Shannon Mattern
@shannonmattern.bsky.social
director of creative research @ the metro ny library council; recently resigned 😱 full professor of media studies, art history + anthropology
architecture, archives, 🎨, cities, 🐕, infrastructure, libraries, 🗺️, sound++
nyc + upstate
wordsinspace.net
architecture, archives, 🎨, cities, 🐕, infrastructure, libraries, 🗺️, sound++
nyc + upstate
wordsinspace.net
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
With zero explanation, Wellesley College closing down a beloved and successful (and donor-funded) environmental justice program that (among other things) helps Indigenous students. thewellesleynews.com/22287/news-i...
Paulson Initiative to close, Suzanne Langridge dismissed
Wellesley College rejected Paulson Initiative donor Wendy Judge Paulson ’69’s renewed offer of donation, prompting the Paulson Ecology of Place Initiative to close at the end of the academic year. Pro...
thewellesleynews.com
November 23, 2025 at 3:04 AM
With zero explanation, Wellesley College closing down a beloved and successful (and donor-funded) environmental justice program that (among other things) helps Indigenous students. thewellesleynews.com/22287/news-i...
“Drawing upon in-depth interviews with 21 voice assistant (VA) designers at major technology companies, we examine how designers of VA devices think about how to design anthropomorphization in order to produce a specific user experience.”
Producing shifting personhood: How designers anthropomorphize artificial intelligence - Margot Hanley, Hannah Wohl, 2025
Anthropomorphized artificial intelligence has become increasingly ingrained in the fabric of everyday life, yet sociologists know little about how it is produce...
journals.sagepub.com
November 24, 2025 at 6:11 AM
“Drawing upon in-depth interviews with 21 voice assistant (VA) designers at major technology companies, we examine how designers of VA devices think about how to design anthropomorphization in order to produce a specific user experience.”
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
it feels incredibly ridiculous I spent a good chunk of my career working on developing skills and experience in feature writing when there are very few jobs doing this anymore and then learning how Olivia Nuzzi got her job at Vanity Fair despite truly terrible ethics and questionable writing skills
November 24, 2025 at 6:07 AM
it feels incredibly ridiculous I spent a good chunk of my career working on developing skills and experience in feature writing when there are very few jobs doing this anymore and then learning how Olivia Nuzzi got her job at Vanity Fair despite truly terrible ethics and questionable writing skills
I referenced Anjali Nath's work in my redaction project a few years ago. I see that her book — A Thousand Paper Cuts: US Empire and the Bureaucratic Life of War — is out this month!
November 24, 2025 at 5:14 AM
I referenced Anjali Nath's work in my redaction project a few years ago. I see that her book — A Thousand Paper Cuts: US Empire and the Bureaucratic Life of War — is out this month!
“But it is also a tale about a powerful social network in which some, depending on what they knew, were perhaps able to look away because they had learned to look away from so much other abuse and suffering…”
Opinion | How the Elite Behave When No One Is Watching: Inside the Epstein Emails
www.nytimes.com
November 24, 2025 at 3:35 AM
“But it is also a tale about a powerful social network in which some, depending on what they knew, were perhaps able to look away because they had learned to look away from so much other abuse and suffering…”
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
This is the funniest piece imaginable in the dull world of the otherwise sickly sycophantic tech review.
For real. Read it, even if you don’t give a rat’s ass about printers.
For real. Read it, even if you don’t give a rat’s ass about printers.
November 23, 2025 at 1:59 AM
This is the funniest piece imaginable in the dull world of the otherwise sickly sycophantic tech review.
For real. Read it, even if you don’t give a rat’s ass about printers.
For real. Read it, even if you don’t give a rat’s ass about printers.
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
"In a sequel to her influential 'Library as Infrastructure', contributing writer Shannon Mattern delves into the organizing force of libraries at a time when public knowledge is under attack."
placesjournal.org/article/extr... @shannonmattern.bsky.social
placesjournal.org/article/extr... @shannonmattern.bsky.social
Extralibrary Loan: Making the Civic Infrastructure We Need
Amid a war on public knowledge, libraries are pushing outward, enlarging the commons through new configurations of civic and creative life.
placesjournal.org
November 22, 2025 at 5:22 PM
"In a sequel to her influential 'Library as Infrastructure', contributing writer Shannon Mattern delves into the organizing force of libraries at a time when public knowledge is under attack."
placesjournal.org/article/extr... @shannonmattern.bsky.social
placesjournal.org/article/extr... @shannonmattern.bsky.social
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
There are more people organizing and pushing back against the regime today than there were in the first term. There are more people in more places (rural towns and big cities across the country). I think it's really strange how resistant some people are to these facts. I wonder what's going on.
November 24, 2025 at 2:28 AM
There are more people organizing and pushing back against the regime today than there were in the first term. There are more people in more places (rural towns and big cities across the country). I think it's really strange how resistant some people are to these facts. I wonder what's going on.
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
Kilmar Abrego Garcia's lawyers inform a federal judge about the Washington Post's bombshell: The government's claim that Costa Rica will no longer accept Abrego has been exposed as a lie.
