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scholarslab.bsky.social
Scholars' Lab
@scholarslab.bsky.social
3.1K followers 6K following 340 posts
UVA's Library research center+community lab for practicing interdisciplinary+experimental scholarship around creative+critical tech—informed by digital humanities, spatial tech, SJ, & more
💜🏳️‍🌈 People > projects.
📚💻 Research blog & more at ScholarsLab.org!
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scholarslab.bsky.social
Early morning makerspace still life. We 💜 how our community has filled the room with their art 🎨🪡🖨️
Photo of a desk and window sill in the Scholars' Lab Makerspace in early morning light, showing a sewing machine or serger, and various art such as felted animals and pumpkins, lego cacti, and costumed mannequin dolls
November 13, 2025 at 10:57 AM
scholarslab.bsky.social
Livetweet thread from @sararribas.bsky.social excellent talk on how digital research methods & physical critical making can strengthen scholarship when iterating between both modes. (HT @shane.logoff.website for photos!)
Photo of Dr. Sara Arribas Colmenar presenting on her critical making data art project, which uses colorful string, nails, paint, and photographs to analyze historical social relationships around a major Flamenco event in early 29th-century Spain. Two audience members look on in interest. Photo of Dr. Sara Arribas Colmenar taking audience questions about her critical making data art project, which uses colorful string, nails, paint, and photographs to analyze historical social relationships around a major Flamenco event in early 29th-century Spain. Two audience members look on in interest. Photo of Dr. Sara Arribas Colmenar presenting on her critical making data art project, which uses colorful string, nails, paint, and photographs to analyze historical social relationships around a major Flamenco event in early 29th-century Spain. The table in front of her includes archival document facsimiles and a rainbow array of embroidery thread as part of her presentation.
September 25, 2025 at 4:51 PM
scholarslab.bsky.social
We've installed @sararribas.bsky.social's prize-winning data art in our Common Room (VR Corner) 🎉 Can't make her research methods+making talk today? Come by any time to view & follow the QR code or this link to an online exhibit: uploads.knightlab.com/storymapjs/e...
Photo of the VR corner of the Scholars' Lab Common Room, showing a square rug, windows into an atrium, and a colorful research string art exhibit on the wall, with multiple panels sharing photos and historical background. Photo of Sara Arribas Colmenar's data art installation, a colorful research string art exhibit on the wall, with multiple panels sharing photos and historical background and explaining how to read the colorful strings modeling artistic historical relationships A closeup view of Sara Arribas Colmenar's data art installation, a colorful research string art exhibit, showing how the colorful strings model artistic historical relationships and are layered up close in ways a digital network graph might not show as well
September 25, 2025 at 2:50 PM
scholarslab.bsky.social
Curated by @arinbb.bsky.social & Will Rourk, w/data fieldwork captures by Will & his architectural history students. Visit our VR corner (Shannon Library 308) or for these+many more 3D cultural heritage data point clouds, flythroughs, datasets: at.virginia.edu/tkup00
Photo of Scholars' Lab VR expert Arin Bennett displaying point cloud data of a local historical site on a laptop next to a "P is for Point Clouds" poster explaining the data making up that visualization Photo of a large poster with an initial large "P" that says "Point Clouds" and "Curated by Arin Bennett, Information Visualization Specialist, and Will Rourk, 3D Technologies Specialist. Thanks to 3D data capture technologies such as LIDAR scanners, the UVA Library is able to create three-dimensional renderings that document buildings, artworks, and public spaces both within the community and beyond. The process of scanning an environment produces point clouds—massive collections of individual points in space, each with a precise position representing measurable data captured by the scanner. When scans are combined, these points form a detailed spatial capture of a physical object or space. These point clouds serve as a digital record of an environment that can subsequently be used for research, teaching, and preservation. View additional point clouds, fly-throughs, and data sets on the Scholars' Lab space on Avalon: https://avalon.lib.virginia.edu/collections/sb3978503 The fly-throughs shown here were produced with scans captured in the field by Will Rourk of the Library's Scholars' Lab and his students from ARH 5600." Images from 5 locations are shown: PINE GROVE ROSENWALD SCHOOL, CUMBERLAND COUNTY, VIRGINIA THE MEWS, UVA ACADEMICAL VILLAGE, CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA MIDLOCH PLANTATION ENSLAVED DWELLING, LOUISA COUNTY, VIRGINIA OLD STONE JAIL, PALMYRA, VIRGINIA RIVERVIEW BARN, IVY CREEK NATURAL AREA Closeup of poster that says "View additional point clouds, fly-throughs, and data sets on the Scholars' Lab space on Avalon: https://avalon.lib.virginia.edu/collections/sb3978503" Photo of the VR Corner of the Scholars' Lab Common Room in UVA Shannon Library 308, showing a carpeted area, a window into a glassroofed atrium, a large monitor displaying a visualization of inside a historic space, and a large poster with information about point cloud data
