.
ICYMI: We are hiring an Associate/Full Professor in Digital Humanities at @camdighum.bsky.social. App deadline Sep 21. The position is for Deputy Director of CDH, and eventually Director on rotational basis. Please circulate/apply and let me know if you have any Qs! www.cdh.cam.ac.uk/about/news/n...
Now Hiring: Associate Professor/Professor in Digital Humanities - CDH
Cambridge Digital Humanities (CDH) is currently recruiting for an Associate Professor/Professor in Digital Humanities from January 2026 or as soon as possible thereafter. The appointment may be made a...
www.cdh.cam.ac.uk
September 10, 2025 at 4:07 PM
ICYMI: We are hiring an Associate/Full Professor in Digital Humanities at @camdighum.bsky.social. App deadline Sep 21. The position is for Deputy Director of CDH, and eventually Director on rotational basis. Please circulate/apply and let me know if you have any Qs! www.cdh.cam.ac.uk/about/news/n...
Wow, Kamala really had her finger on the nation's pulse in trying to run to Trump's right on immigration, mocking him for not building the wall and pledging to build it.
Highest level of support since Gallup started asking this question a quarter century ago
September 8, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Wow, Kamala really had her finger on the nation's pulse in trying to run to Trump's right on immigration, mocking him for not building the wall and pledging to build it.
FYI: We are hiring a 3-year research postdoc at @camdighum.bsky.social to study AI and the future of creativity. Application deadline Sep 21; more info below. Please circulate / apply! www.cdh.cam.ac.uk/about/news/r...
Now Hiring: Research Associate (Fixed Term) - CDH
Cambridge Digital Humanities (CDH) seeks to appoint a postdoctoral researcher in Digital Humanities. The post will run for three years from Spring 2026. The successful candidate will work with Profess...
www.cdh.cam.ac.uk
September 6, 2025 at 4:52 PM
FYI: We are hiring a 3-year research postdoc at @camdighum.bsky.social to study AI and the future of creativity. Application deadline Sep 21; more info below. Please circulate / apply! www.cdh.cam.ac.uk/about/news/r...
The @nytimes.com just can't stop repeating Israeli talking points
August 2, 2025 at 9:58 AM
The @nytimes.com just can't stop repeating Israeli talking points
The @nytimes.com prints genocide denial as 109 aid groups warn of mass starvation. Over 100 Palestinians have died from sheer hunger due to Israel's barbaric siege. 21 months of slaughter of a captive population. Gaza is a concentration camp and Israel is committing genocide: another Holocaust.
July 23, 2025 at 10:45 AM
The @nytimes.com prints genocide denial as 109 aid groups warn of mass starvation. Over 100 Palestinians have died from sheer hunger due to Israel's barbaric siege. 21 months of slaughter of a captive population. Gaza is a concentration camp and Israel is committing genocide: another Holocaust.
Reports of 20 Palestinians starving to death in last 24 hours. Those who seek aid are shot. Tanks and drones patrol the rubble. But even AOC votes to send Israel 'defensive' aid, as if what Israel needs is more impunity.
July 22, 2025 at 1:15 AM
Reports of 20 Palestinians starving to death in last 24 hours. Those who seek aid are shot. Tanks and drones patrol the rubble. But even AOC votes to send Israel 'defensive' aid, as if what Israel needs is more impunity.
Trying to watch a bootleg cam of SUPERMAN (2025) because I heard it was anti-Israel but I have no idea wtf is going on. Is this a sequel? Was I supposed to watch every other Superman first, did I have homework? Is this just what comic book movies are like these days?
July 14, 2025 at 2:06 PM
Trying to watch a bootleg cam of SUPERMAN (2025) because I heard it was anti-Israel but I have no idea wtf is going on. Is this a sequel? Was I supposed to watch every other Superman first, did I have homework? Is this just what comic book movies are like these days?
