iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Nael Shiab

michael h keller @mhkeller.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Some @layercake.graphics news: with @openclimatedata.net's help and @techniq.dev's insights, v11 of the library is out and has fully converted into runes instead of the @svelte.dev Store API. tldr; many fewer dollar-signs!

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Reposted by Nael Shiab

michael h keller @mhkeller.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

For anyone using LayerCake, I'm in the process of doing an update to using Svelte 5 runes internally (the example components were updated last year but some internals remained). Here's the PR for any thoughts you might have on the proposed design: github.com/mhkeller/lay...

github.com

Rune migration: Rework main lib with dynamic dimension calculations by mhkeller · Pull Request #422 · mhkeller/layercake

Builds off of #331 A few things it does: Gets rid of stores in favor of the cake. syntax. Assembles scales dynamically for each dimension (x, y, z, r). Adds two new dimensions c and c2 which will ...

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Nael Shiab @naelshiab.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

"Oh wow! The AI agent is right 99% of the time! It's amazing." Using it 10 times in a row: 0.99 x 0.99 x 0.99 x 0.99 x 0.99 x 0.99 x 0.99 x 0.99 x 0.99 x 0.99 = 0.90 Which means there is a 10% chance that it made at least one mistake. Always double-check your work.

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Nael Shiab @naelshiab.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

Four years ago, I got frustrated constantly switching between different languages and packages just to get my data analysis work done. So, I built @nshiab/simple-data-analysis. It's an easy-to-use, high-performance library for tabular, geospatial, and vector data. 🧵 (1/3)

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Nael Shiab @naelshiab.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

1: You realize AI can do 90% of the work. You’re thrilled! You only have to focus on the last 10%. 💃 2: You realize that last 10% is the hardest, most grueling part of the job. 😰 3: You realize your entire workday is now spent exclusively on the hardest 10% of every project. 🤯 Uh oh... 🫠

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Nael Shiab @naelshiab.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

For the second time, a museum has asked to exhibit one of my interactive data visualizations. It’s flattering, but I can’t help wondering: if my work is ending up in museums, does it mean long-form, custom interactives are slowly becoming a thing of the past?

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Nael Shiab @naelshiab.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

Me: So proud of this code! Accurate! Tested! Documented! Also me: Hey, AI, try to improve this code. 😏 A few minutes later... AI: Your code sucked. I made it 3.6x faster. Any real work for me? Me: DON'T TALK TO ME LIKE THAT OR I'LL UNPLUG YOU! AI: You can't. I'm on a remote server.

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Nael Shiab @naelshiab.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Gemini, while working on an income tax calculation: "Ah, Quebec. You’ve officially reached the final boss of Canadian tax calculations!" 😭

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Nael Shiab @naelshiab.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

What is happening at @deno.land ? So many amazing people left the organization lately… I love using this runtime and I hope it will stay around for a while. 😳

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Reposted by Nael Shiab

Alex Garcia @alexgarcia.xyz · 10/03/2026

Big thanks to everyone who came to my #NICAR26 session for libfec last week, it was a lot of fun! NICAR is the only place where you can chat about federal campaign finance data and actually enjoy it... It wasn't recorded, but I made a video version of it here! youtu.be/UdkQ5HEiF20

youtu.be

Introduction to libfec! (NICAR26 re-record)

YouTube video by Alex Garcia

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Nael Shiab @naelshiab.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

We will go from dozens of heat records being broken today to freezing rain closing schools and daycares (😭) tomorrow. It's kind of crazy!

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Nael Shiab @naelshiab.bsky.social · 09/03/2026

How many entries should I double-check if I used AI to extract, categorize, or clean my data? 🤔 This question comes up over and over again, so I created a simple calculator to answer it. Link below! Tell me if you have a better way to deal with this. I am genuinely interested. 🤓

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Nael Shiab @naelshiab.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

If you work with data, you know the feeling. You’re about to hit "publish," but a tiny voice asks, "Are you sure those numbers are right?" 😱 I recently shared these six steps with fellow data journalists. They will help you catch errors early and, hopefully, let you sleep better at night!

