Cynthia Heider

@cynthiaheider

She/her. Public historian, data & digital humanist, would-be skee ball champion. Public Digital Scholarship Librarian at the University of Pennsylvania. Views do not reflect those of my employer. cynthiaheider.com

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Cynthia Heider@cynthiaheider· Jul 11

Delightful to look up from Cherry Street Pier and watch the hundreds of pedestrians crossing the Benjamin Franklin Bridge between Camden and Philadelphia, which is closed to traffic today for its 100th birthday celebration 🎂

Hundreds of pedestrians crossing the Benjamin Franklin Bridge on its 100th birthday celebration

Closer view of hundreds of pedestrians crossing the Benjamin Franklin Bridge on its 100th birthday celebration

Cynthia Heider@cynthiaheider· Jun 26

Celebrating a successful #ACH2026 Mid-Atlantic Regional Hub at Two Locals Brewing with an ice cold beer and two World Cup matches 🙌🏻

A light-colored beer in a pint glass in the foreground, and a TV showing the France-Norway World Cup match in the background

Cynthia Heider@cynthiaheider· Jun 24

The #ACH2026 Mid-Atlantic Regional Hub is happening! This free event runs through Friday at Penn. More info at www.library.upenn.edu/events/ach-2.... Thankful for our wonderful volunteers! @ach.bsky.social

A woman in a pink shirt and a man in a green shirt sit behind an event sign-in table in the entranceway of Van Pelt Library at the University of Pennsylvania. A sign in an easel next to them reads in part: "Welcome! Association for Computing and the Humanities, ACH 2026 Mid-Atlantic Regional Hub at Penn"

Cynthia Heider@cynthiaheider· Jun 12

The last day of a great week at #DHSI2026 meeting smart colleagues and discussing "DH Leadership." Thanks to @raysiemens.bsky.social, @gworthey.bsky.social and @triproftri.bsky.social for their kind and thoughtful facilitation! 🙏🏻

Cynthia Heider@cynthiaheider· Jun 6

It's pretty weird that Amazon apparently created an account for me on IMDB.com without my consent or registration.

Cynthia Heider@cynthiaheider· May 19

Get in, loser! We're casting our votes in the PA primary either in-person or by ballot box before 8pm May 19! Find everything you need to know at vote411.org 💋 @lwvus.bsky.social

A woman proudly holds up a mail-in ballot envelope in front of an Official Ballot Return box

Cynthia Heider@cynthiaheider· May 15

Getting ready to ship out my contribution to the #DHMakes regional hub for #ACH26 today!

A pile of minizines is spread across a manila envelope and a thank you note on a desk. The minizine cover reads "Ethically Making & Sharing Data: A zine for researchers or anyone else! *Learn about the data life cycle * Review data ethics principles & precedents * Identify key actions at every step of the cycle * Put it into practice with tools & resources. More at https://bit.ly/data-ethics-rdds"

Cynthia Heider@cynthiaheider· May 2

A perk of living in my district is receiving voter information mail with lovely art by @martharichart.bsky.social!

An artistic postcard with the text "Vote May 19"

Cynthia Heider@cynthiaheider· Apr 28

Just a few of the student-created zines I picked up while tabling for Penn Libraries at the Kelly Writers House Zine Fest this afternoon. I love their creativity, especially on tech topics! 😍

A stack of zines on a table, including "The Price of Zines is Too Damn High," "Let's Be in a Zine With Mama," "I Hate ChatGPT: Reflections on the Absurdity of Affecting an Ivy Infested by a Chat Bot," and a packet of rotten tomato stickers.

Cynthia Heider@cynthiaheider· Apr 18

Love you forever, Baltimore 💕

View through the window of the Hotel Revival showing the Washington Monument in Baltimore framed by floral curtains

Cynthia Heider@cynthiaheider· Mar 28

Hope is a daikon radish sprout emerging on a week of wildly-fluctuating weather

A single daikon radish sprout emerges from soil in a pot

Cynthia Heider@cynthiaheider· Oct 27

Submitting to @kcommons.bsky.social today and so relieved to see that they're asking if genAI contributed to the production of the work. Love to see transparency in a repository like this!

A screenshot of the submission form to Knowledge Commons, which contains a Yes/No question: "Did generative AI contribute to the production of this work?"

