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Alex Bowers

@alexjbowers.bsky.social
281 followers 218 following 39 posts

Professor of #EdLeadership Teachers College, Columbia University studying #EdResearch #EdAdmin w/ #DataScience #Bigdata #DataAnalytics. Affiliate @DataSciColumbia www.tc.columbia.edu/faculty/ab3764

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Reposted by Alex Bowers
Jer Thorp @jerthorp.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Posting this @nsousanis.bsky.social mini comic about AI and creative work for no particular reason
spinweaveandcut.com
Fall 2025 Syllabi!
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Internet Archive @archive.org · 30/09/2026
Here's a small thing you can do for the future: 🌐 Find a webpage you care about. 💾 Save it. ✔️ That's it. One saved page becomes part of the web's shared memory. Try it today 👉 web.archive.org #ToolsYouCanUse
Cream graph-paper graphic framed by yellow line art, featuring a screenshot of the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine page, with the "Save Page Now" options circled in red. A yellow ">" chevron tagline below reads "tools you can use," pointing toward a yellow arrow.
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Towards Data Science @towardsdatascience.com · 30/09/2026
In an insightful analysis, Yu Dong revisits a timely topic: the shape and extent of AI's impact on data science roles.
towardsdatascience.com
AI Made Data Scientists Faster. Now It’s Expanding the Job.
The real shift is bigger than productivity: AI is reshaping ownership, judgment, and the career path of data scientists.
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Andreas Brandmaier @brandmaier.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Ever looked at your graph and thought: this needs a more dramatic exit strategy? Make your R base plots self-destruct with style. If you must, download here: github.com/brandmaier/d... #RStats #DataVisualization #RProgramming #DataScience #OpenSource #AcademicHumor #noAI
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IEEE VIS @ieeevis.org · 26/09/2026
📅 The IEEEVIS2026 full program is now live! VIS 2026 is just six weeks away! Explore our new interactive schedule and start planning your week. 🔗 Program: lnkd.in/eE3x2-Fj
lnkd.in
LinkedIn
This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn
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John Stott @jpsastro.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Had a UKRI funded grant proposal rejected at the "AI triage stage". "This AI-based triage was used only to identify approximately 50% of the strongest proposals to take forward to full human review." 🧪 #academicsky
I am writing to let you know that, unfortunately, your application was not successful.

Review process

As part of the initial triage of the 179 proposals submitted to this call, each was assessed using an AI-based review. Every proposal was read independently by several different AI models against the same seven criteria used to shape this call (including cyber security relevance, research quality and novelty, importance of the problem addressed, feasibility of the project plan, likely outputs and impact, value for money, and responsible research practice), with each model asked to give a score and a written justification with supporting quotations from the text. To guard against any one model's idiosyncrasies, we also ran a second, independent process in which different AI models debated the merits and weaknesses of each proposal before reaching a judgement, again against the same criteria. Scores from both processes were combined to produce an overall ranking. 

This AI-based triage was used only to identify approximately 50% of the strongest proposals to take forward to full human review.  Projects selected for funding were drawn from those that progressed to the full human review stage. We recognise that AI-assisted assessment is a new and evolving part of the review process, and we are continuing to evaluate how well it aligns with the judgements of human reviewers on this call. We will soon produce a document detailing our method, so that others can build upon it and improve it.

