iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Dr Pete McKenna @pete-mck.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

🚨 Research participation opportunity 🚨 Are you aged between 18-35? Is data science completely new to you? If this is you, please consider contributing to scientific research by taking part 😊 For info & participation, click on this link: feedback.surveylab.com/.../cId/ZfqP... Thank you!

feedback.surveylab.com

SurveyLab

Best survey, form and test software.

020

Dr Pete McKenna @pete-mck.bsky.social · 22/09/2025

Great article on #misinformation: www.noemamag.com/we-failed-th... "Simply put, the public is not easily moved by new pieces of information; rather, people are often motivated to interpret the information they are exposed to through the lens of their established worldview." #research #politics

noemamag.com

We Failed The Misinformation Fight. Now What? | NOEMA

Defending democracy in the digital age will require moving beyond the focus of fighting online misinformation.

030

Dr Pete McKenna @pete-mck.bsky.social · 27/08/2025

I've just found out that Apple's Pages app does not detect additional whitespace in its grammar check, and I honestly can't believe it. I thought all Apple software was superior to us poor MS users. Not so it seems!

010

Dr Pete McKenna @pete-mck.bsky.social · 30/07/2025

🚨 MSc Social and Behavioural Research Methods - apply now! 🚨 Are you considering a future in research and want study in Edinburgh? Our programme is designed to equip you with the advanced skills and expertise needed to transition seamlessly into doctoral study. Apply here: lnkd.in/eHKSaHkM

lnkd.in

This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn

020

Dr Pete McKenna @pete-mck.bsky.social · 02/07/2025

Hi BlueSky, I'm looking to build up a network of researchers (from all disciplines) studying #misinformation. My intention is to create safer online environment for my kids, by understanding misinformation better and developing guardrails. If this is you drop me a line! #research #fakenews #science

000

Dr Pete McKenna @pete-mck.bsky.social · 11/04/2025

@jbengler.de thanks a bunch for Tidyplots. Really enjoying it's utility (for research and teaching) and am currently preparing a manuscript with several tidy plots - I can share once published. I noticed you added the 'comparisons' parameter for grouped plots. Any ideas when this will be ready?

230

Dr Pete McKenna @pete-mck.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

Hi #programming folks. Is it possible for someone to write a Win11 script that defaults all apps to full screen at launch? I'm getting frustrated with the randomness of launch app size and location on the desktop (sometimes inaccessible). #software #win11 #code #debug

000

Dr Pete McKenna @pete-mck.bsky.social · 07/03/2025

"...a key problem has been that instead of facilitating academic work, these systems have created obstacles to performing the core mission. Corporate academia is subverting academic life. It’s destroying academia from within." academic.oup.com/brain/articl...

academic.oup.com

On the responsibilities of intellectuals and the rise of bullshit jobs in universities

You may never have considered yourself to be one. Why would you? But if you’re reading this, there is more than a likelihood that you are one. If you’re a

020

Dr Pete McKenna @pete-mck.bsky.social · 07/03/2025

When you spend 6-months bemoaning your Lenovo webcam dysfunction, only to find that it's because the slider button next to it has slid to 'Close' 🤦 #techfail #lenovo

020

Reposted by Dr Pete McKenna

Vincent Arel-Bundock @vincentab.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

Rdatasets is a collection of 2300 free and documented datasets in CSV format. It's a great resource for teaching and exploration! The new `get_dataset()` function from the {marginaleffects} 📦 allows you to search and load them directly in #Rstats. vincentarelbundock.github.io/Rdatasets/ar...

