Wim
@wimlouw.com
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📥 623
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Data Science person at City of Cape Town. J-PAL Africa alum. 🇿🇦🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🤘🌊🐶🏋️📊
www.hobartpulp.com/web_features...
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Infinite Detail: One Man’s Attempt to Graphically Chronicle Infinite Jest by Hannah Smart
Graphic designer Christian Swinehart wears thick-rimmed square glasses and a green button-down with the top button undone. He articulates his consonants and gesticulates with his hands and sometimes p...
https://www.hobartpulp.com/web_features/infinite-detail-one-man-s-attempt-to-graphically-chronicle-infinite-jest
7 days ago
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PyConZA
10 days ago
Got an idea worth sharing? This is your moment. We invite speakers, builders, and community leaders to submit proposals that inspire, challenge, and spark new conversations. 🎤 Submit your proposal and join us in Cape Town.
za.pycon.org/pages/speak...
#Proposals
#PyConZA
#Python
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Garth Greenwell
22 days ago
I shared some thoughts on David Hockney, whom I never met but whose work I’ve kept close for a long time. Also: his kindness to the great neglected painter Patrick Angus. Free post, no paywall.
garthgreenwell.substack.com/p/some-thoug...
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Oliver Hanney
about 1 month ago
🆕 Aggregating evidence, the research process, and empowering the public to understand research All that & more in this week's episode of Ideas in Development with
@economeager.bsky.social
. Really enjoyed discussing how we can improve the evidence base in economics by aggregating.
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Wim
Rafe Meager (they/them)
about 2 months ago
You’ve got to be bookmaxxing. You have to be knowledgepilled and on that information grind. Checking in and looking things up and citing sources. Dont let them bookmog you. Read.
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Good synthesis of the discourse around coding and AI right now:
www.nytimes.com/2026/03/12/m...
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Coding After Coders: The End of Computer Programming as We Know It
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/12/magazine/ai-coding-programming-jobs-claude-chatgpt.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
4 months ago
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Wim
The Yale Review
4 months ago
"I wrote an ode to reticence, my habit of perfection. The held and holding word, its wetting tract is not, as Hopkins said, renunciation but a space, I think for coiled sound to shift." —Isabel Neal, "Doublet"
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https://yalereview.org/article/isabel-neal-doublet
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Wim
London Review of Books
5 months ago
Where is it we are heading. So fast. But is this fast. I must speak what is in my heart. I don’t know if there’s anything left now in my heart. It is so dry. I must scour it with words. ‘You Shall Not Speak’, a poem by Jorie Graham.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
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Jorie Graham · Poem: ‘You Shall Not Speak’
https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n03/jorie-graham/you-shall-not-speak
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Matthew Honnibal
5 months ago
Style (and mindset) tips for less experienced developers working with AI
honnibal.dev/blog/llm-sty...
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Style tips for less experienced developers coding with AI · honnibal.dev
Matthew Honnibal is a computational linguist from Sydney based in Berlin, Germany. He's the author of the spaCy Natural Language Processing library and the co-founder of Explosion.
https://honnibal.dev/blog/llm-style-tips
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Wim
Jessica Hullman
6 months ago
Wrote a summary of a great keynote by
@zey.bsky.social
at NeurIPS, arguing that we’re having the wrong nightmares about AI: not AGI or superhuman benchmarks, but good-enough genAI at scale threatens "load bearing frictions" society relies on to signal effort, authenticity, sincerity, credibility.
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Zeynep Tufecki on having the wrong nightmares about generative AI
I was writing a blog post where I was going to reference Zeynep Tufecki’s 2025 NeurIPS keynote, and realized there isn’t a solid synopsis online.
https://open.substack.com/pub/jessicahullman/p/zeynep-tufecki-on-having-the-wrong?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
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Wim
Saloni
7 months ago
Big new blogpost! My guide to data visualization, which includes a very long table of contents, tons of charts, and more. --> Why data visualization matters and how to make charts more effective, clear, transparent, and sometimes, beautiful.
www.scientificdiscovery.dev/p/salonis-gu...
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Oliver Hanney
7 months ago
🆕 Ten key insights from development economics in 2025 The world is changing rapidly. Can research inform what comes next? I spent a long time trying to condense everything I read this year at
@voxdev.bsky.social
into ten key insights, you can read the full blog here:
voxdev.org/topic/ten-ke...