Feedback on your application

Your application was not selected to progress beyond the AI triage stage.  To provide transparency on the outcome of this assessment, we are sharing below the scores (out of 5) from each of the two AI review processes described above, together with the mean score across the two processes.
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Anna Fergusson @annafergusson.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
@amelia.mn Speaking R www.amelia.mn/SpeakingR/#1 @felienne.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy How does code sound? www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5wJ...
youtube.com
Lambda World 2018 - Keynote: How Does Code Sound? - Felienne Hermans
YouTube video by Lambda World
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Alberto Cairo @albertocairo.com · 24/09/2026
In the newsletter: "Visualization as epistemic representation" openvisualizationacademy.beehiiv.com/p/visualizat... Or: Building bridges between information design and the philosophy of science & scientific representation #dataViz #dataVisualization #infographics
A diagram depicting the cycle of epistemic representation. An object called the "vehicle" (a chart, for example) represents another object, called the "target" (for instance, a data set). The reader of the "vehicle" can make inferences about the vehicle itself, and later they can use those inferences to make inferences about the "target"
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Michael Friendly @datavisfriendly.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Maybe my PhD in Psych can help here: There's the rub, if you're a Normal kind of guy. Just start to imagine yourself as belonging to a +skewed distribution, that can put you into a longer tail, with a bunch of friends to rock on.
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Simon Kuestenmacher @simongerman600.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Bank of America data shows clearly that for every dollar a customer deposits into a sports book or predictions market they return less than 75 cents. Sports betting is a curse, prediction markets are a tool for insider trading and rip off all other users. Don’t waste your life on these…
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Marco Hernández @mhernandez.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Come and join the New York Times Graphics Team for 12 weeks. Applications for the Graphics Intensive program are open, more details here: www.nytco.com/careers/earl...
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Anne Lutz Fernandez @lutzfernandez.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
When they say AI tools won't replace teachers but that humans will be at the "center" of education, I always think of this joke. It's best told slowly, one apple at a time.
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Anne Lutz Fernandez @lutzfernandez.bsky.social · 14/10/2025
I've updated my document that tackles four of the common arguments used to encourage teachers to use AI. I hope this will be helpful to those educators wanting to push back on AI mania.
docs.google.com
Resisting School AI Mania Help Sheet
Help Sheet: Resisting AI Mania in Schools K-12 educators are under increasing pressure to use—and have students use—a wide range of AI tools. (The term “AI” is used loosely here, just as it is by man...
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Eric Schares @eschares.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
🚨Update: Our analysis of global APC expenditure has now been expanded to cover more publishers (7 -> 14) and more years (2019-2025). We estimate $15B in APCs paid over seven years, $3.7B in 2025 alone. Elsevier crosses the $1B threshold by itself in 2025. arxiv.org/abs/2608.16322 #ScholComm
Line chart showing 5 biggest publishers from 2019-2025
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Los Angeles Worldcon @laworldcon.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Are you tuning into the Hugo Awards? The awards ceremony agenda as well as links to stream the ceremony and live announcements can be found on our site: www.lacon.org/2026hugos
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Julia M. Rohrer @dingdingpeng.the100.ci · 27/08/2026
Psychological Science special issue call 📣 Ever had your research denigrated bc it's "only descriptive", "what's the mechanism though?" and "but what are the theoretical implications?" Now has come your time to shine. Send your best descriptive work! www.psychologicalscience.org/publications...
Psychological Science invites submissions that advance psychological science through careful description of psychological phenomena. Psychological research often focuses on explaining and predicting phenomena before we have a sufficiently detailed understanding of them. It can be difficult to build strong theories on incomplete empirical foundations of the phenomena themselves. Careful descriptive research helps establish shared empirical reference points developed around well-characterized phenomena. As such, descriptive research contributes to psychological science both by improving our understanding of the phenomena themselves and by providing a stronger foundation for future theory-building, explanation, and prediction.

We are interested in manuscripts that:

