An archive of all postings on the webhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/en-ushttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2023-09-09-players-vs-worriers-or-the-privilege-of-play/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2023-09-09-players-vs-worriers-or-the-privilege-of-play/"Move fast and break things" was the internal motto of Facebook up until 2014 they realized, a little belatedly, that perhaps a corporation with worldwide…Sat, 09 Sep 2023 00:00:00 GMTRethinking Powerhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2023-09-06-play-and-consequences/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2023-09-06-play-and-consequences/Imagine a child playing in a sandbox, dreaming up elaborate stories about the castles they've built with their sandbox toys. Now, imagine a group of…Wed, 06 Sep 2023 00:00:00 GMTRethinking Powerhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2023-06-24-code-as-contestable-law/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2023-06-24-code-as-contestable-law/People tend to think of laws as set in stone, but they're very changeable. They're changeable in at least two ways: the laws themselves can be altered,…Sat, 24 Jun 2023 00:00:00 GMTRethinking Powerhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2023-06-14-interpretive-labor-to-develop-software/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2023-06-14-interpretive-labor-to-develop-software/Information naturally flows from those who have more power to those who have less. That is, some kinds of information do. Those who study surveillance…Wed, 14 Jun 2023 00:00:00 GMTRethinking Powerhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2023-02-22-the-politics-of-software-product-development/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2023-02-22-the-politics-of-software-product-development/Introduction As we've discussed previously, all systems are built on abstractions, and all abstractions are at least a little bit…Wed, 22 Feb 2023 00:00:00 GMTRethinking Powerhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2022-12-30-technology-and-constraints/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2022-12-30-technology-and-constraints/Technologies are built with a model of the world in mind. A hammer presumes a nail, a screwdriver a screw, and so on. But there is, necessarily, a gap…Fri, 30 Dec 2022 00:00:00 GMTRethinking Powerhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2022-11-22-feedback/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2022-11-22-feedback/In my last post, I talked about how all systems have flaws, and how these flaws require interpretive labor to be patched or worked around.Tue, 22 Nov 2022 00:00:00 GMTRethinking Powerhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2022-11-11-how-interpretive-labor-straddles-the-gap-between-rules-and-reality/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2022-11-11-how-interpretive-labor-straddles-the-gap-between-rules-and-reality/As I've said a few times now, all models are wrong. That includes laws and norms, employee handbooks and product roadmaps.Fri, 11 Nov 2022 00:00:00 GMTRethinking Powerhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2022-10-26-whose-context-counts/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2022-10-26-whose-context-counts/I've posted before about why it's important to delegate decisions to the people impacted by…Wed, 26 Oct 2022 00:00:00 GMTRethinking Powerhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2022-10-19-mistakes-were-made-and-thats-how-we-learn/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2022-10-19-mistakes-were-made-and-thats-how-we-learn/All models are wrong. Given this, it should be no surprise that humans are constantly messing things up — but that's often a good thing.Wed, 19 Oct 2022 00:00:00 GMTRethinking Powerhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2022-10-04-all-models-are-wrong-metaphors-for-the-insufficiency-of-metaphors/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2022-10-04-all-models-are-wrong-metaphors-for-the-insufficiency-of-metaphors/There's a saying: the map is not the territory. Farnham Street Blog has a pretty good explanation of what that means.Tue, 04 Oct 2022 00:00:00 GMTRethinking Powerhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2022-09-28-noble-fruits-motivated-reasoning/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2022-09-28-noble-fruits-motivated-reasoning/On Trains My sister is interested in genealogy, and several years ago unearthed a gruesome family story: on June 11th, 1880, my…Wed, 28 Sep 2022 00:00:00 GMTRethinking Powerhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2022-08-31-in-defense-of-con/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2022-08-31-in-defense-of-con/Few people are happy with the US government these days. Recent Gallup polls show that 71% of people are dissatisfied with how the nation is being governed.Wed, 31 Aug 2022 00:00:00 GMTRethinking Powerhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2022-08-24-power-and-domination-in-the-nwsl/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2022-08-24-power-and-domination-in-the-nwsl/Sometimes, you just want someone to tell you what to do. I feel this way all the time. When I go to the doctor, I want them to tell me how to stay healthy.