DFW-DHC - Two Events with Ryan Cordell (SMU & UNT, 2/7 & 8/13)

February 7, 2013
6:30-8:00 p.m.
"Mapping Networks of Viral Texts"
Prothro Hall, Southern Methodist University

Ryan Cordell's work focuses on identifying texts that "went viral" in 19th-century American newspapers and magazines — including literary texts like Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story "The Celestial Railroad," but also jokes, news reports, and semifictional anecdotes.  In collaboration with colleagues in English and Computer Science, he is developing tools to automatically identify viral texts in databases of 19th-century print, and to analyze their spread across the nation using geospatial and network visualization.  His research promises to foreground long-forgotten texts that were among the most widely read pieces of writing in 19th-century America.  Ultimately, however, he hopes to theorize how and why texts spread in 19th-century America, constructing a set of models that can describe nineteenth-century textual virality.

February 8, 2013
1:30-3:30 p.m.
"Digital Frontiers Workshop with Ryan Cordell"
CLC 110B - Eagle Commons Library, Sycamore Hall
University of North Texas

In this informal discussion, Ryan Cordell will talk about how his work as a literary scholar has evolved with the use of digital resources, and describe Northeastern's NULab for Texts, Maps, and Networks.