Ryan Charles Cordell

Ryan Charles Cordell is an Associate Professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign with joint appointments in Information Sciences and English. His research investigates how technologies shape textual meaning in historical communities, combining computational methods with archival studies. As founding director of Skeuomorph Press & BookLab, he leads experiential research in book and information arts.

Cordell's work bridges nineteenth-century print culture and contemporary digital infrastructure, examining viral information networks in historical newspapers, machine learning applications for libraries, and the materiality of digital artifacts. His projects include the Viral Texts initiative tracing information circulation in 19th-century media and Oceanic Exchanges studying global newspaper networks.

Recent publications demonstrate his focus on computational textual analysis, including studies of word embedding models for genre analysis, ethical frameworks for dataset reuse, and bibliographic metadata in digital libraries. His research consistently addresses the interplay between historical communication practices and modern computational methods.

Awards and honors:

• Alexander von Humboldt Senior Fellowship (2023-2024)
• ACLS Digital Innovation Fellowship (2015-2016)
• Mellon Society of Fellows in Critical Bibliography (Senior Fellow)
• Best Digital Humanities Project Award (2014)
• NEH Digital Humanities Start-Up Grant

He advises graduate researchers in digital humanities and leads multiple collaborative projects funded by NEH, Mellon Foundation, and ACLS. Current work examines viral information networks in historical racial violence reporting and develops computational tools for library collections.