Virginia state legislators are currently considering collective bargaining for state employees. This is super important to ensure a strong tradition of research, education and more in Virginia. If you have a minute, write in favor of this legislation here: actionnetwork.org/letters/tell...

‼️ AI shapes how people get hired—but how much do we know about those tools? 🎤 We’ve launched the TARAI Index, a public database mapping AI use in 100+ recruiting technologies. 🤓 It helps practitioners and researchers explore how AI really works in hiring 👉 www.tarai.org

Breaking: We’ve talked to multiple individuals who have confirmed that UNC-CH is merging SILS (library and information science) and SDSS (data science and society). Announcement will be tomorrow morning. Faculty were not consulted.

Student + early career journalists in Appalachia (or young folks who want to write): pitch 100 Days! Looking for stories w/ angles on young people, related to education & what's happening on campuses, politics, life & identity, & more. Rates start at $150 for opinion, $200-$400 for reporting.

Thrilled to announce that the great Karen Hao @karenhao.bsky.social will visit UVA on 10/21, 6pm, Old Cabell Hall! Join me for an exciting conversation with Karen and Seth Lewis @sethclewis.bsky.social, with opening remarks by Dean Christa Acampora. Free tickets: www.eventbrite.com/e/an-evening...

Hey all, here's a post at @ssrc.org about how anti-trans talking points are getting wrapped into Google's AI search results. AI search not only cites anti-trans disinfo, but sanitizes it, making practices like conversion therapy sound legitimate and safe.

#ICYMI folks w/deep experience re:crisis web archiving (@sucho-org.bsky.social)+building tools for it (@webrecorder.net) made a free zine teaching how anyone can archive the things you love on the web before they go away: zinebakery.com/homemade-zin... & why you shouldn't expect others will do so

Amidst our current chaos, I've been very appreciative of this newsletter from @lizneeley.bsky.social, highly recommend taking a look ⬇️

I've been researching how people find information about climate risk for a long time now - it's really hard! This NYT article looks like a really helpful resource for potential homebuyers (gift link): www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

From AI to OSINT, maps to the sports section, NICAR is a data journalism jubilee.

A Guide to Digital Safety in a Dangerous World

Public Library Ebook Service to Cull AI Slop After 404 Media Investigation 🔗 www.404media.co/public-libra...

Colorado wants to force insurance companies to help homeowners understand, mitigate wildfire risk

In an effort to keep tabs on climate stuff happening during the second Trump term, we've got a running tally going. Please send updates and tips if you've got em! drilled.media/news/trump2

The funding freeze has hit the *earthquake early warning system,* plus a GPS network used by aircraft www.science.org/content/arti...

A thread on birthright citizenship I wrote in 2018, that unfortunately remains relevant. I always thought this was where it was all headed. Abolishing birthright citizenship for the non-white and non-rich. And why I teach on United States v. Wong Kim Ark every semester. Who was Wong Kim Ark? 1/

California has a very strong anti-wildfire “home hardening” law on the books, but it’s never been enforced because insurance models can’t account for it — and because people *hate* what it tells them to do. Fascinating @emilypont.bsky.social story: heatmap.news/climate/los-...

This is such a fun read. www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/i-a.... @mcsweeneys.net

NEW REPORT: How Americans View Climate Change and Policies to Address the Issue Among Republicans, 56% think climate policies usually hurt the U.S. economy. By contrast, 52% of Democrats say they usually help. 🧪

Senate Bill 382 has disaster relief in its title, but the legislation mostly deals with stripping authority from governor-elect Josh Stein and the state’s newly elected attorney general, Jeff Jackson, both of whom are Democrats. www.theassemblync.com/politics/leg...

As eviction notices start to appear and bills pile up in the 2 months since Helene, one church has stepped up to quickly provide people cash to cover rent wapo.st/3CWCOiw

Periodic reminder for anyone with a holiday baking agenda that UNC folks can get access to NYT Cooking through the libraries (!!): library.unc.edu/news/nyt-coo...

This is infuriating. "It never happened because the show 'didn’t want to delve into politics'... the Harris team got that reaction nearly 'across the board' when trying to book [Harris] on the same types of non-political media that happily welcomed Trump. www.thedailybeast.com/hot-ones-tur...

After Trump was elected, I started to wonder what could the grassroots, cities, and states do to move the needle on climate change without federal support. It turns out, a lot (gift link)

Just in time for Thanksgiving, here's my (actually short!) open access manifesto on why carbon markets & taxes are silly. When the target is 0, not fewer, emissions, we don't need a financial sorting function to find the "best" emissions to keep. The order of phase-out is a planning need.