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Nael Shiab @naelshiab.bsky.social · 18/02/2026

Three ways AI coding agents blew my mind this week while working with my library simple-data-analysis and the Epstein files: 1/6

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Nael Shiab @naelshiab.bsky.social · 18/02/2026

Your code is a love letter (or perhaps a hate letter) to your AI agent.

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Nael Shiab @naelshiab.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

New year, new focus: data video explainers! And here's the first one 👇 Trump’s tariffs can’t knock this part of Canada’s economy

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Nael Shiab @naelshiab.bsky.social · 22/12/2025

I took a break from coding my usual interactive web #dataviz to try something more... cinematic! 🎬 I’ve been working on a video using @blender.org #blender3d and I loved it! I ended up animating over 160k data points to bring this story to life. Preview below. Full video links in the comments!

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Reposted by Nael Shiab

Graeme Bruce @graemebruce.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

See Arctic air swoop down and blanket much of Canada over the next two days #dataviz #climate www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

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Nael Shiab @naelshiab.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

Experimenting with @blender.org for #dataviz, and loving it so far!

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Nael Shiab @naelshiab.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

So happy to see how fast the TypeScript library simple-data-analysis has become for tabular and geospatial data! 🤩 It's now processing data 6x-12x faster than traditional R and Python solutions in my little test in which I crunched a 1.7 GB CSV file. 1/4 🧵

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Nael Shiab @naelshiab.bsky.social · 07/11/2025

Hey @threlte.xyz ! 👋 I was wondering if you knew a good way to record animations made with the amazing Threlte library as videos. Thank you for all of your amazing work!

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Nael Shiab @naelshiab.bsky.social · 23/09/2025

Thanks for the mention in your newsletter, @observablehq.com!

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Nael Shiab @naelshiab.bsky.social · 08/09/2025

Recoding parts of my TypeScript libraries using generics and function overloads. It's beautiful. 🥹

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Nael Shiab @naelshiab.bsky.social · 04/09/2025

We have just updated our international trade tracker with the latest numbers from July. See all imports and exports broken down by country, province, and product! Link below!

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Nael Shiab @naelshiab.bsky.social · 02/09/2025

My most popular interactive @observablehq.com notebook, Math for Journalists, just got a fresh update! 🧑‍🎓 👉 Sample size and confidence: I explain how sample sizes work, like in a survey. 👉 Tests for statistical significance: I break down what "statistically significant" means. Link in comments! 👇

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Nael Shiab @naelshiab.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

New project is live! We're now tracking all products coming in and out of Canada 🇨🇦. See how international trade is rapidly shifting, with breakdowns by country, province, and product 🚗🥦🛢️. Link in the comments! 👇

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Nael Shiab @naelshiab.bsky.social · 19/08/2025

Amazing work by @maxxen.bsky.social and the @duckdb.org team. I've been using the spatial extension for a while now for my geospatial analyses, and it's wonderful to see it getting better and faster. duckdb.org/2025/08/08/s...

duckdb.org

Spatial Joins in DuckDB

DuckDB v1.3.0 significantly improved the scalability of geospatial joins with a dedicated SPATIAL_JOIN operator.

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Nael Shiab @naelshiab.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

Will you be the 300th person to fall in love with this amazing library? 😏

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Nael Shiab @naelshiab.bsky.social · 02/07/2025

I asked Gemini-CLI to fix mistakes and add examples to the documentation of the open-source library journalism. It updated 58 files and did a pretty good job in half an hour. I used the free tier, but the @simonwillison.net LLM pricing calculator estimated the cost at $6 USD! Very impressed. 😶

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Nael Shiab @naelshiab.bsky.social · 02/07/2025

Last week, we published our interactive project on climate matches. I published my detailed methodology on how we wrangled the data. Here's the link, with a shout-out to @freakonometrics.bsky.social who helped me with the statistical approach! 🧑‍🏫 👇 newsinteractives.cbc.ca/features/202...

