iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Sarah Scott Scire @sarahscire.com · 16/09/2026

absolutely love this from @caseynewton.bsky.social www.npr.org/2026/09/16/g...

"When you build an independent tech publication, there's always a temptation to retreat behind a paywall or talk exclusively to insiders. What sold us on NPR is its public-service mission. We get to bring sharp, independent reporting on AI to millions of people for free, right where they already listen."

170

Sarah Scott Scire @sarahscire.com · 17/04/2026

based on shiny new paper in @currentbiology.bsky.social #neuroscience share link authors.elsevier.com/a/1myLl3QW8S...

Songbird connectome reveals tunneling of migratory neurons in the adult striatum

020

Sarah Scott Scire @sarahscire.com · 30/03/2026

got a very special assignment! will be back at @niemanlab.org in the fall after maternity leave.

pic of an extremely cute baby wearing a blue hat and white long sleeve onesie

1100

Sarah Scott Scire @sarahscire.com · 15/01/2026

A few things news organizations could learn from Wikipedia www.niemanlab.org/2026/01/afte...

News isn’t always what just happened. A few decades into the web, this might seem obvious today. But in 2001, news organizations were still very much constructed around producing daily newspapers and nightly newscasts. The rhythms of production drove everything from story selection to writing style to revenue models. Wikipedia was the first site that gave most journalists a vision of an “article” that is constantly updated, not rewritten with a new lede the next day. If there’s an important new detail in that Swiss bar fire investigation, it’ll be used to make the current Wikipedia article a little bit better — not to have a new unique URL to push out on social. Whatever questions your journalism answers, people will probably still be asking them tomorrow, and next week, and next year. Wikipedia is optimized for catching people up on news stories they missed the first time around.

110

Sarah Scott Scire @sarahscire.com · 05/12/2025

Phil Klay in @nytimes.com (gift link) www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/o...

This wounding of the national soul is hard for me to watch. Twenty years ago, I joined the Marine Corps because I thought military service would be an honorable profession. Its honor derives from fighting prowess and adherence to a code of conduct. Military training is about character formation, with virtues taught alongside tactics. But barbaric behavior tarnishes all who wear, or once wore, the uniform, and lust for cruelty turns a noble vocation into mere thuggery. “The real evils in war,” Augustine said, “are love of violence, revengeful cruelty, fierce and implacable enmity, wild resistance, and the lust of power.” Such lusts, he thought, drove the pagan world’s wars. We’d be fools not to suspect that such lusts drive some of us today.

130

Sarah Scott Scire @sarahscire.com · 28/10/2025

“There is a set of populous countries, generally where traditional media are under pressure and social media use is high, where news creators are having a significant impact" @hanaatameez.bsky.social wrote up a fascinating @reutersinstitute.bsky.social report www.niemanlab.org/2025/10/news...

These countries include US Brazil South Africa India Nigeria Kenya Thailand and Indonesia.

11310

Sarah Scott Scire @sarahscire.com · 17/10/2025

fun to see a huge and energetic crowd for Lina Khan at Harvard last night. she gave the Stone Lecture on Economic Inequality. clearly a very popular figure across disciplines — audience questions were from doctor, nurse, computer scientist, labor economics PhD student, worker rights advocate, etc.

Lina Khan answering audience questions with Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics signage behind her

130

Sarah Scott Scire @sarahscire.com · 30/08/2025

no place like Fenway 🥲 we just booed a pitcher for tying his shoe

030

Sarah Scott Scire @sarahscire.com · 18/08/2025

no @niemanlab.org newsletter this week. we’re taking our late summer break. 🎣

020

Sarah Scott Scire @sarahscire.com · 11/08/2025

The @washingtonpost.com also has it, but in a more both-sides-y way. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Trump has portrayed crime in the nation’s capital as out of control, although D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser disputes that characterization, noting that violent crime has declined for the last two years after a sharp post-pandemic spike in 2023.

000

Sarah Scott Scire @sarahscire.com · 11/08/2025

It's in the @wsj.com coverage. www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

Violent crime in the city was down 35% last year from 2023, Justice Department data show, the lowest in over 30 years. The data showed a decline in homicides, robberies, armed carjackings and assaults with a dangerous weapon.

100

Sarah Scott Scire @sarahscire.com · 11/08/2025

It's the second graf in @nytimes.com coverage www.nytimes.com/live/2025/08...

Mr. Trump has claimed that crime is “totally out of control” in Washington, even though officials announced in January that violent crime in the city was at a 30-year low.

100

Sarah Scott Scire @sarahscire.com · 21/07/2025

Looks like the story was updated. Does "according to an analysis conducted by Newsweek using AI" sound better than "Newsweek asked ChatGPT"?

040

Sarah Scott Scire @sarahscire.com · 15/07/2025

confirmed: my dog looks v handsome in photos taken with this app

A handsome dog (curly brown with white spots on chest and feet) standing on a dirt road.