For months, I've been reporting on the experiences of college RAs—pressures of the job, unionization efforts, what happens when the role of RA and the role of being a student feel at odds. For Esquire, a long feature on how RAs are fighting to reimagine the job:

I've thrown together a Starter Pack for the climate crisis-info crisis overlap. Lots of members from @caadcoalition.bsky.social, so do give them a follow. It's a work in progress, @ me if you'd like to be included! 🧪 🔌 💡 (@davidrvetter.bsky.social ask and ye shall receive...) go.bsky.app/J3783tF

Today, @carbonbrief.org has published the latest, and most comprehensive, update to our interactive map of extreme weather attribution. The redesigned map now includes almost 750 extreme events and trends from more than 600 studies. interactive.carbonbrief.org/attribution-... THREAD 1/10

Starter pack of social scientists working on climate/environment with a focus on justice-driven policy, behavior, & systems change. *Inclusive of early career scholars.* Recommendations welcome @carlietrott.bsky.social [Collaboratively created; Additions ≠ endorsement.] go.bsky.app/6yrkE6C

Vaccinations: a historically good idea Ōta Chōu 太田聴雨, Smallpox Vaccination 種痘, 1934 (Kyoto City Kyocera Museum of Art)

Can you spot the circles? It took me a long time. Once you see them, they'll seem obvious. This is the Coffer Illusion, by Anthony Norcia

Hiii, everybody! With the recent influx to Bluesky, I thought I'd reshare my Against AI and Its Environmental Harms Library. It's an open document with journalism, peer-reviewed research, podcasts, and other media about AI's climate costs. Add, share, and let's resist! pad.riseup.net/p/Against_AI...

Really appreciate this @triangleblogblog.bsky.social piece on the graduate student wage crisis at UNC. This is a pressing issue, and (in my experience) already affecting whether students choose to study here: triangleblogblog.com/2024/11/11/g...

I meant to do this ages ago but finally got around to it - this is a 'getting started on climate bluesky' doc that gathers up basic intro stuff, climate starter packs and climate feeds *Please* reply with everything I've forgotten (which is a lot), I had to smash this out quickly last night!

At last, there's a searchable directory of Bluesky starter packs, courtesy of @mubashariqbal.com! Just one more way third-party developers are helping to make this place better. Search starter packs by keyword, and sort by "Uses" to see which ones people are finding the most helpful

We still don't know for certain that Google Scholar is going, but we definitely don't know that it's staying. Shameless self-promotion, but here's my blog post talking about considering the current issues and highlighting a few alternatives blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsoci...

Gift link so everybody can read about SF₆ in older Nike shoes and how they sold carbon offsets based on ending their use of an incredibly potent greenhouse gas in their shoes. www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information website is down, as is their database of billion-dollar weather and climate disasters. Why? Likely because NCEI is based in Asheville NC. Climate-fueled unnatural disasters spare no-one and nothing. www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/billi...

“The need to control for every variable can hardly be overstated, because the second is arguably civilization’s most precisely defined unit of measurement. Ideally, each second should contain 9,192,631,770 ticks of the definitional frequency.” www.theatlantic.com/internationa...

More Bklyn Pub Lib news!: BPL initiated the 📚Unbanned pgm, which offered a digital library card to any teen across 🇺🇸. In prtnrshp w/ the Seattle PL + UWash I School, they analyzed the data: cards reg'ed in every state, oft by kids in rural + religious/conservative communities, homeschooled kids...

What a journey! 10 years ago almost 40% of UK electricity was from coal. Today the UK's last remaining coal-fired power station is Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station in Nottinghamshire, England, which is scheduled to close on September 30, 2024.

You think this data fell out of a coconut tree? Introducing "Responsible Datasets in Context," a repository of datasets paired with data essays and teaching resources that go long on context: responsible-datasets-in-context.com We're in development and open to community feedback!

I am beyond thrilled to share that DATA BY DESIGN: AN INTERACTIVE HISTORY OF DATA VISUALIZATION, 1789-1900 is now open for community review at 💚 📊 dataxdesign.io 📊 💙. It's the work of 15+ people across 5 institutions, 2 continents, 2 babies, and a global pandemic. A 🧵 but first:

A newspaper editor — Chris Quinn of the Cleveland Plain Dealer — says it as clearly as he can: "Our Trump reporting upsets some readers, but there aren’t two sides to facts." www.cleveland.com/news/2024/03... Quinn writes of a different kind of access. Access to our own eyes and ears: