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literaturegeek.bsky.social
Amanda Wyatt! Visconti
@literaturegeek.bsky.social
9K followers 5K following 1.4K posts
@ScholarsLab Director ✨💻📚🏳️‍🌈 (personal acct 🙃)
Just+joyful, critical+creative tech & culture

*DIY scholcom: letterpress+zine+blog+code
*Book-adjacent data+making
*Experimental/DH+library futures+community

3 !s in a hoodie
Dr! 🏳️‍⚧️ They/Them
AmandaVisconti.com
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literaturegeek.bsky.social
Amanda Wyatt! Visconti @literaturegeek.bsky.social · Nov 9
Hi new folks! I post on: intersections of tech/culture/justice, making+craft (zines, weird resin, letterpress/book arts, color+light, retro tech), directing a digital humanities research center, transformative justice, bookadjacent code/data. General enthusiast; laugh inappropriately loudly at puns.
Photo of a full-size-skull (front half) made of translucent resin, with embedded ramen noodle block in the brain area, and chatter teeth in the teeth area, held up to the sun so the light shines through the translucent resin from the back. Photo of materials for the Ghost Books project artfully arranged on a floor, including a swirl of blue LEDs with silicone diffusion making them look like neon lights, superglue, acrylic and glass cut to size to be assembled into a rectangular-prism/book shape with smoothe or crenellated edges, and one of the books I'm basing the initial prototype on (10 PRINT) because of it's interesting blue and white patterned cover. A photo of a white lab-hound mix dog lying down but with head up, basking in the bright sun with eyes squeezed shut in pleasure. There is a red brick wall behind the dog. Example themed reading card deck, prepared for the ACH 2023 conference's #DHmakes (digital humanities making) session. An open plastic playing card case holds a playing-card-style card with information about the "#DHMakes at #ACH2023" project governing the readings chosen for inclusion in the deck; next to the case is a fanned-out pile of playing-card-style cards showing tech, GLAM, and social justice zine titles such as "Kult of the Cyber Witch #1" and "Handbook for the Activist Archivist"; on the top of the fanned pile you can see a whole card. The whole card is white with black text; the title "Design Justice for Action" is in large print at the top of the card, followed by a list of the zine's creators (Design Justice Network, Sasha Costanza-Chock, Una Lee, Victoria Barnett, Taylor Stewart), the hashtags "#DHMakes #ACH2023, and a black square QR code (which links to an online version of that zine).
literaturegeek.bsky.social
Looks like that music group may have been inspired by an earlier print by Dalia Shevin originally carved in 1999 (reprinted 2017): justseeds.org/product/keep...
November 27, 2025 at 2:22 PM
literaturegeek.bsky.social
From @zaraworkercouncils.bsky.social (thank you!), origin of "your heart is a muscle the size of your fist" that I riffed on in my "hands off" print:
November 27, 2025 at 12:11 PM
Reposted by Amanda Wyatt! Visconti
jordyyager.bsky.social
The new JSAAHC app is officially here!

📍 11-stop audio tour
🖼️ Archival photos + documents
🌍 Multi-language support
November 24, 2025 at 5:44 PM
Reposted by Amanda Wyatt! Visconti
johnedwinmason.bsky.social
Charlottesville friends, the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center @jsaahccville.bsky.social has released a great new app--History in the Palm of Your Hand. It explores the story of the school & our city through audio, photos, documents & maps. It's very cool. mailchi.mp/jeffschoolhr...
History in the Palm of Your Hand
mailchi.mp
November 24, 2025 at 6:57 PM
Reposted by Amanda Wyatt! Visconti
lollardfish.bsky.social
The problem with ICE is not that it's targeting people who aren't criminals. The problem with ICE is that it's an unaccountable secret deportation police. It cannot be reformed under a better president. It can be made less terrible, but the instrument of repression remains for the next tyrant.
November 26, 2025 at 5:04 PM
literaturegeek.bsky.social
I was doing a test print of the 3rd caption for this "hands off" printers-fist print when there was a surprise printshop donor visit, and they asked "what are you printing?" and um... (testing type meant to go on the halfprinted chipboard as "Hands off !!?*&%!! everyone?! Fuck's wrong with you!?" 😂)
Photo of a letterpress test print on white paper with black ink, sitting on a Vandercook metal press bed. It says "!!?*&%!! everyone?! Fuck's wrong with you!?"
November 27, 2025 at 7:11 AM
literaturegeek.bsky.social
Finished antifa print I began back before printshop closed, w/3 text options:

