Get to Know Me Better

My name is Paul (30, he/him), and I am a library specialist at the University of Kansas. In 2022, I earned a PhD in Library and Information Management from Emporia State University; I also hold a Bachelor of Arts degree in Anthropology & Classics from the University of Kansas (2015), and a Master of Arts degree in Social Science from the University of Chicago (2016). My dissertation, "The Information Behavior of Wikipedia Fan Editors: A Digital (Auto)Ethnography", focused on the information behavior of fan editors on Wikipedia, and I've also written a book about the site, Inside Wikipedia (Rowman & Littlefield), which was released at the end of 2022.I'm a big media fan myself, and over the years I have written about a variety of media franchises; that said, the work closest to my heart is Exploring the Land of Ooo, a book about the production history of Cartoon Network's Adventure Time. The first edition was published in 2020 by the University of Kansas Libraries, and a heavily updated version was published by the University Press of Mississippi in 2023.I'm also fascinated with bats, specifically microbats. If you connect with me on Twitter, etc., expect a lot of bat content.

Exploring the Land of Ooo

University Press of Mississippi (September 2023)

"Exploring the Land of Ooo is a detailed consideration of Adventure Time, the colorful and exuberant animated television series that initially aired from 2010–18 on Cartoon Network. Created by visionary artist Pendleton Ward, the series was groundbreaking and is credited by many with heralding in a new golden age of animation. In this book, author Paul Thomas presents a thorough overview of the series, explicating the nuances of its characters, its production history, its storytelling methods, and its vibrant fandom. Based in part on interviews with dozens of the creative individuals who made the show possible, this book aims to ensure that, when it comes to Adventure Time, the fun truly will never end."

"Exploring the Land of Ooo is a wonderful book offering an extremely engaging and thorough production history of the popular show Adventure Time."—Paul Booth, Ph.D.
(DePaul University)

Analyzing "Adventure Time"

McFarland & Co. (July 2023)

"In 2010, Cartoon Network debuted a new animated series called Adventure Time, and within just a few short years the show became both a pop culture phenomenon and a critical darling. But despite all the admiration, not many works of scholarship have assessed the show through a critical lens. This anthology is an attempt to fill this scholarly oversight and spark a wider conversation about the show’s deeper themes. Across 15 scholarly essays, this book’s contributors study Adventure Time from a variety of angles, proving just how insightful the series really is."

"An incredible look at an often-overlooked staple of Cartoon Network, this text [is] a paradigmatic examination of [Adventure Time]."—David S. Silverman, Ph.D.
(Kansas State University-Salina)

Inside Wikipedia

Rowman & Littlefield (2022)

"Wikipedia is one of the most visited websites on the Internet, regularly bringing in millions of readers a day. But how exactly does a huge site like this work? In this book, Paul A. Thomas—a seasoned Wikipedia contributor who has accrued almost 60,000 edits since he started editing in 2007—breaks down the history of the free encyclopedia and explains the process of becoming an editor. After reading this book, you will be ready to contribute to the largest, most comprehensive knowledge base the world has ever seen. What will you write about?"

"This book ... provides a very comprehensive, yet super accessible summary of what Wikipedia is, how it works, and how one can contribute."—Dariusz Jemielniak, Ph.D.
(Kozminski University)

I Wanna Wrock!

McFarland & Co. (2019)

"'Wizard rock'—music based on the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling—is an idiosyncratic subgenre, with band names like Harry and the Potters, Draco and the Malfoys and The Whomping Willows. Drawing on input from insiders and fans, and interviews with more than a dozen wizard rockers, this book explores the history and aesthetics of the movement. An appendix lists dozens of popular bands, members and discographies: a must-have for fandom scholars and wizard rock devotees alike."

"Thomas’s take is a unique perspective, the first from the voice of a wizard rock musician who has done the legwork of participating in the wizard rock community. ... His work is focused on providing a wealth of knowledge on wizard rock practice."—Catherine Hall, Ph.D.
(Mischief Management)

Haunted Lawrence

The History Press (2017)

"Founded in 1854 as an abolitionist outpost, Lawrence is a seemingly unassuming college town with a long history of hauntings. A ghostly guest never checked out of the Eldridge Hotel's mysterious room 506. Sigma Nu's fraternity house, the former home of Kansas's eighteenth governor, is still haunted by the specter of a young woman. Learn the tragic stories of Pete Vinegar, George Albach and Lizzie Madden and uncover the devilish truth behind the "legend" of Stull Cemetery. Author Paul Thomas reveals the ghoulish history behind these stories and many more."

