Lee Vinsel
@leev.bsky.social
I do technology studies, make the Peoples & Things podcast, co-founded The Maintainers, and profess Science, Technology, and Society at Virginia Tech.
New Peoples & Things episode this week features Verena Halsmayer talking about her award-winning book, _Managing Growth in Miniature: Solow’s Model as an Artifact_, including how it relates to the economics of technological change.
newbooksnetwork.com/managing-gro...
newbooksnetwork.com/managing-gro...
Verena Halsmayer on Managing Growth in Miniature: Solow’s Model as an Artifact - New Books Network
newbooksnetwork.com
November 24, 2025 at 3:03 PM
New Peoples & Things episode this week features Verena Halsmayer talking about her award-winning book, _Managing Growth in Miniature: Solow’s Model as an Artifact_, including how it relates to the economics of technological change.
newbooksnetwork.com/managing-gro...
newbooksnetwork.com/managing-gro...
I enjoyed Bob Charette's new piece at IEEE Spectrum, "Trillions Spent and Big Software Projects Are Still Failing." I've long believed this is one of many factors at play in the "productivity paradox" of computing.
spectrum.ieee.org/amp/it-manag...
spectrum.ieee.org/amp/it-manag...
Trillions Spent and Big Software Projects Are Still Failing
AI won’t solve IT’s management problems
spectrum.ieee.org
November 24, 2025 at 2:55 PM
I enjoyed Bob Charette's new piece at IEEE Spectrum, "Trillions Spent and Big Software Projects Are Still Failing." I've long believed this is one of many factors at play in the "productivity paradox" of computing.
spectrum.ieee.org/amp/it-manag...
spectrum.ieee.org/amp/it-manag...
Hey, y'all! This week we have a special episode of Peoples & Things - a recent livestream featuring very special guest host danah boyd talking with Cory Doctorow about his new book, _Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It_.
newbooksnetwork.com/cory-doctoro...
newbooksnetwork.com/cory-doctoro...
Cory Doctorow on Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It - New Books Network
newbooksnetwork.com
November 19, 2025 at 5:40 PM
Hey, y'all! This week we have a special episode of Peoples & Things - a recent livestream featuring very special guest host danah boyd talking with Cory Doctorow about his new book, _Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It_.
newbooksnetwork.com/cory-doctoro...
newbooksnetwork.com/cory-doctoro...
Reposted by Lee Vinsel
Excellent to have danah boyd on the same call as Cory. Lovely chat. So many analogies, “further complications”, and wry laughs per minute!
ICYMI: Join us tonight at 7pm ET for a special livestream edition of Peoples & Things featuring Cory Doctorow and special guest host @zephoria.bsky.social talking about Cory's new book, _Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It_.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjFv...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjFv...
Cory Doctorow on Enshittification, with danah boyd and Lee Vinsel
YouTube video by Peoples & Things
www.youtube.com
November 19, 2025 at 1:35 AM
Excellent to have danah boyd on the same call as Cory. Lovely chat. So many analogies, “further complications”, and wry laughs per minute!
Great episode of Peoples & Things today featuring Colleen Dunlavy, Emeritus Professor of History at University of Wisconsin-Madison, talking about her recent book, Small, Medium, Large: How Government Made the U.S. A history of standards oooh la la. 😍😍
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...
How Government Made the U.S. into a Manufacturing Powerhouse
Podcast Episode · Peoples & Things · 11/10/2025 · 1h 10m
podcasts.apple.com
November 10, 2025 at 8:41 PM
Great episode of Peoples & Things today featuring Colleen Dunlavy, Emeritus Professor of History at University of Wisconsin-Madison, talking about her recent book, Small, Medium, Large: How Government Made the U.S. A history of standards oooh la la. 😍😍
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...
Periodic reposting of the secret seal of the American Historical Association.
Its image: a wet blanket.
One motto: "Historians - we are here to bum you out."
(Grainy because I risked my life to smuggle this out of a secret history ritual.)
Its image: a wet blanket.
One motto: "Historians - we are here to bum you out."
(Grainy because I risked my life to smuggle this out of a secret history ritual.)
November 10, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Periodic reposting of the secret seal of the American Historical Association.
Its image: a wet blanket.
One motto: "Historians - we are here to bum you out."
(Grainy because I risked my life to smuggle this out of a secret history ritual.)
Its image: a wet blanket.
