iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Alper Sarikaya @alper.datav.is · 29/09/2026

Amazing when the immediately preceding remark from Dir. Pennucci was "[...], but I don't think that our [SDOT] finance and budget team are the right people to be having this conversation with, in a budget presentation."

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Alper Sarikaya @alper.datav.is · 27/09/2026

there's oodles of rail space in Interbay now, did we just screw up on timing?

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Alper Sarikaya @alper.datav.is · 26/09/2026

jelly!! at least we get to ride them soon :D

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Alper Sarikaya @alper.datav.is · 24/09/2026

I learned from taking cartography courses (and Prof. Robert Roth on my committee!) how important semiology is and was always surprised it doesn't show up more in visualization prose. www.mappingasprocess.net/blog/2018/5/... is a good overview. There are others, but I need to dig in my archives :D

mappingasprocess.net

Maps, Semiotics, and History — Mapping as Process

How not to do them. A response to Casti (2018)

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Alper Sarikaya @alper.datav.is · 19/09/2026

I took some time to leave public comment on how we can speed up Vision Zero strategies without being subject to veto power by historical boards. alper.datav.is/blog/2026/09...

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Alper Sarikaya @alper.datav.is · 16/09/2026

tailscale + immich means i have photo superpowers

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The Birdbassador @birdbassador.jorts.horse.ap.brid.gy · 14/09/2026

mcorrell.medium.com/advanced-virtue… hello. here is a blog post about some recent work in data ethics in which i am more polite than usual and don't call for industrial sabotage although perhaps you can read between the lines.

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Alper Sarikaya @alper.datav.is · 09/09/2026

I'd love one (and any 372, if you can catch them :D)! I'll be at the Urbanist/CityNerd thing on Tuesday volunteering.

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Alper Sarikaya @alper.datav.is · 04/09/2026

aww, I asked Metro if they had any leftover 372 signage and they said they're reusing all of it!

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Alper Sarikaya @alper.datav.is · 03/09/2026

an excuse to take the new Route 77 perhaps? :D kingcounty.gov/en/dept/metr...

kingcounty.gov

- King County, Washington

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Alper Sarikaya @alper.datav.is · 28/08/2026

Took some time to write up an ode to the 372, a bus that helped me grow up. Its last trip will leave UW at 12:51am tonight. cc @typewriteralley.bsky.social @seattletransitblog.com alper.datav.is/blog/2026/08...

alper.datav.is

Ode to the 372

Some memories of Metro Route 372 to UW

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Alper Sarikaya @alper.datav.is · 25/08/2026

I'm pretty bearish about mixing AI with visualization, but it was really neat to see how the use of AI can help design simpler-to-understand visualization specs. Some of the purpose/task stuff is still missing, but working on that next.. alper.datav.is/publications...

alper.datav.is

Flint: A Semantic-driven Data Visualization Intermediate Language

Constructed an abstracted language to make specifying visualizations with AI agents easier.

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Alper Sarikaya @alper.datav.is · 22/08/2026

hold on, i'm too elevated!!

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Alper Sarikaya @alper.datav.is · 21/08/2026

woooof. do you have a link to the OPA findings somewhere?

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Alper Sarikaya @alper.datav.is · 19/08/2026

It might be interesting to use another visual encoding like quilted blocks [1]. If you have the source somewhere, I can see how we could add it! The benefit is that you might be able to see second-order trends, like variance/turnout. [1] blocks.roadtolarissa.com/yelper/aa086...

blocks.roadtolarissa.com

Quilted Blocks in D3 v4

Block by yelper

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Alper Sarikaya @alper.datav.is · 18/08/2026

this is fun fodder for my ode to the 372 :D

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Alper Sarikaya @alper.datav.is · 06/08/2026

she's doing pretty good, all things considered!! hope all's good in your camp :)

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The Pudding @pudding.cool · 27/07/2026

New project! Two influential word lists made by language researchers define an "essential English vocabulary" for learners: one from 1953 and another from 2023. In this essay, Jasmine Nackash examines the differences between them and what that says about us. link: pudding.cool/2026/07/esse...

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Alper Sarikaya @alper.datav.is · 23/07/2026

my partner developed a (small!) wisconsin accent after teaching primary school while i was in grad school and it tickles me so much

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Alper Sarikaya @alper.datav.is · 09/07/2026

The big thing here is that we've activated "semantic types" of data to drive visualization defaults along with visualization viewport size, resulting in good vis decisions by default! :) These types are a little lower level, like "profit" or "rating", that implies some vis design decisions.