Deepen our understanding of psychological phenomena, including what they look like, how they vary, and how they unfold;
Draw on a variety of sources of evidence and methods, including qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods approaches; research conducted in naturalistic settings; intensive, longitudinal, or small-sample designs; and open or large-scale datasets; 
Provide necessary context for interpreting what is being described, including who is represented in the data, the settings and circumstances in which phenomena occur, and the broader social contexts in which they are situated; and/or
Make a substantive contribution to psychological science through the quality, depth, or significance of the description provided.
The deadline for submitting regular manuscripts is April 15, 2027. Registered Reports will also be considered. The deadline for submitting Stage 1 Registered Reports is November 15, 2026. Authors should indicate in the “Comments to Editor” box during submission that the manuscript is intended for the “Descriptive Research in Psychological Science” special issue.
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Larry Ferlazzo @larryferlazzo.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
AI can now credibly complete most undergraduate assignments, MIT warns www.washingtonpost.com/education/20...
washingtonpost.com
AI can now credibly complete most undergraduate assignments, MIT warns
A new report urges rapid changes to college teaching, learning and assessment as the technology advances.
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Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Re-upping for the euro crowd! Featuring the book about "immersive" con artists that inspired the first-ever chatbot, my take on News Tower, and an escape room directly inspired by Golden Idol and Obra Dinn...
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Social Media Lab @socialmedialab.ca · 20/08/2026
😂"‘The Emperor Is a Fan of Flock’: Darth Vader Speaks at City Council Meeting "This council was elected to serve the police, not the public," said Vader." gizmodo.com/darth-vader-...
gizmodo.com
'The Emperor Is a Fan of Flock': Darth Vader Speaks at City Council Meeting
"This council was elected to serve the police, not the public," said Vader.
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Alex Bowers @alexjbowers.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
New open access brief: Beyond Test Scores: Tracking School Improvement Initiatives Using Systems-Level Tools. How school and district leaders can use systems-level data for school improvement. doi.org/10.7916/cxks... #EducationResearch #EducationData #SchoolImprovement
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Dominique Baker @bakerdphd.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Was reminded today that I have my winning NAEd/Spencer postdoc materials up on my website (someone let me know that they won and that they had used my stuff as a guide). Won 5 years ago but anyone who is applying is welcome to them! www.dominiquebaker.com/resources
dominiquebaker.com
Resources — Dominique J. Baker
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The Hechinger Report @hechingerreport.org · 17/08/2026
Rural community colleges are building pathways and partnerships to help students find sustainable jobs.
hechingerreport.org
OPINION: Why investing in rural education can bolster local economies and help students build a future close to home
Morgan County, Tennessee, is a rural community shaped by strong relationships, deep attachment to place and a shared commitment to its future. Its public lands and tourism economy are part of that story, as are the intergenerational ties, civic commitment and local institutions that hold the community together. Like many rural areas, Morgan County also faces real economic challenges: More than half of its population struggles to afford basic household necessities, and 15 percent of its residents live below the poverty line. That’s why the efforts of Roane State Community College…
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The Hechinger Report @hechingerreport.org · 17/08/2026
High costs and political attacks take a toll as fewer students come and top scholars leave.
hechingerreport.org
Once globally preeminent, U.S. universities are sliding into decline
The nation was distracted by other things when a quiet warning sounded: Support was diminishing for American academic research that had led to breakthroughs and innovation. That familiar-sounding worry came not this year, but near the end of World War II, in a pivotal government study by the wartime Office of Scientific Research and Development. The response then: infusions of government cash that would propel the U.S. higher education system into international preeminence over the subsequent decades. American colleges and universities rose to the ranks of the best in the world.
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Daniel Lakens @lakens.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Registered Reports and preregistration of secondary data analysis is only coherently possible if you can prove you did not have access to the data. Without such proof, these methods should not be allowed for secondary data. We explain this view in detail in www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
tandfonline.com
The benefits of preregistration and Registered Reports
Practices that introduce systematic bias are common in most scientific disciplines, including toxicology. Selective reporting of results and publication bias are two of the most prevalent sources o...
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Dorothy Bishop @deevybee.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
New blogpost deevybee.blogspot.com/2026/08/acce... inspired by recent depressing experience as a peer reviewer. AI-generated #fraud is getting very hard to detect. #peerreview
deevybee.blogspot.com
Acceleration of the arms race between fraudsters and honest researchers
I was recently asked to review a paper that piqued my curiosity. From the abstract it sounded as if it was a secondary analysis of a datas...
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Shannon Hale @shannonhale.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Reading novels for fun increases empathy, intelligence, relaxation, critical thinking, happiness, and general life satisfaction and is totally free through your local library
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Ran Blekhman @blekhman.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
Everyone says AI will accelerate science. I don't think it will -- at least not in biology, and at least not soon. New post where I explain why, and how the productivity paradox can be resolved: blekhman.substack.com/p/why-ai-wil...
blekhman.substack.com
Why AI will not speed up science (yet)
You can see AI everywhere except in the productivity statistics
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Information is Beautiful @infobeautiful.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Updated every month: Access the raw datasets behind every #dataviz we've ever released online. The IIB Data Room. 500+ sheets, 1200+ datasets. Continually updated. informationisbeautiful.net/data/
A table listing various article titles and their corresponding bit.ly links, sorted by publication date from August 2024 to May 2023. The table has four columns: Title, bit.ly link, Published date, and Updated (empty). Topics include 'Per Second', 'WaterWorld', several articles about plastics, 'Two Years of the Russia-Ukraine War', among others. Most links are either geni.us or Google Docs spreadsheet URLs. Dates range from most recent (01 Aug 2024) to oldest (24 May 2023)
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Robert Evans (the Only Robert Evans) @iwriteok.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
bloomberg has a fun article today arguing that the Cybertruck is the biggest flop in automotive history. it includes this glorious graph.
A graph showing how the edsel and Cybertruck both performed based on their sales target and actual year one and year two sales. The edsel was expected to sell 200k units in its first year. It sold slightly over 50k, and less than 50k the next year

