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k8lin

@k8lin.bsky.social
429 followers 463 following 211 posts

Assoc professor in LIS at Rutgers SC&I. I study online health information and what people do with it. Transplant recipient, cyborg, knitter, masker, maker. Solidarity. 🏳️‍🌈 Need masks in NJ? DM me!

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Reposted by k8lin
Jacob Kramer-Duffield @jaykaydee.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
The important thing to remember here is that in the early days of personal computing, lots of software was widely and freely exchanged. Microsoft hated this and worked hard to shift both culture and law against free software but they could never quite kill it totally dead.
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k8lin @k8lin.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
When you dreamed of a new normal in 2020, was the new normal filled with repeat infections, loss of cognition, fatigue, excess deaths, watching people "too young" having mysterious heart attacks and strokes, etc.? No? Me neither. It's why I still mask and why you should too! :)
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Jane Shi | 皮爬高 echolalia echolalia is out now @pipagaopoetry.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
i can't help but think of how many university/college students, queer or otherwise, disabled or not, racialized or not, are going through it rn. you do not have to share your experiences on the internet if you're not ready & don't want to. but if you do choose to, you deserve protection and support.
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Violet Fox 🦊 @violetbfox.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
If you haven't read @jjpionke.bsky.social's obituary yet, do it now. He names names about the institutions who let him down as he tried to navigate the tenure process while disabled. jj-pionke-memorial.org Please join me in donating to the JJ Pionke Memorial Scholarship for disabled LIS students. 📚
jj-pionke-memorial.org
JJ Pionke Memorial Foundation
JJ Pionke - Librarian, LIS Educator, Disability Advocate, and Lover of Cats
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k8lin @k8lin.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
It's hard to see this move as anything other than a cash grab. But they made sure to slam the door in disabled member's faces first. For context, I volunteered for them for over a decade and considered myself a valued member. They didn't think I, or anyone with digital access needs, was valuable.
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k8lin @k8lin.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Shocking to see that ASIS&T decided to pivot and add a virtual conference, after making sure to shut out everyone who needed a virtual track in their call for papers. I organized for years with colleagues to beg ASIST to consider adding a virtual option for inclusion. They refused.
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Violet Fox 🦊 @violetbfox.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
If you've got some time in the next few days, the September #Wikipedia editathon to show solidarity with the new Wikimedia union is behind its goal of editing 10,000 articles. You can help by registering, finding a relevant article, & making it a little better! 📚 meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Event:W...
meta.wikimedia.org
Event:WikiProject Organized Labour Month Online Campaign - Meta-Wiki
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k8lin @k8lin.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
(It's not lost on me that a similar obstruction of a flashing light is partly what caused the 3 Mile Island emergency. The tape isn't permanently on my screen, fwiw.)
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k8lin @k8lin.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
My bonkers solution? Lab tape or artists masking tape. I use it on my laptop screen for similar issues and it doesn't ruin my screen but blocks out flashing icons that I can't remove technically. (Maybe test on a less conspicuous spot first, ymmv.)
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Brian (Stuttering Loudly) @stutteringloudly.bsky.social · 12/05/2025
Disability related conferences (or ANY conference) can easily do this, rather than coming up with so many excuses Buy 1-2 boxes of masks for those who don’t have masks or forgot, or didn’t know, etc Conferences that don’t try have shown what they REALLY think about disabled / immunocompromised ppl
Tweet by Clean Air LA
@CleanAirLA
Tweet reads: 

No mandate necessary.
Just a kind request & free resources provided.

1st image in tweet: a sign by a bar that says deerhoof kindly asks everyone to mask up thank you deerhoof and clean air la

