iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

bri watson 🐝 @brimwats.com · 30/09/2026

I think they've started to accept the kitten

three cats sleeping. the two older cats form a sort of ying yang shape with their heads on each others butts. the third,a small kitten is smooshed between the two but looks so relaxed that she must be overjoyed

bri watson 🐝 @brimwats.com · 31/08/2026

tell him to go to poneyhenge in Massachusetts; it's a 30m drive or an hour on the T from your Cambridge stomping grounds

a picture of ponyhenge, which is a large circle of toy rocking horse ponies on a field

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bri watson 🐝 @brimwats.com · 30/07/2026

finishing my phd & getting a tenure track job didn't fix me; unfortunately i'm just like this

Email screenhsot:

I'll be teaching the first iteration of the Information Theory PhD course (which, as a reminder is also open to potential MLIS-to-PhD recruits or MLIS students who wish to do a particularly theory-heavy / focused independent study).

I've queried colleagues from other universities who teach similar courses and I've landed on a shortlist of ~20 potentials for students to select from for seminar leading and/or semester project foci. The unfinished, partial--nay--theoretical list is available below for review & I am very open to improvement suggestions / brutal takedowns/pistols at dawn/95 theses nailed to my office door for failure to include certain ones.

I am particularly and especially interested if you have particularly favourable or hostile attitudes towards a particular theory/ist and if you would be open talking with students / indoctrinate the next generation of scholars about how you use or reject it in your own work (potentially with the singular exception of Foucault--I've already gotten my trash talk ready for that one). Once settled I will also make the schedule available and offer open invites for anyone wishing to engage / listen on as we discuss particular faves/hates.

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bri watson 🐝 @brimwats.com · 22/07/2026

*extremely* pleased I can finally announce that @murmz.bsky.social @julzbullard.bsky.social @ljsmart.bsky.social Stacy Allison-Cassin Tina Liu, Jennifer Browning, Yoo Young Lee and I (and 100+ other ppl in Canadian GLAMS) were awarded a grant that will explore rebuilding Canada's union catalogue 🎉

screenshot:

Applicant
Watson, Brian; Western University
Co-applicant
Allison, Stacy; Dalhousie University
Bullard, Julia; The University of British Columbia
Liu, Tianyi; McGill University
Collaborator
Adler, Melissa; Western University
Browning, Jennifer; Carleton University
Lee, Yoo Young; University of Ottawa
Smart, Laura; Western University
Title
The Collaborative Canadian Catalogue/Le Catalogue canadien collaboratif
Years
2
Funding
$89,829

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bri watson 🐝 @brimwats.com · 21/07/2026

this morning at #AERI26 #AERI I'm teaching the poor foreigners in search for coffee (but not willing to wait in line) about Coffee Crisp

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bri watson 🐝 @brimwats.com · 09/07/2026

potential kitten preview 👀😻

a mother cat sleeping in the hay with 8 kittens sleeping beside and on her

a picture of 6 kittens, mostly a mixture of grey and brown and one black cat in varying positions and slightly blurry from activity

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bri watson 🐝 @brimwats.com · 05/07/2026

it's so thrilling to see the #Homosaurus in English Spanish French German Dutch and Swedish 😍🥰

screenshot of Homosaurus
Demisexual people – https://homosaurus.org/v5/homoit0000344

Identifier
homoit0000344
Preferred Label
Demisexual people
English
Personas demisexuales
Spanish
Demisexuelle Personen
German
Personnes demisexuelles
French
Demiseksuele personen
Dutch
Demisexuella personer
Swedish
Description
Individuals who do not experience sexual attraction unless they have first formed a strong emotional connection with a person.
English
Personas que no experimentan atracción sexual a menos que primero hayan formado una fuerte conexión emocional con una persona.
Spanish
Menschen, die keine sexuelle Anziehung empfinden, bevor sie eine starke emotionale Bindung zu einer Person aufgebaut haben.
German
Personnes qui n'éprouvent pas d'attirance sexuelle à moins d'avoir d'abord établi un lien émotionnel fort avec une personne.
French
Mensen die geen seksuele aantrekking ervaren, tenzij ze een sterke emotionele band met iemand vormen
Dutch
Personer som inte upplever sexuell attraktion till andra om de inte först har etablerat en stark emotionell anknytning till en person.
Swedish

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bri watson 🐝 @brimwats.com · 22/06/2026

