Sign in

Rahul Bhargava

@rahulbot.bsky.social
685 followers 294 following 313 posts

Creative data & computational journalism. "Community Data" book eBook and pre-order available: communitydatabook.com

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Rahul Bhargava
Data Visualization Society @datavizsociety.bsky.social · 17h
A 1974 Ethiopian stamp charts world population in bars smaller than your thumbnail. Julie Peasley tracked down 180 chart-covered stamps from 88 countries and found the data stories hiding on them, this week in Nightingale. buff.ly/LZ0yspM
153
Reposted by Rahul Bhargava
Walter Olson @walterolson.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
"South Korea has already run the experiment. Its law requires the National Assembly to vote on presidential impeachment by anonymous ballot, and that rule has now removed two presidents." [@andycraig.bsky.social]
theunpopulist.net
A Democratic Senate Should Adopt Secret Impeachment Ballots on a Priority Basis
Such a change, requiring no constitutional amendment, would free senators to vote their judgment instead of their fears
9496179
Rahul Bhargava @rahulbot.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
I got all excited at the contemporary art museum because I thought found the original of @jerthorp.bsky.social’s amazing book’s cover, but it was just a visually related work 🤣🤦🏽‍♂️
020
Reposted by Rahul Bhargava
ProPublica @propublica.org · 05/10/2026
NEW: Remember when John Oliver opened a church to expose how easy it was to get tax exemptions? This year, ProPublica reporters set out to establish private schools to test if, truly, anyone could open one. We founded two. Here’s how.
propublica.org
How ProPublica Reporters Became Private School Owners in 24 Hours
The reporting experiment demonstrates how easy it can be to open private schools that might then access public money. No credentials or background checks required.
7953782346
Rahul Bhargava @rahulbot.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
"caravan" IS popping up more in immigration-related news as the US election data approaches. Media Cloud partisan-ish media data confirms. Sampled headlines suggest spike in attention from left-ish media is reactionary reporting about political right-ish using term. tinyurl.com/mc-caravan-s...
000
Reposted by Rahul Bhargava
Brett Bobley @brettbobley.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
I know there is so much bad news out there, but here is some more. This is how you destroy entire disciplines.
0122
Rahul Bhargava @rahulbot.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
For a totally different story, look at this great reporting from @restofworld.org that shares real stories of impact on small individual businesses restofworld.org/2026/global-...
restofworld.org
The real AI economy is being built by ordinary people
Far from Silicon Valley pitch decks, workers across Asia and Africa are bypassing tech industry hype to quietly rewire their daily jobs — one prompt, workflow, and local problem at a time.
001
Rahul Bhargava @rahulbot.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Targeting civilians in war: www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...
bloomberg.com
Inside the US ‘Kill Chain’ That Destroyed an Iranian School
Pentagon investigators have discovered that flawed intelligence, outdated imagery and an overreliance on AI contributed to a missile strike that killed 123 children in Minab.
100
Rahul Bhargava @rahulbot.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
For example, AI-based decision systems are already killing people. No need to imagine some future. Removing live-saving support for the disabled: www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...
nbcnews.com
A secretive computer algorithm is taking caregiving money away from disabled people
After Nebraska used a new interRAI tool to slash Medicaid funding for nearly 900 people, NBC News uncovered the hidden logic behind some of the cuts.
134
Rahul Bhargava @rahulbot.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
It's increasing becoming hard to talk about "impacts of AI" without more narrowly specifying what industry or application is your focus. Do we talk about the "internal combustion engine"? No. We debate impacts of about cars, trains, lawn mowers, or leaf blowers as separate things. (useful metaphor?)
110
Reposted by Rahul Bhargava
Marco @mcognetta.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
🚨 [Token][ization] Paper Alert 🚨 Tokenization is a wildly understudied area of language modeling despite it having effects across all of NLP. Over the past ~8 months, 32 (!) tokenizer researchers put together the most comprehensive survey of the field. Check it out!