The Cybertruck had a sales.target of 250k in its first year. They sold around 40k, the next year they sold about half as many.
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Information is Beautiful @infobeautiful.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Learn how to create impactful data-visualizations & infographics. Join our highly-rated online seminars 2 x virtual half days: 4th & 5th Nov 🇺🇸 USA timezone 9th Nov 🇬🇧 LDN in person Deets: geni.us/WAB2024 Reviews: geni.us/WABreviews
An infographic flyer advertising an online seminar for learning how to create impactful infographics and data visuals with best-selling author and data-visualisation practitioner David McCandless of Information is Beautiful. Discounts are available.
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NCME @ncme38.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
On August 3, join fellow Educators of Measurement to jumpstart your fall course prep! Share teaching ideas, discuss innovative strategies, and exchange practical approaches to course design, assessment, and student engagement. 🗓️ August 3, 2 p.m. Eastern 👉 buff.ly/w63x16b
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David Schoch @schochastics.net · 10/07/2026
A side project I've been working on is public now: vellumverse, an #Rstats graphics stack built on a Rust backend. vellum sits where grid does but renders in Rust. vellumplot is the grammar on top and vellumwidget turns any plot into an interactive widget. Feedback welcome ☺️ github.com/r-vellum
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Crystal Lewis @cghlewis.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Here's a data management Mad Lib Template if you are looking for a fun Friday activity! github.com/Cghlewis/dat...
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Data Rescue Project #DataRescue @datarescueproject.org · 07/07/2026
We know that many people are commenting (over 80,000) on the OMB's proposed changes, but there is still time, and every voice matters. APS has created a great tool that you can use to respond to specific portions and customize your comment for submission. www.aps.org/initiatives/...
aps.org
Comment on OMB proposed rule for federal financial assistance
Make your voice heard on the Office of Management and Budget's proposed federal grant funding changes and defend the scientific community from this existential threat.
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Crystal Lewis @cghlewis.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Issue 52 of #rdmweekly is out! 📬 ➡️ Introducing Open Data Format ➡️ @improvingpsych.org Products ➡️ An Annotated Bibliography of Data Management Books for Librarians @kbriney.bsky.social @hedgielib.bsky.social ➡️ Template for Data Cleaning Guidance and SOP rdmweekly.substack.com/p/rdm-weekly...
rdmweekly.substack.com
RDM Weekly - Issue 052
A weekly roundup of Research Data Management resources.
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Alex Bowers @alexjbowers.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
Sail 4th for the USA 250th celebration on July 4th in #NYC was spectacular!
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Abigail Goben @hedgielib.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
A surfeit of sources: An annotated bibliography of data management books for librarians iassistquarterly.com/index.php/ia... Newest from @kbriney.bsky.social and I ! We examined over 30 books that cover data management for a librarian audience. Find your favorites!
iassistquarterly.com
A surfeit of sources: An annotated bibliography of data management books for librarians | IASSIST Quarterly
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Dirk Wulff @dirkwulff.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
🚨 Now out in PNAS In decision research, "talk is cheap." We show it isn't. Using LLMs to analyze participants' free-text explanations of their choices, we find verbal reports are a rich, scalable window into how people actually decide. 🔗 www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... Led by Kamil Fulawka
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Mél Hogan / The Data Fix @melhogan.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
County With 37 Data Centers Asks Schools to ‘Conserve Electricity’ www.404media.co/henrico-virg...
404media.co
County With 37 Data Centers Asks Schools to ‘Conserve Electricity’
Henrico County is a major hub for data centers in Virginia. Its officials said it expects a 25% rise in electricity costs next year, and advised workers to close the blinds and turn off their computer...
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Andrew Heiss @andrew.heiss.phd · 01/07/2026
Updating materials and answer keys for my summer dataviz class and I'm still amazed that stuff like this is doable with just a handful of #rstats packages (code here: 019f1dc4-db64-8bc1-436e-39e8231ad6a4.share.connect.posit.cloud)
Map in Equal Earth projection showing six places I have lived between 1984 and the present: Provo (Utah), Rome (Italy), Amman (Jordan), Cairo (Egypt), Durham (North Carolina), Atlanta (Georgia), and  Doha (Qatar). Red curved arrows trace great circle routes between locations  in chronological order; each city is labeled with its name and the years lived there. Light blue ocean and peach landmasses provide the backdrop.