Being forced to watch S3 of Sex and the City and it’s clear Carrie can’t commit to Aidan and has an affair with Big because Aidan does manual labor and Big is rich (i.e. princess fantasy). It’s about class, but the show represses that and makes it about universal hogwash like ‘emo. availability’ etc
June 30, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Being forced to watch S3 of Sex and the City and it’s clear Carrie can’t commit to Aidan and has an affair with Big because Aidan does manual labor and Big is rich (i.e. princess fantasy). It’s about class, but the show represses that and makes it about universal hogwash like ‘emo. availability’ etc
56% of Ukrainians would accept compromise with Russia to end the war. Over a million people have died; land isn't worth this much human life.
www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/6/...
www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/6/...
War-weary Ukrainians ready for peace with Russia through compromise
A poll suggests 56 percent of Ukrainians would agree to a ‘compromise’ to end the conflict.
www.aljazeera.com
June 30, 2025 at 12:50 PM
56% of Ukrainians would accept compromise with Russia to end the war. Over a million people have died; land isn't worth this much human life.
www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/6/...
www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/6/...
Wonderful that in the 22 years since the Iraq war there is still no serious anti-war coalition in either US party.
June 22, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Wonderful that in the 22 years since the Iraq war there is still no serious anti-war coalition in either US party.
Israelis aghast at an Iranian bomb hitting a hospital in Tel Aviv as if they haven't bombed every single hospital in Gaza. Obviously no one should bomb hospitals, it's a war crime, but the unregistered double-standard is evidence of a pathological lack of self-awareness or shame at a national level.
June 19, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Israelis aghast at an Iranian bomb hitting a hospital in Tel Aviv as if they haven't bombed every single hospital in Gaza. Obviously no one should bomb hospitals, it's a war crime, but the unregistered double-standard is evidence of a pathological lack of self-awareness or shame at a national level.
Less than 0 pushback from Dems on the v real prospect of a new war in the Middle East—they're encouraging it! Besides Bernie, AOC—and the hard America First wing of MAGA. Leftism and fascism are both responses to liberal capitalist imperialism, but one advances cultural revolution, one regresses it.
meanwhile the Opposition is spending its time trying to goad trump into yet more belligerence and more war
June 17, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Less than 0 pushback from Dems on the v real prospect of a new war in the Middle East—they're encouraging it! Besides Bernie, AOC—and the hard America First wing of MAGA. Leftism and fascism are both responses to liberal capitalist imperialism, but one advances cultural revolution, one regresses it.
Reposted by Ryan Heuser
We can’t defeat fascism in the US without defeating US imperialism abroad. The liberal resistance to Trump must understand the connection between fascism at home and US violence abroad—including support for the genocidal, fascist and extraordinarily belligerent Israeli regime. No kings means no war.
June 14, 2025 at 5:31 PM
We can’t defeat fascism in the US without defeating US imperialism abroad. The liberal resistance to Trump must understand the connection between fascism at home and US violence abroad—including support for the genocidal, fascist and extraordinarily belligerent Israeli regime. No kings means no war.
@jonlovett.bsky.social of @podsaveamerica.crooked.com just can't contain his establishmentarian snark. "But how will you pay for all this?" "Isn't your agenda too ambitious?" "Isn't it too commie to have public grocery stores?" "Do you condemn Hamas?" (jfc). etc etc.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqVQ...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqVQ...
Zohran Mamdani on Andrew Cuomo, Abundance and Anti-Semitism
YouTube video by Pod Save America
www.youtube.com
June 14, 2025 at 2:35 PM
@jonlovett.bsky.social of @podsaveamerica.crooked.com just can't contain his establishmentarian snark. "But how will you pay for all this?" "Isn't your agenda too ambitious?" "Isn't it too commie to have public grocery stores?" "Do you condemn Hamas?" (jfc). etc etc.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqVQ...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqVQ...
This is where Israel will put the flotilla aid, in their human starvation machine gun trap
June 11, 2025 at 12:53 PM
This is where Israel will put the flotilla aid, in their human starvation machine gun trap
LA is showing how you actually say ‘Hands Off’ to the government, which couldn’t care less about peaceful pussyhat protests, but feels deeply threatened when crowds gather to physically fight back.
June 8, 2025 at 1:35 AM
LA is showing how you actually say ‘Hands Off’ to the government, which couldn’t care less about peaceful pussyhat protests, but feels deeply threatened when crowds gather to physically fight back.