Zack Lischer-Katz

Interests

Research

Theories of Visual Information; Visual Epistemologies; Science and Technology Studies; Sociology of Knowledge; Theory and Practice of Digital Curation; Information Practices of Preservationists

Teaching

Theories of Visual Information; Critical Information Visualization; Digital Curation; Moving Image Preservation; Digital Archives; History of Media Formats

Courses

Scholarly Contributions

Journals/Publications

• Bozorgi, K., & Lischer-Katz, Z. (2020). Using 3D/VR for Research and Cultural Heritage Preservation: Project Update on the Virtual Ganjali Khan Project. Preservation, Digital Technology \& Culture (PDT\&C), 49(2), 45--57.
• Clark, J., & Lischer-Katz, Z. (2020). Barriers to Supporting Accessible VR in Academic Libraries. Journal of Interactive Technology and Pedagogy, 17.
• Hardesty, J. L., Johnson, J., Wittenberg, J., Hall, N., Cook, M., Lischer-Katz, Z., Xie, Z., & McDonald, R. (2020). 3D Data Repository Features, Best Practices, and Implications for Preservation Models: Findings from a National Forum.
• Lischer-Katz, Z. (2020). Archiving experience: an exploration of the challenges of preserving virtual reality. Records Management Journal.
• Cook, M., & Lischer-Katz, Z. (2019). Integrating 3D and virtual reality into research and pedagogy in higher education. Beyond Reality: Augmented, Virtual, and Mixed Reality in the Library, 69--85.
• Cook, M., Lischer-Katz, Z., Hall, N., Hardesty, J., Johnson, J., McDonald, R., & Carlisle, T. (2019). Challenges and strategies for educational virtual reality. Information Technology and Libraries, 38(4), 25--48.
• Hall, N., Hardesty, J., Lischer-Katz, Z., Johnson, J., Cook, M., Ogier, A., & McDonald, R. (2019). Challenges and Directions in 3D and VR DataCuration: Findings from a Nominal Group Study.
• Lischer-Katz, Z. (2019). Reconsidering technical labor in information institutions: The case of analog video digitization.. Library Trends, 68(2), 213--251.
• Lischer-Katz, Z., Cook, M., & Boulden, K. (2018). Evaluating the impact of a virtual reality workstation in an academic library: Methodology and preliminary findings. Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 55(1), 300--308.
• Lischer-Katz, Z. (2017). Studying the materiality of media archives in the age of digitization: Forensics, infrastructures and ecologies. First Monday.
• Lischer-Katz, Z. (2017). Techniques of visual knowledge construction in the Practices of Analog Videotape Digitization. Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 54(1), 744--746.
• Lischer-Katz, Z., & Trammell, A. (2017). Viewing patterns: Information and media infrastructures-Editors' introduction. First Monday.
• Lischer-Katz, Z. (2016). Contextualizing digital reformatting in the history of preservation knowledge: timeline and research directions. IConference 2016 Proceedings.
• Lischer-katz, Z. (2016). Studying the materiality of media archives in the age of digitization: Forensics, infrastructures and ecologies. First Monday, 22(1). doi:10.5210/fm.v22i1.7263
  More info

  Discourses on the immateriality of digital information have given way to a radical rethinking of digital materiality within information studies, cinema and media studies, and other related fields. This rethinking occurs as media archives are increasingly converting their collections into digital form, stored less and less on shelves in climate-controlled vaults, and instead stored and accessed through data servers. This newfound complexity and potential for the media archive to become “black boxed,” call for a critical approach to media archives that takes into account these new realities and their material entanglements at multiple scales of analysis. Newfound scholarly interest in multiple scales of materiality, from the micro (computer code, transmission protocols, etc.) to the macro (large, sociotechnical infrastructures) may offer new directions for rethinking the nature of media archives in the age of digitization. This paper reviews the literature on these recent trends and identifies three intertwined research approaches for analyzing emergent phenomena related to the digitization of media archives: Critical forensic, institutional/infrastructural , and global/ecological perspectives. These approaches help to extend postmodern conceptualizations of the archive by showing how the archive as infrastructure is bound up in unfolding political, ecological and epistemological struggles.
• Lischer-katz, Z., & Trammell, A. (2016). Viewing patterns: Information and media infrastructures - Editors' introduction. First Monday, 22(1). doi:10.5210/fm.v22i1.7262
  More info