2nd image in tweet: green lit audience. guitar player on stage left. an audience of folks wearing respirator masks
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k8lin @k8lin.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I absolutely adore working with Academic Audio Transcription and can't sing their praises highly enough. Amazing captioning and transcription work, I recommend them constantly!
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Elizabeth Pearce @elizabethpearce.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
BTW, the CDC just changed the rules again saying healthcare workers can return to work 4 days after testing + for Covid, meaning they will be treating patients during their peak infectiousness. If anyone was considering not wearing a respirator or mask in a doctor’s office or hospital
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k8lin @k8lin.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
making fun of gay people for caring about a pandemic is so 90s
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Dr. Damien P. Williams, dread portent down from a mountain cave @wolven.blacksky.app · 24/09/2026
Disabled people endured & fought against Centuries of paternalistic & outright draconian treatment, eventually making Section 504 a livable, workable reality. Rolling it back will hurt & kill people, & that is not hyperbole. This country's increased anti-disability push is eugenicist to its core.
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k8lin @k8lin.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I teach 3 hour seminars in a duckbill and it truly becomes unnoticeable to me, like glasses, or most accessibility aids and other technologies that extend/augment/hack the self.
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k8lin @k8lin.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I've got lots of different mask styles if you still haven't landed on one that works. Duckbills are nerdy but man, they are so much easier to speak in! And if you want to wear a classic earloop style but find that they hurt, I can offer you ear savers or earloop kn95s. There are options! :)
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k8lin @k8lin.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Hey, if you're teaching in a classroom right now, you'll want to mask up with a kn95 or better. Yeah, they're less comfortable to teach in, but covid is ticking up, and I truly want you to be well.
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babs ✨ @itsbabs.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
it is no exaggeration to say that the only way 300,000+ masks were distributed to angelenos as our city burned is bc we learned how to do this kind of thing together: in our leisure spaces, at our drag shows. you laugh—til you need us. and i’ll have a mask for you, because we all deserve clean air.
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I'm so grateful that these networks that we built up for clean air in regards to
COVID are exactly the same ones that we can use right now. Our community supporting itself is powerful.
Abby Mahler, Mask Bloc LA
The Sick Times
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Guy (aka glecharles) @loudpoet.com · 18/09/2026
“There's nothing stopping libraries from not accepting [the Big Five’s] terms right now." The Big 5 have shown their cards. I think it's time to call their bluff. www.wordsandmoney.com/in-the-libra...
wordsandmoney.com
In the Library Ebook Market, Can Librarians Learn to Just Say No?
If recent tensions over library ebook legislation has shown librarians anything, it is that maintaining the status quo in the digital library market is ultimately a choice being made by librarians. Le...
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Ma$on @masonfromtwitter.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
We have the medicine to completely stop the spread of HIV around the world but we won't give it to the people who need it because someone needs to make money off it. 🙄
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Ryan Marino, MD @ryanmarino.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
This is eugenics
Emily Hilliard, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services, confirmed on Wednesday that the department had not yet made a decision about whether to provide the shots through that program.
Vaccines for Children provides free shots to children who are uninsured, underinsured or eligible for Medicaid, as well as to American Indian and Alaska Native children.
Pediatric doses are available for children who have insurance, or whose parents can afford to pay for vaccines out of pocket.
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k8lin @k8lin.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
If me saying this makes *you* uncomfortable, ask yourself - why? What does that discomfort feel like in your body? What does it sound like in your brain? Dissonance and discomfort are productive and necessary for growth, even though they can feel icky.
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k8lin @k8lin.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
"Would you be uncomfortable if I didn't wear a mask?" is one of my least favorite questions. I cannot absolve you of your desire to eschew care for yourself, me, or anyone else. And this isn't about comfort. Wearing a mask is solidarity. You can do it! Why don't you?
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Dr Noor Bari @njbbari3.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Yes, too burdensome to organise hybrid… but not too burdensome to make hundreds of people burn thousands of dollars on travel expenses - including accommodation, leave their jobs/families for longer than needed, and burn down the planet.
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k8lin @k8lin.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Hey, the North Brunswick, New Jersey town council just banned data centers! Thanks to all the community members who showed up and made their voices heard 💜
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Plague Poems @plaguepoems.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Based on the date
many college students 
will be returning 
to campus today. 
And based on the data
SARS-CoV-2 
will likely be returning 
to campus with them.
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Lunatraktors @lunatraktors.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Teaching doctors about smoking is a moral imperative. And without outside funding, it was a choice between taking the tobacco industry's money or doing nothing!
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Anna Holmes @annabookwriter.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
If you enjoy things like your boss not being able to demand why you’re calling out sick and FMLA and not being forced to hand over your genetic information: thank a disabled activist. Better yet, show up for disabled people.
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Julia Métraux @juliametraux.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
Feels like more Disability Cry Month than Disability Pride Month because [gestures at it all]
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k8lin @k8lin.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
I never want to hear the phrase "unintended consequences" again. It's just a facile gift to the opposition, imagining care and empathy when there is only indifference and cruelty. "The purpose of a system is what it does" and all that.
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David Kaib @davidkaib.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
The productive capacities of society are truly unbelievable. Scarcity is entirely about power.
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k8lin @k8lin.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Hey there! It's a great day to wear a face mask (kn95 or n95). Hit me up if you need some.
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k8lin @k8lin.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
We say that all the time about our cavvy, their snores really are something!