…Wed, 24 Aug 2022 00:00:00 GMTRethinking Powerhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2022-08-17-stakeholder-decision-making-in-the-heart-of-hierarchy/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2022-08-17-stakeholder-decision-making-in-the-heart-of-hierarchy/"Nothing about us without us!" is a rallying cry, a catch-phrase with a clear moral imperative: that those impacted by a decision should be involved in…Wed, 17 Aug 2022 00:00:00 GMTRethinking Powerhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2021-07-01-engineering-and-postmodernism/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2021-07-01-engineering-and-postmodernism/The following is from my response to a friend’s Facebook post about the value of postmodernism to engineers, and the role that education plays in…Thu, 01 Jul 2021 00:00:00 GMTHello, Governorgovernancehttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2021-06-17-code-as-contestable-law/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2021-06-17-code-as-contestable-law/Last week I gave two short talks as part of the IASC Knowledge Commons conference, one on our ability to contest rules in digital spaces, and another on…Thu, 17 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMTHello, Governorgovernancehttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2021-05-28-three-governance-case-studies/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2021-05-28-three-governance-case-studies/One of my communities is choosing a new governance structure, and in preparation for our first conversation on the topic, I wrote up three governance case…Fri, 28 May 2021 00:00:00 GMTHello, Governorgovernancehttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2021-05-12-facebooks-everything-problem/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2021-05-12-facebooks-everything-problem/Facebook's 'Oversight Board' recently affirmed Facebook's choice to suspend then-President Donald Trump from its platform the day after the Capitol riots.…Wed, 12 May 2021 00:00:00 GMTHello, Governorgovernancehttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2021-04-30-digital-disobedience/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2021-04-30-digital-disobedience/There’s not enough disobedience online. Yes, that’s right, you heard me: there’s not enough space for disobedience online.Fri, 30 Apr 2021 00:00:00 GMTHello, Governorgovernancehttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2021-04-15-collective-accountability-in-digital-spaces/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2021-04-15-collective-accountability-in-digital-spaces/Note: I recently started writing a newsletter about the intersection of technology and governance,Hello, Governor! I’m still experimenting with format,…Thu, 15 Apr 2021 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedgovernancenewsletterhello governorhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2021-04-14-collective-accountability/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2021-04-14-collective-accountability/It can be a struggle to hold groups accountable for misbehavior, even when the group is structured through legal forms, with public membership and clear…Wed, 14 Apr 2021 00:00:00 GMTHello, Governorgovernancehttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2021-03-30-yo-dawg/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2021-03-30-yo-dawg/... so I put some tech governance controversy on the platform you were using for your tech governance newsletter.Tue, 30 Mar 2021 00:00:00 GMTHello, Governorhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2021-02-27-ftc-v-facebook/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2021-02-27-ftc-v-facebook/Below, I summarize the FTC complaint against Facebook, citing the relevant paragraphs so you can get more detail as needed. This was a useful exercise in…Sat, 27 Feb 2021 00:00:00 GMTHello, Governorhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2021-02-25-hello-world/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2021-02-25-hello-world/Hello, and welcome to the very first edition of this newsletter!Thu, 25 Feb 2021 00:00:00 GMTHello, Governorgovernancehttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2021-02-19-wrapping-up-recurse-day-5/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2021-02-19-wrapping-up-recurse-day-5/It’s the last day of my mini-batch, although it’s not my last day at Recurse, since there’s an active alum community I’m eager to be a part of.Fri, 19 Feb 2021 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedrecurseprogrammingracketlisphttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2021-02-18-keep-it-simple-shauna-recurse-day-4/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2021-02-18-keep-it-simple-shauna-recurse-day-4/Today I finally tackled making a code madlibs program.Thu, 18 Feb 2021 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedrecurseprogramminglispracketmacroshttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2021-02-17-macros-finally-recurse-day-3/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2021-02-17-macros-finally-recurse-day-3/When we left off, I’d written some rather ugly code that gave us the basic features of a madlibs program without using any macros. But the whole point of…Wed, 17 Feb 2021 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedrecurseprogramminglispmacroshttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2021-02-16-simple-code-vs-fancy-code-recurse-day-2/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2021-02-16-simple-code-vs-fancy-code-recurse-day-2/Building