Travis P. Wagner | Lightnews

Travis Wagner (they/them) @drtlwagner.bsky.social · 7h

How have we never talked about Control!? It’s such an incredible game

Travis Wagner (they/them) @drtlwagner.bsky.social · 3d

Proposing a society level resolution for the new year: Bands should only be able to cover “Hunger Strike” by Temple of the Dog

Travis Wagner (they/them) @drtlwagner.bsky.social · 3d

Move over media archaeology we are trying to actively revive these skeletons 🧙📼💀

Ryan Cordell @ryancordell.org · 3d

Yesterday @drtlwagner.bsky.social & I were brainstorming a new @skeuomorphpress.org speaker series—essentially each talk would unpack how a old medium is interwoven in the design/function/&c. of a newer medium—& one of their students suggested we call the series "Media Necromancy"—just *chef’s kiss*

Ryan Cordell @ryancordell.org · 3d

Yesterday @drtlwagner.bsky.social & I were brainstorming a new @skeuomorphpress.org speaker series—essentially each talk would unpack how a old medium is interwoven in the design/function/&c. of a newer medium—& one of their students suggested we call the series "Media Necromancy"—just *chef’s kiss*

nicolethelibrarian.bsky.social @nicolethelibrarian.bsky.social · 4d

We did a thing!
Thanks to the EveryLibrary team and to all of the wonderful contributors!
p.s. a webinar series highlighting some of the articles is coming in early 2026.

www.everylibraryinstitute.org/everylibrary...

EveryLibrary Institute Announces a Special Issue of The Political Librarian, “Weaponized Politics and Dismantled Policies: Defending Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in America's Libraries and Cultura...

EveryLibrary Institute is a 501c3 organization that supports library funding in the United States.

www.everylibraryinstitute.org

Travis Wagner (they/them) @drtlwagner.bsky.social · 11d

A new article is out in Cataloging and Classification Quarterly, where my colleague Karen Wickett and I explore how the LCSH "Conduct of Life" enacts, often anti-queer, ideological work on information objects. Read the article here:

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

“Works Containing Moral Guidance and Advice to the Individual”: Examining the Ideological Underpinnings of the Library of Congress’ Conduct of Life Subject Heading

This paper explores the ideological underpinnings of the Library of Congress subject heading “Conduct of Life” in catalog records where it is used as a subdivision in relation to queerness. Using F...

www.tandfonline.com

Travis Wagner (they/them) @drtlwagner.bsky.social · 19d

Just found out that Jimmy Cliff passed away. I guess it is time to give this song a ton of spins and watch the movie that gives it its namesake. There's truly nothing quite like it.

youtu.be/BpQrLUopf-k?...

The Harder They Come

YouTube video by Jimmy Cliff - Topic

youtu.be

Travis Wagner (they/them) @drtlwagner.bsky.social · 20d

I think I have found what is officially the best name for a backup band ever:

youtu.be/lc-pIH0CBxM?...

Jiro Inagaki & Soul Media - Breeze

YouTube video by Terminal Passage

youtu.be

Travis Wagner (they/them) @drtlwagner.bsky.social · Nov 11

In my IS 308: Race, Gender, and Information Technology class, I asked students to make zines today about inclusive tech issues, and they insisted that I should also participate. I thought that was a fair request and took a swing at making my own (though I didn't finish)

Transformative Works and Cultures @journal.transformativeworks.org · Nov 11

Next in New Currents, @drtlwagner.bsky.social & Alison Harding use traditional analyses to examine work created using generative AI in ""Remember, love knows no boundaries and comes in many forms": The conceptualization of queerness within AI-generated fan works"! Read it in #TWC46:

buff.ly

Travis Wagner (they/them) @drtlwagner.bsky.social · Nov 9

Hit an important Google Scholar citation mark today 😈 #hailsatan

Violet Fox 🦊 @violetbfox.bsky.social · Nov 5

New survey researching how recent policy shifts within the U.S. in higher education are impacting DEI reparative metadata/cataloging efforts in academic libraries & archives in the U.S., Canada, or Mexico. 📚 #critcat uncg.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

Ramification of DEI shifts in higher education on reparative cataloging activity

Survey for "Ramification of DEI shifts in higher education on reparative cataloging activity".

uncg.qualtrics.com

Travis Wagner (they/them) @drtlwagner.bsky.social · Oct 23

Students in my Information Organization and Access course have an assignment where they make their own taxonomy on a topic of their choosing. One student did TV shows, and included I Think You Should Leave, and I felt obligated to include this comment.

Travis Wagner (they/them) @drtlwagner.bsky.social · Oct 23

Stoked to share my op-ed in The Hill that I wrote as part of The OpEd Project 2025–26 Public Voices Fellows at UofI. In it, I talk about historical trends in automation and how it might inform current understandings of anti-trans legislation. Check it out here: thehill.com/opinion/civi...

thehill.com

Jeremy Keen Abbott @jkabbott.bsky.social · Oct 16

The folks at University of Illinois have very kindly invited me to give a little talk next week (10/22)! Stop by if you're in Urbana, or zoom in if you're not. Many, many thanks to @drtlwagner.bsky.social for facilitating, and details can be found here: ischool.illinois.edu/news-events/...