  In this introduction to a special edited issue of First Monday on viewing patterns, we argue that information, iteration and incarnation are useful paths to understanding emergent media infrastructures. Here we explain the connection of this collection’s essays in the context of these overarching themes. As our media infrastructure — which encompasses social media, data archives, participatory media, and mobile media — takes on a structuring agency in the spheres of politics, journalism, and entertainment, we must contend with the changing shape of these media infrastructures as dominant forces of power-knowledge.
• Lischer-Katz, Z. (2014). Considering JPEG2000 for video preservation: A battle for epistemic ground. iConference 2014 Proceedings.
• Lischer-Katz, Z. (2014). Digitization as Information Practice. iConference 2014 Proceedings.
• Lischer-Katz, Z. (2012). Conceptualizing emergent archival forms: A case study of the occupy wall street "archive". Proceedings of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 49(1), 1-3.
• Lischer-Katz, Z. (2011). Available Machines. Moving Image Source.
• Lischer-Katz, Z. (2009). Harnessing the Technicolor Rainbow: Color Design in the 1930s. The Moving Image, 9(1), 240--243.

Proceedings Publications

• Lischer-Katz, Z., & Cook, M. (2024, October). Exploring the curation practices of 3D data creators. In Proceeedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology Annual Meeting, 995-998.
• Wagner, T., Lischer-Katz, Z., Hodges, J., Van Hyning, V., Jones, M., & Acker, A. (2024, October).

  Emphasizing the social in sociotechnical approaches to the digital curation of visual information.

  . In Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology Annual Meeting, 822-827.
• Hall, N., Lischer-Katz, Z., Cook, M., Hardesty, J., Wittenberg, J., Johnson, J., Mcdonald, R., & Carlisle, T. (2019). Supporting Virtual Reality and 3D in Academic Libraries: Defining Preservation and Curation Challenges.
• Lischer-katz, Z., Cook, M., Hall, N., Wittenberg, J., Johnson, J., Mcdonald, R., Carlisle, T., & Hardesty, J. L. (2019). Supporting Virtual Reality and 3D in Academic Libraries: Defining Preservation and Curation Challenges. In iPres: International Conference on Digital Preservation.
• Lischer-katz, Z. (2014). Considering JPEG2000 for Video Preservation: A Battle for Epistemic Ground. In iConference 2014 Proceedings.

Presentations

• Lischer-Katz, Z. (2024, September). “When VR was new”:  Understanding student Encounters with an emerging library technology. . Library Research Seminar 8. Lexington, KY: University of Kentucky.
• Lischer-Katz, Z., Braggs, R., & Carter, B. (2024, September).

  Exploring volumetric video capture for humanities scholarship and pedagogy.

  . Immersive Technologies and Cultural Heritage Symposium. Los Angeles, CA: University of Southern California.

Others

• Lischer-Katz, Z., Braggs, R., & Carter, B. (2024, April).

  Investigating volumetric video creation and curation for the digital humanities: A white paper describing findings from the project: Preserving BIPOC expatriates’ memories during wartime and beyond.

  . UArizona Repository. https://doi.org/10.2458/10150.674673
  More info

  [White Paper]
• Grayburn, J., Lischer-Katz, Z., Golubiewski-Davis, K., & Ikeshoji-Orlati, V. (2019). 3D/VR in the Academic Library: Emerging Practices and Trends. Council on Library and Information Resources Publication 176.