One motto: "Historians - we are here to bum you out."
(Grainy because I risked my life to smuggle this out of a secret history ritual.)
ICYMI: Join us tonight at 7pm ET for a special livestream edition of Peoples & Things featuring Cory Doctorow and special guest host @zephoria.bsky.social talking about Cory's new book, _Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It_.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjFv...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjFv...
Cory Doctorow on Enshittification, with danah boyd and Lee Vinsel
YouTube video by Peoples & Things
www.youtube.com
November 3, 2025 at 8:34 PM
ICYMI: Join us tonight at 7pm ET for a special livestream edition of Peoples & Things featuring Cory Doctorow and special guest host @zephoria.bsky.social talking about Cory's new book, _Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It_.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjFv...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjFv...
Reposted by Lee Vinsel
#ICYMI: Tonight at 7 PM, ET (6 PM, CT), @zephoria.bsky.social & Cory Doctorow discuss the #enshittification 💩 of the Internet on a special live edition of @leev.bsky.social's Peoples & Things podcast!
#histSTM #histsci #histtech #STS 🗃️📜
#histSTM #histsci #histtech #STS 🗃️📜
Join us on Monday November 3 at 7pm ET for a Peoples & Things livestream featuring Cory Doctorow @pluralistic.net.web.brid.gy on his book, _Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It_, with special guest host @zephoria.bsky.social!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjFv...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjFv...
November 3, 2025 at 2:19 PM
#ICYMI: Tonight at 7 PM, ET (6 PM, CT), @zephoria.bsky.social & Cory Doctorow discuss the #enshittification 💩 of the Internet on a special live edition of @leev.bsky.social's Peoples & Things podcast!
#histSTM #histsci #histtech #STS 🗃️📜
#histSTM #histsci #histtech #STS 🗃️📜
Reposted by Lee Vinsel
Kate Epstein discussed her new book, ANALOG SUPERPOWERS, with @leev.bsky.social on Peoples & Things! Listen to learn about the intersection of defense contracting, intellectual property, and government secrecy in Great Britain and the United States.
107: Kate Epstein on How Twentieth-Century Technology Theft Built the National-Security State” (U Chicago Press, 2024) – Peoples & Things
In this episode I sit down with Kate Epstein, an associate professor of history at Rutgers University-Camden, as she details her research on the intersection of defense contracting, intellectual…
buff.ly
October 31, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Kate Epstein discussed her new book, ANALOG SUPERPOWERS, with @leev.bsky.social on Peoples & Things! Listen to learn about the intersection of defense contracting, intellectual property, and government secrecy in Great Britain and the United States.
Join us on Monday November 3 at 7pm ET for a Peoples & Things livestream featuring Cory Doctorow @pluralistic.net.web.brid.gy on his book, _Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It_, with special guest host @zephoria.bsky.social!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjFv...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjFv...
October 30, 2025 at 6:50 PM
Join us on Monday November 3 at 7pm ET for a Peoples & Things livestream featuring Cory Doctorow @pluralistic.net.web.brid.gy on his book, _Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It_, with special guest host @zephoria.bsky.social!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjFv...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjFv...
Reposted by Lee Vinsel
Do you wish there were a way to distinguish “innovation-speak” from actual, sustainable #innovation? Come to the 2026 ARL President’s Institute #PI26! @leev.bsky.social will foster realistic conversations around necessary changes to truly unlock innovation in #libraries bit.ly/PI26Vinsel
ARL PI26: Keynote Announcement—Lee Vinsel — Association of Research Libraries
February 11–12 ᐧ Chicago-Rosemont Be honest: Do you hear people use the term “innovation” without fully appreciating what it entails? Do you wish there were a way to distinguish “innovation-speak”.....
bit.ly
October 27, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Do you wish there were a way to distinguish “innovation-speak” from actual, sustainable #innovation? Come to the 2026 ARL President’s Institute #PI26! @leev.bsky.social will foster realistic conversations around necessary changes to truly unlock innovation in #libraries bit.ly/PI26Vinsel
Reposted by Lee Vinsel
Read an enlightening interview with Lee Vinsel about "Using Podcasts to Humanize Scholars" in the new issue of Technology and Culture via @projectmuse.bsky.social
muse.jhu.edu/article/971306
muse.jhu.edu/article/971306
October 17, 2025 at 1:08 PM
Read an enlightening interview with Lee Vinsel about "Using Podcasts to Humanize Scholars" in the new issue of Technology and Culture via @projectmuse.bsky.social
muse.jhu.edu/article/971306
muse.jhu.edu/article/971306
Hard for me to put into words how touched I was when the editors of Technology & Culture, which I've been reading for half my life, interviewed me about Peoples & Things, the technology studies podcast I make with a production team here at Virginia Tech.
doi.org/10.1353/tech...
doi.org/10.1353/tech...