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k8lin @k8lin.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
For sure she is a black & tan Cavalier King Charles spaniel. Very very sweet little guys.
A Blenheim cavalier King Charles spaniel with a tan face and large white paws laying down on the couch, sticking out his tongue. He looks alert but like he just woke up from a nap.
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Tim Ellis, TDSB Ward 2 candidate 🍁 @djdynamic.ca · 08/07/2026
"They just want to turn it off." A fascinating story of the librarians who have started teaching classes showing people how to remove AI "features" from their phones and apps. www.bangordailynews.com/2026/07/02/m...
bangordailynews.com
These Maine librarians are helping patrons resist AI and Big Tech
Despite breathless reporting on how AI is going to change the world, Hannah Cyrus, a Bangor librarian, said that, in her experience, most library patrons aren’t finding it helpful.
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SciAm Union @sciamunion.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
On Tuesday, Scientific American was sold by international publisher Springer Nature. Large numbers of staff were immediately laid off, and salaries of remaining workers were cut by as much as 30% SciAm staff had just voted to unionize. We should call this action what it is – blatant union-busting.
A poster titled “Scientific American Rally” invites people to a rally on tuesday june 30 at 5pm at 1 new york plaza. it says “show springer nature that science journalism and the people behind it matter!”
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k8lin @k8lin.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
They're thinking anout building a data center in my lovely town of North Brunswick, NJ, right next to the high school and a half a mile from my home. Check out datacenternb.com for details and come to the town council meeting on Monday, June 26 to tell them why we don't want this in our community!
A poster with a rendering of a large data center with a large NO symbol in red over it. The poster is in English and Spanish and reads "NO WAREHOUSE or DATA CENTER, NO ALMACÉN o CENTRO DE DATOS" Save our quiet nights and clean water: the town council is planning to override current zoning to construct a massive industrial and warehouse facility _next to the high school_. The sign describes the increase to utility bills, noise pollution, traffic, and water runoff and encourages people to join their neighbors at the town council meeting at 7 pm on June 29 at 710 Hermann Road in the municipal complex to share concerns and make your voice heard. DatacenterNB.com is linked at the bottom of the page for more information.
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Julia Métraux @juliametraux.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
In bad news, with disability education oversight being moved to the Department of Health and Human Services from the Department of Education, that means Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will have power over disability policy positions. New from me at @motherjones.com www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
RFK Jr. will oversee disability education policy
The dismantling of the Department of Education continues apace.
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Mary Valante @medievalmaryq.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Where fiber history meets Pride. This is a large piece (10x28') of one of the two original 30x60' pride flags, the only known surviving section of either. They were designed, hand dyed and sewn by a community of queer artists. The colors are slightly different from most rainbow flags today.
smithsonianmag.com
Long-Lost Fragment of First Rainbow Pride Flag Resurfaces After Four Decades
The brilliantly colored banner—now on view in San Francisco—flew on "Gay Freedom Day" in 1978
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The Sick Times @thesicktimes.org · 09/06/2026
From @whoevenreads.bsky.social: Indie bookstores have often served as hubs of political action and community care. Read more about their masking policies and COVID-19 consciousness in 2026. bit.ly/4unyhKE
A person browses in a cozy book store while wearing a high quality mask. The person wears a khaki jacket, backpack, and a black scarf, and looks down at a table display of books. The text reads, “The Sick Times. Indie bookstores promoting masking and COVID-19 consciousness in 2026. By Elisabeth Cook and Lisa Butts.” “[W]e keep trying to spread the word that despite vaccinations, wearing masks, and running Corsi-Rosenthal air filters, getting COVID once can completely change your life,” he says, “… for those that come in, we try to be a respite from misinformation and a source of peace and community.”
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ACLU @aclu.org · 07/06/2026
There are currently more bills attacking trans youth’s right to play sports across the U.S. than there are trans youth in school sports.
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Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 05/06/2026
This reveal and the news yesterday— about Meta having shipped the code for facial recognition in their glasses—should be understood as very deeply intertwined.
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Bilbo Yaga @bilboyaga.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
Happy Pride! Reminder: LGBTQ+ people are more likely to be disabled & to lack access to healthcare. Especially trans people. Queer liberation is disabled liberation. You can support both by rejecting eugenics in your daily life: wear an n95 in public spaces. Give/get mask mutual aid:
maskbloc.org
Worldwide Mask Bloc Directory – Find your local Mask Bloc
MaskBloc.org lists active Mask Blocs around the world. Free high-quality masks, COVID-19 tests and other equipment for your community. Mutual Aid & We Keep Us Safe.
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ashley fairbanks @ziibiing.com · 01/06/2026
People have been asking me if I know of a resource like StandWithMinnesota for New Jersey, and I haven't found something comprehensive. So, for the moment, I have put together all the links to NJ orgs, crowdfunding links, events, and stuck them on a page of SWM. standwithminnesota.org/jersey
standwithminnesota.org
New Jersey — Stand With Minnesota
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k8lin @k8lin.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
No one likes to feel dumb! But if we avoid feeling dumb, we won't engage with information that challenges us, surprises us, pushes us, or that supports us in building knowledge and (eventually) wisdom.
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k8lin @k8lin.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
The bad feelings - the uncertainty, confusion, doubt, and even hopelessness - are an essential part of the process of engaging with new information. A good teacher will sit with you and figuratively hold your hand to guide you through those feelings so that you can do it on your own in the future.
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k8lin @k8lin.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
If students in my classes learn only one thing, I hope it is the understanding that learning new things is hard and often makes you feel bad. I say: "If you are learning, you will probably feel bad, but in this class you don't have to feel bad alone. We will get through those bad feelings together."
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Jeff VanderMeer @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
It's a huge mistake to "adjust to" or "adapt" to generative AI. There's rarely been a more clearcut situation to reject vehemently for so many reasons. One reason beyond those that apply now is the future capacity for proactive manipulation and distortion. We need less outside interference not more.
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k8lin @k8lin.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
Your question reminds me of this book: www.dukeupress.edu/the-archive-...
dukeupress.edu
The Archive and the Repertoire: Performing Cultural Memory in the Americas
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