"Lawrence has its fair share of haunts, many of which are entertainingly chronicled in Paul Thomas’ Haunted Lawrence."—Dan Coleman
(Lawrence Public Library)

Articles and Other Publications

Journal Articles

  • Emily Vardell, Paul A. Thomas, and Ting Wang. 2023. "The Informational 'Cosplay Journey' of Star Wars Cosplayers in the Context of a Facebook Group." Information Research 28 (3): 37-58. https://doi.org/10.47989/199.

  • Paul A. Thomas. 2023. "Wikipedia and Large Language Models: Perfect Pairing or Perfect Storm?" Library Hi Tech News 40 (10): 6-8. https://doi.org/10.1108/LHTN-03-2023-0056. (Preprint)

  • Emily Vardell, Ting Wang, and Paul A. Thomas. 2022. "'I found what I needed, which was a supportive community': An Ethnographic Study of Shared Information Practices in an Online Cosplay Community." Journal of Documentation 78 (3): 564-579. https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-02-2021-0034. (Preprint)

  • Paul A. Thomas. 2022. "How Adventure Time Fans Understand the 'True' Producer: A Close Analysis of Two Encyclopedic Fan Texts." Transformative Works and Cultures 37. https://doi.org/10.3983/twc.2022.2241.

  • Nele Noppe, Ludi Price, Kimberley Chiu, [...], Paul A. Thomas, and Argyrios Emmanouloudis. 2022. "What if Academic Publishing Worked Like Fan Publishing? Imagining the Fantasy Research Archive of Our Own." Transformative Works and Cultures 37. https://doi.org/10.3983/twc.2022.2253.

  • Paul A. Thomas. 2021. "She-Ra and the Princesses of Power as Queer Monomyth." The Journal of Popular Culture 54 (5): 1095-115. https://doi.org/10.1111/jpcu.13067. (Preprint)

  • Paul A. Thomas, Matthew F Jones, and Spencer Mattingly. 2021. "Using Wikipedia to Teach Scholarly Peer Review: A Creative Approach to Open Pedagogy." Journal of Information Literacy 15 (2): 178-90. https://doi.org/10.11645/15.2.2913.

  • Paul A. Thomas. 2021. "Reverting Hegemonic Ideology: Research Librarians and Information Professionals as 'Critical Editors' of Wikipedia." College & Research Libraries 82 (4): 567-83. https://doi.org/10.5860/crl.82.4.567.

  • Abbey Dvorak, Julia Davis, Gabriella Bernard, Riley Beveridge-Calvin, Amalia Monroe-Gulick, Paul A. Thomas, and Corinne Forstot-Burke. 2020. "A Systematic Review of Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CURE): Implications for Music Therapy Education and Training." Music Therapy Perspectives 38 (2): 126-134. https://doi.org/10.1093/mtp/miz023.

  • Paul A. Thomas. 2018. "Canon Wars: A Semiotic and Ethnographic Study of a Wikipedia Talk Page Debate Concerning the Canon of Star Wars." The Journal of Fandom Studies 6 (3): 279-300. https://doi.org/10.1386/jfs.6.3.279_1. (Preprint)

  • Paul A. Thomas. 2016. "Wikipedia and Participatory Culture: Why Fans Edit." Transformative Works and Cultures 22. https://doi.org/10.3983/twc.2016.0902.

Book Chapters

  • Paul A. Thomas. 2023. "Of Lacan and Lemons: A Psychoanalytic Reading of Season Six's 'The Mountain'." In Analyzing "Adventure Time": Critical Essays on Cartoon Networks World of Ooo, edited by Paul A. Thomas. Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Company.

  • Paul A. Thomas. 2023. "Prelude: The Three Levels of Adventure Time." In Analyzing "Adventure Time": Critical Essays on Cartoon Networks World of Ooo, edited by Paul A. Thomas. Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Company.