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Ten key insights from development economics in 2025
Research on VoxDev in 2025 has shed light on getting stuff done, paying for it, the changing development landscape, and a whole lot more.
https://voxdev.org/topic/ten-key-insights-development-economics-2025
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Wim
Noam Angrist
8 months ago
📣
@youthimpactorg.bsky.social
is hiring a Learning Partnerships Lead, who will lead A/B testing partnerships & high-profile research-to-action partnerships:
www.youth-impact.org/join-our-tea...
➡️ An exciting role for those who care about rigorous evidence being used in practice on a day-to-day basis
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Learning Partnerships Lead | Youth Impact
We are seeking a dynamic, experienced research manager and communicator to lead Youth Impact’s A/B testing partnerships and external research collaborations. This role will sit at the intersection of ...
https://www.youth-impact.org/join-our-team/learning-partnerships-lead
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Wim
Jessica Hullman
10 months ago
I rewrote Allen Ginsberg's Howl, but for the AI-headed hipsters👇 "I saw the best minds of my generation distracted by machines, shining-eyed delusional demo gods, rubbering through polished cities at dusk Capitalizing The Next Big Push to the end of Introspection, 1/N
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Wim
useR! - The R User Conference
11 months ago
You can watch Hadley's keynote at this link:
www.youtube.com/live/ctc2kx3...
#useR2025
add a skeleton here at some point
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Oliver Hanney
12 months ago
Teaching or studying economics? This blog is for you...
@emaansiddique.bsky.social
and I have updated
@voxdev.bsky.social
's series of blogs showcasing how economists use different econometric techniques to answer interesting and important policy questions. Read here:
voxdev.org/topic/exampl...
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Examples from development economics for your introduction to econometrics course
Economists employ a wide range of econometric methods when conducting research. Here are some examples of how these techniques are used to generate interesting and useful policy insights in developmen...
https://voxdev.org/topic/examples-development-economics-your-introduction-econometrics-course
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Wim
Garth Greenwell
about 1 year ago
I talked with The Yale Review about two essays of mine--on Philip Roth and Miranda July--they've published in recent years. Many thanks to the editors.
backmatter.yalereview.org/p/behind-the...
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Wim
Lighthouse Reports
about 1 year ago
Most reporting on AI examines worst-case systems deployed under the guise of efficiency. But what would a good faith effort at Ethical AI look like? For two years, we’ve been looking over the shoulder of a city trying to do things differently.
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Jessica Hullman
about 1 year ago
I'm excited about this paper - clearly AI won't always work, but many counterarguments to using AI for decision-making are statistically hard to justify or make narrow appeals to ethics. We identify w/4 criteria where its bad for decisions. Blog post:
statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2025/06/05/w...
add a skeleton here at some point
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Wim
Daniel de Kadt
about 1 year ago
In aviation, flight-deck automation is generally understood to be a good thing: It reduces scope for erroneous human inputs and allows pilots to better manage and focus their limited resources. But there is a risk: Pilots may never really learn to fly manually, or they may let those skills atrophy.
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Exciting Data Engineering role with J-PAL Africa’s Water, Air and Energy Lab and City of Cape Town’s Data Science team 🇿🇦
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Data Scientist - J-PAL Africa | The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab
https://www.povertyactionlab.org/careers/data-scientist-j-pal-africa-job-105296
about 1 year ago
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Wim
Stefan Dercon
over 1 year ago
Centre for the Study of African Economies at University of Oxford will automatically consider all applicants from Africa for full funding for the MPhil in Economics - we have new scholarships for eligible students. How? Just apply asap: deadline 4th March (extended deadline): see below
add a skeleton here at some point
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Noam Angrist
over 1 year ago
📣 Join our team in South Africa as a Research Manager! Support cutting-edge research on a set of scaling evidence-based programs in collaboration w/ the Department of Basic Education
@youthimpactorg.bsky.social
@j-pal.bsky.social
Lego Zenex + more
www.youth-impact.org/join-our-tea...
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Research Manager | Youth Impact
https://www.youth-impact.org/join-our-team/research-manager
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Wim
J-PAL
over 1 year ago
👋 Hi! J-PAL is now on Bluesky! 📊 We’re looking forward to bringing conversations on evidence-informed policy to this new space. Follow us for updates on the latest research, policy insights, and how rigorous evidence is helping shape a better world.