More evidence—"if any were needed"—of vindictive prosecution.
Doc storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
More evidence—"if any were needed"—of vindictive prosecution.
Doc storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
November 23, 2025 at 9:21 PM
Kilmar Abrego Garcia's lawyers inform a federal judge about the Washington Post's bombshell: The government's claim that Costa Rica will no longer accept Abrego has been exposed as a lie.
More evidence—"if any were needed"—of vindictive prosecution.
Doc storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
More evidence—"if any were needed"—of vindictive prosecution.
Doc storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Amidst so much that is lamentable, I’d like to share this wonderful film I learned about last night, via Anthology Film Archives 🥰
OMG! In 1970 Hiler + Dorsky "collaborated on... an industrial film commissioned by NJ’s Sussex County Area Reference Library, whose local branch Dorsky and Hiler frequented first as patrons, then eventually as projectionists and programmers for the library’s 16mm screenings" - ft Tony Conrad :)
Library (1970) by Nathaniel Dorsky & Jerome Hiler
YouTube video by For All People
www.youtube.com
November 24, 2025 at 2:21 AM
Amidst so much that is lamentable, I’d like to share this wonderful film I learned about last night, via Anthology Film Archives 🥰
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
“Not so long ago, the dolts among us were free to think their thoughts quietly to themselves with no easy way to share them… But then we connected everyone on the planet and gave them each the equivalent of their own printing press, radio station, and TV network.”
A Theory of Dumb
What if the cause of Americans’ collective cognitive decline is, simply, each other?
nymag.com
November 24, 2025 at 2:05 AM
“Not so long ago, the dolts among us were free to think their thoughts quietly to themselves with no easy way to share them… But then we connected everyone on the planet and gave them each the equivalent of their own printing press, radio station, and TV network.”
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
“Prosecutors think they’ve found a constitutional loophole — if you can’t punish reporting it, punish transporting it.”
We wrote for @theintercept.com about how efforts to criminalize possession of words threaten press freedom.
We wrote for @theintercept.com about how efforts to criminalize possession of words threaten press freedom.
The Feds Want to Make It Illegal to Even Possess an Anarchist Zine
Daniel Sanchez is facing federal charges for what free speech advocates say is a clear attack on the First Amendment.
theintercept.com
November 23, 2025 at 7:06 PM
“Prosecutors think they’ve found a constitutional loophole — if you can’t punish reporting it, punish transporting it.”
We wrote for @theintercept.com about how efforts to criminalize possession of words threaten press freedom.
We wrote for @theintercept.com about how efforts to criminalize possession of words threaten press freedom.
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
17 strikes and you’re out. 💀
November 23, 2025 at 4:48 PM
17 strikes and you’re out. 💀
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
“Meta shut down internal research into the mental health effects of Facebook after finding causal evidence that its products harmed users’ mental health, according to unredacted filings in a lawsuit by U.S. school districts against Meta and other social media platforms.”
Meta buried 'causal' evidence of social media harm, US court filings allege - The Economic Times
Meta reportedly halted internal research into the mental health impacts of Facebook and Instagram after finding causal evidence of harm. Internal documents revealed users reported lower depression and...
m.economictimes.com
November 23, 2025 at 4:46 PM
“Meta shut down internal research into the mental health effects of Facebook after finding causal evidence that its products harmed users’ mental health, according to unredacted filings in a lawsuit by U.S. school districts against Meta and other social media platforms.”
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
y'know, if tech companies weren't so fired up to call every single thing "AI" it would be a lot easier to distinguish "ML spam filter that is well-sandboxed and tuned on your emails" from "giant context and IP-eroding foundation model that makes people paranoid and unhappy"
since the "google is now training gemini on your email contents" thing keeps bumping around here: it's _not happening_. I say this not to defend google but because I know a lot of people that have broken their filtering and made their lives much more annoying from sheer misinformation.
The malwarebytes Google opting-your-emails-into-ai-training thing is not true. The post is based on one bad tweet.
I know anti-tech lamenting is a Bluesky core principle, but please use the same judgement you would for any other clickbait.
www.theverge.com/news/826902/...
I know anti-tech lamenting is a Bluesky core principle, but please use the same judgement you would for any other clickbait.
www.theverge.com/news/826902/...
November 23, 2025 at 12:58 PM
y'know, if tech companies weren't so fired up to call every single thing "AI" it would be a lot easier to distinguish "ML spam filter that is well-sandboxed and tuned on your emails" from "giant context and IP-eroding foundation model that makes people paranoid and unhappy"
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
You all MUST READ this piece by Kaitlyn Greenidge about the power of art to “exist outside of a tech lord’s algorithm.”
www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/art-...
www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/art-...
The Artist Who Reminds Us that Another Way Is Possible
The late artist Abigail McGrath cultivated a creative life for herself filled with freedom, joy, and a commitment to beauty. In an age of authoritarianism and algorithms, it’s a kind of life worth pro...
www.harpersbazaar.com
November 23, 2025 at 6:09 PM
You all MUST READ this piece by Kaitlyn Greenidge about the power of art to “exist outside of a tech lord’s algorithm.”
www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/art-...
www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/art-...
