Sign in

Shannon Mattern

@shannonmattern.bsky.social
30K followers 11K following 20K posts

i work across nyc’s libraries and archives; i was a full professor of media studies, art history + anthropology architecture, archives, 🎨, cities, 🐕, infrastructure, libraries, 🗺️, sound++ nyc + upstate wordsinspace.net/work

PostsRepliesMedia
Shannon Mattern @shannonmattern.bsky.social · 6h
"The Department of Information Studies seeks a scholar specializing in Media Archival Studies whose research and teaching address historical and contemporary media-making contexts, media formats, and the information systems that support their preservation, management, and use."
recruit.apo.ucla.edu
Assistant Professor of Information Studies (Tenure-Track), Specializing in Media Archival Studies
University of California, Los Angeles is hiring. Apply now!
04326
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
Ordinary Notes @hystericalblkns.bsky.social · 11h
The gofundme for Nurse Chloe Freeman's legal defense. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Nurse charged with helping man in hospital escape from ICE custody
FBI accuses Chloe Freeman of federal misdemeanor in case of undocumented Mexican migrant arrested in Michigan
5297224
Shannon Mattern @shannonmattern.bsky.social · 8h
“Her April 2025 charge against Harvard cited archived materials from the uni’a website… showing that the share of white men among tenured faculty had declined to 56% in 2023 from 64% in 2013… White men, in 2023, still >#, white women, men of color, + women of color…” Oh, those poor oppressed souls!
nytimes.com
E.E.O.C. Sues Harvard for Data on Diversity in Hiring Practices
2134
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
Becca Harrison @beccaeharrison.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
If I were running a university where staff spent weeks and weeks of time putting grant proposals together only for UKRI to feed them into LLMs without informed consent—effectively theft of the time and work—I’d be taking serious action to defend those staff. But I’m not running a university, so
822688
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
Denise DeGrazia @rddegrazia.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
apnews.com/video/new-ha... shows 3 humpback whales jump in unison
apnews.com
Video shows 3 humpback whales jump in unison
A New Hampshire man celebrating his birthday with his three daughters saw something so rare that even marine scientists are jealous — three humpback whales leaping from the water in near perfect synch...
841880
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
Puff the Magic Hater @mskellymhayes.bsky.social · 20h
I am incensed by sexual violence, and also angry that the systems that have disappointed people are actually working as intended. A system's purpose is what it does. It's pretty hard to make progress without acknowledging that.
330547
Shannon Mattern @shannonmattern.bsky.social · 19h
Also: I stopped by the tarot show at the Morgan and saw a person who looked like Taliesin Thomas's Hyperallergic author photo. I went up to her and said: "Are you Taliesin?" She was! "I want to thank you for your writing on upstate arts. I appreciate it tremendously." That seemed to mean a lot. ☺️
1310
Shannon Mattern @shannonmattern.bsky.social · 20h
This exhibition @ CUNY's James Gallery is ✨: "Between 1974 and 1981, the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) placed more than 30,000 artists and cultural workers on local government payrolls in nearly 200 cities, towns, and Indigenous territories across the United States."
A gallery view, with stretches and corners dedicated to CETA manifestations in different cities The NYC installation, featuring photos, archival documentsThe Los Angeles corner, featuring videos, photos, archival documents Wall text for Kingston, NY, focusing on Ben Wingfall's Communications Village
23317
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
do men understand the extent to which women are ready to burn it all down right now
52494211389
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
Ethan Mollick @emollick.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
As a heads-up: every firm's customer service agents are about to be overwhelmed with Dots & Muses negotiating for better deals using voice/chat channels made for humans. Stories of people delegating this sort of work to their agents & saving money are popping up and are going to only go more viral.
1017319
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
New, from me: Once memory-holed, DOGE is now the subject of revisionism. To better understand why DOGE failed, I talked to people in the civic tech movement that DOGE displaced, who continue to offer the alternative model for how to modernize govt. 🧵 donmoynihan.substack.com/p/doge-vs-ci...
donmoynihan.substack.com
DOGE vs. Civic Tech
As DOGE revisionism picks up, a contrast with the civic tech movement it displaced illuminates its failure
18800259
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
Anne Helen Petersen @annehelen.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
This is *the* piece. Kate Manne, professor of philosophy at Cornell, speaks truth to the totality of failures at the university — and why students protesting the war in Gaza have faced far harsher consequences than any of the Cornell 7: www.thecut.com/article/what...
thecut.com
What It Feels Like at Cornell Right Now
As a professor at the Ivy League school, Kate Manne has known many, many victims. There’s a palpable feeling on campus, she writes, that this is big.