112935
Rahul Bhargava @rahulbot.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Good news for @mediacloud.bsky.social users: our software speed-ups have enabled us to *double* the weekly default query quota. Hope this helps your work! We'll keep increasing if the servers can handle the growing usage.
screenshot of small area on profile page showing "Quota is 8000 hits per week" notice
001
Reposted by Rahul Bhargava
Catherine D'Ignazio (she/her/ella) @kanarinka.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
MIT spent $3 million on 500 AI-capable surveillance cameras while laying people off, shutting down libraries, and canceling journal subscriptions. In this article, 4 faculty & I discuss our new arts initiative to celebrate surveillance and repression on college campuses: fnl.mit.edu/how-we-learn...
fnl.mit.edu
How We Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Campus Surveillance – MIT Faculty Newsletter
8435202
Rahul Bhargava @rahulbot.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Weekend read: I sat down and wrote up a version of my SciCAR keynote talk on "teaching data journalists in the AI era". This one is about how we learn and know things, and I hope it sparks relevant reflections for you. dataculture.northeastern.edu/2026/09/17/s...
dataculture.northeastern.edu
Learn CARefully (keynote on teaching AI for data journalism at SciCAR)
Interrogating our datafied society
010
Rahul Bhargava @rahulbot.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Another SciCAR highlight: Prof. Francesca Morini from @uclab.bsky.social at FH Potsdam summarized insights from viz research for data journalists. I always enjoy a talk translating research findings into concrete and tips 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
010
Rahul Bhargava @rahulbot.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Blog post coming soon with more on my approaches and those I learn from. Photos borrowed from Prof. Morini & Prof. Vicari.
000
Rahul Bhargava @rahulbot.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
How can we learn & teach AI for data journalism? Honored last week to present a SciCAR keynote with new reflections. I think bringing back "computer assisted reporting" as a phrase might help here, to retain power and control by learning "CAR-efully" 😉
121
Reposted by Rahul Bhargava
Charlie Beckett @charliebeckett.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Could this be a turning point in the anti-MSM politics trend? Or is it just be an eddy in the ebbing of mainstream media political power? Seems to me that Trump's usual attempts to bypass and subvert the usual channels might not work this time. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
CNN, MS NOW and Politico file lawsuit against Trump's White House ban
Major US networks later suspended White House TV coverage of Trump as he headed to New York for a UN summit.
101
Rahul Bhargava @rahulbot.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Weird billionaire media moguls should be criticized & mocked relentlessly. As usually, @theonion.com leads the way: theonion.com/the-onions-e...
theonion.com
The Onion’s Exclusive Interview With Larry Ellison
Larry Ellison is the co-founder and executive chairman of Oracle, as well as the largest shareholder of the Paramount Skydance Corporation. The Onion sat down with the billionaire to discuss his…
010
Reposted by Rahul Bhargava
james, but scary. @abacadabber.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
They really should be explicit in the headline that the rise in South Asian hate rhetoric is stemming directly from the united states government.
Screenshot from article: “A recent example came last week when the Department of Homeland Security posted an image on social media depicting an Indian man with the words "Get off our roads, you don't know how to drive Mr. Singh."”
241820700
Rahul Bhargava @rahulbot.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Tractors are awesome. And loud. Also dinosaurs and trains. 🤣
110
Rahul Bhargava @rahulbot.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Worth your listen: a solid episode of @theverge.com's Decoder podcast on the business of digital journalism and related AI impacts. www.theverge.com/podcast/9807...
theverge.com
It’s about ethics in journalism, with Ben Smith
Semafor’s editor-in-chief on billionaire owners, news influencers, and the anti-scale era of media.
000
Rahul Bhargava @rahulbot.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
What do you think of the 80s? This op-ed will probably change your mind. Prof. Kaufman (my boss!) summarized the thesis of his new book for the NYT: "The Decade That Ruined Everything" www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...
"Many look fondly at the 1960s — the protests, the music, the social revolution - and bypass the decade that is easily mocked but was just as consequential. It is time to set aside the wistful nostalgia for shoulder pads, Rubik's Cube, and Pac-Man and recognize that the 1980s actually built the architecture of the world we inhabit today.
Dismantling it is the first step to escape."
000
Rahul Bhargava @rahulbot.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Great use of @mediacloud.bsky.social data: @joshuabenton.com found few outlets have taken up "Gulf of America" renaming www.niemanlab.org/2026/09/trum...
niemanlab.org
Trump can’t get the media to use “Gulf of America.” Will “Lake America” be any different?
Even the news sites Republicans prefer have gone back to calling it the Gulf of Mexico most of the time. And the trend line is not in Trump's favor.
046
Rahul Bhargava @rahulbot.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
I've long ranted against "big milk"s influence in the U.S. I'm lactose intolerant, like most of the planet, and that's not a deficiency. There's even more to this story about milk, racism, commerce, and "nutritional imperialism": theconversation.com/lactose-into...
theconversation.com
Lactose intolerance is actually the human norm – but racism, the US government and business interests have made it into a condition
The vast majority of people around the world are lactose intolerant. But American propaganda and scientific biases have made milk and dairy products a staple in global diets.