060

Sarah Scott Scire @sarahscire.com · 11/07/2025

very fun night of food and art (organized by @soleilho.com) after the first day of #srccon25. ‪ @artsmia.bsky.social ‬

portrait painting from “Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys”

detail shot of painting showing black and white bunnies, adidas sneakers, green pants

Nick Cave work (silver Soundsuit sculpture) in foreground

040

Sarah Scott Scire @sarahscire.com · 08/07/2025

spent the last week eating nothing but fried seafood and ice cream in Maine so would take some healthyish food recs as well 🌝

fireworks over a yard and ocean as seen from a porch

ocean as seen from rocky shore at dusk. a boat in foreground

010

Sarah Scott Scire @sarahscire.com · 21/06/2025

sigh. the link goes to a @newsday.bsky.social piece about Michael Cera's fake Norwegian accent. (no noses mentioned.) www.newsday.com/entertainmen...

AI Overview saying "Yes, Michael Cera wears a fake nose in the movie The Phoenician Scheme."

000

Sarah Scott Scire @sarahscire.com · 17/06/2025

don't miss @joon.bsky.social on what greedy leagues and private equity are doing to sports. one of the best things I've ever read in @nytopinion.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2025/06/16/o...

Increasingly, access to cultural life is paywalled. Sports is one of the last activities that can still be a shared American experience that cuts across class, race and geography, unfolding live, unscripted and in real time, in the real world with real people. But instead of uniting us, it’s been carved up. The wealthy can sit courtside, stream everything and pass down season tickets like heirlooms. For everyone else, belonging is for sale.

34817

Sarah Scott Scire @sarahscire.com · 09/06/2025

"Did legacy media fail in its Biden coverage? Not if you ask them!" www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202... great reported column by @erikwemple.bsky.social

Such was the grind of Biden age coverage. Contrary to what you may have heard on X, there was a great deal of it across legacy media outlets, including those mentioned above and many others. Much of it, however, shared a sameness of formula, a mush of polling numbers, historical references and other staples of contemporary political analysis: Stuff with minimal prospects of breaking through the noise. “I do think it’s hard to keep writing that Biden is old,” says a White House reporter.

020

Sarah Scott Scire @sarahscire.com · 31/05/2025

"There is this vague belief that the drive to automate is inevitable, unavoidable, and this belief becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy."

"This was the scattershot process that set the Industrial Revolution turning: minor, staggered investments in machinery by small manufacturers, all revolving around the examples set by large factory owners. Incidentally, it is what set later industrial revolutions turning, too. As David Noble, a historian of twentieth-century automation, wrote, "Managers feel they must automate because 'everyone's doing it,' out of fear that they will be undone by more up-to-date competitors (a paranoia encouraged by equipment vendors). There is this vague belief that the drive to automate is inevitable, unavoidable, and this belief becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.""

010

Sarah Scott Scire @sarahscire.com · 30/05/2025

"We didn’t get that headline ["DA POPE!] from an AI agent ... We ended up with a decidedly Chicagoan, decidedly human front page that captured the moment of joy and surprise. That’s the kind of work we want to be known for."

A week before the book list, the Sun-Times went viral for another reason: our cheeky front page announcing the new pope with a gleeful headline that read “Da Pope!” The pope’s brother was snapped proudly holding the Sun-Times newspaper up. That picture went around the world. We didn’t get that headline from an AI agent. We got it from a bunch of editors making jokes with one another in the newsroom, and then a bunch of editors and reporters arguing about the best way to present the news of the day to our audience. And so we ended up with a decidedly Chicagoan, decidedly human front page that captured the moment of joy and surprise. That’s the kind of work we want to be known for.

010

Sarah Scott Scire @sarahscire.com · 29/05/2025

Peng didn't answer this question when asked by @status.news in January www.status.news/p/business-i...

I'm also curious: Can you disclose how many subscriptions BI currently has and what percentage of the business is reliant on them versus other streams of revenue, such as advertising?

I’m not going to share exact numbers, but we’re seeing meaningful growth in subscriptions. We’re getting much better at converting casual readers to loyal readers to subscribers, both because our journalism is more targeted to our core audience and our operations are more effective. For example, we launched a new paywall that utilizes A.I. to make smart decisions about who to paywall and when, and it’s driving over 75% more new subscribers than our old one.

100

Sarah Scott Scire @sarahscire.com · 25/05/2025

“Inaction is fruitless” 🍌 spotted in Cambridge, MA

121

Sarah Scott Scire @sarahscire.com · 12/05/2025

this seems like the kind of criticism a public editor could reasonably respond to — but NYT hasn’t had one since 2017

020

Sarah Scott Scire @sarahscire.com · 11/05/2025

photo editors may be safe from Google Gemini

Please find original image below …. Without any alternations to the face. (Pic is missing a head.)

030

Sarah Scott Scire @sarahscire.com · 05/05/2025

this is New Hampshire for “don’t speed”

621316

Sarah Scott Scire @sarahscire.com · 25/04/2025

I think Karina is right – this is not the product of a paid partnership. @niemanlab.org doesn't have any deal with OpenAI but it'll generate text in "my" style.

