Gonna end all my emails "No pressure, just curiosity" from now on

gamera obscura@ohrobin.bsky.social · 2mo ago

I am suddenly getting about 37 emails like this a week, because I triggered something monstrous on linkedin. It’s like torture. Y Combinator’s Abu Ghraib. Nastrond but everyone’s wearing Lululemon. Seed round black site.

🚀 We’re hiring at the Societal Analytics Lab at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam! We’re looking for a Post-Doctoral Researcher / Research Engineer to join our team. If you’re passionate about research infrastructure, FAIR & Open Science, and interdisciplinary collaboration, this could be a great fit.

AI chatbot fraud: the ‘gift card’ subcription that may cost you dear

AI chatbot fraud: the ‘gift card’ subcription that may cost you dear

After subscribing to the Claude chatbot, mystery payments started to appear on one family’s credit card bill. They are not alone

theguardian.com

Tired of looking for a way to safely share, search, and analyze research data? Then do not miss my @comptext.bsky.social workshop: 📅Tomorrow, April 23rd between 9:30 and 12:30 hrs. 📍119 Seminar Room, Teaching and Learning Building, University of Birmingham.

Are you looking for more than just a line on your resume? At the Societal Analytics Lab, we’re looking for ambitious, curious, and driven students/recent grads to join our Internship Program! 📍 Location: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam 🔗 All information here: societal-analytics.nl/services/int...

Next March 10th, we will be hosting the Film Club, a montly event to watch research-related movies and discuss them with pizza and drinks 😉 🍕 This time, we will be watching "The Thinking Game". 📍 Who can join? VU Amsterdam researchers. 📝 Register here: forms.office.com/e/AMhWei8365 See you there!

This is taking place on Monday with colleagues from the @univie.ac.at @anniewald.bsky.social @societal-analytics.nl @sof14g1l.bsky.social and The Atlas Social Media Listening Lab at @ufjschool.bsky.social @n8carp.bsky.social @jieunshin.bsky.social

Computational Methods Division of ICA@icacm.bsky.social · 6mo ago

The Computational Methods Lab Showcase will be on Monday, February 16th, 4:00–5:30 PM CET / 10:00 AM–11:30 PM EST. If you're interested in joining through Zoom, please contact dr. Silvia Majo Vazquez (s.majovazquez@vu.nl) for details!

Today I presented my work on "Climate Change narratives in Mexico" at @etmaal2026.bsky.social . Thanks everyone for the positive comments. I had a great time.

"The German philosopher Immanuel Kant famously defined the Enlightenment as 'man’s emergence from his self-imposed immaturity.' Immaturity, he wrote, 'is the inability to use one’s understanding without guidance from another'." #AI

Our king, priest and feudal lord – how AI is taking us back to the dark ages | Joseph de Weck

Since the Enlightenment, we’ve been making our own decisions. But now AI may be about to change that, says Joseph de Weck, a fellow with the Foreign Policy Research Institute

theguardian.com

"The sanctions have changed every aspect of his daily life. Guillou explained: 'All my accounts with American companies, such as Amazon, Airbnb, PayPal and others, have been closed.'"

Into the void: how Trump killed international law

The rules-based global order, its institutions and value system face a crisis of legitimacy and credibility as the US turns away

theguardian.com

"The biologist believes animals such as beavers, wolves and lynx should not be reintroduced without a system to deal with conflicts that inevitably arise. 'If you say ‘deal with it yourself’ that is when illegal shooting happens.'"

Something gnawed your oak tree? Sink hole in your road? How Zurich’s beaver hotline is reassuring residents

As the number of the semi-aquatic creatures soars so can tensions. But the Swiss have a tried and tested system to calm the neighbours and restore harmony

theguardian.com

Highly recommended read about the politicisation of science in the US and how this will help the resurgence of eugenic ideology and scientific racism. “For the first time, there is a political appointee in the NIH communications operations” www.statnews.com/2025/12/18/t...

As dangerous eugenic ideas spread, NIH falls silent

Federal research agencies are pulling back from fostering public discussions about science after the hollowing out of government communications offices.

statnews.com

Come and learn what the Lab achieved during 2025. But hey, a celebration is not complete without some fun activities! So, we will also screen the movie “Coded Bias” and finalize the event with drinks. When: February 10th between 15:00 and 18:00 hrs. All info: societal-analytics.nl/events/20251...

