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Krisha

@krisha-mehta.bsky.social

PhD student @UChicago. I study data visualizations.

17 Posts828 Follower655 Folgt
Kieran Healy@kjhealy.co · last wk.

I keep seeing this Semafor graph that seems to show the Trump administration’s effect on international visits is comparable to the pandemic. My first thought was “that can’t be true” and indeed it is not. This is monthly data. We only have to Jun/Aug 2026. The lines are over-fitted to the months.

Semafor graph with catastrophic drops.
Aki Vehtari@avehtari.bsky.social · 4w ago

"Recommendations for visual predictive checks in Bayesian workflow" published in Journal of Visualization and Interaction doi.org/10.54337/jov..., which is exciting also because this is our first Quarto html journal paper www.journalovi.org/2025-sailyno.... I wish more journals would adopt this!

Recommendations for visual predictive checks in Bayesian workflow | Journal of Visualization and Interaction

doi.org

Aki Vehtari@avehtari.bsky.social · 2y ago

New paper Säilynoja, Johnson, Martin, and Vehtari, "Recommendations for visual predictive checks in Bayesian workflow" teemusailynoja.github.io/visual-predi... (also arxiv.org/abs/2503.01509)

Abstract Introduction A key step in the Bayesian workflow for model building is the graphical assessment of model predictions, whether these are drawn from the prior or posterior predictive distribution. The goal of these assessments is to identify whether the model is a reasonable (and ideally accurate) representation of the domain knowledge and/or observed data. There are many commonly used visual predictive checks which can be misleading if their implicit assumptions do not match the reality. Thus, there is a need for more guidance for selecting, interpreting, and diagnosing appropriate visualizations. As a visual predictive check itself can be viewed as a model fit to data, assessing when this model fails to represent the data is important for drawing well-informed conclusions. Demonstration We present recommendations for appropriate visual predictive checks for observations that are: continuous, discrete, or a mixture of the two. We also discuss diagnostics to aid in the selection of visual methods. Specifically, in the detection of an incorrect assumption of continuously-distributed data: identifying when data is likely to be discrete or contain discrete components, detecting and estimating possible bounds in data, and a diagnostic of the goodness-of-fit to data for density plots made through kernel density estimates. Conclusion We offer recommendations and diagnostic tools to mitigate ad-hoc decision-making in visual predictive checks. These contributions aim to improve the robustness and interpretability of Bayesian model criticism practices.
Richard McElreath 🐈‍⬛@rmcelreath.bsky.social · last mo.

Modeling non-response is an example I like to use when arguing that "descriptive" statistics also require causal inference. To describe the population, you have to model what causes the sample. Similar to occupancy modeling in ecology in many ways.

G Elliott Morris@gelliottmorris.com · last mo.

Bit of a wonky post, but here I share a lot about how I’m thinking about polls and polling error these day www.gelliottmorris.com/p/2026-09-15...

Jessica Price@delafina777.bsky.social · 4mo ago

The Trump administration keeps trying to remove important data from public access or destroy it entirely, but some of the 100,000 gov scientists he fired are fighting back by creating sites that keep that data publicly available. climate.gov -> climate.us www.npr.org/2026/06/26/n...

Ex-NOAA employees re-create a valuable climate data site shut down by Trump

Former NOAA staffers have launched a new website that provides climate information. It replaces a government site that was shut down when the Trump administration took office.

npr.org

William Careri@wcareri.com · 4mo ago

It's been one year since I published VizDex. The library has grown from featuring 19 data viz blogs & newsletters to 59; still continuing to expand. Thanks to all contributors! www.vizdexproject.com

VizDex

A library of personal and independent blogs and newsletters dedicated to data visualization.

vizdexproject.com

William Careri@wcareri.com · last yr.

Introducing VizDex! An ever-growing library of personal and independent blogs and newsletters dedicated to data visualization. vizdexproject.com

Arvind Satyanarayan@arvind.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Really thrilled to announce that, in addition to our flagship Boston 🇺🇸 location, #ieeevis will have two satellites in Paris 🇫🇷 and Tianjin 🇨🇳 to mitigate issues folks face to attend conferences. I’m hopeful this will help grow and sustain the worldwide visualization.

IEEE VIS@ieeevis.org · 4mo ago

📢 Announcing Satellite Events in France and China 🌍 Connect through live-streamed sessions, recorded content, local networking, and selected remote presentation opportunities linked to the main conference in Boston. Learn more here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDqm...

Katie Mack@astrokatie.com · 6mo ago

When Einstein developed general relativity the closest thing to a practical application that could even be imagined at the time was a slightly more precise description of where to look for the planet Mercury in the sky, and yet now we’d all be literally lost without it. Anyway: fund basic research.