off of yesterday’s work, today my hope was to finish my humble text-focused Madlibs program, so that I could move onto code-focused Madlibs tomorrow.Tue, 16 Feb 2021 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedrecurseprogrammingracketlisphttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2021-02-15-recurse-day-1/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2021-02-15-recurse-day-1/Day 1 of my Recurse mini batch is complete! I spent a good portion of it meeting people and learning about the community, but I did also make some small…Mon, 15 Feb 2021 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedprogrammingrecurselisphttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2021-02-12-my-plans-for-recurse/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2021-02-12-my-plans-for-recurse/Next week I’ll be doing a mini-batch at Recurse. I’m planning to blog about it each day, and I figured I’d start by laying out my plans for the week.Fri, 12 Feb 2021 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedprogrammingmetaprogrammingrecursehttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2021-02-04-a-bug-report/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2021-02-04-a-bug-report/I just fixed a Django bug that took me ages to solve. Part of why it took so long is that the errors I was getting weren’t surfacing the right search…Thu, 04 Feb 2021 00:00:00 GMTDuly Noteddjangocodingbug reportshttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2020-12-13-knowledge-workflows/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2020-12-13-knowledge-workflows/I have read a great many non-fiction books in my life, and I remember the details of heartbreakingly few of them. Over the last year or so, I have worked to…Sun, 13 Dec 2020 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedknowledgenote-takingroamreadwiselet's get back in the blogging habithttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2020-04-18-the-last-mile-postal-workers-as-bricoleurs/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2020-04-18-the-last-mile-postal-workers-as-bricoleurs/This twitter thread is a great example of “minding the gap”, that is: doing the necessary improvisational work to complete a task that has only been…Sat, 18 Apr 2020 00:00:00 GMTOut of Manyquotescontextdecision-makingjudgment callsuncertaintyhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2019-08-23-what-s-standing-in-the-way-of-women-s-soccer/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2019-08-23-what-s-standing-in-the-way-of-women-s-soccer/When chants of ‘equal pay!’ ring through soccer stadiums, men jump on Twitter to explain why, despite performing better internationally than the men’s team,…Fri, 23 Aug 2019 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedsoccernwslhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2019-08-22-linkspam-7/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2019-08-22-linkspam-7/Debunking the Capitalist Cowboy by Nan Estad at Boston Review:Thu, 22 Aug 2019 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedlinkspamhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2019-07-19-the-diverse-frailties-of-humankind/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2019-07-19-the-diverse-frailties-of-humankind/Via Martha Nussbaum’s Poetic Justice, an excerpt from Woodson v. North Carolina (1976):Fri, 19 Jul 2019 00:00:00 GMTOut of Manyquotescontextjudgment callslawnegative capabilityparticularismuncertaintyhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2019-04-07-when-the-heart-s-song-ceases-to-play/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2019-04-07-when-the-heart-s-song-ceases-to-play/This TED talk by Shonda Rhimes underscores the importance of play:Sun, 07 Apr 2019 00:00:00 GMTOut of Manyquotesanxietyburnoutdepressionflowplayshonda rhimesworkhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2019-03-17-linkspam-6/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2019-03-17-linkspam-6/It’s a Crisis of Civilization in Mexico by José de Córdoba at the Wall Street Journal:Sun, 17 Mar 2019 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedlinkspamhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2019-02-27-a-song-for-occupations-4/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2019-02-27-a-song-for-occupations-4/The sum of all known reverence I add up in you whoever you are, The President is there in the White House for you, it is not you who are here for him, The…Wed, 27 Feb 2019 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedpoetryhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2019-02-23-legacies-of-disruption/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2019-02-23-legacies-of-disruption/“Many scientists prefer not to think about politics, but the work that scientists do has always had political consequences, from the quiet tragedy of an…Sat, 23 Feb 2019 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedwritingarticleshistorysciencepoliticization of sciencetechnologyhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2019-02-13-martha-nussbaum-on-the-capabilities-approach/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2019-02-13-martha-nussbaum-on-the-capabilities-approach/One prominent idea of rights, common in