September 19, 2025 at 5:36 AM
scholarslab.bsky.social
"P is for Point Clouds" exhibit is up in our Common Room! These aren't 3D models—they're clouds of tons of tiny points of measured, preservation-level accurate 3D data. 5 local historical locations including the Pine Grove Rosenwald School=explorable in VR, or as flythrus on our display or online +
September 19, 2025 at 5:36 AM
scholarslab.bsky.social
The A-Z exhibits include 2 from the lab: "P is for Point-Cloud Data" by Will Rourk & @arinbb.bsky.social (on 3D captures of historic artifacts+architecture); and "Z is for Zines" by @literaturegeek.bsky.social
Poster graphic by Jeff Hill that says "ABCs of the UVA Library" with a colorful grid of squares behind each letter of the alphabet, with each letter decorated with something referring to the exhibits associated with that letter, such as a z-folded zine image on the letter Z
September 12, 2025 at 12:11 PM
scholarslab.bsky.social
In addition to our @josefbeery.bsky.social & Jess Walters workshops this fall, don't miss @margaretgalvan.bsky.social's 9/18 keynote lecture at UVA's Campbell 160: "There Truly Was a Queer Zine Explosion: How Cartoonists Made Zines & Built Community in the 1990s" art.as.virginia.edu/there-truly-...
An event poster with a speaker photo and the text "There Truly Was a Queer Zine Explosion: How Cartoonists Made Zines & Built Community in the 1990s", a keynote lecture as part of the "Zines Now!" series, by Margaret Galvan of the University of Florida, September 18, 2025, 6:30pm, Campbell 160. Cosponsored by the UVA Department of Art, LIbrary, and Arts Council.
August 26, 2025 at 5:36 PM
scholarslab.bsky.social
More info on the fall events in @uvalibrary.bsky.social's yearlong Zines Now! series here. All events are free & open to the public:
A flyer that says "Zines Now! Zines Now! is a year-long initiative to showcase the history of zines as an art form, highlight future possibilities for making and distributing zines, and facilitate the expression of students’ and community members' passions and priorities now. Fall 2025 events: 1) September 18, 6:30-8:30pm. Keynote Lecture: "There Truly Was a Queer Zine Explosion: How Cartoonists Made Zines and Built Community in the 1990s", with Margaret Galvan. 2) November 5, 10am-12:30pm. Workshop: "Handmade Zine Covers, with Josef Beery". 3) November 11, 5:30pm-7:30pm. Workshop: "Zines for Change", with Jess Walters. More information: https://guides.lib.virginia.edu/blogs/artslibraries/zines-now. Mobile zine cart! Zine display sites! Sponsored by University of Virginia Library and Arts Council.
August 26, 2025 at 5:31 PM
scholarslab.bsky.social
More about International Zine Library Day at this highly recommended zine-resource site: www.zinelibraries.info/events/zinel... +
Decorative inage of two xeroxed-looking grayscale scissors, in the background of all caps sans serif text saying "International Zine Library Day 7/21"
July 21, 2025 at 7:23 PM
scholarslab.bsky.social
Our GIS Specialists Chris & Drew rebuilt our long-dormant topographic mapping sandbox 🏖️🌏 Still a WIP, refining+adding new improvements (e.g. a button for rain)—but here's a sneak peek. Built w/@okreylos.bsky.social's generously OS code+hardware instructions: web.cs.ucdavis.edu/~okreylos/Re...
July 17, 2025 at 11:20 AM
scholarslab.bsky.social
Canva (free plan) lets you set margin+bleed guides (file>settings) that helps that+in general. Doesn't override that secret grip area of paper some printers won't print anything on, but custom print margin settings help too:
Screenshot of where to go in Adobe Acrobat to set custom printing margin settings: "page setup" button, then "paper size" to "Manage custom sizes..." Screenshot of where to go in Adobe Acrobat to set custom printing margin settings: + icon, then set "Margins" as "User Defined" and enter 0 in. under the fields for each of the 4 sides of the paper
May 2, 2025 at 8:49 AM
scholarslab.bsky.social
Researching what those are for my particular printer brand+model has helped (also printing a test template w/text running to zine edge, to measure on printout what gets cut off then design for that). In Canva, I've drawn those measured cutoff points as colored boxes, duplicate page to fill w/zine +
Screenshot of a Canva page where I've marked with green, yellow, and red rectangles where the various margins are on a page (margin, bleed, actual printer cutoff where it won't print beyond) if I mke a zine on it and print it with my particular printer.