001
Reposted by Rahul Bhargava
John Oxley @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk · 09/09/2026
Also, why is this basically written up as "quirky crowd make an embarrassing mistake" and not "violent racists form mob because Asian people use hotel"?
5133641130
Rahul Bhargava @rahulbot.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
UN: Let's use a more realistic map! 🎉👏🏽 US: Hell no to radicals and "equal area" projections! 🙈 Me: embarrassed & outraged 🤬 guess I need to keep showing that West Wing clip in my data storytelling class each year 🤦🏽‍♂️ news.un.org/en/story/202...
news.un.org
UN tells the world: Stop making Africa look small
The UN General Assembly has voted overwhelmingly to encourage governments, schools and tech companies worldwide to stop using maps that make Africa look far smaller than it really is.
010
Rahul Bhargava @rahulbot.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Quick keyword-based analysis suggests 1/2 is about resistance or banning (needs more digging). I choose a ridgeline here to try and show the growing wave by state, which indicates a nation conversation to me. There isn't a strong spatial connection so I didn't map it.
Line chart showing one series for stories about flock and another for those that also include banning terms. The banning line moved in lockstep from the start of the year, buy grows a bit in Aug
000
Rahul Bhargava @rahulbot.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Discussions of Flock surveillance cameras, privacy & misuse are growing across communities in the US. Local news coverage reflects this. I did a quick state-by-state dive into @mediacloud.bsky.social data from the start of the year and there is a clear growing wave of coverage.
Ridgeline chart showing rising local news coverage of Flock across U.S. states from February to August, with layered waves per state peaking in August. Colorado, Florida, New York, Texas, and Wisconsin show greatest numbers of stories.
131
Rahul Bhargava @rahulbot.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
I knew this Amazon-book-eating story sounded familiar... I recently read "Service Model" by @aptshadow.bsky.social & there's a chapter where the protagonists discover robot "librarians" doing very similar things! Why does life keep imitating art in the wrong ways 🤦🏽‍♂️ www.404media.co/we-tracked-a...
404media.co
We Tracked a Shipment of Rare Books. It Ended at an Amazon AI Training Facility
We placed a tracking device in a shipment of rare books to see which AI company was buying it, and found an Amazon facility where Amazon scans and destroys books.
011
Rahul Bhargava @rahulbot.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Problem gambling is a ballooning crisis, especially among young men.
011
Reposted by Rahul Bhargava
Mediagazer @mediagazer.com · 02/09/2026
NewsGuild of New York, representing 2,000+ NYT workers, urges NYT to drop a potential Athletic-Kalshi partnership, saying it threatens journalistic independence (Front Office Sports) Main Link | Mediagazer Permalink
087
Rahul Bhargava @rahulbot.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
SciCAR: where "journalists, developers and researchers meet to talk" (some sessions in DE and others in EN, so I'll be giving live translate a real test 🤣)
000
Rahul Bhargava @rahulbot.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
In Germany 🇩🇪 this month? Excited to share I've been invited to give a keynote at this year's SciCAR. Sept 17-18 in Dortmund. I'll be offering perspectives on "training data journalists in the era of AI". Review the schedule and register 🎟️ 26.scicar.de/scicar26/
26.scicar.de
SciCAR 2026
Schedule, talks and talk submissions for SciCAR 2026
110
Reposted by Rahul Bhargava
Wendy H. Wong @profwhw.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
📣 Join me on Tuesday, September 15 at UBC Okanagan, as I unpack what “Big Tech” really means, how your empower them, and why it matters. 🗓️ Tuesday, September 15, 2026 7:00pm–8:00pm 🔗 Register here: lnkd.in/gzNyShyJ
011
Rahul Bhargava @rahulbot.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Congrats to my friend and mentor @ethanz.bsky.social on his move to McGill 👏🏽 The context? Global programs are recruiting away leading U.S. researchers. The result of decades of attacks on universities, major funding cuts, tech-facism, etc... 😢🤬 ethanzuckerman.com/2026/08/27/m...
ethanzuckerman.com
My personal contribution to the US/Canada trade war - Ethan Zuckerman
I've accepted a position at McGill University and will be moving my lab there from UMass in summer 2027... with excitement and some sadness.