the US political and legal tradition, understands rights to be barriers against interfering state action: if the…Wed, 13 Feb 2019 00:00:00 GMTOut of Manyquotescapabilities approachfreedomlibertymartha nussbaumnegative libertypolitical philosophyhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2019-01-27-play-and-consequences/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2019-01-27-play-and-consequences/Imagine a child playing in a sandbox, dreaming up elaborate stories about the castles they’ve built with their sandbox toys. Now, imagine a group of…Sun, 27 Jan 2019 00:00:00 GMTOut of Manyblog-postsanxietyconsequencesplayruleshttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2019-01-05-degrees-of-separation/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2019-01-05-degrees-of-separation/With the exception of rare contrivances like king’s missives and broadcast television, we learn most of what we learn and meet most of the people we meet…Sat, 05 Jan 2019 00:00:00 GMTOut of Manymoralitynetworksthought experimentshttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2019-01-05-positive-capability/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2019-01-05-positive-capability/I posted a few months ago about negative capability – that is, the ability to tolerate uncertainty, “when a man is capable of being in uncertainties,…Sat, 05 Jan 2019 00:00:00 GMTOut of Manyarthegelian dialecticnegative capabilitypositive capabilitysciencesynthesisuncertaintyhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-12-12-the-contents-of-one-s-own-mind/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-12-12-the-contents-of-one-s-own-mind/This link goes to a fascinating little explainer by Popehat on Twitter. Excerpted here and lightly edited for readability:Wed, 12 Dec 2018 00:00:00 GMTOut of Manyquotesjudgmentlawsupreme courthttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-12-04-agency-and-trust-in-a-digital-democracy/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-12-04-agency-and-trust-in-a-digital-democracy/Last week I was on a panel about ‘Democracy and the Digital Commons’ at Suffolk University. At the start of the panel, each of us gave a 5-10 minute talk to…Tue, 04 Dec 2018 00:00:00 GMTOut of Manyblog-postsdemocracydigital democracydigital governancefree speechgovernanceprincipal agent problemthe governance of digital platformstrusthttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-12-02-power-judgment-and-love/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-12-02-power-judgment-and-love/Back in high school and college, I had friends who offered to do tarot readings for me. I always turned them down. “What a dumb idea,” I’d think. “How could…Sun, 02 Dec 2018 00:00:00 GMTOut of Manyblog-postsjudgmentlovepowerpowerlessnessresponsibilitystorytellingsymbolismtarothttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-11-21-super-princess-saves-the-night/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-11-21-super-princess-saves-the-night/[](http://superprincess.net)Wed, 21 Nov 2018 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedwritingprojectshttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-11-11-the-burden-of-doubt/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-11-11-the-burden-of-doubt/We often talk about giving people the benefit of the doubt, but seldom talk about its opposite, to the point that no agreed upon phrase for it exists. The…Sun, 11 Nov 2018 00:00:00 GMTOut of Manyblog-postsbiasdoubtjudgmenthttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-11-09-linkspam-5/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-11-09-linkspam-5/How to Survive America’s Kill List by Matt Taibbi at Rolling Stone - an American citizen’s fight to escape assassination by the US executive branch:Fri, 09 Nov 2018 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedlinkspamhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-11-08-hannah-arendt-responsibility-and-judgment/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-11-08-hannah-arendt-responsibility-and-judgment/“[Socrates] adds that as far as he himself is concerned he believes that “it would be better for me that my lyre or a chorus I direct were out of tune and…Thu, 08 Nov 2018 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedquoteshannah arendthttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-10-20-50-ways-to-win-the-midterms/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-10-20-50-ways-to-win-the-midterms/The problem is all inside your head she said to me The answer is easy if you take it logically I’d like to help you in your struggle to be free There must…Sat, 20 Oct 2018 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedfilkspoliticsmidtermspaul simonthis filk is not very faithful to the originalsince paul simon lists only two ways to leave your loverit is actually pretty cathartic to fix that in my version'make a new plan' is not helpful paul simonhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-09-24-the-constitution-of-knowledge-is-cross-disciplinary/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-09-24-the-constitution-of-knowledge-is-cross-disciplinary/This old tweet has recently been making the rounds and sparked up some discussion among my Facebook friends:Mon, 24 Sep 2018 00:00:00 GMTOut of Manyblog-postsepistemologyhumanitiesif you two don't stop fighting i swear i will turn this car aroundknowledgesciencehttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-09-10-rules-don-t-apply-themselves/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-09-10-rules-don-t-apply-themselves/There is a lot to be said about what happened to Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka yesterday, but this tweet by Jennifer Richeson captures the analysis of the…Mon, 10 Sep 2018 00:00:00 GMTOut of Manyquotesbiasenforcementjennifer richesonjudgmentracismrulesserena williamshttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-09-09-a-summary-of-david-ciepley-s-beyond-public-and-private-toward-a-political-theory-of-the-corporation/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-09-09-a-summary-of-david-ciepley-s-beyond-public-and-private-toward-a-political-theory-of-the-corporation/I recently read David Ciepley’s “Beyond Public and Private: Toward a Political Theory of the Corporation”. I recommend reading it yourself, but here’s my…Sun, 09 Sep 2018 00:00:00 GMTOut of Manycorporate lawcorporationsdavid ciepleygovernancerightshttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-07-22-quick-decisions/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-07-22-quick-decisions/Last week I went to a rally to protest a series of raids by ICE in my city. The rally turned into an unplanned march through the streets, and I had to make…Sun, 22 Jul 2018 00:00:00 GMTOut of Manyblog-postschidi anagonyecivil disobedienceicelaws vs ethicsmoral anxietymoral decision-makingnegative capabilitypoliticsprotestthe good placeuncertaintyhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-07-10-judgment-above-principle-judgment-after-principle/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-07-10-judgment-above-principle-judgment-after-principle/Principles are really important, and by and large you should try hard to stick to them. I have tremendous respect for those who have died or gone to jail…Tue, 10 Jul 2018 00:00:00 GMTOut of Manyblog-postsjournalismjudgmentmarcy wheelermoralityprincipleshttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-07-04-money-and-the-violence-of-lost-context/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-07-04-money-and-the-violence-of-lost-context/It is in the very nature of a question like “What do I owe my parents?” that there is not and can never be a final, numerically answer. It is a question…Wed, 04 Jul 2018 00:00:00 GMTOut of Manyquotesaaron badycontextdavid graeberdebtfamilymoneyhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-06-18-the-more-things-change/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-06-18-the-more-things-change/This is a quote from Norman Thomas’s Is Conscience a Crime?, a book about conscientious objection during WWI from the wizened vantage point of 1923. Thomas…Mon, 18 Jun 2018 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedliberals vs radicalsthere are some people you can't compromise withhistoryww1norman thomasnewton bakerwoodrow wilsonhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-06-17-linkspam-4/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-06-17-linkspam-4/How to Not Die in America by Molly Osberg at Splinter News:Sun, 17 Jun 2018 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedlinkspamhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-05-25-hannah-arendt-on-the-role-of-reflection-in-political-and-moral-behavior/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-05-25-hannah-arendt-on-the-role-of-reflection-in-political-and-moral-behavior/Socrates, however, who is commonly said to have believed in the teachability of virtue, seems indeed to have held that talking and thinking about piety,…Fri, 25 May 2018 00:00:00 GMTOut of Manyquotesdoubthannah arendtmoralitynihilismpoliticssocratesuncertaintyhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-05-25-pycon/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-05-25-pycon/PyCon is one of my favorite events - the only big conference I’ve been to that feels like a small one. This year it was in Cleveland, Ohio, not too far from…Fri, 25 May 2018 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedpyconpublic speakingtalkstechnology and politicshttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-04-08-a-matter-of-trust/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-04-08-a-matter-of-trust/This originated as a post to a mailing list on the subject of blockchains and how they might help the cause of open science. The quote below is the claim I…Sun, 08 Apr 2018 00:00:00 GMTOut of Manyblog-postsblockchainsciencetrusthttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-04-04-levy-on-intermediate-group-power/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-04-04-levy-on-intermediate-group-power/The point is partly an intergenerational one. Recall from the previous chapter the idea that inequalities of outcomes in one generation becomes inequalities…Wed, 04 Apr 2018 00:00:00 GMTOut of Manyquoteshttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-04-03-refusing-the-parlements-their-right-of-remonstrance-was-an-act-of-despotism/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-04-03-refusing-the-parlements-their-right-of-remonstrance-was-an-act-of-despotism/“Refusing the parlements their right of remonstrance was an act of despotism. Liberty had taken shelter in them; it had chosen an irregular method of…Tue, 03 Apr 2018 