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Tom Saunders

@tomsaunders.me
410 followers 115 following 101 posts

💡 Digital research skills training • Open research • Research policy 💼 Centre for eResearch, University of Auckland. 💻 tomsaunders.me Posting in a personal capacity.

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Tom Saunders @tomsaunders.me · 03/09/2026
Did you see the sleuthing by datacolada about one of his famous papers? Not my area but was an interesting read. Potentially a paper from his thesis? datacolada.org/138
datacolada.org
[138] Artificial Deadlines (Part 1): Evidence of Fraud in an Influential Study About Procrastination
A new paper in Psychological Science (.htm) reports a failure to replicate Study 2 of Ariely and Wertenbroch’s influential article entitled, “Procrastination, Deadlines, and Performance: Self-Contr…
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Tom Saunders @tomsaunders.me · 06/07/2026
I've had good success leaning on the Consumer's Guarantees Act in these situations. It's up to the retailer to put things right (or liaise with manufacturer) if your appliance hasn't lasted a reasonable length of time before developing a fault (usually ~10 years for large appliances).
consumer.org.nz
How long should an appliance last?
Nothing lasts forever – your TV, washing machine and vacuum cleaner will eventually become e-waste. We show how much use you should get before they die.
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Tom Saunders @tomsaunders.me · 28/06/2026
Did you learn anything about B2B sales in the process? :D
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Tom Saunders @tomsaunders.me · 26/06/2026
Ah sorry I didnt see David had already covered this.
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Tom Saunders @tomsaunders.me · 26/06/2026
In Zotero highlight/annotate pdfs, then right click the item -> "Add Note from Annotations". This pulls the notes/highlights into a note with a timestamp and hyperlinked page number, which when clicked will open the doc to that page. This note content is then searchable. Is that what you mean?
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Tom Saunders @tomsaunders.me · 22/06/2026
I find it weird that schools post images of children publicly even with parental consent, and despite best intentions, I'd be surprised if most schools were actually complying fully with the Privacy Act 2020. It's a complex area and there is a lot to consider and do.
privacy.org.nz
Office of the Privacy Commissioner | Children and young people: photography and filming guidance
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Posit @posit.co · 15/04/2026
Quarto 2 is coming, and it’s a total rewrite in Rust. 🦀 The headline feature? Native collaborative editing. Don't choose between Google Docs ease and Git rigor! You get real-time, conflict-free collab directly in your .qmd files. #RStats #Python Coming soon! ✨ opensource.posit.co/blog/2026-04...
opensource.posit.co
What's next: Quarto 2
We've started working on [`quarto-dev/q2`](https://github.com/quarto-dev/q2/), a full rewrite of Quarto in Rust.
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Tom Saunders @tomsaunders.me · 24/03/2026
Good point, although hopefully it's clear from the metadata which version the DOI relates to.
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Tom Saunders @tomsaunders.me · 24/03/2026
Nice, but as worded route 2 requires AM's to be assigned DOIs. Presumably AU institutional repos currently use handles, or do they also issue DOIs for AM's?
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Science Media Centre NZ @smcnz.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
Researchers - has your work been covered well in the news? Nominate the journalist for a Golden Tardigrade! Entries close on Sunday: www.sciencemediacentre.co.nz/2026/03/09/s...
sciencemediacentre.co.nz
Send us your top science stories
Nominations for the 3rd annual Science Journalism Awards are open until the end of this week. The awards celebrate excellent reporting on science-related topics across all forms of media by shining a…
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Nic Rawlence @nicrawlencenz.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
How to lose friends and support for your cause 101. @itiscolossal.bsky.social CEO Ben Lamm saying "the worst part of conservation is conservationists...". 🤦‍♂️ @forestandbird.bsky.social @birdsnewzealand.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
‘They didn’t de-extinct anything’: can Colossal’s genetically engineered animals ever be the real thing?
The bioscience startup has attracted billions in investment – and a flurry of criticism, but founder tells the Guardian plans to bring back the woolly mammoth will not be derailed
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Tom Saunders @tomsaunders.me · 18/02/2026
Also love the multiple copy & pasted ā there - they're de-extincting stuff but configuring keyboards to type macrons is too hard.
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Science Media Centre NZ @smcnz.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
Want to work with a dynamic team helping connect scientists with the media? Applications close at 5pm tomorrow (12 Feb). www.sciencemediacentre.co.nz/2026/01/27/w...
sciencemediacentre.co.nz
We're hiring: Kaimanaaki Pāpāho | Media Advisor role
The Science Media Centre (SMC) is looking for a media advisor to join our dedicated team working to improve the reach, relevance and accuracy of news media reporting on science and related topics in…
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Tom Saunders @tomsaunders.me · 01/02/2026
Wikipedia Education found that 178 out of ~3,000 articles created since 2022 via their outreach were written by AI (not bad per se), but almost all statements in these articles did not actually align with the cited source. Lots of effort to spot and undo - big implications for academic writing.
wikiedu.org
Generative AI and Wikipedia editing: What we learned in 2025
Like many organizations, Wiki Education has grappled with generative AI, its impacts, opportunities, and threats, for several years. As an organization that runs large-scale programs to bring new e…
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Tom Saunders @tomsaunders.me · 13/11/2025
This guide to making reports in #Quarto with #typst by @rfortherestofus.com is super in-depth and useful. Great for anyone wanting to publish dynamic and polished documents that make use of #rstats and #Python code to analyse data.
rfortherestofus.com
How to Make High-Quality PDFs with Quarto and Typst
Learn to create high-quality PDFs using Quarto and Typst with this in-depth tutorial, including custom templates, branding, and advanced techniques.