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Wim
Jessica Hullman
over 1 year ago
@economeager.bsky.social
's excellent essay got me thinking about how we confuse research with affirming (& preserving) our identity. Where we can tolerate uncertainty but only to the extent it blows in the direction of our unfolding personal narrative
statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2025/01/23/s...
add a skeleton here at some point
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“The Philosopher L. A. Paul Wants Us to Think About Our Selves”
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
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The Philosopher L. A. Paul Wants Us to Think About Our Selves
To whom should we have allegiance—the version of ourself making choices, or the version of ourself who will be affected by them?
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/12/09/the-philosopher-l-a-paul-wants-us-to-think-about-our-selves
over 1 year ago
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Jessica Hullman
over 1 year ago
I'm teaching a grad seminar this winter on Prediction for Decision-making. We'll look at what it means to make good predictions for decision-making from various angles, with a focus on decisions for & about people. Reading list:
statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2024/12/06/n...
Suggestions welcome!
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New Course: Prediction for (Individualized) Decision-making | Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social Science
https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2024/12/06/new-course-prediction-for-individualized-decision-making/
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Wim
Alejandra Caraballo
over 1 year ago
Can't believe I just hit 125k followers on here! There are so many more wonderful queer and trans voices you should follow as well. I created a starter pack with them. Give them a follow!
go.bsky.app/DVtrFQR
add a skeleton here at some point
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Josh Budlender
over 1 year ago
Come attend the 2024 SALDRU December Workshop! 12-13 December, School of Economics, U of Cape Town. We've got a great list of speakers, and v pleased the keynote will be Dennis Egger (
@eggerdennis.bsky.social
) presenting "Slack & Economic Development". All welcome! RSVP:
forms.gle/cwdPjw7iEjqa...
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Wim
Melissa Sands
over 1 year ago
Celebrate the holiday by roasting this bird (delete your Twitter account; it feels good 🎉):
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Wim
Hadley Wickham
over 1 year ago
If you're interested in trying out LLMs in
#rstats
but don't know where to begin, I've added a few two vignettes to elmer:
elmer.tidyverse.org/articles/elm...
and
elmer.tidyverse.org/articles/pro...
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Getting started with elmer
https://elmer.tidyverse.org/articles/elmer.html
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Wim
Julia Silge
over 1 year ago
We've got a brand new, baby website for Positron! Take a look if you are interested in getting started, and please let us know how it goes:
positron.posit.co
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Positron
A next-generation data science IDE
https://positron.posit.co/
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Wim
Julia Evans
over 1 year ago
intro post: I post a lot of explanations of computer things, here's an example! this one's an intro to Git's internals
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PyConZA
almost 2 years ago
The City of Cape Town is a Silver sponsor of
#PyConZA2024
🐍. Welcome aboard!
za.pycon.org/sponsors/8/
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PyConZA 2024
https://za.pycon.org/sponsors/8/
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Wim
Seema Jayachandran
almost 2 years ago
ungatedresearch.org
is a wonderful public good being developed by Martin Abel and Susie Godlonton. It's a website with links to the latest ungated version of papers published in several economics journals. Especially valuable in LMICs where many scholars don't have access to the journals.
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So cool:
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
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10-Minute Challenge: ‘Canopy’
We’d like you to look at one piece of art for 10 minutes, uninterrupted.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/09/19/upshot/ten-minute-challenge-canopy.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb
almost 2 years ago
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Wim
Andrew Gelman et al.
almost 2 years ago
What’s the story behind that paper by the Center for Open Science team that just got retracted?
statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2024/09/26/w...
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What’s the story behind that paper by the Center for Open Science team that just got retracted? | Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social Science
https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2024/09/26/whats-the-story-behind-that-paper-by-the-center-for-open-science-team-that-just-got-retracted/
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Wim
Jessica Hullman
almost 2 years ago
We (me &
@berkustun.bsky.social
) created a starter pack of researchers working on algorithmic decision-making & fairness. Other platforms still seem to dominate for many ML-related topics, but maybe this will help Probably missed people, so let us know if you have suggestions!
go.bsky.app/851zVkg
add a skeleton here at some point
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Having a wonderful day off today, rereading some gems:
yalereview.org/article/dana...