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedquotespoliticshttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-03-21-facebook-cambridge-analytica-summary/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-03-21-facebook-cambridge-analytica-summary/Here’s a summary of what we know as of the afternoon of Wednesday, March 21st:Wed, 21 Mar 2018 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedfacebookcambridge analyticatrying to pull this all togetherhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-03-19-alinsky-on-doubt-compromise-and-the-letter-of-the-law/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-03-19-alinsky-on-doubt-compromise-and-the-letter-of-the-law/I detest and fear dogma. I know that all revolutions must have ideologies to spur them on. That in the heat of conflict these ideologies tend to be smelted…Mon, 19 Mar 2018 00:00:00 GMTOut of Manycompromisedoubtorganizingquotesrules and regulationssaul alinskyhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-03-17-civic-virtue-and-the-profit-motive/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-03-17-civic-virtue-and-the-profit-motive/In an article about Milton Friedman in the Pacific Standard, Rick Paulas quotes from an article of Friedman’s published in 1970:Sat, 17 Mar 2018 00:00:00 GMTOut of Manyblog-postscapitalismcivic virtuemilton friedmanprofit motiverulessystemsthe gapzephyr teachouthttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-03-16-wtf-is-ops/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-03-16-wtf-is-ops/I wrote an ‘intro to operations’ guide. The ideal audience is me a week ago.Fri, 16 Mar 2018 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedprogrammingtutorialprojectshttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-02-28-okoye-s-judgment-call/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-02-28-okoye-s-judgment-call/Warning: Black Panther spoilers.Wed, 28 Feb 2018 00:00:00 GMTOut of Manyblog-postsblack pantherjudgment callspoliticssystemshttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-02-16-linkspam-3/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-02-16-linkspam-3/To Be, or Not To Be by Masha Gessen in the New York Review of Books:Fri, 16 Feb 2018 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedlinkspamhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-02-16-mind-the-gap-navigating-between-rules-and-reality/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-02-16-mind-the-gap-navigating-between-rules-and-reality/Bureaucracy is stupid, David Graeber writes in The Utopia of Rules: On Technology, Stupidity, and the Secret Joys of Bureaucracy. As the premise for a book,…Fri, 16 Feb 2018 00:00:00 GMTOut of Manybook reviewsbureaucracydavid graeberimaginationreviewshttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-02-06-hannah-arendt-the-origins-of-totalitarianism/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-02-06-hannah-arendt-the-origins-of-totalitarianism/“The antisemites’ belief that their claim to exclusive rule was no more than what the Jews had in fact achieved, gave them the advantage of a domestic…Tue, 06 Feb 2018 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-01-10-stealing-the-commons/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-01-10-stealing-the-commons/The law locks up the man or womanWed, 10 Jan 2018 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedcommonspoemspoetryhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-01-06-identity-fragments/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-01-06-identity-fragments/In an essay at Brain Pickings, Maria Popova sketches out a conception of identity as a collection of fragments which is, paradoxically, being repressed and…Sat, 06 Jan 2018 00:00:00 GMTOut of Manyblog-postsadaptationcommunityidentityidentity politicsindividualismhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-01-04-social-safety-nets-and-ahistoricity/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2018-01-04-social-safety-nets-and-ahistoricity/From the studiously moderate Brookings Institution:Thu, 04 Jan 2018 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedhistorytechnologysocietyhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-12-25-feeling-good-vs-doing-good/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-12-25-feeling-good-vs-doing-good/Back in college, I based my Division III (senior thesis) research on a set of empathy studies by Nancy Eisenberg. Eisenberg’s line of research hinges on a…Mon, 25 Dec 2017 00:00:00 GMTOut of Manyblog-postsaltruismdistressemotionidentitymoralitystresshttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-11-27-the-yin-and-yang-of-questions-and-answers/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-11-27-the-yin-and-yang-of-questions-and-answers/In a previous post, I wrote that asking questions is harder than answering them, although I qualified that in a big way with “answering [questions]…Mon, 27 Nov 2017 00:00:00 GMTOut of Manyblog-postsanswershard scienceinterdependencequestionsreplicationsciencesoft sciencethe frame problemhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-11-27-every-so-often-i-remember-that-the-clinton-analytics-team-s-motto-was-a/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-11-27-every-so-often-i-remember-that-the-clinton-analytics-team-s-motto-was-a/every so often I remember that the clinton analytics team’s motto was “a decision tree grows in brooklyn” and i