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mattwaite.bsky.social
Professor of Journalism, University of Nebraska-Lincoln. I teach people who can't spell code to find stories and visuals in data with #rstats. Publish all my course books and tutorials at https://github.com/mattwaite
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For those who can't be in the room for my AI Starter Pack in R session, here's some notes/code examples we'll work through. If you can be there at 3:30, more demos in the session. #NICAR25 mattwaite.github.io/posts/r-llm-...

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

Back in 2009, when I somehow convinced a Florida newspaper to let me move to Nebraska and work remotely, we used to have a computer with Skype running all the time in the small office my group worked in. We could just talk like I was still in the room. It was really nice. www.cnn.com/2025/02/28/t...

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments

Last week, the Nebraska R User Group hosted a presentation by Matt Waite (@mattwaite.bsky.social) on "Talking to LLMs through R". Check out a summary of the talk at neb-rug.github.io/posts/talkin.... #rstats #llms

submitted 13 days ago • 0 comments

New report on the state of journalism in Nebraska: There are 9 counties without a single news organization in them. There are 16 county seats with no local news organization in them. More than half of the state's counties are covered by two or fewer journalists. newsmap.unl.edu

submitted 20 days ago • 1 comment

Asked AI for a header image for my AI + Journalism class to put into the LMS. Asked for something evocative of journalism's past and future, colorful and futuristic. What I got vs what my Gen X ass sees:

submitted 52 days ago • 1 comment

How big is the Palisades fire compared to where you live? This will tell you: calmatters.org/environment/... For me, probably 80% of Lincoln is wiped out centering the fire on campus. Everything from far West O east past 84th Street, from Pioneers in the south to Cornhusker Highway in the north.

submitted 53 days ago • 0 comments

The ability to reverse engineer a shitty agency's shitty website structure so I can make obviously public data usable is not the superpower I wanted, but it's the one I got.

submitted 60 days ago • 2 comments

If you're interested in attending #NICAR25 in Minneapolis in early March, you can apply for a fellowship that covers registration, 4 nights of hotel and $500 for travel. Applications are due by Jan. 6! www.ire.org/training/con...

submitted 63 days ago • 0 comments

Hey fellow academics, do you find course evaluations to be terrible (in all the ways) but your institution still uses them in decisions? Do you also find LLM writing to be flat and lifeless? Here's a bonkers idea: Put your course evals into NotebookLM and let it summarize them for you. A short🧵

submitted 65 days ago • 1 comment

Hello Canvas, my old friend I've come to talk with you again Because a learning outcome softly creeping Left its seeds while I was sleeping And the vision that was planted in my brain Still remains Within the sound of a syllabus

submitted 68 days ago • 0 comments

My dog vs AI image analysis: FIGHT

submitted 71 days ago • 0 comments

Rosemary Garlic Focaccia rolls are fire.

submitted 74 days ago • 0 comments

Watching my wife try to help her parents de-enshittify Facebook as much as possible because it still matters to them and they want what they used to have on the platform back is just sad.

submitted 75 days ago • 0 comments

The circles of Hell: 1. Limbo 2. Lust 3. Gluttony 4. South Lincoln Trader Joe’s parking lot on a normal Saturday 5. Anger 6. Heresy 7. Violence 8. South Lincoln Trader Joe’s parking lot, today. 9. Treachery

submitted 77 days ago • 1 comment

I have major opinions about this driven entirely by the realities of having to drag 65 not-entirely-willing undergrads from zero to making stuff in 16 weeks starting next month. bsky.app/profile/alex...

submitted 79 days ago • 0 comments

"What’s the point of the exercise here?" @mattwaite.bsky.social asks. "Is it to inform people, or to show off what we know and how sophisticated we sound?"

submitted 80 days ago • 0 comments

📦 {flashr} 0.2.0 is out! ⚡ {flashr} creates flashcards for learning #RStats functions or other things. The new version can extract R functions from R Markdown and #QuartoPub documents, which can be used to create flashcard decks. Blogpost: jeffreyrstevens.github.io/posts/flashr/ @quarto.org

submitted 80 days ago • 1 comment

The @niemanlab.org annual predictions are always fun and a lot to think about. Here's mine: We need to stop writing like everyone went to grad school and build a new foundation on things everyone does care about. www.niemanlab.org/2024/12/the-...

submitted 80 days ago • 0 comments

Hashtag motherfreakin’ volleyball school.

submitted 83 days ago • 1 comment