"HANDS OFF / Your heart is a muscle (probably) bigger than a printers fist / Fight fascism where we find it"

"HANDS OFF / Printers fists & hearts / fight fascism where we find it"

(Both w/space to say "hands off" whom)
Photo of a letterpress print on chipboard paper with black ink. It says "HANDS OFF / Your heart is a muscle (probably) bigger than a printers fist / Fight fascism where we find it", surrounded by a cascade of pointing hand images ("printers fists") Photo of a letterpress print on chipboard paper with black ink. It says "HANDS OFF / Printers fists & hearts / fight fascism where we find it", surrounded by a cascade of pointing hand images ("printers fists") Photo of a neon orange piece of acrylic lasercut to have a 5.5" wide raised pointing hand, aka printers fist, next to my hand for scale Photo of a neon orange piece of acrylic lasercut to have a 5.5" wide raised pointing hand, being mounted on chest acrylic to bring it to type high using glue and clamps
November 27, 2025 at 7:07 AM
literaturegeek.bsky.social
#Letterpress field news: Hamilton Wood Type Museum pretty explicitly chose racism, this time even under threat of financial extinction. Didn't comply w/their major endower's deadline for reasonable changes +
November 27, 2025 at 6:33 AM
Reposted by Amanda Wyatt! Visconti
quinnanya.me
Love this video walkthrough of GIS crochet! #DHmakes
 spatialthinklab.bsky.social @spatialthinklab.bsky.social · 1d
#30DayMapChallenge Day 23: Process 🧵🗺️
Today’s post is less about the final map and more about how it came to be. Turning soil lead concentration data into a field of crocheted hexagons.

Data sources: GNS Science Report 2023/23 & LINZ
November 26, 2025 at 1:29 PM
Reposted by Amanda Wyatt! Visconti
tressiemcphd.bsky.social
I once taught a whole lesson on the narratives of deservedness in the very strange concept of “stealing” books from something conspicuously branded as a “free” little library. The students struggled with it. A lot of internalized beliefs about poverty and worth. But I think it was a good lesson.
darrylayo.bsky.social Ayo @darrylayo.bsky.social · 2d
If you are concerned about people swiping books from your little free library and reselling those books, I ask you to go to your local used bookstore and sell a book

Okay?

Understand?

Alright, next question
November 26, 2025 at 3:11 PM
literaturegeek.bsky.social
Coming this week(?), a 20-page zine w/Rad Measurement Fact/history mini-essays by @shane.logoff.website + Absolute Unit letterpress eye candy collected by me.
Screenshot of the cover of a zine, "Absolute Units of Letterpress: Plus Rad Measurement Facts" by Amanda Wyatt Visconti and Shane Lin. The cover is illustrated by a photo of a letterpress lead printing block of a stout dog and measurement tools, and typeset (and digitally reflected for readbaility) lead text that says "Contents are paced in a solid mass" Screenshot of a back page from a zine, "Absolute Units of Letterpress: Plus Rad Measurement Facts" by Amanda Wyatt Visconti and Shane Lin. It shows photos of various letterpress printing blocks and type arranged to read "As advertised, we put it all together jsut for you! All kinds of solid unit". A letterpress press with a huge cylinder like the biggest rolling pin is captioned "Reliance press with Absolute Unit of a cylinder". There is a letterpress block of a chef giving a "perfection" gesture. The words "solid" and "unit" are formed by digitally reflected large wood type, with the "L" in "solid" and the "i" in unit each formed by a human hand
November 26, 2025 at 12:06 PM
Reposted by Amanda Wyatt! Visconti
carlquintanilla.bsky.social
Page One in Cincinnati:

“.. I need to be able to look my grandkids in the eye and say I did not remain silent.”

