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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

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Reposted by Shannon Mattern
Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 15h
~Approximately no one in the general public knows because the leaders of the R1 research universities - whose budgets, programs, & personnel are entirely or significantly dependent on federal funding - have been totally absent from the public square in explaining & collectively protesting this.
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Shannon Mattern @shannonmattern.bsky.social · 4h
Beautiful day
Red leaves, cloudless blue sky
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Alexis Pauline Gumbs @alexispauline.bsky.social · 8h
See you in one week NYC! www.studiomuseum.org/events/studi...
studiomuseum.org
Studio Salon: Primary: After and With Alma Thomas
Join scholar Alexis Pauline Gumbs in conversation with artist Steffani Jemison to celebrate the release of Gumbs's new book, Primary: After and With Alma Thomas, published by Yale University Press. In...
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Democracy Now! @democracynow.org · 01/10/2026
AI safety expert Timnit Gebru says tech leaders are promoting greatly exaggerated claims about "superintelligence" and "existential risk" as a way to distract from the real threat — their own unregulated companies.
democracynow.org
The Real Existential Risk Is AI CEOs Avoiding Oversight: “Alternative Nobel” Winner Timnit Gebru
We speak to the prominent AI researcher and leading critic of the AI industry, Timnit Gebru, who was recently awarded a 2026 Right Livelihood Award for her work investigating the harms and hype behind...
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Tim Marchman @timmarchman.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
NEW: Partially unsealed court filings show that ICE has been putting photos of people observing their activities into a Palantir-built database as well as tracking and intimidating them. @regret.bsky.social and @dmehro.bsky.social have the details:
wired.com
ICE Has Been Dumping Protester Photos Into a Palantir Database
DHS agents not only tracked and intimidated people observing ICE activity in Maine, but stored information about them in a Palantir-built database, newly unsealed court filings say.
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Dan Sinykin @dan-sinnamon.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Working on this reported essay, just published, increasingly took over my life for the last two months. PEN America did a terrible disservice with its sloppy reporting about American Jews and Israelis in publishing in July. Josh Lambert and I tried to do better. jewishcurrents.org/what-pen-ame...
jewishcurrents.org
What PEN America Got Wrong About Antisemitism in Publishing
Misleading anecdotes, flawed data, and oversimplified analyses are at the heart of a narrative of Jewish exclusion promoted by the free expression…
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Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 23h
If you are part of an academic society or a professor of any kind, public statements that you do not condone Drexel cutting off the academy of natural sciences from the public of Philadelphia is very important right now. We need your voices. Urgently.
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Matthew Kirschenbaum @mkirschenbaum.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
CFP: Generative Digital Humanities, a volume on AI and DH in the long-running Minnesota Debates in DH book series. To be co-edited by @zentralwerkstatt.org, @laurenfklein.bsky.social, @lnakamura.bsky.social, and myself. Deadline Nov. 1. Please share widely! dhdebates.gc.cuny.edu/page/cfp-gen...
dhdebates.gc.cuny.edu
CFP: Generative Digital Humanities | Debates in the Digital Humanities
Transforming scholarly publications into living digital works
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Dannagal Goldthwaite Young @dannagal.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Do yourself a favor. Read these 7 pages by @lilymasonphd.bsky.social right now. It is the most concise explanation of the current situation in U.S. politics I've seen and it captures why calls to reduce "polarization" can ultimately worsen the problem 🧵 www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/pol...
journalofdemocracy.org
Polarization Is Not the Problem | Journal of Democracy
Americans have never been angrier with one another. But polarization is not the disease—it is the response to a revanchist movement seeking to roll back sixty years of social progress.
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Karen Attiah @karenattiah.bsky.social · 23h
Mike Pompeo has been rewarded with a teaching fellowship at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. The same school that canceled my class on media, race and international affairs. @columbiasipa.bsky.social share.google/KEvTy5yER71U...
share.google
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to join SIPA faculty
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will join the School of International and Public Affairs as a fellow at SIPA’s Institute of Global Politics in March, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
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Kelly B @kellyblack.ca · 22h
Ah yes the new National AI Safety Council, made up of “AI” boosters, venture capitalists, and high-paid consultants. We’re in good hands! www.pm.gc.ca/en/news/news...
pm.gc.ca
Prime Minister Carney launches new National Council on Artificial Intelligence
AI for All is the government’s new national strategy to ensure that AI is adopted responsibly, in a way that truly serves all Canadians – building trust, expanding opportunities, and reinforcing our s...
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Shannon Mattern @shannonmattern.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Had my umpteenth conversation with a colleague drawn to join the staff of a charismatic TED Talk-made lab director — at a uni famous for building labs around charismatic figures — only to learn that that charisma cloaked an egomaniac con artist w/ nightmare managerial skills. Tale as old as time ⌛️
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Julie Beth Napolin @voicesbend.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Come join me
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Shannon Mattern @shannonmattern.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
"The Southern Documentary Prjct is looking for an Asst Prof of Practice in Documentary Expression. This position will help steward accountable documentary storytelling in its many forms + mediums through production, collaboration, and education." A good TNS friend is the new Faulkner Chair there :)
jobs.chronicle.com
Assistant Professor of Practice in Documentary Expression - Oxford, Mississippi, United States job with University of Mississippi | 38035260
Department: About The Center for the Study of Southern Culture Founded in 1977, the CSSC defines its mission as investigating, documenting,
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Shannon Mattern @shannonmattern.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Had lunch with a former student who, in our 2009 maps class — where everyone mapped historical urban media infrastructures — did ⛰️ of oral history / community filmmaking rsch @ the NYPL. That research prompted them to offer her a job; she then oversaw their oral histories + adult pgms for years!
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Shannon Mattern @shannonmattern.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
"Drawing on surveys, interviews, and focus groups, the research captures the perspectives and priorities of community-based archives across the country."
mellon.org
Mapping the Landscape of Community-Based Archives
By defining and mapping the landscape of community-based archives, the study provides funders, institutions, and practitioners with insights about the value of these unique organizations.
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Jed Brown @jedbrown.org · 02/10/2026
Boulder Faculty Assembly passed a resolution calling for no extension of the OpenAI contract. Vote was 39-8-1 after suspending the bylaws. Everyone at CU Student Government public comment has been fired up about their corresponding resolution, talking about trust and societal impact. So energizing.
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Shannon Mattern @shannonmattern.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
This is John Cage’s handmade paper, composed of milkweed, cattail, pigweed, honeysuckle, saffron, and more — at the NYPL
Very fibrous handmade paper with different colored globs and flecks from various plants
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Shannon Mattern @shannonmattern.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
I hadn't before known about Cannupa Hanska Luger's furniture-based installations. So many fascinating Queen Anne connections with Nick Cave's furniture assemblages.
A sitting wooden bison atop a Queen Anne dining table -- all blackenedA skeletal deer atop a blackened Queen Anne occasional table A blackened occasional table, top open, revealing rifle parts -- two arrows projecting upward, a drawer full of coins
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Shannon Mattern @shannonmattern.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
"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!
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Ordinary Notes @hystericalblkns.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
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
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Shannon Mattern @shannonmattern.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
“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
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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
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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...
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Puff the Magic Hater @mskellymhayes.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
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.
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Shannon Mattern @shannonmattern.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
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. ☺️
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Shannon Mattern @shannonmattern.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
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
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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
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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...
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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.
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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
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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?"
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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.
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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
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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...
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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!
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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"
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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.
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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
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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