4930441071
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
Data by Design @dataxdesign.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Our NYC book launch will include a conversation with Shannon Mattern featuring Data by Design co-authors @laurenfklein.bsky.social , @chronictanvi.bsky.social , and Silas Munro, followed by a book signing. Please note that this is a ticketed in-store event with limited amphitheater-style seating.
051
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
Data by Design @dataxdesign.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Join us on Thursday, October 29 for our New York book launch event at P&T Knitwear Bookstore from 6:30pm - 8:00pm. Get tickets here: www.eventbrite.com/e/lauren-kle...
1104
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
Bathsheba Demuth @brdemuth.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
“I find myself in the middle of translation, of overlapping colonial and anticolonial projects, as well as the learning of new/old languages. The Blind Man and the Loon illuminates the labors of language and the promise of story” A @sprucehen.bsky.social stunner placesjournal.org/article/blin...
placesjournal.org
Blind Man and Loon
A tale shared by Native peoples across the circumpolar Arctic reveals the elusive nature of language, and has come to shape many Native connections to place.
21710
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
would anyone from a non elite college like to write about this for Contingent because you know we would publish it
910446
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
Pam Herd @pamherd.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
America.gov launched today--a DOGE initiative to use AI to deliver public services. Child lying facedown on a frozen lake as the image accompanying the question: "How can I invest in my child's future" is just incredible. Way to go AI
Image of a child lying facedown on a froze lake.  above is the portal where you ask AI questions about government services.  the question matching this image is:  "How can I invest in my child's future?"
952516671
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
Kate Manne @katemanne.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I wrote for @thecut.com about the Cornell case and what it says that, at my institution and many others like it, protesters are often punished more harshly than sexual assailants www.thecut.com/article/what...
thecut.com
What It Feels Like at Cornell Right Now
As a professor at the Ivy League school, Kate Manne has known many, many victims. There’s a palpable feeling on campus, she writes, that this is big.
531852611
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
Shannon Mattern @shannonmattern.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
In class on Tues we'll talk a bit abt the history of Tolstoy College, the anarchist college @ Buffalo. I planned to offer some context re: UB's progressivism in media studies, xprmental 🎞️ + poetics in the 60s + 70s. Learned (belatedly) that Buffalo just eliminated its whole legendary poetics pgm 😭
screenshot from a presentation in which I outline Gerald O'Grady's work to establish media study at Buffalo
1334
Shannon Mattern @shannonmattern.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
“Princeton University Library seeks an accomplished, visionary, and collaborative leader to serve as the John T. Maltsberger III ’55 Associate University Librarian for Special Collections.”
jobs.diglib.org
John T. Maltsberger III '55 Associate University Librarian for Special Collections - CLIR+DLF Job Board
Princeton University Library (PUL) seeks an accomplished, visionary, and collaborative leader to serve as the John T. Maltsberger III ’55 Associate University Librarian for Special Collections (AUL SC...
099
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
Lauren Klein @laurenfklein.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Thrilled to launch DATA BY DESIGN into the world with @shannonmattern.bsky.social at P&T Knitwear in NYC on October 29th! Also feat. @chronictanvi.bsky.social and Silas Munro and maybe even an art show if we can get our acts together!
1267
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 29/09/2026
Mamdani in response to Kimmel asking him to send Trump a selfie of the two of them: "I love you, but I love housing more"
603402558
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
Lucy Gaynor @lucyjgaynor.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Today, staff @ University of #Edinburgh are striking to protest recently announced cuts - incl. the forced closure of >90 courses. Principal Prof Sir Peter Mathieson accused the union of "weaponising" students. I find this enraging, so: a short (quite personal) thread. www.bbc.com/news/article...
bbc.com
Edinburgh University lecturers begin five-week strike over cuts
Members of the University and Colleges Union are walking out in part of a long-running dispute over job and course cuts.