May 2, 2025 at 8:49 AM
scholarslab.bsky.social
+ Our Makerspace expert Ammon Shepherd (scholarslab.lib.virginia.edu/people/ammon...) has been creating a zine-per-machine to teach folks how to use our makerspace craft+maker tools+methods, & just added this "how to make a #zine in 6 easy steps" minizine he made: drive.google.com/file/d/1AmHN...
A single-page minizine, divided into eight pages, with the top row upside-down so it faces correctly when the zine is folded. The zine's title page says "How to make a zine in 5 easy steps", and the following pages share 6 steps with simple text and lots of illustrations on how to make and fold a minizine.
May 1, 2025 at 12:19 PM
scholarslab.bsky.social
If you used our free makerspace this past year or dug the variety of topics we taught (eg costuming+cosplay, bookbinding, lasercutting, musicmaking, jewelry, 3D printing, ceramics, paper art, zines, leatherworking... to name a few 😍), it's thanks to our amazing student techs+makerspace expert Ammon:
Photo of the Scholars' Lab makerspace and its makers. Makerspace Manager Ammon is in the front holding up the camera high group-selfie-style to show 17 students clustered looking at the camera from the front door to the back of the room, many flashing smiles and peace signs.
April 29, 2025 at 5:44 PM
scholarslab.bsky.social
On Wed, our 3D cultural heritage expert Will Rourk+his Architectural History students present their spring work collaborating w/local community to document the Dunbar Rosenwald, New Fork + Evergeen African-American Schools; archival artifacts; & more, using tech eg laser+structured light scanning +
Photo collage, a 3 x3 grid of photos showing Will Rourk's Spring 2025 Architectural History class students doing 3D cultural heritage informatics fieldwork including scanning artifacts and old buildings with tech tools like laser and structured light scanners
April 28, 2025 at 12:23 PM
scholarslab.bsky.social
Tomorrow, in-person: "Memory Maps: Reimagining Digital Futurities via Typewriter Poetics" w/our Critical Makerspace Fellow Holly Zhou demo'ing a new digital+critical art installation crafted over 2 years w/Makerspace Expert Ammon Shepherd: cal.lib.virginia.edu/event/14458745
Event poster with a light pink background and filtered blurry red and blue decorative image, that says "collaborative memory maps & typewriter poetics. Shannon 308; April 25; 4pm. Holly Zhou. A Scholars' Lab Critical Making Fellow Computational Art Showcase."
April 24, 2025 at 5:43 PM
scholarslab.bsky.social
. @claudiaeberger.bsky.social's new data quilt on Appalachian Trail use history & justice looks amazing! We'll be adding a stack of their zines for understanding the data quilt & an exhibit label soon. Zoom event next week!
Closeup photo of a data quilt created by Claudia Berger, showing cream, navy, maize, charcoal, and sage green hand-dyed fabric arranged in blocks and triangles representing data from their research on who the "public" Appalachian Trail was actually designed for, & since used by Photo of a data quilt created by Claudia Berger, showing cream, white, navy, maize, charcoal, and sage green hand-dyed fabric arranged in blocks and triangles representing data from their research on who the "public" Appalachian Trail was actually designed for, & since used by. The quilt is hanging on a wall from s blonde wooden hanger. Closeup photo of a data quilt created by Claudia Berger, showing cream, white, navy, maize, charcoal, and sage green hand-dyed fabric arranged in blocks and triangles representing data from their research on who the "public" Appalachian Trail was actually designed for, & since used by. Photo of a data quilt created by Claudia Berger, showing cream, white, navy, maize, charcoal, and sage green hand-dyed fabric arranged in blocks and triangles representing data from their research on who the "public" Appalachian Trail was actually designed for, & since used by. The quilt is hanging on a wall from s blonde wooden hanger.
April 10, 2025 at 5:46 PM
scholarslab.bsky.social
We're excited for Maker Fishmeal's cosplay crafting events for our makerspace this Friday & Saturday! Visit scholarslab.org/events to register for a panel & 3 workshops (free, but space limited so do register).
A poster with a background photo of Maker Fishmeal, an expert cosplayer creator, in a costume involving bronze armor and yellow fluffy ears. The poster says "Maker Fishmeal is coming to town! Foamsmithing panel, DIY shield workshop, DIY fantasy phone pouch. Photo by @AtomicNetwork". A poster that says "DIY PHONE POUCH. Saturday 3-6PM. CCC Club | Scholar's Lab | Arts Council | Maker Fishmeal. Shannon Library Room 330". The poster includes a photo of 8 different leather handcrafted costume fantasy pouches, sized to fit cellphones. A poster showing two foamcraft shields amde to look like wood and bronze. The poster text says: "MAKE YOUR OWN SHIELD SATURDAY APRIL 11TH, UVA Shannon Library Seminar Room 330, 11am-2pm to make a Mini Shield from scratch! FREE and ALL Materials Are Provided! CCC Club | Scholar's Lab | Arts Council | Maker Fishmeal" A poster that says "This Firday: meet Maker Fishmeal. Shannon Scholar's Lab, 6-8pm." The poster has a photo of a person in a white cosplay costume mixing business suit and armor details, holding a giant weapon and shield. The person has long blonde hair, and the background looks like a snowy bamboo forest.