Mike Boylan-Kolchin@mbkplus.bsky.social · 6mo ago

GPS satellites move at 1/100000 the speed of light, causing their clocks to tick slower by 7 microseconds per day, and orbit at a height that makes their clocks tick faster by 45 microseconds per day. Two relativistic effects, both at the 1 part in 10 billion level, both essential for GPS accuracy 🧪

Tuna@antea04.bsky.social · 6mo ago

I'm a data scientist @ourworldindata.org and I need help from a botanist or someone local to Kyoto, Japan! 🌸 We present one of the world’s longest climate records: 1,200 years of peak cherry blossom dates in Kyoto. The researcher who maintained it, Prof. Yasuyuki Aono, sadly passed away last year.

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Matthew Varona@matthew.wiki · last yr.

Unreasonably excited to present THEORY IS SHAPES at alt.vis this November! Read on to find out what the "BLT Sandwich Theory of Visualization Consumption" (and other shape-based shenanigans) can teach us about theorycrafting in research 🥪🧲🧊♾️

Matthew Kay@mjskay.com · last yr.

to appear at #alt.vis 2025: THEORY IS SHAPES sure "theory figures" are great, but @matthew.wiki, @maryamhed.bsky.social, me, and Carolina Nobre wonder: why always a 2D plane or a flowchart? why not icebergs, horseshoes, Möbius strips, or BLT sandwiches? arxiv.org/abs/2510.01382 #ieeevis #hci

Abstract and teaser figure of the paper "Theory is Shapes" by Matthew Varona, Maryam Hedayati, Matthew Kay, and Carolina Nobre. The teaser figure is an "iceberg" theory figure, showing four levels: the tip of the iceberg, containing a nested set diagram and a Cartesian plane. The next level down (just under the water) has a complicated flow charts and a combination flow chart and matrix. The next level down has the iceberg figure itself and a horseshoe. The final level contains a Möbius strip and a BLT sandwich. The abstract reads: "Theory figures" are a staple of theoretical visualization research. Common shapes such as Cartesian planes and flowcharts can be used not only to explain conceptual contributions, but to think through and refine the contribution itself. Yet, theory figures tend to be limited to a set of standard shapes, limiting the creative and expressive potential of visualization theory. In this work, we explore how the shapes used in theory figures afford different understandings and explanations of their underlying phenomena. We speculate on the value of visualizing theories using more expressive configurations, such as icebergs, horseshoes, Möbius strips, and BLT sandwiches. By reflecting on figure-making's generative role in the practice of theorizing, we conclude that theory is, in fact, shapes.
Alex Kale@kalealex.bsky.social · last yr.

Announcing my forthcoming short paper at #ieeevis! In this solo-author work, I examine and critique the logic of generalization about decision support in visualization research. arxiv.org/abs/2508.06751

Toward a Logic of Generalization about Visualization as a Decision Aid

Visualization as a discipline often grapples with generalization by reasoning about how study results on the efficacy of a tool in one context might apply to another context. This work offers an accou...

arxiv.org

Krisha@krisha-mehta.bsky.social · last yr.

@tengshanyuan.info is an incredible researcher and collaborator. He’s hiring students for his new lab at NTU! Don’t miss this opportunity!

Pedro Lopes@pedrolopes.org · last yr.

Want to work with one of the best thinkers out there, with endless creativity and super supportive environment in futuristic Taipei? 😎 My former PhD student, (now Prof.) @tengshanyuan.info just started the Dexterous Interaction Lab @ NTU lab.tengshanyuan.info #hci #haptics #phd #academicChatter 😍

Dextrerous Interaction lab, with three projects shown. On the left is a tactile device that allows you to feel touch on the fingerpad and yet keeps the fingerpad free (I know, mindblowing!), the middle is a force feedback glove with muscle stimulation that helps you play guitar, and the last is a sensory substitution device that allows you to see by feeling. All co-authored by Prof. Teng.
Devin Lange@devlange.bsky.social · last yr.

Do you use data visualizations 📊 or add annotations to them? My collaborators and I are doing a study on how people use visualizations in their work — we'd love to interview you! Survey: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... Book a time: calendar.google.com/calendar/u/0...

Annotation Interview Study

We are researchers at University of Utah, Harvard Medical School, and University of Oklahoma, seeking visualization professionals/practitioners to share insights on their annotation practices. The goa...

docs.google.com

Julia M. Rohrer@dingdingpeng.the100.ci · last yr.

Thanks to everybody who chimed in! I arrived at the conclusion that (1) there's a lot of interesting stuff about interactions and (2) the figure I was looking for does not exist. So, I made it myself! Here's a simple illustration of how to control for confounding in interactions:>

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Julia M. Rohrer@dingdingpeng.the100.ci · last yr.

Does anybody have a good visualization to explain how interactions can be confounded, and why interactions require interaction controls? @urisohn.bsky.social maybe? (Asking because I have an idea, but want to check out what exists already before investing the effort)