I also obtained some badly needed & lovely headshots 😋

a white person with long dark brown hair, wearing a dark blue dress with a flowery skirt and sleeves is smiling and standing in front of academic/church looking buildings and trees

a white person with long dark brown hair, wearing a dark blue dress with a flowery skirt and sleeves is smiling and sitting on a sandstone bench in front of academic/church looking buildings and trees

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bri watson 🐝 @brimwats.com · 30/05/2026

highly recommend @sarahsteinlubrano.bsky.social's book on this, which really aligns with this belief

the cover of don't talk about politics by stein-lubrano

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bri watson 🐝 @brimwats.com · 23/05/2026

this is a cat checkpoint! relinquish your most recent cat picture on your phone. 🐾🐈

a calico cat laying on her back with her white belly up looking very happy

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bri watson 🐝 @brimwats.com · 20/05/2026

Dealing with the occasional tornado in Indiana was a little stressful, but I'd never had to deal with 5 at the same time!

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bri watson 🐝 @brimwats.com · 14/05/2026

This will be a huge undertaking, but at the end of it we hope to have a pan-European board as well as several European Language boards and the immediate funds will be used to support community vocabulary review, develop a network of German-language institutions via QueerSearch,

screenshot of https://queersearch.org/en/home-2/

QueerSearch. Umbrella association of German-speaking queer archives, libraries, and collections

Since 2017, organisations with collections related to the culture, art and history of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans*, intersex, queer (LGBTIQ*) people from Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Netherlands have been networking under the umbrella of QueerSearch. QueerSearch is a registered association based in Berlin and currently has eleven member organisations.

Listing of members of Queersearch at https://queersearch.org/en/member-organisations/

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bri watson 🐝 @brimwats.com · 14/05/2026

Second is a $30,000 Destination Horizon grant ($15,000 from #SSHRC and $15,000 from combined @westernufims.bsky.social / @westernuresearch.bsky.social) to support the #Homosaurus in putting together a Horizons Europe Grant

screenshot of https://sshrc-crsh.canada.ca/en/competition-results/award-recipients/2026/destination-horizon-grants-january.aspx Project director
Watson, Brian; Faculty of Information & Media Studies - Western University
Co-applicant

Adler, Melissa; Faculty of Information & Media Studies - Western University
Bullard, Julia; School of Information - The University of British Columbia
Keilty, Patrick; Faculty of Information - University of Toronto

Collaborator

Bergenmar, Jenny; Department of Literature, History of Ideas, and Religion - University of Gothenburg
Humlesjo, Siska; Gothenburg Research Infrastructure in Digital Humanities - University of Gothenburg
Travieso, Críspulo; Biblioteconomía y Documentación - Universidad de Salamanca
Wessel, Gerrit; Homosaurus German Translation - Queersearch

Title
Building Up & Building out the Homosaurus Collective in Europe and Canada
Years
1
Funding
$15,000

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bri watson 🐝 @brimwats.com · 14/05/2026

via community review sessions, workflow development at the AGQ, expansion of historical and slang terminology, supporting the establishment and development of French language board, and a lil' summit where we will get to share experiences and build upon the work we'll do over the next year.

screenshot of the front page of archives gaies du québec, which is a very pink site with white text:
ACQ : Quebec Gay
A non-profit organization
dedicated to the
intergenerational transmission of
Quebec's LGBTQ+ heritage

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bri watson 🐝 @brimwats.com · 14/05/2026

very delighted that I can now announce the Homosaurus was successful in two seperate #SSHRC applications. First up is a $50,000 Connections Grant "A Community de communautés: supporting the Québécois Homosaurus" which supports the implementation of the #Homosaurus in QC-FR

a screenshot of text:

Award recipients for Connection Grants: February 2026 Competition
Filter items
Showing 1 to 1 of 1 entries (filtered from 86 total entries)
Show entries

Applicant
Brian Watson, Western University
Collaborator

Anita Mazur, Polytechnique Montréal
Hortense Chopart, Université de Montréal
Mylène Larivière-Langlois, Université de Montréal
Nicolas Longtin-Martel, Archives Gaies du Quebec

Title
A Community de communautés: supporting the Québécois Homosaurus
Years
1
Funding
$50,000

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bri watson 🐝 @brimwats.com · 01/05/2026

why does this sound like a threat

Screenshot:
Earth.com
Fish could hear before rivers existed
Earth sciences professor Neil Banerjee