❤️
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Dana Levin: "Lessons of the Line"
Dana Levin remembers the unlikely teacher she found in poet Charles Simic.
https://yalereview.org/article/dana-levin-charles-simic
almost 2 years ago
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❤️
harpers.org/archive/2020...
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Making Meaning, by Garth Greenwell
Against “relevance” in art
https://harpers.org/archive/2020/11/making-meaning-garth-greenwell/
almost 2 years ago
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“Bluesky now has over 10 million users, and I was #1,147,042!” Cool 😎
almost 2 years ago
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Emily M. Bender
almost 2 years ago
"It is not the case that “AI gathers data from the Web and learns from it.” The reality is that AI companies gather data and then optimize models to reproduce representations of that data for profit."
www.techpolicy.press/challenging-...
Long, v. worthwhile read from Eryk Salvaggio
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Challenging The Myths of Generative AI | TechPolicy.Press
Eryk Salvaggio says we must dispense with myths if we are to think more clearly about what AI actually is and does.
https://www.techpolicy.press/challenging-the-myths-of-generative-ai/
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Nick Huntington-Klein
almost 2 years ago
It's not surprising that LLMs have difficulty with this! I talk more about this three card blind task in this article. (also pretty interesting that GPT can spit out the full Oracle text of just about every Magic card)
nickchk.substack.com/p/ai-errors-...
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AI Errors Are Statistical Errors
If it trains like a duck and predicts like a duck...
https://nickchk.substack.com/p/ai-errors-are-statistical-errors
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Wim
Arin Dube
almost 2 years ago
If you are interested in learning more about minimum wages, Attila Lindner and I have a new, up-to-date review of the topic, coming out in the Handbook of Labor Economics. Here's the @nberpubs working paper. Link:
nber.org/papers/w32878
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Thomas Lin Pedersen
almost 2 years ago
I'm excited to share the next version of patchwork with the world, available on CRAN now. First class support for gt tables and even more freedom with `free()`
#rstats
#ggplot2
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patchwork 1.3.0 - Tidyverse
patchwork 1.3.0 has just been released bringing refinements to the `free()` function and full on support for gt tables
https://www.tidyverse.org/blog/2024/09/patchwork-1-3-0/
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Wim
Dennis Alexis Valin Dittrich
almost 2 years ago
📉📈 via @upjohninstitute New research shows that job design—the choices employers make about the actual tasks workers are assigned—could provide a route to higher-paying jobs for the future. … 1/2
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Wim
Kieran Setiya
almost 2 years ago
I wrote about the value of writing: Under the Net
https://ksetiya.substack.com/p/content-providers
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Content Providers
I’ve mostly avoided the dismal topic of Large Language Models and what they will do to the future of writing, both in college and outside it.
https://ksetiya.substack.com/p/content-providers
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Wim
David McKenzie
almost 2 years ago
This week's blog links include using your econ PhD outside of academia, sharing research results with subjects in Zanzibar, city types in developing countries, building farmer resilience to climate change, and more...
#econsky
blogs.worldbank.org/en/impacteva...
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Weekly links September 13: pricing health insurance, sharing research with subjects, cities, climate resilient ag, and more…
https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/impactevaluations/weekly-links-september-13--pricing-health-insurance--sharing-res
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Wim
Aaron Sojourner
almost 2 years ago
For Bluesky-Curious Econ Lovers, a Quick Start guide to plugging into the economics community here. I wrote it hoping to lower the costs & boost the benefits for folks to engage here. If you think it's useful, please share it. 📉📈 #️⃣#️⃣
aaronsojourner.org/for-bluesky-...
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For Bluesky-Curious Econ Lovers - Aaron Sojourner
This Quick Start guide aims to help econ lovers easily join Bluesky’s growing economics community. The Bluesky User FAQ covers generic basics, like how to start an account. This guide orients you to e...
https://aaronsojourner.org/for-bluesky-curious-econ-lovers/
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Andrew Heiss
almost 2 years ago
For the past few years, I've taught dataviz using
#rstats
+ {ggplot2} and the class is free and asynchronous with ≈35 hours of video at
datavizf24.classes.andrewheiss.com
I also have regular R-based dataviz-related blog posts at
www.andrewheiss.com/blog/
add a skeleton here at some point
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