210128

Dr Pete McKenna @pete-mck.bsky.social · 12/02/2025

#rstats folks, the following inline error is not conveyed in an error message - turns out \textit is a problem (it italicises maths expressions anyway!) # not this $\beta_{1_\textit{_var1}} = \beta_{1_\textit{_var2}} + \beta_{3}$ # do this $\beta_{1_{_var1}} = \beta_{1_{_var2}} + \beta_{3}$

000

Dr Pete McKenna @pete-mck.bsky.social · 11/02/2025

#rstats here's how 2 calc proportions for 2+ categorical vars total_n <- nrow(df) # nrow counts the number of rows df |> group_by(cat_var_1, cat_var_2) |> summarise(n = n(), .groups = 'drop') |> mutate(freq = n / total_n) |> mutate(freq = round(freq * 100, digits = 2))

120

Dr Pete McKenna @pete-mck.bsky.social · 05/02/2025

Typically sensationalised headline here. How about pointing readers to the study instead? BBC News - Phone bans in schools don't help grades or health, study suggests - BBC News www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Phone bans in schools don't help grades or health, study suggests

It is the first study to look at school phone rules, alongside measures of pupil health and education.

000

Dr Pete McKenna @pete-mck.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

Hi #rstats, a beginner R student of mine was asking how to read in multiple datasets of the same format into R. Didn't want to scare them away with lists and stringr...any recomended resources to ease them in? tia

641

Dr Pete McKenna @pete-mck.bsky.social · 31/01/2025

Hi #rstats people, just letting you know that R Markdown images will not appear in your compiled doc if you include "%" in the image file name, e.g., ![](images/my_image_30%) # will not work ![](images/my_image_30_percent) # should work fine Took me a while to figure out what was going on!

140

Reposted by Dr Pete McKenna

The News Agents @thenewsagents.co.uk · 08/01/2025

Listen to his powerful, exclusive interview, out now 👇 globalplayer.com/podcasts/epi... @maitlis.bsky.social @lewisgoodall.com

107923

Dr Pete McKenna @pete-mck.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

Hi #rstats folks. It's occurred to me that some of my tidy/wrangle scripts are unwieldy (esp. projects with multiple untidy and related datasets), which has got me thinking about #workflow optimisation. Any recommended resources on this? tia

110

Dr Pete McKenna @pete-mck.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

Me: I'd like to explore potentially more affordable car finance options please. Salesman: Sure! First up is our latest model costing you an extra £100 a month. Me: ...right. Let's start again.

000

Reposted by Dr Pete McKenna

Dax Kellie @daxkellie.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

Spiders don't have antennae like insects, so how do they smell? WITH THEIR FRIGGIN' LEGS (well, male spiders at least) 🦵👃 Olfactory organs similar to those in antennae were found in male spiders' upper legs, but not in juveniles or females. This suggests smell is for mate detection/recognition 🧪🌏🕷️

3426

Dr Pete McKenna @pete-mck.bsky.social · 09/01/2025

Hi #rstats folks, does anyone have advice about presenting reveal.js slides on Canvas VLE? When I save reveal.js as pdf from a browser the formatting goes completely awry! #quarto #programing #rstudio #canvas

100

Dr Pete McKenna @pete-mck.bsky.social · 03/01/2025

Hi #academia and #rstats folks. My birthday's coming up and I'm looking for textbook recommendations. I was thinking either socsci research methods, R, or stats textbooks, with a preference for those that explain complex concepts clearly (tall order acknowledged!). tia

131

Dr Pete McKenna @pete-mck.bsky.social · 30/12/2024

Why is it that I'm inundated with review requests during the holidays? Is there some great titanic clash of academic calendars I'm unaware of? Very odd.