Absolutely — Sarah Scire’s writing at Nieman Lab tends to be sharp, informed, and rooted in solid reporting. Her tone is analytical but accessible, with a focus on digital media trends, publishing strategy, and the shifting economics of journalism. She often opens with a compelling anecdote or a recent development, followed by clearly sourced insights and stats. There's a subtle sense of skepticism and clarity in how she presents quotes and findings — no fluff, just context that matters.

Want me to try writing a piece or paragraph in her style? If so, what topic are you thinking?

040

Sarah Scott Scire @sarahscire.com · 23/04/2025

I'm constantly surprised by what AI Overviews cannot do. This is wrong, despite several blue links below with the correct answer.

030

Sarah Scott Scire @sarahscire.com · 21/04/2025

went to game one last night and can exclusively report Paolo Banchero is very big and very strong and very good at basketball

Banchero doubled by Kornet and Hauser and still making the basket

110

Sarah Scott Scire @sarahscire.com · 20/04/2025

just got an alert that shots have been fired at Harvard Sq MBTA station

89837

Sarah Scott Scire @sarahscire.com · 16/04/2025

it was a beautiful post-rain ride home tonight

030

Sarah Scott Scire @sarahscire.com · 10/04/2025

how it started: www.niemanlab.org/2020/08/almo... how it's going: www.niemanlab.org/2025/04/gann... both by @hanaatameez.bsky.social

Gannett will stop publishing diversity information, citing Trump’s executive order
The company also removed mentions of “diversity” from its corporate site.
By Hanaa' Tameez @hanaatameez April 10, 2025, 4:09 p.m.

Gannett newsrooms, whiter than the communities they serve, pledge broad change by 2025
Gannett said it will “make its workforce as diverse as the country by 2025 and to expand the number of journalists focused on covering issues related to race and identity, social justice and equality.”
By Hanaa' Tameez @hanaatameez Aug. 20, 2020, 1:59 p.m.

010

Sarah Scott Scire @sarahscire.com · 26/03/2025

But I couldn't stop scrolling her archive. I am drawn to the rocky Maine coast. You can tell Jane was too. More of her wonderful work — what she described as "years of love in the form of images" — here: www.flickr.com/photos/20214... themarginalway.com/blog/

Jane captioned this close-up of water in Maine "patterns in nature"

190

Sarah Scott Scire @sarahscire.com · 26/03/2025

We often use art under a Creative Commons license for @niemanlab.org. For the National Trust for Local News story, I picked a photo of two surfers in some rough Maine waters by Jane Dougall. 🧵

180

Sarah Scott Scire @sarahscire.com · 25/03/2025

my brother on being the team dietitian for the Diamondbacks, respecting the cultural component of baseball, and more. from local sports journalist and self-proclaimed #seamhead Megan Plain at @fox10phoenix.bsky.social. she even nailed the pronunciation of "Scire."

110

Sarah Scott Scire @sarahscire.com · 20/03/2025

search tool part of @theatlantic.com's investigation into the Library Genesis data set used to train AI by companies like Meta. www.theatlantic.com/technology/a... nothing pops for me but @bbscott.bsky.social's academic work is there 👀

Shows 15 results for authors in LibGen including:

Generation of transgenic birds with replication-deficient lentiviruses
Benjamin B Scott, Carlos Lois
Developmental origin and identity of song system neurons born during vocal learning in songbirds
Benjamin B. Scott, Carlos Lois

020

Sarah Scott Scire @sarahscire.com · 19/03/2025

new @defector.bsky.social subscription acquisition email: "Subscribe For The Cost Of Two Large Eggs"

These days, everyone is always talking about the price of eggs. Well it's time to stop that, because now is the time to talk about the price of blogs: For a limited time, new subscribers can try a month of Defector for just $0.98.
Try a month for $0.98!
Plunk down $0.98 and you'll have ad-free access to the 200 or so blogs Defector publishes every month. We've been doing this for almost five years now, which means that your $0.98 will get you access to the 11,364 blogs we've written so far, about everything from sports to culture to politics to creatures to "greasy Beavises" and "residual ham material." We've even got a big fat archive of crossword puzzles, if that's your thing.

Unlike egg prices and large daily newspapers, you can rest assured that Defector blogs are not manipulated by unaccountable billionaires. We're a worker-owned business, which means that whenever we publish something, we do it because our hearts and our brains told us to, not because Jeff Bezos sent us a stupid memo.

So give Defector a try; I'm confident you'll like it. If you decide it's dumb crap, it's at least ethically sourced dumb crap, and you can cancel in two clicks. Our intrepid customer service team would be happy to answer any questions you have.

030

Sarah Scott Scire @sarahscire.com · 17/03/2025

One recent issue of Central ND News included local news (including middle school robotics team) but also: -critical coverage of Dakota Access Pipeline protests (which ended 8 years ago!) -write-up of a report released by the North Dakota Petroleum Association www.niemanlab.org/2025/03/a-pi...

Pages from Central ND News including local school–related news, a critical look back at DAPL protests, and coverage of a report released by the North Dakota Petroleum Association

110

Sarah Scott Scire @sarahscire.com · 09/03/2025

just climbed at the public library / recreation center / art gallery / coffee shop in Canmore 🇨🇦

250