October 16, 2025 at 3:56 PM
Hard for me to put into words how touched I was when the editors of Technology & Culture, which I've been reading for half my life, interviewed me about Peoples & Things, the technology studies podcast I make with a production team here at Virginia Tech.
doi.org/10.1353/tech...
doi.org/10.1353/tech...
Folks, asking for a friend: Are there any good, short, clear pieces that you use to teach students about the history of the Dot-Com bubble and bust?
Extra points for these traits: Written as narrative history, chapter/article length, free or easily obtainable.
Extra points for these traits: Written as narrative history, chapter/article length, free or easily obtainable.
October 15, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Folks, asking for a friend: Are there any good, short, clear pieces that you use to teach students about the history of the Dot-Com bubble and bust?
Extra points for these traits: Written as narrative history, chapter/article length, free or easily obtainable.
Extra points for these traits: Written as narrative history, chapter/article length, free or easily obtainable.
Well done. I especially appreciated Ariel's attention to the real history of . . . . interchangeable parts - ooh la la.
Had to give a talk about Eli Whitney of all people and anyway now it's an article on Common Place
commonplace.online/article/how-...
commonplace.online/article/how-...
How Eli Whitney Single-handedly Started the Civil War . . . and Why That’s Not True - Commonplace
The real Whitney story is less grand than the legend, but more interesting and, ultimately, more edifying.
commonplace.online
October 14, 2025 at 5:31 PM
Well done. I especially appreciated Ariel's attention to the real history of . . . . interchangeable parts - ooh la la.
We've had a lot of great episodes of Peoples & Things recently. This week's features Whitney Laemmli talking about her neat forthcoming book, _Making Movement Modern: Science, Politics, and the Body in Motion_.
newbooksnetwork.com/whitney-laem...
newbooksnetwork.com/whitney-laem...
Whitney Laemmli on Making Movement Modern - New Books Network
newbooksnetwork.com
October 14, 2025 at 4:59 PM
We've had a lot of great episodes of Peoples & Things recently. This week's features Whitney Laemmli talking about her neat forthcoming book, _Making Movement Modern: Science, Politics, and the Body in Motion_.
newbooksnetwork.com/whitney-laem...
newbooksnetwork.com/whitney-laem...
I really enjoyed and was grateful for the opportunity to go on Charley Johnson's Untangled podcast to talk about my essay, "Against Narcissistic-Sociopathic Technology Studies, or Why Do People USE Technologies?"
untangled.substack.com/p/be-curious...
untangled.substack.com/p/be-curious...
'Be Curious, Not judgmental' or What AI Critics Get Wrong!
Listen now | My conversation with Lee Vinsel, Assistant Professor and creator of People & Things
untangled.substack.com
October 13, 2025 at 1:09 PM
I really enjoyed and was grateful for the opportunity to go on Charley Johnson's Untangled podcast to talk about my essay, "Against Narcissistic-Sociopathic Technology Studies, or Why Do People USE Technologies?"
untangled.substack.com/p/be-curious...
untangled.substack.com/p/be-curious...
Very happy to see my article “Join us in preparing people for tomorrow’s jobs”: Robert Reich, the “New Economy,” and mythic thinking as interventionist knowledge - doi.org/10.1017/S026... - finally out in Science in Context.
“Join us in preparing people for tomorrow’s jobs”: Robert Reich, the “New Economy,” and mythic thinking as interventionist knowledge | Science in Context | Cambridge Core
“Join us in preparing people for tomorrow’s jobs”: Robert Reich, the “New Economy,” and mythic thinking as interventionist knowledge
doi.org
October 9, 2025 at 1:16 PM
Very happy to see my article “Join us in preparing people for tomorrow’s jobs”: Robert Reich, the “New Economy,” and mythic thinking as interventionist knowledge - doi.org/10.1017/S026... - finally out in Science in Context.