14121
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
Jim Pickard @pickardje.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
as a satire on so-called late stage capitalism how could one beat investors pouring a trillion into a company offering to wipe out humankind
992130751
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
i hope that men notice how whenever a rape story gets widespread coverage, women use it as an opportunity to vent about how fucking disgusting we think many of you are and how many have made our lives measurably worse, and take a few moments to deeply process that.
9764651100
Shannon Mattern @shannonmattern.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
In class on Tues we'll talk a bit abt the history of Tolstoy College, the anarchist college @ Buffalo. I planned to offer some context re: UB's progressivism in media studies, xprmental 🎞️ + poetics in the 60s + 70s. Learned (belatedly) that Buffalo just eliminated its whole legendary poetics pgm 😭
screenshot from a presentation in which I outline Gerald O'Grady's work to establish media study at Buffalo
1334
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
When they get back in power, Democrats need to go all-in on higher education. We need a campaign of reinvestment in public universities across the country that makes the Morrill Land-Grant Act look like nothing by comparison *and* a GI Bill of Rights-style program of tuition grants.
20752391425
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
Cathy Davidson @cathyndavidson.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Ah, not only are professions that are crucial to society--teaching, social work, nursing, libraries, arts--being denied support. Almost all of those are fields traditionally held by women. Not a coincidence.
310719
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
Luke O'Neil @lukeoneil47.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Every college in this country decided that expelling and/or sending the police to beat the shit out of their own students for the crime of being opposed to genocide was their top priority. That and giving Trump complete control of what they teach. Contrast that with how they treat rapists.
91943534
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
Wajahat Ali @wajali.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
We're witnessing the Rapist-to-President and/or Rapist-to-Supreme Court Justice pipeline with this Cornell scandal.
14072921790
Shannon Mattern @shannonmattern.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Lookin' at ur department website, noticin' that 80% are men over 60, knowin' that you just denied tenure to four young non-white scholars. Meanwhile, you're *all* burning out your mid-career women.
39620
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
The New Republic @newrepublic.com · 27/09/2026
Trump is banning students majoring in degrees that don’t make enough money from taking out college loans. Degrees for social work, art, religious studies, teaching aides, and music will be hit the hardest. trib.al/kQdKbY1
trib.al
Trump Moves to Cut Off Student Loans for Tons of Degrees
Under a new rule, if your degree doesn’t make enough money, you won’t be able to get a student loan.
163969660
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
Matt Seybold @mattseybold.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
“It’s putting a mind virus into a kid’s head, which is what education is. And it’s being done by a teacher you trust.”
theamericanvandal.com
All Our Kids Will Go To Alpha School
On the plans to hyperscale Alpha School’s “AI” tutoring software to “a billion kids.”
2812934
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
Dominique Baker @bakerdphd.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Shot: "We asked 37 top academics and researchers who study education to rate a range of ideas for both effectiveness and cost, on a scale of 1 to 7." Chaser: "The panel included: Dominique Baker..." LOL y'all I read so many papers to complete this survey on k12 www.nytimes.com/2026/09/28/u...
nytimes.com
30 Ideas for Fixing U.S. Schools, Ranked by Experts
Math and reading scores are in a decade-long slump. We asked three dozen experts: What could turn things around?
825751
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
More Perfect University @mpuniversity.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
@aoc.bsky.social: The best thing that we can do to rein in runaway costs at private institutions is by having tuition free public colleges and universities. “For anyone who wants to say that that’s pie in the sky and unrealistic… this is literally what baby boomers gave themselves.”
291200268
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
Melissa Johnson, PhD @ladyhistorian.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
We should let people dream of something besides labor
9614131
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
Melissa Johnson, PhD @ladyhistorian.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I am tired of having to pretend that the value of studying my discipline solely rests on the "marketable skills" we teach. Sometimes things are just worth knowing and doing because they make your life bigger and richer.
131226256
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
Dan "Scary" Greene @dmgreene.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Aaah look what I got in the mail! Congratulations to @miriamposner.com on publication and congratulations to everyone else who finally gets to read this incredible book.
My hand holding the very groovy white and rainbow book cover of "seeing like a supply chain: the hidden life of logistics" by Miriam
Posner
523334
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
Pedro Gonnet @pedrogonnet.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
You know what solves non-engineering problems? Legislation.