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Tom Saunders @tomsaunders.me · 12/11/2025
Not sure I'd describe Plan S as disruptive - it further consolidated market share to the big 5, entrenched APCs, and failed to flip (any?) hybrid journals to fully OA. The new strategy is an admission of failure and a lukewarm collection of goals. Or am I missing something?
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Tom Saunders @tomsaunders.me · 29/10/2025
"We’ve got $55 million, roughly, per year to spend on basic science. And if you open up the news, what you hear about is Chris Luxon spending 320 times that on a single road."
newsroom.co.nz
Winner of top science prize blames ‘batshit’ Budget for brain drain
Dr Samuel Mehr says the Government values science, but their ‘idiotic’ approach to funding it will cost them their brightest.
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Tom Saunders @tomsaunders.me · 19/10/2025
Looks like CC BY NC 4.0 - great. Very cool image!
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Tom Saunders @tomsaunders.me · 16/10/2025
Cool image - what is the licence? Can it be reused?
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Tom Saunders @tomsaunders.me · 14/10/2025
"The trouble with the government’s idea for a simple, more efficient science fund is that it’s trying to be a Ferrari on tin can funding."
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Emil Hvitfeldt @emilhvitfeldt.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
I'm exited to announce a new resource about making slides with quarto and revealjs. This book is the combination of all the work I have done in this area, reordered and polished up There isn't a lot of new information yet, but this format allows me to add more easily slidecrafting-book.com #quarto
Screenshot of first page of slidecrafting-book.com website
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Tom Saunders @tomsaunders.me · 20/09/2025
The verbal gymnastics don't change the fundamental reality that whatever they create will not be a dodo. Fun to watch them try though.
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Tom Saunders @tomsaunders.me · 18/09/2025
I'll mark it on my calendar: birds that superficially resemble dodos in 5-7 years.
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Tom Saunders @tomsaunders.me · 12/09/2025
Just in time for a major new release of ggplot2! www.tidyverse.org/blog/2025/09...
tidyverse.org
ggplot2 4.0.0
A new major version of ggplot2 has been released on CRAN. Find out what is new here.
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Tom Saunders @tomsaunders.me · 11/09/2025
The Art of Data Visualization with ggplot2: A free online book by @nrennie.bsky.social that guides us through the entire process of creating plots, including why certain decisions were made, using real datasets that have been part of #TidyTuesday. Very excited to get stuck into this one. #rstats
nrennie.rbind.io
The Art of Data Visualization with ggplot2
The TidyTuesday Cookbook
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Tom Saunders @tomsaunders.me · 10/09/2025
Nice! The second edition of 'R for Data Science' (free online book) is great for a refresher and all round amazing resource, in case you hadn't heard of it. It's helped me a lot.
r4ds.hadley.nz
R for Data Science (2e)
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Tom Saunders @tomsaunders.me · 02/09/2025
"A lot of people have this throw away attitude that the dogs can just be disposed of and they can get another one for free on Facebook." Irresponsible dog ownership has exploded post-covid, Animal Management doing what they can while taking abuse for looking after other people's dogs.
rnz.co.nz
On the road with animal control
Auckland's animal control staff are busier than ever, impounding more than 10,000 dogs over the past year.
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Tom Saunders @tomsaunders.me · 05/08/2025
Would love to see researchers properly incentivised and rewarded by funders/institutions to publish fewer papers. One of the many interventions needed to untable the web of problems with academic publishing.
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Dr Tara McAllister @taramcallister.bsky.social · 24/07/2025
If you're a researcher in NZ please do our very short survey on the Vision Mātauranga policy! We are keen to hear your opinions. DM for the survey link
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Tom Saunders @tomsaunders.me · 14/07/2025
Great article! One of my favourite non-Aotearoa examples is Ampulex compressa (emerald cockroach wasp). Pretty amazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ySw...
youtube.com
Beautiful wasp zombifies cockroach
YouTube video by Team Candiru
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Tom Saunders @tomsaunders.me · 14/07/2025
You've run workshops for media orgs before, right? Why don't these points about CC in particular make it into the handbooks or documentation used by the journos?
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Mike Dickison @adzebill.bsky.social · 08/07/2025
This is absolute shameful bullshit from all parties concerned. Peter Jackson is being scammed, Colossal are total frauds (5–8 years? Give me a break), and I have no idea what Ngāi Tahu think they’re doing. There are clear and simple reasons why this is impossible. www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/south-isl...
nzherald.co.nz
South Island Jurassic Park? Peter Jackson backs project to bring back moa
Groundbreaking de-extinction project already under way, with a short timeframe revealed.