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Alper Sarikaya @alper.datav.is · 23/06/2026

pickled beets are like a 5x improver to any salad!!!

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Alper Sarikaya @alper.datav.is · 09/06/2026

This sort of visual retrospection is so important to see how things progress, so thanks for sharing it all together in one post! I wish we had a lot more of it to see roadside progress in the last 15 years.

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Alper Sarikaya @alper.datav.is · 20/05/2026

yay, thanks for answering them!

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Alper Sarikaya @alper.datav.is · 12/05/2026

(admittedly i skimmed the paper but) the authors seem to have been going toward generating routes from 'first-principles' data: elevation, road condition, presence of bike lanes in pictures/OSM, etc. I think if a point-to-point bike infrastructure map was added as a source, it would help results.

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Alper Sarikaya @alper.datav.is · 27/04/2026

also psuedo-panic "i shouldn't've taken my rain gear out of my bag today"

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Alper Sarikaya @alper.datav.is · 14/04/2026

that's definitely one to pin up on the wall! great validation

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Alper Sarikaya @alper.datav.is · 02/04/2026

this is so cool, thank you for sharing!! reading about your discovery experience was neat too

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Burke-Gilman Brewing @burkebrewing.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

See you soon!

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Gabriela Molina León @gabymlp.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

📊 Everyone is debating the use (or not) of #GenAI, and the #dataviz community is no exception. My colleagues and I are conducting a survey to understand this moment, and we'd love to hear your thoughts on how this is impacting our field (please share!): survey.au.dk/LinkCollecto...

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The Upshot @upshot.nytimes.com · 09/03/2026

Job opening at @upshot.nytimes.com Come help us explain the news! We're looking for a visual journalist and graphics developer to report, write, design and code data-driven stories and visualizations. Details here: www.nytco.com/careers/job-...

nytco.com

Data Graphics/Multimedia Editor, The Upshot | The New York Times Company

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Alper Sarikaya @alper.datav.is · 27/02/2026

bring back the Ivars at sea-tac, you cowards!! Ivar would have something to say about this...

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Alper Sarikaya @alper.datav.is · 17/02/2026

the game is being snarky at me!!!

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Alper Sarikaya @alper.datav.is · 12/02/2026

doofus gonna doofus, no need to cave!

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Mary L Trump @maryltrump.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

Every American needs to watch this:

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Alper Sarikaya @alper.datav.is · 02/02/2026

I'm a bit slower writing than I wanted to, but I banged my head over this technical question during the holiday break and I'd figure I'd write this up so I could help at least one other person. Trying to counter all the AI slop articles I ran into while searching... alper.datav.is/blog/2026/01...

alper.datav.is

Remote rsync for a Synology NAS

Getting rsync to work on my Synology NAS from a remote machine.

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Kristen Radtke @kristenradtke.bsky.social · 27/01/2026

I wrote about my childhood friend Alexi Pretti. Please read it and share it and remember him as a human being. @theverge.com

theverge.com

I grew up with Alex Pretti

The kind-hearted ICU nurse shot by ICE agents was my childhood best friend.

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Reposted by Alper Sarikaya

Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal @jayapal.house.gov · 17/01/2026

Mubashir and his family came to the United States as refugees from Ethiopia when he was a child, and they all became naturalized citizens in 2019. Despite being a U.S. citizen, Mubashir was targeted by ICE, assaulted, and detained. Listen to his story:

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Alper Sarikaya @alper.datav.is · 22/12/2025

Is the Talaris development in Laurelhurst destined to be completely open space? Just saw that Seattle city council voted to acquire/condemn it for the developer's tax benefit at the tune of costing SPU $9.6M: seattle.legistar.com/LegislationD... (cc @theurbanist.org @typewriteralley.bsky.social)

seattle.legistar.com

SEATTLE CITY COUNCIL - Record No: CB 121138

Title: AN ORDINANCE relating to Seattle Public Utilities; authorizing the General Manager/CEO of Seattle Public Utilities or designee to acquire by negotiation or eminent domain (condemnation) a parce...

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Alper Sarikaya @alper.datav.is · 22/12/2025

A filter for SIGNTYPE = "R10-11A" works for me, but I don't see all of them listed. NE 65th and 15 Ave NE has an omission of many signs (bike advisory and NTOR signs don't show up at all)

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