A new post on The Conversation estimates that flushing the toilet equals the water used in 154 GPT-5 prompts and 1,714 GPT-4o prompts. I am wondering if anyone has seen analysis or pushback on the piece.
theconversation.com/ai-has-a-hid...
theconversation.com/ai-has-a-hid...
September 4, 2025 at 1:24 PM
A new post on The Conversation estimates that flushing the toilet equals the water used in 154 GPT-5 prompts and 1,714 GPT-4o prompts. I am wondering if anyone has seen analysis or pushback on the piece.
theconversation.com/ai-has-a-hid...
theconversation.com/ai-has-a-hid...
A bane of hosting a podcast about technology is that I get loads of press releases and such, including not one but four - FOUR! - emails relating to this supposedly AI-enabled . . . pen.
August 27, 2025 at 4:51 PM
A bane of hosting a podcast about technology is that I get loads of press releases and such, including not one but four - FOUR! - emails relating to this supposedly AI-enabled . . . pen.
I wrote a little post about where the Peoples & Things podcast is at these days and, more importantly, about our most recent episode with Mary Bridges on her book, _Dollars and Dominion: US Bankers and the Making of a Superpower_.
peoples-things.ghost.io/podcast-refl...
peoples-things.ghost.io/podcast-refl...
Podcast Reflections: Mary Bridges on US Bankers Abroad and the Making of a Global Superpower
I'm on research leave this fall, and it is giving me time to step back and reflect on what I've been up to the past few years.
A lot of my work during that time has gone into making the podcast, Peop...
peoples-things.ghost.io
August 26, 2025 at 2:44 PM
I wrote a little post about where the Peoples & Things podcast is at these days and, more importantly, about our most recent episode with Mary Bridges on her book, _Dollars and Dominion: US Bankers and the Making of a Superpower_.
peoples-things.ghost.io/podcast-refl...
peoples-things.ghost.io/podcast-refl...
I just posted "Against Narcissistic-Sociopathic Technology Studies, or Why Do People *USE* Technologies?" about the need in technology studies to be less preoccupied with our own judgments and more interested in what people who are not ourselves are up to.
peoples-things.ghost.io/why-do-peopl...
peoples-things.ghost.io/why-do-peopl...
Against Narcissistic-Sociopathic Technology Studies, or Why Do People *USE* Technologies?
Why and how do people USE technologies?
This question should be at the center of any thinking about human life with technology. The ways in which people use technologies, after all, determines the so...
peoples-things.ghost.io
August 20, 2025 at 3:41 PM
I just posted "Against Narcissistic-Sociopathic Technology Studies, or Why Do People *USE* Technologies?" about the need in technology studies to be less preoccupied with our own judgments and more interested in what people who are not ourselves are up to.
peoples-things.ghost.io/why-do-peopl...
peoples-things.ghost.io/why-do-peopl...
Had fun working on this post most of the day. Should be up tomorrow morning.
August 19, 2025 at 7:15 PM
Had fun working on this post most of the day. Should be up tomorrow morning.
Any of y'all have favorite reporting/analysis of Trump and the Bureau of Labor Statistics? A reading group I'm a part of is looking for resources. Thanks!
August 13, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Any of y'all have favorite reporting/analysis of Trump and the Bureau of Labor Statistics? A reading group I'm a part of is looking for resources. Thanks!
Reposted by Lee Vinsel
Ch 6 of Fintech Dystopia has dropped, wherein I explain why we’re predisposed to buy Silicon Valley’s BS hype:
fintechdystopia.com/chapters/cha...
Come for the psychology & bad puns about 17th century warships, stay for the evisceration of vibe coding, enshittification & God Bless Bitcoin movie.
fintechdystopia.com/chapters/cha...
Come for the psychology & bad puns about 17th century warships, stay for the evisceration of vibe coding, enshittification & God Bless Bitcoin movie.
August 8, 2025 at 2:12 PM
Ch 6 of Fintech Dystopia has dropped, wherein I explain why we’re predisposed to buy Silicon Valley’s BS hype:
fintechdystopia.com/chapters/cha...
Come for the psychology & bad puns about 17th century warships, stay for the evisceration of vibe coding, enshittification & God Bless Bitcoin movie.
fintechdystopia.com/chapters/cha...
Come for the psychology & bad puns about 17th century warships, stay for the evisceration of vibe coding, enshittification & God Bless Bitcoin movie.