#ICE
November 25, 2025 at 11:16 AM
Reposted by Amanda Wyatt! Visconti
davekeating.substack.com
BREAKING: This is huge news, the EU's equivalent of the 🇺🇸Supreme Court's 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges ruling.

🇪🇺Court of Justice just ruled all 🇪🇺countries must recognise same-sex marriages granted in other member states.

This effectively legalises gay marriage across 🇪🇺
www.reuters.com
November 25, 2025 at 10:10 AM
literaturegeek.bsky.social
Printing with the well-used wood type at my community printshop has a lovely night-sky stars & Milky Way effect from the various pits & dings accrued from many printers over time (this is there first pass on the print project my origami crane blocks are for)
Photo closeup of a letterpress print on white paper with black ink. It says "HOPE" with what looks like a night sky or galaxy print on the text, from the pitting on the old wood tile used to print it looking like stars and the Milky Way Photo closeup of a letterpress print on white paper with black ink. It says "IS A THING" with what looks like a night sky or galaxy print on the text, from the pitting on the old wood tile used to print it looking like stars and the Milky Way Photo of a letterpress print on white paper with black ink, hanging from a clothespin on a drying line. It says "HOPE / IS A THING / WITH WINGS" with what looks like a night sky or galaxy print on the letters, from the pitting on the old wood tile used to print it looking like stars and the Milky Way. Some different weird tie is visible in the background of the photo.
November 26, 2025 at 9:52 AM
Reposted by Amanda Wyatt! Visconti
ernestopriego.com
"[R]eflecting on the harms of AI is not itself harm reduction. It may even contribute to rationalizing, normalizing, and enabling harm. Critical reflection without appropriate action is thus quintessentially critical washing." zenodo.org/records/1567...
Critical AI Literacy: Beyond hegemonic perspectives on sustainability
How can universities resist being coopted and corrupted by the AI industries’ agendas? Originally published here: https://rcsc.substack.com/p/critical-ai-literacy-beyond-hegemonic
zenodo.org
November 24, 2025 at 12:42 PM
Reposted by Amanda Wyatt! Visconti
jortsthecat.bsky.social
This is so incredible. You have to see the photos. These workers held the line for THREE YEARS www.publicsource.org/post-gazette...
PITTSBURGH'S Public Source Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh journalists return to their jobs at the Post-Gazette after three years on strike After a court ruling in their favor, long-striking journalists declared victory and returned to a pivotal Southwestern Pennsylvania newsroom. They return as union organizing continues throughout the region. Stephanie Strasburg November 24, 2025 Natalie Duleba, local secretary of the guild, hugs Jon Schleuss, president of the NewsGuild Communications of America, as she hands him the mic. "The first day of this strike, our folks went over across the street and they sat down at a table, and they started talking about that they were going to take care of each other," said Schleuss, acknowledging the guild could not have known how long the path back to work would be. (Photo by Stephanie Strasburg/Pittsburgh's Public Source)
November 25, 2025 at 5:29 AM
literaturegeek.bsky.social
Maybe it's mAIbelline, maybe it's vaporware? Finished my "Vaporware Luddites" print & it is very extra indeed:
Photo of a letterpress print on white paper with green and black ink. It says "VAPORWARE pointing out the (tech) emperor has no clothes >:c since (well before) 1811 / Luddites didn't "fear technology", they broke the machines that allowed the rich to enshittify livelihoods/ who's your tech for? / caution: no tech's adoption is inevitable (lol blockchain) / glitch their cistems" and is decorated with a historical Luddite, dancing skeleton kicking a computer, and a person trying to sell you things from inside his trenchcoat (the things are three $ symbols and a poison symbol). Some of the text is in green overprinted with black.
November 25, 2025 at 11:43 PM
literaturegeek.bsky.social
Vacation day so I spent almost 11hrs in the printshop. (Someone who doesn't know me well told me it looked like I was on my happy place, so I must be beaming that if it's discernible even when I'm masked?) The origami cranes I drew and lasercut a few weeks ago printed well #DHmakes
Photo of an acrylic block lasercut to have a raised origami crane drawing,black arranged on a metal printing press bed with ink on the press rollers. Photo of a white sheet of paper with two origami craves printed on it in black ink (one with more lined shading, and one with spare lines). These were printed using an acrylic lasercut block, ink, and a printing press. CloseuppPhoto of a white sheet of paper with an origami crane with spare minimal lines printed on it in black ink. It was printed using an acrylic lasercut block, ink, and a printing press. CloseuppPhoto of a white sheet of paper with an origami crane like a live drawing with parallel line shading, printed on it in black ink. It was printed using an acrylic lasercut block, ink, and a printing press.
November 25, 2025 at 11:34 PM
Reposted by Amanda Wyatt! Visconti
miriamposner.com
You gotta ask yourself, why do they care about higher ed so much, given the lengths they go to trivialize and ridicule everything we do? I can only assume it's because what we do actually makes a difference.
November 24, 2025 at 9:57 PM
literaturegeek.bsky.social
Trying to pick a press name, since I've had enough asks I'm setting up a little web store to let folks buy some of my prints. Enthusiast Press (for that three !!!s in a hoodie life), Proof Press (for the bread+printing puns) = already taken and/or too much search result interference.

