Elan Ullendorff

teaching my escape the algorithm course again and it’s such a joy to be able to put such kind testimonials on the flyer 🥺

Scrubjay is still early, messy in some places (and not chasing seamless UI regardless) but I hope you'll enjoy playing with this very personal web gathering tool. everestpipkin.itch.io/scrubjay

i'm assembling a team

So hey do you think we can officially elevate the phrase “no algorithms” to the status of AI tick?

What in the AI-generated ad copy do words even mean anymore

I usually just ignore emails like this and move on but I chose to engage today.

Something funny/interesting/revealing that I have observed about vibe-coded websites is that their AI-generated text absolutely ~loves~ to brag about providing an algorithm-free experience. The word “algorithm” continues its never-ending march towards losing all meaning.

For just $14.99/month the app my 5 year old's school district uses to communicate with parents offers dystopian features like: • i can mark messages to teachers as more important than other parents' messages • read receipts when teachers read messages • more detailed progress reports about my child

A wonderfully honest conversation with @annfriedman.bsky.social about publishing a bestselling book, thinking it would lead to boundless creative freedom, only to encounter the same industry roadblocks. escapethealgorithm.substack.com/p/ann-friedm...

Posted a temporary software engineer position at The Marshall Project, averaging 100 applications per day, 95% of which are fake or completely AI generated. What’s that again about AI saving us all time?

Beyond honored to be on the selection committee for the Tiny Awards — which celebrates the best of the small, poetic, creative, handmade web — together with the absolute best people in the game. Nominations are open! tinyawards.net/nominations/...

For this month's issue of Anti-viral, a vulnerable conversation with @hrishikesh.co about releasing music when you’re better known for your podcasts, whether it’s scarier to be perceived or not to be perceived, and discovering music that moves you. escapethealgorithm.substack.com/p/hrishikesh...

Presenting THE INTERNET WILL DIE, AND SO WILL YOU, out in September from @herebelow.bsky.social, a new imprint doing awesome things. Here's the cover, a lil' excerpt, and the tagline of the press: "Books for the subversive work of being human." herebelowbooks.com/978080288542...

I couldn't be more excited to announce something I've been working on for a long time - Please welcome Belltower House Artist Residency, a multidisciplinary gift of time in my erstwhile home in southern New Mexico, now accepting applications for 2026. belltowerhouse.org

reupping with a link! lenyx.neocities.org

The Student AI Trap escapethealgorithm.substack.com/p/the-studen...

in honor of Meta shutting down the metaverse, resharing this short strange piece I wrote as an homage to avatars gaining legs (legs legs legs) escapethealgorithm.substack.com/p/the-day-th...

I wrote about the mixed messages universities are sending about AI. escapethealgorithm.substack.com/p/the-studen...

the wonderful @halliebateman.bsky.social is an artist and a human being and following her work is a gift and a treasure, so this interview with her by @elan.place was appropriately also a gift and a treasure

We’re launching Redemption Songs, a limited-run newsletter that spotlights one song each week by incarcerated artists. Starting March 22, we’ll tell the story of mass incarceration over almost a century, one song at a time. Sign up now to get a new song each Sunday afternoon over 25 weeks:

A Google Sheet that is a six-week syllabus for getting you into Bad Bunny adding to my Doc Web repository docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

I spoke with @halliebateman.bsky.social about how the internet can trick you into being static, the miracle of anyone connecting with literally anything online, and why people don’t want to pay $75 for a museum-quality print from “commercial artists.” escapethealgorithm.substack.com/p/anti-viral...

Saw an Instagram reel in which the CEO of McDonalds answers the question "how do you use AI" by eagerly explaining that he no longer needs to get his family together to take holiday photos because he can just generate them instead.

My favorite annual tradition is taking my Escape the Algorithm students to a local zine library called The Soapbox to talk about radical publishing + expressive design. While we’re there, the students each pick a zine and recreate it as a website. This year’s web zines: leaflet.pub/aed57e9a-d7d...

On coffee filters and filter bubbles escapethealgorithm.substack.com/p/on-coffee-...

Thinking once again about this comment under a Simulacra and Simulation quote on Goodreads that’s the best illustration of a simulacrum I've ever seen.

normal ad seems safe

Accepting "I loved his brain. I hated the idea of an intruder therein." into the canon of captions that would work on any New Yorker cartoon.

I’m honored to have my essay The New Turing Test published in the Internet Phone Book, now in its second reprint through @metalabel.bsky.social Revenue is split between contributors and the Living Web Institute, which has the goal of cultivating a better web livingweb.metalabel.com/internetphon...

whoever said AI won’t create jobs can eat their hat now

Exploring the concept of gifting through experimental design — this is the beauty of the internet when it’s totally free from engagement-maxing algorithms and corporations. Highly recommend diving into this collection from @spencer.place and @elan.place's Gifting Interfaces class.

It was an honor to talk to Willa Paskin about artisanal white noise for @slate.com’s excellent Decoder Ring podcast slate.com/podcasts/dec...

In late March, @spencer.place and I wrapped up our Gift Interfaces class at @sfpc-study.bsky.social. On our last day, we threw a gift wrapping party. Then we opened them together. The resulting website represents the archive of our work together: gifting-interfaces.pages.dev

the economy

🌳 new work > Over the past couple of years, I’ve been marking the seasons by the inhale and exhale of this tree. tree.kayserifserif.place/

one day maybe i'll write my snarky hyperbolic essay about how substack is three different pyramid schemes in a trench coat, but in the meantime i'll just point out that this is the most tried and true way to get engagement in the app 🥲

teasing you with more from our gift interface but sorry you'll have to stay tuned to open them!!

I talked to @dzkalman.bsky.social about our experiences of Shabbat, and why disconnection remains so elusive despite our societal obsession with it. escapethealgorithm.substack.com/p/have-you-t...