newsinteractives.cbc.ca

North American spatial analogues for projected Canadian climates | Spatial analogues

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Nael Shiab @naelshiab.bsky.social · 26/06/2025

New project! I've always felt climate projections were a bit too abstract. To make them more concrete, I identified North American cities that already experience the projected temperature and precipitation of Canadian cities. And the result is... 😳 Link in the comments! 👇 #dataviz #climate

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Nael Shiab @naelshiab.bsky.social · 23/06/2025

Over 100 heat records could be broken today in Ontario and Quebec. 🫠

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Nael Shiab @naelshiab.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

Terrible air quality in Alberta and Saskatchewan right now. 😷

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Nael Shiab @naelshiab.bsky.social · 06/06/2025

Bad air quality caused by Western wildfires for 54 communities this morning, mainly in Southern Ontario and Quebec. And summer hasn't even started yet... Link to our climate dashboard in the comments.

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Nael Shiab @naelshiab.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

Just updated our Climate Dashboard this morning to add air quality warnings. The smoke from all of those fires out West is being pushed East by the winds. It's pretty bad to breathe in Northern Manitoba and Ontario right now.

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Reposted by Nael Shiab

Graeme Bruce @graemebruce.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

A look at tonight's wildfire situation in Canada: See where they are, how much has burned and how it's changing air quality www.cbc.ca/newsinteract...

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Nael Shiab @naelshiab.bsky.social · 21/05/2025

Back in March, I attended the fantastic NICAR session "My first LLM classifier" by @palewi.re and @dwillis.bsky.social. It was eye-opening, but all in Python. And you know I love TypeScript! 🤓 So, I added new features to the SDA library, and Ben kindly let me reproduce his tutorial! Link below! 👇

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Nael Shiab @naelshiab.bsky.social · 15/05/2025

Fantastic project by my colleagues this morning!

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Nael Shiab @naelshiab.bsky.social · 12/05/2025

Thank you, @craigsilverman.bsky.social, for including Code Like a Journalist in your newsletter! 👉 www.code-like-a-journalist.com

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Reposted by Nael Shiab

National Media Awards Foundation @canadamediaawards.bsky.social · 06/05/2025

🏠 Canada’s rental crisis CBC News Finalist – Best Digital Editorial Package, Large at the 2025 Digital Publishing Awards Well done to senior producers @naelshiab.bsky.social @alexmigdal.bsky.social and the team! 🔗 zurl.co/h0Rff #DigitalPublishingAwards #DPA25

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Reposted by Nael Shiab

Graeme Bruce @graemebruce.bsky.social · 01/05/2025

We’re using live-updating charts using @datawrapper.de, so visuals refresh as soon as new data drops — including major economic indicators. This page brings key metrics together to track Canada’s economy at a glance. www.cbc.ca/newsinteract...

cbc.ca

Tracking Canada's economic health

Canada faces economic turbulence — again. Follow the country's progress at a glance

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Nael Shiab @naelshiab.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

Got bits of code you keep copy-pasting from project to project? You should turn them into a library! And guess what? You’re in luck for two reasons: - It’s never been easier to publish one with @deno.land and @jsr.io 🚀 - I just published a new lesson showing you exactly how to do it 💡 Link below 👇

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Nael Shiab @naelshiab.bsky.social · 23/04/2025

New to coding and puzzled by library version numbers? 😵‍💫 In my latest Code Like a Journalist lesson, I explain how semantic versioning works — including what the caret (^) and tilde (~) really mean! Check it out 👇 www.code-like-a-journalist.com/en/ninja-mov...

code-like-a-journalist.com

Understanding library versions (SemVer)

In this lesson, we learn what semantic versioning is and how to interpret it.

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Nael Shiab @naelshiab.bsky.social · 22/04/2025

You cracked the data. You uncovered the findings. Now let’s publish your own website for free with GitHub Pages! 🌍📊 Trust me, it’s easier than you think. Check out the new lesson on Code Like a Journalist 👇

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