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Science Media Centre NZ @smcnz.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
THE SMC IS HIRING! We're looking for someone to join our dedicated team working to improve the reach, relevance and accuracy of news media reporting on science and related topics in Aotearoa New Zealand. More info and apply here: www.sciencemediacentre.co.nz/2025/06/26/w...
sciencemediacentre.co.nz
Work with us! Kaimanaaki Pāpāho | Media Advisor – Science Media Centre
The Science Media Centre is looking for a media advisor to join our dedicated team working to improve the reach, relevance and accuracy of news media reporting on science and related topics in…
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Tom Saunders @tomsaunders.me · 12/06/2025
FYI iNaturalist have added an update to the post, including: "We are not giving Google special access to your iNat data, and we have no obligation to use Google’s infrastructure as part of this grant. Google is providing funding and advice on how to potentially leverage AI."
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Fonti Kar @fontikar.bsky.social · 12/06/2025
🗺️ Ever wander to a new place and think, "Hmm I wonder what birds/plants/[insert favourite taxonomic group] I can find here?" 🔍 We built {infinitylists} 📋 to help nature lovers create personalised, location-based taxon lists! 🌏
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Tom Saunders @tomsaunders.me · 10/06/2025
Yes - retraction should be encouraged when issues surface, not punished. Surely one of the biggest bang-for-buck moves would be for institutions/funders to lower the # of pubs they judge/evaluate/reward researchers on each year. Many of these integrity issues are symptoms of demanding quantity.
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Tom Saunders @tomsaunders.me · 04/06/2025
Most concerning to me is the attempt by the VC to frame it as a win for 'academic freedom', even though University lawyers repeatedly argued that academic freedom was a 'privelege' and that Wiles should stop talking about her expertise.
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Tom Saunders @tomsaunders.me · 04/06/2025
Nice one, congrats on the new role Fonti!
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Tom Saunders @tomsaunders.me · 03/06/2025
Some great examples here of how researchers can partner with Māori to co-develop research projects in ways that give effect to CARE principles alongside FAIR.
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Tom Saunders @tomsaunders.me · 28/05/2025
I couldn't have done it without the amazing support and guidance from my supervisors Greg Holwell & Gonzalo Avila, and our collaborators Kye Chung Park & Lee-Anne Manning. I'm truely grateful to have had the opportunity to work with and learn from all of them.
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Tom Saunders @tomsaunders.me · 28/05/2025
...the moment of attack means we're examining ecological host range (the hosts that are actually attacked in the field, as opposed to physiological host range, or the hosts that support development of the agent, often tested in a lab setting).
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Tom Saunders @tomsaunders.me · 28/05/2025
...and this is where chemistry becomes important (for insects in particular). The stink bug egg parasitoids in this work use a variety of cues to hone in on their targets, and these cues become more and more reliable as they get closer. Testing these cues, while moving further out from ...
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Tom Saunders @tomsaunders.me · 28/05/2025
This is important because regulators often rely solely on the emergence work, where agents are confined with potential hosts in tight quarters to see if they *can* develop in a non-target host. This is crucial data, but a more accurate assessment of risk requires moving from *can* to *will* ...
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Tom Saunders @tomsaunders.me · 28/05/2025
In our case study, our two parasitoid wasps emerged from the two hosts at similar rates, but showed markedly different motivations to search for each host in arrestment experiments.
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Tom Saunders @tomsaunders.me · 28/05/2025
In particular, arrestment bioassays in open arenas are relatively simple/inexpesnive but provide much-needed behavioural context. A substrate is contaminated with potential hosts and how long the agent searches is a proxy for motivation to find that host. These times can then be compared.
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Tom Saunders @tomsaunders.me · 28/05/2025
My final PhD chapter is now published #openaccess in the Journal of Chemical Ecology: doi.org/10.1007/s108... Main idea: Chemical-ecological methods can complement oviposition work in host-specificity testing of classical #biocontrol agents by teasing details related to ecological host range. 1/
A close-up image of a small black parasitoid wasp backed onto a stink bug egg, which is the same size as the wasp. She is laying an egg into the stink bug egg through a tube on her abdomen.
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Anna Frances Probert @afprobert.bsky.social · 26/05/2025
Two academic (lecturer) positions available at the University of Otago in Aotearoa/New Zealand! One in Conservation Biology, another in Evolutionary Ecology. Links for positions below: otago.taleo.net/careersectio... otago.taleo.net/careersectio...
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Tom Saunders @tomsaunders.me · 22/05/2025
Where do Walker and Lee propose people live, if not on K Rd close to new train stations and cycleways? Does this mean the development on the gravel pit can finally go ahead?
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Tom Saunders @tomsaunders.me · 30/04/2025
Yeah definitely, but you've got a theory of programming in your head already - when I said beginners I meant people new to programming entirely. User needs to understand certain concepts in order to generate code they can then evaluate and troubleshoot, if necessary.
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Tom Saunders @tomsaunders.me · 30/04/2025
100% - Rather than generating code, IMO the main use for beginners is asking conceptual questions, eg "I want to do X task in Y language - what packages/functions should I be looking at" or "how would a programmer approach X kind of problem".
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