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bri watson 🐝 @brimwats.com · 04/04/2026

my friend has the greatest mug of all time

a stylized black on white mug picture: pencil style drawing of Prince Andrew with red eyes and the words Prince Andrew Arrest 19.02.2026

Writing on the side of a mug: Prince Andrew Arrest 19.02.26

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bri watson 🐝 @brimwats.com · 03/04/2026

I went to Museum of the Home and the @vaginamuseum.bsky.social ; really lovely to see a museum doing accessibility right with a lot of creative events and policies

a poster in red saying "women's work is never done"

a photo of a painting of a woman wearing a jacket and red dress in a reed ish hat; the portrait is enlongated

glittering menstrual cups and tampons at large scale and covered in sequins

the vagina museums fantastic accessibility policies (Wednesdays are family mornings; Thursdays are quiet mornings; and Fridays are masked mornings)

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bri watson 🐝 @brimwats.com · 03/04/2026

having an absolutely lovely time in old London¹ with @sarahsteinlubrano.bsky.social ¹ (as opposed to 'new' London, Ontario)

wall mural of a squirrel jumping downwards

picture of Sara's book Don't Talk About Politics & Max Haivens Billionaires and Guillotines alongside artwork saying "destroy what destroys you"

a tree in bloom with white flowers against a blue sky

wall mural art of towers with Dragons going in and out of them

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bri watson 🐝 @brimwats.com · 31/03/2026

excited for this morning's #iConf26 iConference workshop!

screenshot:
Workshop 663: Toward accessible information theories: Crowdsourcing plain language descriptions

This intellectually engaging and creative workshop focuses on making information science theories more accessible for students and research participants. Come learn about our research project where we developed plain language descriptions of twelve classic information behaviour theories. We will discuss the challenges of making theory accessible to non-research audiences, nd you wil try your hand at creating plain language descriptions of theories through a crowdsourcing exercise with fellow workshop attendees. If you want to geek out about theory, have fun with other conference attendees, and come away with some useful ideas for your research and teaching, this workshop is for you!

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bri watson 🐝 @brimwats.com · 30/03/2026

woof, we end on a examination of the UN climate change webpage footprint which is getting LORGE

image of the UN Cc page which grows a lot over time

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bri watson 🐝 @brimwats.com · 30/03/2026

I wasn't aware of this about the @waybackmachine.bsky.social ; the id_ and if_ URI encodings give you different presentations

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bri watson 🐝 @brimwats.com · 30/03/2026

really interesting bits here about the environmental impact of the web and how it's even greater than that of AI and will continue growing; we're moving through slides faster than I can keep up here

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bri watson 🐝 @brimwats.com · 30/03/2026

Andrew moves into a specific example of an indigenous story, with many different versions and friends with many many possible "stories" and how they mapped them all together (I love this slide but can't give a full alt text while live skeeting)

a picture of a slide comparing FRBR to fluid pumps

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bri watson 🐝 @brimwats.com · 30/03/2026

Andrew then brings up FRBR eliciting groans and laughter from the audience (including me)

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bri watson 🐝 @brimwats.com · 29/03/2026

the hotel I'm staying in is 1) absolutely gorgeous old school Victorian mansion overlooking Edinburgh 2) includes a full English for breakfast every morning 😍

a full English breakfast; minus beans and toast

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bri watson 🐝 @brimwats.com · 28/03/2026

incredibly United Statesian coded sticker on the bus ; appreciate how they say "if you would, please do so" and not "please tip" 😂

Blue sticker, white text: "enjoyed your journey today? If you would like to tip your driver to say thank you, please do so. It is entirely up to you and your driver keeps 100% of all tips. Thank you"

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bri watson 🐝 @brimwats.com · 21/02/2026

please RT! if you've ever contacted a journal or publisher to have your name changed on a publication, a friend and colleague of mine wants to hear about your experience! drexel.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_... #phdchat #academicchatter

Dear Colleagues & Peers,

My name is Deanna Zarrillo (she/they), and I am a PhD candidate at Drexel University’s College of Computing & Informatics. I am conducting dissertation research on the experiences of trans and gender diverse authors who have changed their name on academic publications and perspectives around digital identity more broadly. This work is aimed at assessing the community impact of post-publication name change policies from major publishers and enhancing policy around author privacy in the publication process.