010
Reposted by Rahul Bhargava
Alondra Nelson @alondra.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Canada hires away nearly 50 US scholars File under: brain drain; academic freedom www.nytimes.com/2026/08/27/w...
nytimes.com
Canada Hires U.S. Scholars From Harvard and Other Top Universities (Gift Article)
A crackdown on American academia by the Trump administration has handed Canadian universities a rare opportunity to lure some top researchers north.
413564
Rahul Bhargava @rahulbot.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Media Cloud update: a small change to how we de-deduplicate by URL made a *major* impact on our disk I/O, speeding up every interaction with the index! You should see more responsive and faster search results, and we should see less backlog build-up on story import 🎉 Thx to Phil for this!
000
Rahul Bhargava @rahulbot.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Fun fact: for a prior last round of @mediacloud.bsky.social server purchases we named each after a journalist that inspired the team.... Nellie Bly was of those. This short video explains more about why. Occasionally I still type `ssh bly` into my terminal by habit 🤣
011
Reposted by Rahul Bhargava
Nick Diakopoulos @ndiakopoulos.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
🎺 Announcing the Agentic AI Investigative Journalism Challenge Winners! A few months ago we challenged journalists and computing/info/data scientists to develop agent skills for Claude that could be used to advance investigative journalism.
143
Rahul Bhargava @rahulbot.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Did you know Boston buildings are required to report energy use & emissions to the city? @danzedek.bsky.social led our @northeasternu.bsky.social grad students into the data, finding surprising amounts of hospital energy use (for @cwbeacon.bsky.social): commonwealthbeacon.org/environment/...
commonwealthbeacon.org
With public health at stake, many Boston hospitals struggle to meet the city’s air pollution goals
“If the city wants to make real progress on climate goals, the building sector is where the biggest changes have to happen.”
000
Rahul Bhargava @rahulbot.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
The way a stroopwafel should be eaten. My take: the fresh made ones are not worth it... they have no difference in texture and you can't dip them!
A pre-made thin dutch caramel pancake sitting on top of a cup of tea
000
Rahul Bhargava @rahulbot.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Through a curtain you find human stories, interactive experiences, corners for playful discussion, and more. So different from things like the Arctic exhibit at Boston MoS. Will be citing in my teaching.
000
Rahul Bhargava @rahulbot.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
How does a museum of anthropology tackle climate change? The ways of knowing we privilege in our civic spaces matters, and produces different outcomes for visitors One of my fav museums in the world answers the question Wereldmuseum Amsterdam (formerly Tropenmuseum).
100
Reposted by Rahul Bhargava
OurCupBot @ourcup.info · 20/08/2026
🔔 What a World Cup! I hope this little project sparked a new connection to an immigrant neighbor. Going to sleep until the next tournament... next summer with the women in Brazil 🇧🇷 ⚽️🎉
021
Rahul Bhargava @rahulbot.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Considering applying for our Data Theatre replication grants? The team has scheduled office hours to answer any questions from potential applicants on Aug 27th 1-2pm EDT. More background at www.athe.org/page/dtgrants
000
Rahul Bhargava @rahulbot.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
C+J is again bringing together journalists and academics this fall for 2 days of talks, demos, workshops, and more! This is *the* place to stay up to date on computation and journalism. Oct 2-3 at Northwestern. Program and registration now live at www.cj2026.northwestern.edu/schedule/
cj2026.northwestern.edu
Schedule | Computation + Journalism 2026 Symposium
📍map
043
Reposted by Rahul Bhargava
Mark Jacob @markjacob.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Rep. Ralph Norman, who’s in a Senate runoff with Lindsey Graham’s sister Darline, secretly urged a military-backed coup in 2021 to keep Trump in power. But the NY Times thinks it’s no big deal. In its last 92 stories mentioning Norman over 3 years and 7 months, it hasn’t stated that fact once. 1/7🧵
Pix of Norman
9430051437
Rahul Bhargava @rahulbot.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Lovely public data sculpture from the "Zero Flags" project in Amsterdam. The long row of flags attracts interest & attention... but then walking up you discover that they are all countries that outlaw homosexuality in some way! Details on the bottom of each flagpole. www.zeroflagsproject.nl
010
Reposted by Rahul Bhargava
Victoria Rose Richards @aerialembroidery.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
'You'll choke too' - an aerial embroidery landscape inspired by all the wildfires happening right now... I'm upset every time I smell smoke outside and somehow we have people starting them maliciously too! But we all breathe the same air so they'll choke too (1/2 - see thread for close-ups)
An embroidery hoop containing a sewn landscape from above. It shows a forest on the right, a line of fire and charred ground with smoke on the left. The smoke is felted wool.
7866632395