Ideas?
November 24, 2025 at 10:32 AM
Reposted by Amanda Wyatt! Visconti
plach.bsky.social
What an honor to share my 1st #DHmakes project w @scholarslab.bsky.social! This is a career high for me. It’s been so enriching exploring the world of data physicalization + critical making. I’ve discovered a crafty side I didn’t know I had AND it’s been transforming how I teach #DigitalHumanities 😍
literaturegeek.bsky.social Amanda Wyatt! Visconti @literaturegeek.bsky.social · 4d
Thanks @plach.bsky.social! for letting @scholarslab.bsky.social display a poster of her 1st yearlong data physicalization: embroidery+beading representing her insomnia, wakefulness, sleep over the course of 2024 (check her #DHmakes posts for 2025's version, w/iterated method+data granularity)
Photo of a wall exhibit label and poster showing a photograph of Pam Lach's 2024 "Sleep/Insomnia Data Physicalization", a tight circular spiral of embroidered Z's in white and various blue threads, with orange and clear beads, on a black-blue galaxy-ish fabric background. The poster text says "Sleep/Insomnia Data Physicalization / By Pamella Lach (2024) / A yearlong, embroidered visualization of personal data: nightly sleep amounts (thread color) & types of wakefulness/insomnia (bead color)." Exhibit label text in next photo's alt text. Photo of an exhibit label that says: "#DHmakes Sleep/Insomnia Data Physicalization Pamella Lach 2024 Materials: thread, fabric, beads Methods: embroidery, physical data visualization The photographed embroidery on this poster is a data "physicalization": data visualized via physical means, such as this project's hand-embroidered fabric. Data artist & digital humanities scholar Pamella Lach added stitches throughout 2024, tracking the entire year's data on her sleep & insomnia. Thread color represents quantities of sleep; bead color represents type of wakefulness and insomnia. A 2025 version builds on this method with added complexity & granularity of how data was captured & how those details are represented visually. "#DHmakes" is both a hashtag & a community of scholarly practice. On social media, folks in digital humanities, libraries, academia, and other learning-work who craft or make use the tag to share everything from failed first attempts at new hobby methods, to advanced professional work. Beyond social media, #DHmakes is a community that's published peer-reviewed journal articles, run scholarly conference panels & workshops, hosted a public methodological talk series, built a group project representing many kinds of data art & craft, & more. Read more about #DHmakes & how to get involved via the QR code. Scholars' Lab's Makerspace can help you explore making, crafts, & building-both as means of teaching & research, and for pleasure, advocacy, & art."
November 23, 2025 at 3:38 PM
literaturegeek.bsky.social
Thanks @plach.bsky.social! for letting @scholarslab.bsky.social display a poster of her 1st yearlong data physicalization: embroidery+beading representing her insomnia, wakefulness, sleep over the course of 2024 (check her #DHmakes posts for 2025's version, w/iterated method+data granularity)
