Preston Austin

@gl33p
666 Followers
1.9K Following
21.4K Posts

MUSICat architect and founder at Rabble LLC

I work with public librarians who collect and share local music with their communities and visitors.

MUSICat is a turnkey online platform, built with and for public libraries. Each instance is a library-convened locally-governed digital public space to collect, curate, license, and stream local music.

MUSICat is designed to respect artists and support art with its paid artist-friendly licenses for invited album submissions.

https://musicat.co

LocationMadison, WI USA
Tags#Libraries #Local #Music #Public #DigitalPublicSpaces #SocialGood #Prosperity #Hacking #Climate #Cooperatives #Governance #Politics #Cats
Certifications“Preston is one cool guy.” — Preston's Brother, 30 years ago
Pronounshe/him
Preston AustinApr 4
I'm excited about this tiny lil feature!
Preston AustinApr 2
“reflections on utopia over dystopia”
Show threadPreston AustinMar 16

I don't hate my lil bitty ego lectric sno blo toy right now - got things cleared enough to get the Urban Arrow out to the (already plowed!) street...just in time to have the clinic cancel the appointment

So I rode out anyway to get coffee filters just to make it all feel worthwhile 😄

Preston AustinMar 16
Another manic Monday, wish it were Sunday, etc
Preston AustinMar 15
Lot of this around here today 🐾
Preston AustinMar 13
"breezy"
Preston AustinMar 9
Me too Josh 🦁, me too
Preston AustinMar 9

Chris Taylor, the good choice in the [Tuesday, April 7, 2026] Wisconsin Supreme Court election, has promised to protect ballot access in the state

“We cannot be fatigued when it comes to democracy” she told @bolts

Taylor, a Democrat, is serious about preserving and extending our voting franchise. Her Trump flavored opponent likes administrative barriers and suppressed votes (quite creepy, would have Wisconsin taking poll tests written by insurrectionists if she could)

https://boltsmag.org/wisconsin-supreme-court-election-lazar-taylor/

Show threadPreston AustinMar 6

“[Renée Graef's] first two drafts of her Isthmus cover showed a Minneapolis-centric vigil, and a scene depicting Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents pepper spraying the classic Statue of Liberty scene on Lake Mendota”

“she pivoted to a surveillance-themed idea, inspired by the growing prevalence of AI, facial recognition software, and data tracking”

» “The fear isn’t just being watched, but being unfairly influenced or harmed” «

https://isthmus.com/news/front-page/behind-the-isthmus-cover-march-2026/

Preston AustinMar 5

“Dorothea Salo [ the awesome @dsalo here en la fedi ] a cybersecurity expert and UW-Madison professor, says Dane County’s data sharing agreements add another layer of concern”

» “They can’t promise that [data won’t be used for immigration enforcement] if they’re sharing the data with anyone, unless there’s a contract with every single organization they’re sharing with” «

👉🏻 “You can’t stop that third party doing whatever the heck they want, including sharing with ICE” 👈🏻

https://isthmus.com/news/news/does-ice-have-access-to-flock-data/