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Information is Beautiful @infobeautiful.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
Statistically, which is the best Mario Kart Deluxe kart combo out of all 703,560 possible customisations? Now this is data science! (&TLDR Peach, Teddy Buggy, Roller Tires, Cloud Glider :) www.mayerowitz.io/blog/mario-m...
A 3D scatterplot examines 703,560 possible combinations of kart customisations Mario Kart Deluxe, evaluating speed, acceleration, weight, handling and other attributes. The conclusion is Peach as a driver of the Teddy Buggy with roller tires and the cloud glider. 
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Nicola Rennie @nrennie.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
Today's chart is a reminder that there is still some good news in the world 📊 This heatmap shows deaths from cervical cancer have dropped to 0 over a 5 year period in England for women aged 20-24. Deaths are also generally decreasing across all age groups. Made with #RStats and #ggplot2 #DataViz
Heatmap showing the number of cervical cancer deaths in women by age group (15–19 to 85+) in England and Wales from 2001 to 2024. Colour represents deaths, from yellow (fewer) to purple (more), while grey indicates no deaths recorded. Vertical markers highlight the introduction of the HPV vaccination programme for girls in 2008 and its extension to boys in 2019. The main message is that HPV vaccination has substantially reduced cervical cancer deaths in younger women: between 2020 and 2024, no cervical cancer deaths were recorded among women aged 20–24, the first time this occurred over a five-year period, with around 23 deaths expected without vaccination. The graphic states that HPV vaccination has prevented around 200 cervical cancer deaths in England.
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Daniel Lakens @lakens.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
What is interesting about psychology is that they did the whole replication crisis one time before in the 1970s. It is so similar to the 2010 one, you would not be able to tell if a paper on the replication crisis was published in 1972 or 2012. See rips-irsp.com/articles/10....
rips-irsp.com
Concerns About Replicability Across Two Crises in Social Psychology | International Review of Social Psychology
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Joachim Schork @joachimschork.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
The ggplot2 package has become so popular over the years that there are now hundreds of extension packages specifically designed to enhance ggplot2 visualizations. Watch the video here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=44hT... More: statisticsglobe.com/online-cours... #datavisualization #tidyverse #r
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Paul Bruno @paul-bruno.com · 18/06/2026
"Starting in the 2016/17, high school students in Norway who missed more than 10% of hours in a course without a medical excuse could not receive a final grade...the new policy reduced total absence by 21-28 percent, and chronic absence by 29-39 percent." www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
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Aaron Sojourner @aaronsojourner.org · 17/06/2026
Provocative @deanbaker13.bsky.social deanbaker22.substack.com/p/quick-thou...
deanbaker22.substack.com
Quick Thoughts on Wealth
Neo-Nazis with trillions is a huge problem, but we have to think carefully about how best to overcome it
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Bart Penders @penders.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
Join us as a postdoctoral researcher! "Invisible Knowledge Work in Open Science Practices", funded by OSNL #STS #metascience Come help us map and understand the invisible labour that enables, allows, supports and shapes #openscience, and lets it grow. Mostly #qual work, with small #quant pockets.
academictransfer.com
Postdoctoral Researcher Invisible knowledge work in open science practices
Welcome to Maastricht University! Are you an ambitious post-doctoral researcher with an Open Science mindset who seeks to unravel the threads of visibility and invisibility of staff across research pr...
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John Donegan @donegan.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
The whimsy in the telling of this story is a joy to read and the yarn is fascinating. Kudos @caitlinecassidy.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/society/2026...
theguardian.com
Playing with payphones: how the ubiquitous orange booths have been gamified by fans
Quaint and often overlooked, payphones continue to provide an essential public service, with millions of free calls being placed each year
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Alberto Cairo @albertocairo.com · 11/06/2026
In the newsletter: "Twenty years of Hans Rosling's famous TED talk": openvisualizationacademy.beehiiv.com/p/twenty-yea... #dataViz #infographics #DataVisualization #dataJournalism
openvisualizationacademy.beehiiv.com
Twenty years of Hans Rosling's famous TED talk
Celebrating the transformative power of joy and epiphany
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