As part of this work, I am recruiting eligible participants for a survey on this topic. If you are an academic and have changed your name in the past, whether on publications or not, please consider responding to this survey! As publishing policies evolve, your experiences can help shape more inclusive practices for current and future scholars.

You’re eligible if you:

You are an academic student or faculty member (current or previous) with a history of publications in academic journals

You are transgender, gender diverse, or otherwise self-identify outside of the gender binary.

You have changed your name and have used, or have considered using, a post-publication name change policy or have changed your name on a publication in another way.

Are fluent in English.

What to Expect:

This survey includes questions about your experiences with post-publication name changes and utilizing publisher policies. Your participation in this survey is voluntary. You may refuse to take part in the research or to exit the survey at any time. Partial responses will not be retained. Should you volunteer as an interviewee*, further consent information will be provided via email prior to the scheduled interview in addition to a verbal consent agreement at the beginning of the interview.

Your responses will provide vital information to help assess current policies, identify barriers and challenges, explore impact, develop recommendations for improvem…

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bri watson 🐝 @brimwats.com · 19/02/2026

huh! til from Bluefacts: bluefacts.app/profile/brim...

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bri watson 🐝 @brimwats.com · 26/01/2026

tell me o wise and wizened archives covering 800 years of county history, what have you about the wicked monks of Wycombe? pic related; its Dashwood Being A Creeper by Hogart

picture of the front of Ashes book: The Hellfire clubs: a history of anti morality. front cover shows an upper class man bowing religiously and creepily over something that has been cut out of the picture frame (it's a naked lady)

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bri watson 🐝 @brimwats.com · 26/12/2025

every day I greet my poor mexicana wife with another fresh hell horror of winter. today it's "the windows in the sun/garden room froze" a concept she has never before needed, nor conceived, nor understood

a picture of a wall of windows and the windows are covered over with ice

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bri watson 🐝 @brimwats.com · 01/11/2025

unexpected Bowers (how did I miss that not only that Tanselle did the intro but that it was dedicated to Greg?? talk about an old chaps club)

a series of books on a shelf. the skeet is talking about Bowers book the standing blue one on the right

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bri watson 🐝 @brimwats.com · 31/10/2025

they're pretty sweet babies

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bri watson 🐝 @brimwats.com · 31/10/2025

mission: introduce Mexican cats to heated blankets has been a critical success

a orange and black and a grey striped cat are stretched out and sleeping on a blue and white heated blanket

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bri watson 🐝 @brimwats.com · 30/10/2025

the rest of the story is conservative think tanks and networks like Cato inviting these SV leaders to meet and talk about business with.... conservative media figures and leaders

Lewis pointing at Cato Institute and magazine ads showing photos of all of these tech dudes (Schmidt, Andreessen, etc)

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bri watson 🐝 @brimwats.com · 30/10/2025

For point three above: "the electronic superhighway becomes a holy weapon against the mainstream media" 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Lewis in front of a slide of NYT 1993 article "building the electronic superhighway"

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bri watson 🐝 @brimwats.com · 30/10/2025

@beccalew.bsky.social talks for a bit about the promise of the Microchip — I think the subtext here (the one I'm thinking about anyhow) is the parallel between the "promise of the Microchip" and the "promise of AI"

Lewis in front of a slide of "the power of the Microchip" (and a pic of a microchip)

same image, but with newspaper clipping of "the cathedral of our era: the microchip" by Gilder in 1989

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bri watson 🐝 @brimwats.com · 30/10/2025

Lewis brilliantly takes us through the building of this conservative network -- biiig woof to this particular slide from me :

Lewis in front of a newspaper article about Gilder "out to turn back the clock on feminism"

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bri watson 🐝 @brimwats.com · 30/10/2025

She cites Brinkley in 1994 and the "problem of American conservativisn" and how there was a understanding that the hard right rejected technology (that they no longer do is implicit here) here are the stars of this rise @beccalew.bsky.social will cover: Gilder, Jobs, Gates and someone I don't rec.

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bri watson 🐝 @brimwats.com · 30/10/2025

I really appreciate @beccalew.bsky.social use of slide design (smaller shorter text and big book covers/citations) Lewis explained the Californian Ideology as a part of this and then outlines the "reactionary" right

Slide about the Californian Ideology alongside a picture of a Wired magazine

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