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
Feeling queasy now I've learned that Google is not only now offering Gemini ambassador certificates to teachers but also awarding students and *children* to be corporate AI mascots. Coercive normalization of commercialized digital education. blog.google/outreach-ini...
November 22, 2025 at 8:19 PM
Feeling queasy now I've learned that Google is not only now offering Gemini ambassador certificates to teachers but also awarding students and *children* to be corporate AI mascots. Coercive normalization of commercialized digital education. blog.google/outreach-ini...
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
Lovely book launch of Opera Aperta, the catalogue of the Holy See pavilion at the Venice Biennial.
Edited by Marina Otero, Tatiana Bilbao, MAIO, and Giovanna Zabotti, it includes a multivocal approach to the care, repair, and maintenance. Happy to find @shannonmattern.bsky.social on it’s pages.
Edited by Marina Otero, Tatiana Bilbao, MAIO, and Giovanna Zabotti, it includes a multivocal approach to the care, repair, and maintenance. Happy to find @shannonmattern.bsky.social on it’s pages.
November 23, 2025 at 9:54 PM
Lovely book launch of Opera Aperta, the catalogue of the Holy See pavilion at the Venice Biennial.
Edited by Marina Otero, Tatiana Bilbao, MAIO, and Giovanna Zabotti, it includes a multivocal approach to the care, repair, and maintenance. Happy to find @shannonmattern.bsky.social on it’s pages.
Edited by Marina Otero, Tatiana Bilbao, MAIO, and Giovanna Zabotti, it includes a multivocal approach to the care, repair, and maintenance. Happy to find @shannonmattern.bsky.social on it’s pages.
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
NEW ARTICLE: Yemeni coins trace relations between pirates, merchants, and enslavers that traversed the North American, Arabian, & Madagascar coasts in the 1690s and shed light on colonial material exchange.
#vastearlyamerica #arthistory
journalpanorama.org/article/a-tr...
#vastearlyamerica #arthistory
journalpanorama.org/article/a-tr...
A Trail of Coins from Yemen to New York: Pirates, Plunder, and Enslavement in the World of Margrieta van Varick, ca. 1695 - Panorama
Panorama is a peer-reviewed, open-access, online publication dedicated to American art and visual culture (broadly defined). The journal is intended to provide a high-caliber international forum for d...
journalpanorama.org
November 23, 2025 at 5:12 PM
NEW ARTICLE: Yemeni coins trace relations between pirates, merchants, and enslavers that traversed the North American, Arabian, & Madagascar coasts in the 1690s and shed light on colonial material exchange.
#vastearlyamerica #arthistory
journalpanorama.org/article/a-tr...
#vastearlyamerica #arthistory
journalpanorama.org/article/a-tr...
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
Writing Themselves into the Movement
Child Authors of the Black Arts Era www.umasspress.com/978162534826...
Child Authors of the Black Arts Era www.umasspress.com/978162534826...
November 23, 2025 at 5:14 PM
Writing Themselves into the Movement
Child Authors of the Black Arts Era www.umasspress.com/978162534826...
Child Authors of the Black Arts Era www.umasspress.com/978162534826...
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
DOGE was created for data theft and infrastructure dismantling and it wildly succeeded on both counts within the first few weeks of its existence. It will take a generation to rebuild what it destroyed and the breach of data is unprecedented.
Bye bye, “DOGE”.
It no longer exists as a “centralized entity”, according to the Office of Personnel Management.
@reuters.com
www.reuters.com/world/us/dog...
It no longer exists as a “centralized entity”, according to the Office of Personnel Management.
@reuters.com
www.reuters.com/world/us/dog...
November 23, 2025 at 3:01 PM
DOGE was created for data theft and infrastructure dismantling and it wildly succeeded on both counts within the first few weeks of its existence. It will take a generation to rebuild what it destroyed and the breach of data is unprecedented.
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
Kavanaugh stop. Smashed the kid’s car windows and arrested him. He told them he was a U.S. citizen. The officer replied “I don’t care.”
www.oregonlive.com/portland/202...
www.oregonlive.com/portland/202...
High school senior, a U.S. citizen, detained by ICE in Oregon
The 17-year-old was held more than five hours Friday in an ICE facility, his brother said.
www.oregonlive.com
November 23, 2025 at 12:34 AM
Kavanaugh stop. Smashed the kid’s car windows and arrested him. He told them he was a U.S. citizen. The officer replied “I don’t care.”
www.oregonlive.com/portland/202...
www.oregonlive.com/portland/202...
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
Impossible how good reading is. You mean I just point my face at the paper for a bit and it does a whole update on my brain?
November 23, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Impossible how good reading is. You mean I just point my face at the paper for a bit and it does a whole update on my brain?
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
Boast from EPA chief Lee Zelda: “We will do more deregulation in one year than entire federal governments in the past have done across all federal agencies combined.”
In One Week, Trump Moves to Reshape U.S. Environmental Policy
www.nytimes.com
November 23, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Boast from EPA chief Lee Zelda: “We will do more deregulation in one year than entire federal governments in the past have done across all federal agencies combined.”