The Call for Papers and Panels for #COMPTEXT2026 in Birmingham (23-25 April) is out; feel free to circulate: shorturl.at/gRg0p! Deadline: January 16!

'Winter hares in conversation' by UK contemporary printmaker Angela Harding #WomensArt #ArtAdvent

This is just so sad to see. The societal returns on "AI" investment are still minimal and solving made-up problems – while causing new ones. Just imagine all that money having gone into alternative/sustainable energy... But that just how it is.

Simon Munzert@simonsaysnothin.bsky.social · 8mo ago

🎅1️⃣5️⃣ Investment in AI is exploding. By Mayank Munjal and @vinsac.bsky.social. www.reuters.com/graphics/USA...

Are you an academic working at FSW, @vuamsterdam.bsky.social ? Do you want to learn to use R for data managing, visualization, and analysis? Then, you may want to enroll to our R-Workshops. We only have 15 places. 👇🏽 All info here: societal-analytics.nl/events/20251...

I just got my work accepted for at @etmaal2026.bsky.social ! I've heard many good things about this conference. So. I'm very much looking forward to presenting "What shapes the #ClimateChange narrative in #Mexico? An exploration of #Facebook energy related ads".

In light of record submission rates and a large volume of AI-generated slop, SocArXiv recently implemented a policy requiring ORCIDs linked in the OSF profile of submitting authors, and narrowing our focus to social science subjects. Today we are taking two more steps: /1

After a long time in development, {traktok} #rstats is now finally on CRAN! Whether you have access to the Research API or just want to scrape some pages, traktok has you covered jbgruber.github.io/traktok/

Collecting TikTok Data

Getting TikTok data (<https://www.tiktok.com/>) through the official and unofficial APIs—in other words, you can track TikTok.

jbgruber.github.io

CRAN Package Updates Bot@cranberriesfeed.bsky.social · 8mo ago

New CRAN package traktok with initial version 0.1.0 #rstats https://cran.r-project.org/package=traktok

Since last year, I have been planting local flowers in my neighborhood. 🌱🌻 It is so nice them bring life back. 🐞🐝🦋🪲 #GuerillaGardening

How radical gardeners took back New York City

YouTube video by Vox

youtu.be

Thanks for the invitation! I’m looking forward to being part of this event. 🤩

@silviamajo.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Join us for the first Computational Methods Labs Showcase @icacm.bsky.social Registration is free and open to colleagues interested in computational methods! DM me if you have questions 1/2

I just finished reading #Supremacy by @parmy.bsky.social . A great book that summarizes the #AI race and the roles Demis Hassabis and Sam Altman play in it!

I received the results from this campaign. We collected 7500EUR to perform my research! 🙌🏽🤓 I am very happy that the community finds my research relevant. I will definitely keep you up-to-date on the progress and outputs that will come.

Sofia Gil-Clavel@sof14g1l.bsky.social · last yr.

The first research project where I am PI, “Responsible use of Artificial Intelligence in government agencies”, was selected by the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam to seek sponsorship! Everything is in Dutch, but it can be translated with the Google translate plugin.

Have some free time this weekend? How about 2,500 hours? The recordings from posit::conf(2025) are now online! Learn about the innovations and insights from conf. We celebrated #RStats and #Python, with a focus on next-gen tools & #AI integration. See the info here: posit.co/blog/talks-a...

Talk recordings and workshop materials from posit::conf(2025) - Posit

2500+ hours of posit::conf content just landed on YouTube.

posit.co

SAVE THE DATE! We are pleased to announce that the 8th COMPTEXT Conference will take place at the Institute of Data and AI (lnkd.in/ebN7za_Q) of the University of Birmingham, 23-25 April 2026, with @chrisguarnold.bsky.social serving as the lead local organiser. Call for Papers coming soon!

Sometimes #music is all what you need.

a cartoon character is wearing headphones and holding a cassette player

ALT: a cartoon character is wearing headphones and holding a cassette player

media.tenor.com

Ooh well, it seems students do not like my way of teaching... There are days when academia is tough.

My keynote about data science tools at posit::conf is now online! I originally meant it to be a talk about Positron, but as I was writing it, it took a left turn through the history of RStudio and into the philosophy of tool design & how to build stuff for people. www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGre...

10 Years of Data Science Tools...and What Happens Next (Jonathan McPherson) | posit::conf(2025)

YouTube video by Posit PBC

youtube.com