smileMon, 27 Nov 2017 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-11-20-hard-and-soft-sciences/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-11-20-hard-and-soft-sciences/Back when I was a research scientist, I straddled the boundary between “hard” and “soft” sciences. I did social psychology, which is a pretty soft science…Mon, 20 Nov 2017 00:00:00 GMTOut of Manyblog-postscontext-dependenceknowledge-buildingquestionssciencethe frame problemupdated postshttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-11-19-linkspam-2/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-11-19-linkspam-2/Public Policy After Utopia by Will Wilkinson at the Niskanen Center:Sun, 19 Nov 2017 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedlinkspamhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-11-19-shades-of-gray/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-11-19-shades-of-gray/What shade of gray would you say this is?Sun, 19 Nov 2017 00:00:00 GMTOut of Manyblog-postscomparisonethicspoliticsstandardshttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-11-12-a-flight-out-sideways/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-11-12-a-flight-out-sideways/This is a short and subtle piece by Diana Senechal about sexual harassment claims and our response to them. I by and large agree with it, but I like it…Sun, 12 Nov 2017 00:00:00 GMTOut of Manyquotesassumptionsperspectivepoetryrobert frosthttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-11-12-compromise-and-its-discontents/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-11-12-compromise-and-its-discontents/It's easy to complain about "purity politics". It's easy to complain about "neoliberals" and "sellouts". But we live in hard times, and the easy route's not…Sun, 12 Nov 2017 00:00:00 GMTOut of Manyblog-postscompromisedecision-makingjudgment callspoliticsprincipleshttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-11-12-new-blog/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-11-12-new-blog/Things have been quiet on this here tumblr, in part because I have taken to blogging about a subset of topics here. If you’re interested in my thoughts…Sun, 12 Nov 2017 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedbloggingcomplexityhumansprojectshttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-11-12-a-perfect-circle/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-11-12-a-perfect-circle/Chalk Corridor by fdecomite 6/25/2013 CC BY 2.0Sun, 12 Nov 2017 00:00:00 GMTOut of Manyblog-postscomparisonframingperfectionsubjectivitytruthhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-10-31-a-precedent-of-subjectivity/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-10-31-a-precedent-of-subjectivity/Mike Montiero recently posted an essay to Medium "One person’s history of Twitter, from beginning to end". It's a good piece, but what really struck me was…Tue, 31 Oct 2017 00:00:00 GMTOut of Manyblog-postssocial mediasubjectivitytwitterhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-10-26-beware-of-defaults/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-10-26-beware-of-defaults/I spent a good portion of yesterday staring at my Django test cases and whimpering. No matter what I tried, no matter how thoroughly I flushed the database…Thu, 26 Oct 2017 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedmutable defaultspotential halloween costumespythonprogrammingdebugginghttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-10-25-science-vs-software/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-10-25-science-vs-software/Andrew Gelman has a brief post up on his blog comparing the way bug reports in open source software are received to the way many researchers respond to…Wed, 25 Oct 2017 00:00:00 GMTOut of Manyblog-postscriticismcritiqueculture of critiqueflossopen sciencereproducibility crisissciencehttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-10-21-me-wow-django-s-case-sure-is-a-useful-addition-to-the-annotate-function/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-10-21-me-wow-django-s-case-sure-is-a-useful-addition-to-the-annotate-function/Me: Wow, Django’s Case() sure is a useful addition to the annotate function! You can use it to chain together When() functions to conditionally annotate…Sat, 21 Oct 2017 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedjust because you *can* do something doesn't mean you *should*i'm coding in a hip local bar that's kind of like having a social lifehttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-10-13-linkspam-1/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-10-13-linkspam-1/The Supermanagerial Reich by Ajay Singh Chaudhary and Raphaële Chappe at the LA Review of Books:Fri, 13 Oct 2017 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedlinkspamhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-09-28-bad-things-a-poem-checklist/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-09-28-bad-things-a-poem-checklist/☐ and you should feel bad. ☐ and that makes you a bad person. ☐ and you should at least admitthat it was bad. ☐ and you should not do it again. ☐ and you…Thu, 28 Sep 2017 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedpoemschecklistswhatever this ismoralitywritinghttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-09-17-git-praise-jevans/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-09-17-git-praise-jevans/Julia Evans, in her