Photo of a wall exhibit label and poster showing a photograph of Pam Lach's 2024 "Sleep/Insomnia Data Physicalization", a tight circular spiral of embroidered Z's in white and various blue threads, with orange and clear beads, on a black-blue galaxy-ish fabric background. The poster text says "Sleep/Insomnia Data Physicalization / By Pamella Lach (2024) / A yearlong, embroidered visualization of personal data: nightly sleep amounts (thread color) & types of wakefulness/insomnia (bead color)." Exhibit label text in next photo's alt text. Photo of an exhibit label that says: "#DHmakes Sleep/Insomnia Data Physicalization Pamella Lach 2024 Materials: thread, fabric, beads Methods: embroidery, physical data visualization The photographed embroidery on this poster is a data "physicalization": data visualized via physical means, such as this project's hand-embroidered fabric. Data artist & digital humanities scholar Pamella Lach added stitches throughout 2024, tracking the entire year's data on her sleep & insomnia. Thread color represents quantities of sleep; bead color represents type of wakefulness and insomnia. A 2025 version builds on this method with added complexity & granularity of how data was captured & how those details are represented visually. "#DHmakes" is both a hashtag & a community of scholarly practice. On social media, folks in digital humanities, libraries, academia, and other learning-work who craft or make use the tag to share everything from failed first attempts at new hobby methods, to advanced professional work. Beyond social media, #DHmakes is a community that's published peer-reviewed journal articles, run scholarly conference panels & workshops, hosted a public methodological talk series, built a group project representing many kinds of data art & craft, & more. Read more about #DHmakes & how to get involved via the QR code. Scholars' Lab's Makerspace can help you explore making, crafts, & building-both as means of teaching & research, and for pleasure, advocacy, & art."
November 23, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Reposted by Amanda Wyatt! Visconti
librarycolleen.bsky.social
Court permanently blocks Trump's executive order to dismantle federal agency for America's libraries IMLS
librarytechnology.org/pr/31973
Court permanently blocks Trump's executive order to dismantle federal agency for America's libraries
Press Release: Court permanently blocks Trump's executive order to dismantle federal agency for America's libraries. The U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island struck down the Trump Adm...
librarytechnology.org
November 22, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Reposted by Amanda Wyatt! Visconti
histoftech.bsky.social
THIS
mcnees.bsky.social Robert “The Baste God” McNees @mcnees.bsky.social · 5d
Journalist challenge: Use “Machine Learning” when you mean machine learning and “LLM” when you mean LLM. Ditch “AI” as a catch-all term, it’s not useful for readers and it helps companies trying to confuse the public by obscuring the roles played by different technologies. 🧪
November 23, 2025 at 1:35 AM
Reposted by Amanda Wyatt! Visconti
afamiglietti.bsky.social
I would be more convinced by the argument "we won't allow agentic AI to have any real authority because we know we can't hold it accountable" if we were currently holding any of the powerful people/institutions with authority accountable
November 22, 2025 at 12:38 PM