0154
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
🎃Darin S Pumpkins🎃 @darinself.com · 28/09/2026
I wish there was a more serious movement within the academy to reform our institutions to create mechanisms of actual accountability so students, faculty, and staff can rid ourselves of leadership that regularly fails everyone but their donors.
210620
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
Nick Sousanis @nsousanis.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Woohoo!! My minicomic as syllabus for my new Comics in Education class is live!! Took forever. I put everything I could into it & thrilled how it all came together. Class is off to a great start & excited for where we're headed! Download/print your own on my site spinweaveandcut.com/comics-in-ed...
1125671
Shannon Mattern @shannonmattern.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
"I had walked into an iridescent beach shack where to be different was to be normal, and to be gay — something I still had very little practice being — was the only way to be... I needed to be a part of this [— to be] the kind of person who inhabited this impossibly cool [rstrnt] matter-of-factly.."
washingtonpost.com
Column | One of America’s most important restaurants is closing. It feels personal.
At Lil’ Deb’s Oasis in Hudson, New York, food critic Elazar Sontag found queer community and a sense of purpose that shaped his life.
1150
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
lauren @lauren.rotatingsandwiches.com · 28/09/2026
current state of the fix social media playbook: *nationalize facebook and hold it to rigorous privacy and content moderation standards *break up google and make youtube robustly fund a streaming PBS *turn off x the everything app *keep linkedin the same. that'd be a good bit *begin The Tribunals
331890323
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
Pam Keith @pamkeithdc.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Cornell expelled students who were protesting genocide in Gaza, but made five of seven guys who gang raped a drugged girl for seven hours write essays. That tells you EVERYTHING you need to know about the morals of that institution.
19703258
Shannon Mattern @shannonmattern.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
"New Openings Against Old Surfaces situates Matta-Clark’s explorations of the book form in relation to early architectural cuts made btw 1971–74, demonstrating his burgeoning efforts to reconceptualize space + his approach to the politics inherent w/in both the printed page + physical structure."
printedmatter.org
New Openings Against Old Surfaces: On Gordon Matta-Clark’s Walls Paper - Printed Matter
Printed Matter is pleased to present New Openings Against Old Surfaces: On Gordon Matta-Clark’s Walls Paper, the first exhibition focused specifically on the publishing output of pioneering artist Gor...
2186
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
Ian Carrillo @iansociologo.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
"The cameras, made by Alabama-based City Detect, use artificial intelligence to analyze images captured by sanitation trucks and generate 'blight scores' for homes and buildings." www.expressnews.com/news/article...
expressnews.com
AI-powered garbage trucks have flagged 20,000 homes in one Texas city.
AI-powered garbage truck cameras have flagged about 20,000 Dallas homes for potential code violations.
33421
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
🇵🇸Tim Henke (tɪm 'ɦɛŋ.kə) @timhenke.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
no no no you misunderstood. I said “fuck YOUR copyright”. MY copyright is very important and must be handled gently, like a tiny baby hummingbird
Tweet 

Asked if China's DeepSeek stole American IP, AI Czar David Sacks says it looks like a technique called distillation was used where a student model can "suck the knowledge" out of the parent model and there is evidence that DeepSeek distilled knowledge from OpenAI's models, which is leading to efforts to develop techniques to prevent future copycats
1193
Shannon Mattern @shannonmattern.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I’m late to read this — and while SV’s contribution to the region has been largely extractive and deleterious (as geographers have noted for years), a place doesn’t need hagiographic memorials or founder-funded museums to have cultural capital. It’s been there in other forms.
svcf.org
Honoring 100 years of Black history by preserving East Palo Alto’s…
In a year that marks 100 years of celebrating Black history, the question of whose stories are preserved and capturing those whose are lost feels…
191
Shannon Mattern @shannonmattern.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Struck by the elliptical connections between the library at George Lucas’s new museum in LA and the Kulturwissenschaftliche Bibliothek Warburg of 1926
Oval library, three levels Aby Warburg’s elliptical library
0193
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
Gregg Gonsalves @gregggonsalves.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
This piece by Rod Ferguson is the strongest indictment of Vanderbilt and Yale's reports on the state of academia. It's a dense piece, and takes close reading. criticalnoise.org/tragedy-at-v...
criticalnoise.org
Tragedy at Vanderbilt – History of the Present
34516