Cynthia Heider@cynthiaheider· Aug 20

A successful zine take-and-make event for new student orientation is in the bag 🎉 Obligatory proud mama pic of our little tech and data zine corner:

A woman in a yellow shirt wearing glasses stands in front of a whiteboard reading "Zines by Penn Libraries staff. Take one!" Next to her is a metal rack with zines clipped to it.

Cynthia Heider@cynthiaheider· Jul 16

Love this cute mini print vending machine from Fabiola Lara at the Bok Building!

A vending machine labeled "Philadelphia Mini Prints"

Cynthia Heider@cynthiaheider· Jul 7

Cynthia Heider@cynthiaheider· Jun 30

My takeaway from my first (possibly last?) ALA conference is that I'm so proud to be part of LFP. Liberatory library practices and information freedom 4eva #ALAAC25

Cynthia Heider@cynthiaheider· Jun 29

Love that Library Freedom Project's "AI Ethics and the Library" panel got an encore preservation at #ALAAC25! Resist the polycrisis, babes 🛠️

Cynthia Heider@cynthiaheider· May 22

Tastykakes and Philly-style pretzels at Dream Lab, all stellar Philadelphia institutions. Thank you @pricelab.bsky.social!

A catering table with a blue tablecloth that features three kinds of Tastykakes and Philadelphia-style pretzels (with mustard)

Cynthia Heider@cynthiaheider· May 12

I started doing this when I was an undergrad and I love to see that students still may find it helpful!

A sheet on a bulletin board with tearaway affirmations, labeled "Finals are tough. Take what you need!"

Cynthia Heider@cynthiaheider· May 10

So proud of this tiny tomato baby

A tomato plant with one little tiny tomato beginning to grow

Cynthia Heider@cynthiaheider· Apr 25

Me on the internet, mostly

Cynthia Heider@cynthiaheider· Apr 24

💯 where can I get these stickers

A sticker that reads "if not fascism, why fascism shaped?" It may only make sense to the extremely online

Cynthia Heider@cynthiaheider· Apr 15

Repost with a favorite book from childhood

Book cover of Ellen Raskin's "The Westing Game" showing a house made of dollar bills and a sky lit with fireworks

Cynthia Heider@cynthiaheider· Apr 5

Love that #HandsOff Philly @indivisiblephl.bsky.social kicked off by the Mother Jones historical marker at City Hall. This is where the March of the Factory Children to protest child labor began; we're in good company!

A blue historical marker on the north side of Philadelphia's City Hall in honor of Mother Jones. It reads: "Mary Harris Jones began the March of the Factory Children here, July 1903, to dramatize the need for child labor legislation. Born in Ireland, Jones was an organizer and inspiring presence in the U.S. coal, steel, and textile labor movements."

Cynthia Heider@cynthiaheider· Apr 5

Spotted yesterday on Penn campus

A black and white wheatpaste poster stuck onto an electrical transformer that shows the seal of Wharton School of Business reimagined as a garbage pile. Maggots are depicted coming out of the center of the seal and turning into Tesla Cybertrucks with wings around the outer perimeter. At the top of the seal, books are labeled with "45" and "47."

Cynthia Heider@cynthiaheider· Mar 24

Tomato babies ❤️ In case you needed a joyful thing

The stems of tiny tomato seedlings emerge from their dirt cocoons

Cynthia Heider@cynthiaheider· Mar 8

How dare you do me like this, NYT Games? #Severance

NYT Games Connections board shows 4 selected inner spaces that have the names of 4 characters from the TV show "Severance": Mark, Helena, Irving, and Dylan. The names were not a valid group of 4 in today's puzzle.

Cynthia Heider@cynthiaheider· Feb 5

Excerpt from article: "While previous administrations have considered removing the de minimis exemption or introducing reforms, Trump is the first to have actually done so. 'This is the administration’s version of moving fast and breaking things,' says Ram Ben Tzion, cofounder and CEO of Publican, a digital shipment vetting platform, citing one of the core tenets of startup culture."

Cynthia Heider@cynthiaheider· Jan 31

Went to the Kimmel Center for the 1st time tonight to hear "The Planets." If you're able, I highly recommend taking a short break for beauty amidst the chaos

A high-up balcony view of the stage of the Kimmel Center, where the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra sets up for a performance

Cynthia Heider@cynthiaheider· Jan 18

A relatable teenage punk experience voiced by HR in the DCPL exhibit on DC punk