  • Paul A. Thomas. 2018. "Wikipedia." In Be Credible: Information Literacy for Journalism, Public Relations, Advertising and Marketing Students, edited by Peter Bobkowski and Karna Younger. Lawrence, KS: William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications and the University of Kansas Libraries. https://doi.org/10.17161/1808.27350.

Posters and Presentations

  • Emily Vardell and Paul A. Thomas. (Forthcoming 2024). "Health Insurance Literacy: Personal vs. Organizational." Poster presented at the Institute for Healthcare Advancement’s 23rd Annual Health Literacy Conference, Online, May 14-16.

  • Paul A. Thomas. 2024. "The Information Behavior of Genshin Impact Lore Enthusiasts.” Paper presented at the Popular Culture Association (PCA) Annual Conference, Chicago, IL, March 28.

  • Carmen Orth-Alfie and Paul A. Thomas. 2024. "Graduate Student’s Productivity Tools for Literature Review Research and Writing in the Age of AI.” Presentation at the Transforming Libraries for Graduate Students Conference, Online, March 12.

  • Paul A. Thomas. 2022. "Inside Wikipedia: How it Works and How You Can Be an Editor." Invited presentation at the Newton Public Library, Newton, KS, July 19.

  • Paul A. Thomas. 2022. "Inside Wikipedia." Invited presentation at the Annual Conference of the College and University Libraries Section (CULS) of the Kansas Library Association, Wichita, KS, May 19.

  • Paul A. Thomas. 2022. "'What the hell is that thing?!' The Lacanian Appeal of Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (1999)." Paper presented at the Popular Culture Association (PCA) Annual Conference, Seattle, WA, April 13-17.

  • Paul A. Thomas. 2021. "'Everything Stays': The Eternal Return and Amor Fati in the Adventure Time Miniseries Stakes." Paper presented at the Midwest Popular Culture Association (MPCA) Annual Conference, Minneapolis, MN, October 8. http://hdl.handle.net/1808/32169.

  • Paul A. Thomas. 2021. "Fantastic Beasts and How to Cite Them: Using Popular Culture to Teach Citational and Bibliographic Skills." Presentation at unCOILed Conference: Teaching with Projects, Passions, and Pastimes, Community of Oklahoma Instruction Librarians, OK, July 16. (Supplementary LaTeX File)

  • Paul A. Thomas. 2021. "How Adventure Time Fans Understand the ‘True’ Producer: A Close Analysis of Two Encyclopedic Fan Texts." Presentation at Building Bridges: Exploring interdisciplinary Intersections between Fandom, Fan Studies and Library and Information Science Symposium, City, University of London, UK, May 20. (Video of presentation)

  • Emily Vardell, Paul A. Thomas, and Ting Wang. 2020. "Information Seeking Behavior of Cosplayers." Poster presented at the 83rd Annual Meeting of the Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T) conference, October 27. Published in Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology, e401. https://doi.org/10.1002/pra2.401.

  • Paul A. Thomas. 2019. "How to Become a Wikipedia Editor and Use the Site in a Classroom Setting." Invited presentation at the annual meeting of the School of Education Faculty Camp, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, August 20.

  • Paul A. Thomas. 2018. "Haunted Lawrence." Invited presentation at the inaugural Haunted Humanities scholarship evening, Hall Center for the Humanities, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, October 23.

  • Paul A. Thomas. 2018. "How to Be a Wikipedia Editor." Presentation at the annual meeting of the Lawrence Public Library How-to Festival, Lawrence, KS, June 23.

  • Paul A. Thomas. 2017. "Maintaining the Digital Well of Knowledge: How to Become a Wikipedia Editor." Invited presentation at the 7th Annual University of Kansas Digital Humanities Forum, Institute for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Kansas, Lawrence, September 28.

Book Reviews

  • Paul A. Thomas. 2021. "Review: Kate Christine Moore Koppy. Fairy Tales in Contemporary American Culture: How We Hate to Love Them. Lexington, 2021." Studies in Popular Culture 43 (2): 134-136. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27122879.

  • Paul A. Thomas. 2021. "Review: Emily Lauer and Balaka Basu, Eds. The Harry Potter Generation: Essays on Growing up with the Series. Mcfarland, 2019." The Lion and the Unicorn 45 (2): 247-51. https://doi.org/10.1353/uni.2021.0019.