MSLIS Speaker Event: Jeremy Keen Abbott

Jeremy Keen Abbott will present "Library time: in pursuit of liberatory leisure."

ischool.illinois.edu

Travis Wagner (they/them) @drtlwagner.bsky.social · Oct 4

Excited to announce my new article titled 'In A Way I’m Coming Out to All of You Tonight'": Activist Media, Digital Curation Pedagogy, and the future of Queer Archives' in the most recent issue of Synoptique focused on "Teaching Media Archives"

Synoptique: An online Journal of Film and Moving Image Studies @synoptiquejournal.bsky.social · Oct 3

We are thrilled to announce the release of Synoptique issue 11.1, "Teaching Media Archives," edited by Hugo Ljungbäck and Christian Balistreri! You can read the issue in open access on our website: www.synoptique.ca/issue-11-1.

Issue 11.1 | Synoptique

Issue 11.1 - Teaching Media Archives Edited by Hugo Ljungbäck and Christian Balistreri! Synoptique, An Online Journal of Film and Moving Image Studies.

www.synoptique.ca

Synoptique: An online Journal of Film and Moving Image Studies @synoptiquejournal.bsky.social · Oct 3

We are thrilled to announce the release of Synoptique issue 11.1, "Teaching Media Archives," edited by Hugo Ljungbäck and Christian Balistreri! You can read the issue in open access on our website: www.synoptique.ca/issue-11-1.

Issue 11.1 | Synoptique

Issue 11.1 - Teaching Media Archives Edited by Hugo Ljungbäck and Christian Balistreri! Synoptique, An Online Journal of Film and Moving Image Studies.

www.synoptique.ca

Travis Wagner (they/them) @drtlwagner.bsky.social · Sep 30

Wait the preferred viewing format isn’t 200+ one minute segments of the film uploaded to TikTok?

Travis Wagner (they/them) @drtlwagner.bsky.social · Sep 30

Found this incredible set of cels out of a 90s issue Excalibur (a spin off of X-Men) and fully intend to use it as the cover photo next time I teach Digital Preservation

Travis Wagner (they/them) @drtlwagner.bsky.social · Sep 23

Turns out the easiest way to turn off the perpetually useless AI overview on Google is to switch browsers. Time to live the Duck Duck Go life, I guess.

Travis Wagner (they/them) @drtlwagner.bsky.social · Sep 21

For most of undergrad/grad school, I stopped playing video games. The joy of returning was being able to play a decade of indie/AAA games in a row. To a lesser extent, I am doing this with anime, but have the benefit of expedient access to older stuff without needing to use extralegal means.

Travis Wagner (they/them) @drtlwagner.bsky.social · Sep 17

New article with a former doc student from UMD. We examine how ChatGPT interprets the creation of queer fanfiction across fandoms that feature openly queer and/or "shipped" queer characters. It took time to publish, but I think the findings hold up:

journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/tw...

"Remember, love knows no boundaries and comes in many forms": The conceptualization of queerness within AI-generated fan works | Transformative Works and Cultures

journal.transformativeworks.org

Travis Wagner (they/them) @drtlwagner.bsky.social · Sep 16

New obsession is tracking down and playing a copy of the board game Dragon Strike which includes a corresponding VHS tape of footage corresponding to the game

Travis Wagner (they/them) @drtlwagner.bsky.social · Aug 26

New publication in Archival Science focused on how archival practitioners working with queer collections construct and manage finding aids. This work was done in collaboration with a set of MLIS students, one who joined our PhD program yesterday

Read it here:

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

“The finding aid is the first thing that people see, we don’t want to put anyone off viewing the collection”: how practitioners navigate queerness in finding aids - Archival Science

This paper reports on findings from semi-structured interviews with 29 archival practitioners who work on the creation and maintenance of finding aids related to LGBTQIA+ archival materials. The paper...

link.springer.com

Travis Wagner (they/them) @drtlwagner.bsky.social · Aug 18

Nothing prepares you for the chaos of students returning to U of I. We’re talking “Master Blaster Runs Campustown” levels of chaos.

Travis Wagner (they/them) @drtlwagner.bsky.social · Aug 9

There are a lot of weird and wacky things about Urbana-Champaign, but one of the weirdest and wackiest is Emoji Cream, which is an ice cream truck run out of a van that cranks trap-infused versions of classic ice cream jingles.

iSchool at Illinois @ischoolui.bsky.social · Jul 29

Congratulations to #iSchoolUI Associate Professor Maria Bonn, Teaching Assistant Professor Haileleol Tibebu, and Assistant Professor Travis L. Wagner on being selected for this year’s cohort of the Public Voices Fellowship! ▶️ bit.ly/419ThZK

Associate Professor Maria Bonn, Teaching Assistant Professor Haileleol Tibebu, and Assistant Professor Travis L. Wagner

Travis Wagner (they/them) @drtlwagner.bsky.social · Jul 20

A bit belated but my favorite thing about presenting at the Northeast Historic Film Summer Symposium is always the setup which involves theater style projection. My second favorite thing is using that setup to sneak in absurd videos which this year involved Leroy Jenkins

Travis Wagner (they/them) @drtlwagner.bsky.social · Jul 18

New article drop titled "I Like the Narrative of Curating What We Watch": The Curatorial Worlds of Retroconversion Artists, which talks to artists who take contemporary, often digital media, and revert it to older formats such as VHS tapes. Check it out here:

journals.sagepub.com/eprint/GEB7V...

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

journals.sagepub.com

Travis Wagner (they/them) @drtlwagner.bsky.social · Jul 1

I was messing around with the Guess the Game and am ashamed that I was able to instantly guess Facade based on one small corner of the room, but also reminded about the one week where me and @ashleyblewer.com became fixated on "winning" the game.

Screen grab of Guess The Game with a correct first guess for the game Facade

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