April 10, 2025 at 8:04 AM
scholarslab.bsky.social
2 nice little makerspace things this past week: leaving whiteboards in our public space always seems to attract pro-makerspace graffiti; & a small donation from a recent makerspace user wanting to thank "Scholar's Lab Makerspace student employees who were so kind and helpful" with her project 💜 +
Photo of a whiteboard with various bits of writing about various things on it, including in large letters "#Makerspace4life!" bordered with a dotted line. A red arrow has been added digitally to point to that text.
February 21, 2025 at 9:46 PM
scholarslab.bsky.social
We like Daniel Coe's aerial Virginia riverbed photography so much, we put it not just on our windows, but also on this year's GIS Day Cake. (A belated happy GIS Day! We contributed to the external Cville GIS Users celebration this year instead of hosting.)
Photo of a sheet cake with white frosting, overlaid with a printed-sugar, mostly blue aerial photo of a riverbed moving over time by Daniel Coe
November 21, 2024 at 4:47 PM
scholarslab.bsky.social
This week's Scholars' Lab #local events include: makerspace into to 3D printing for TTRPGs workshop, Coffee+Code DHy dev/data discussion, makerspace dragon wrist-wrap workshop w/the Cosplay Costuming & Crafts Club: scholarslab.lib.virginia.edu/events/
Photo of a person hand showing a hand-width and-length 3D blue dragon wrist-band that wraps around their wrist, over the back of their hand, and up over their middle finger with the dragon's head perched the fingernail
November 4, 2024 at 12:05 PM
scholarslab.bsky.social
Forgot to include: free Halloween treats (freshly made chocolates from 3D molds!) & trinkets (3D printed, lasercut etc. bats, pumpkins, etc.) during our makerspace's open hours, since the start of this week through Halloween. The chocolates are delicious & the 3D-printed tiny pumpkins are cute:
Photo of about 15 tiny 3D-printed pumpkins in bright orange with green handles, crowding the view, in front of a flowered backdrop Photo of a paper plate holding various Halloween-themed chocolates made fresh from molds, includes a white chocolate skull marbled with red dye, and a milk chocolate bat Flyer for event with same info as in tweet, with Jack-o-lantern backdrop
October 30, 2024 at 8:10 AM
scholarslab.bsky.social
#Local Scholars' Lab drop-in event: next Mon-Thurs (10/28-10/31) for Halloween, stop by our makerspace during open hours for (all free! & open to public) pipecleaner pumpkins, creepy bugs, custom chocolates, 3D printed ghosts! Makerspace hours & info: scholarslab.lib.virginia.edu/makerspace/
Screenhot of spooky Halloween pumpking graphic in front of the event details in the text of the post.
October 21, 2024 at 9:11 PM
scholarslab.bsky.social
We <3 collab'ing w/Prof. Andrea Roberts+team (incl. @spw4s.bsky.social+IATH, @zhennasaisquoi.bsky.social) on her Texas Freedom Colonies Project: an edu+SJ initiative supporting Black settlement landscapes preservation, heritage, grassroots pres practices: www.thetexasfreedomcoloniesproject.com
Photo of a container of chocolate-covered candies topped with a yelliw post-it that says "Andrea Roberts' sweetness for SLab"
October 15, 2024 at 11:02 AM
scholarslab.bsky.social
Our 3D viz expert @arinbb.bsky.social worked annually the past 5 years w/Biology prof Jenny Güler, mentoring an NSF-funded undergrad STEM “Infectious Disease in 3D” intern cohort annually, plus a Biology class (~100 students last spring!) on a term-length VR exploration project #InterdisciplinaryDH
Screenshot of class description for "Infectious Disease Virtual Reality Museums-BIOL3090 semester long project". It says "Purpose: To appreciate the impact of infectious disease on various regions of the world and the interdisciplinary effort that goes into their control. To learn how to apply conceptual mapping, exhibit design, and virtual reality technology to assist with learning. To work individually and as a group to execute a semester-long project. Groups: Groups of students will be assigned to a region of the world based on their interest, and eventually, will focus on a single disease that afflicts this area of the world. Each group will work together to plan and construct one wing of a virtual reality museum focused on their topics. Group members will have a specific roles that are essential to complete the project. Project Tasks: You will perform a series of tasks throughout the semester to build a project portfolio....
September 30, 2024 at 10:32 AM