000

Dr Pete McKenna @pete-mck.bsky.social · 25/12/2024

Merry Christmas to all those who celebrate it 🎄 My secret Santa fully understood the brief! #statistics #Xmas #academia

1101

Reposted by Dr Pete McKenna

Jasmine 🌌🔭 @astrojaz.bsky.social · 22/12/2024

webb and chandra combined images 🤩

$This is a composite image of star cluster NGC 602, in vibrant and festive colors. The shape of the star cluster strongly resembles a holiday wreath. The cluster includes a giant dust cloud ring, shown in greens, yellows, blues, and oranges. The green hues and feathery edges of the ring cloud create the appearance of a wreath made of evergreen boughs. Hints of red representing X-rays provide shading, highlighting layers within the wreath-like ring cloud. The image is aglow with specks and dots of colorful, festive light, in blues, golds, whites, oranges, and reds. These lights represent stars within the cluster. Some of the lights gleam with diffraction spikes, while others emit a warm, diffuse glow. Upon closer inspection, many of the glowing specks have spiraling arms, indicating that they are, in fact, distant galaxies. Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC; Infrared: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, P. Zeilder, E.Sabbi, A. Nota, M. Zamani; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare and K. Arcand$ $In this composite image, a bright, massive star, WR 124, gleams with diffraction spikes, surrounded by a churning wind cloud in reds and purples. With its dusty rose coloring, and the bright, gleaming star at its core, the wind cloud resembles the inside of a delicate flower with opening petals. Dozens of other bright stars surround WR 124, including white dots rimmed with neon purple, and gleaming white dots with cool blue diffraction spikes. The purple dots are stars detected with Chandra. Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Infrared: (Herschel) ESA/NASA/Caltech, (Spitzer) NASA/JPL/Caltech, (WISE) NASA/JPL/Caltech; Infrared: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI/Webb ERO Production Team; Image processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. Major$

The is an infrared image with data from Webb. It resembles a rust brown mountain range backed by a hazy blue night sky. The entire image is filled with stars. The right half of this graphic is a large, square composite image combining the two smaller images’ data, Chandra lends its magenta touches to the top right of the original Webb frame.

Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ. Observ. Munich/T. Preibisch et al.; IR: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI

Webb's view shows fluffy tan-colored nebula clouds with rust-colored highlights surrounding a black central area. Within that area, the focal point of the image is one large yellow star with eight long thin points. To the right of this star is a bright star cluster in an oval shape. The stars within the cluster look like tiny blue sparkles. The cluster is more densely packed at its core and scatters outward. Towards the bottom of the image, multiple arms appear to spiral out of a cloudy tan knob. Other blue and yellow eight-pointed stars, as well as distant galaxies, are dotted throughout. The composite view looks largely the same as the Webb view, but adds in X-ray patches of dark blue and purple overlaid on top of the cavities. The most prominent X-ray cloud resembles an upward pointing triangle in the central area.

Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Penn State Univ./L. Townsley et al.; IR: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI/JWST ERO Production Team

282823378

Dr Pete McKenna @pete-mck.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

Really interesting and informative article debunking UK #immigration myths. "...the UK economy could receive net benefits of £1.2 billion in five years if employment support and English-language for refugees were quickly implemented." www.rescue.org/uk/article/1...

rescue.org

11 myths and misconceptions about refugees debunked

Why do refugees cross the Channel? What benefits do refugees get? How many refugees are in the UK? It's crucial to separate fact from fiction when discussing refugees and asylum seekers in the UK.

010

Reposted by Dr Pete McKenna

Neil Renic @ncrenic.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

Just had an idea

312207339

Dr Pete McKenna @pete-mck.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

Any #pschology folks on here with an interest in embodied cognition? I've a #PhD student studying embodied and situated learning and we're keen to build up a network. tia #research #cognition

020

Dr Pete McKenna @pete-mck.bsky.social · 07/12/2024

Hey #rstats folks, what are your fav data exploration/summary packages (and functions)? I currently use `psych`,`trimr`, and `sumarytools`, but I'm keen to learn and try more. tia #datascience #academia #research

4100

Dr Pete McKenna @pete-mck.bsky.social · 04/12/2024

Hey folks, any #rstats people out there? I'm an ex X user and looking to build up an R community on here. tia

3222

Reposted by Dr Pete McKenna

Kate Bevan @katebevan.com · 03/12/2024

The Guardian is an absolute swamp of junk "science". I miss the days when actual scientists and experts wrote its science blogs.

810823