recent summary of her time at the Recurse Center, links to this cool little project which visualizes how you use Git. Here’s my result:Sun, 17 Sep 2017 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedgitvisualizationscomputershttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-08-26-wild-times/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-08-26-wild-times/It’s late Friday night, technically Saturday morning, and like a party animal I’m up googling, “Could someone mess up my server if I let them run arbitrary…Sat, 26 Aug 2017 00:00:00 GMTDuly Noteddo you know the answer?i will buy you a beerin the spirit of the hourcomputershttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-08-10-math-as-myth/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-08-10-math-as-myth/This might be the best introduction to an academic paper I’ve come across. From Roger Myerson’s Fundamentals of Social Choice Theory:Thu, 10 Aug 2017 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedmathmythsfablesgeneralizationsparticularismhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-08-02-who-would-you-be/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-08-02-who-would-you-be/A quote by Frank Serpico, by way of writer Lawrence Grobel, by way of Metafilter:Wed, 02 Aug 2017 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedquotesmoralityidentityhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-07-30-seminars-and-scarcities/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-07-30-seminars-and-scarcities/Catching up on the Crooked Timber archives today, I saw they’ve done several seminars since last I looked, on three books/series I’d love to read: Jo…Sun, 30 Jul 2017 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedartificial scarcityscarcityfree cultureexpensive worldada palmerjo waltoncory doctorowcrooked timberhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-07-25-if-it-takes-starting-a-war-for-us-to-meet-it-will-have-been-worth-it/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-07-25-if-it-takes-starting-a-war-for-us-to-meet-it-will-have-been-worth-it/So I read Kushner’s statement today, which includes the line “I am not a person who has sought the spotlight” and, well, I couldn’t help myself.Tue, 25 Jul 2017 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedpoliticshamiltonfilks@plaidadderthe true founder of the genrewritinghttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-07-24-mathematical-history-and-cultural-development/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-07-24-mathematical-history-and-cultural-development/So I’m watching my way through this pop math YouTube channel 3Blue1Brown and out of nowhere comes this extraordinarily fascinating fact: the ancient…Mon, 24 Jul 2017 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedplimpton 322cuneiform tabletshistorymathinterpretationhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-07-17-readings-on-activist-culture/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-07-17-readings-on-activist-culture/My friend Sumana Harihareswara recently posted a great collection of links on ‘call-out culture’ to MetaFilter.Mon, 17 Jul 2017 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedno commentaryjust a resource dumphttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-07-13-openly-structured-communities/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-07-13-openly-structured-communities/If someone asks me, “What is open source software?”, I have an obvious answer: “Software that is licensed as open source and makes its source code available…Thu, 13 Jul 2017 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedopennessstructurelessnessthe tyranny of structurelessnessopen sourceopen scienceopen communitieshttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-04-13-when-thing-z-is-problematic/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-04-13-when-thing-z-is-problematic/I have seen this argument happen over and over again, especially in progressive spaces.Thu, 13 Apr 2017 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-02-14-law-like-love-by-wh-auden/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-02-14-law-like-love-by-wh-auden/For Valentine’s Day, I want to talk about the poem I posted the other day, “Law, Like Love” by WH Auden, and why it means so much to me.Tue, 14 Feb 2017 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedpoetrylawgovernmentpoliticshttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-02-12-points-and-patterns/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-02-12-points-and-patterns/I’ve been thinking recently about the human tendency to try to put things in context, to search for patterns across different situations and conversations.…Sun, 12 Feb 2017 00:00:00 GMTDuly NotedI don't even know what to tag this asphilosophy?debate?conversational dynamics?let's go with:half-finished thoughtsthat can be my short-hand tag for 'I've no idea where i'm going with this but let's get going'https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-02-10-law-like-love/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2017-02-10-law-like-love/Law, say the gardeners, is the sun, Law is the one All gardeners obey To-morrow, yesterday, to-day.Fri, 10 Feb 2017 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedpoetrypoliticslawhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2016-12-01-post-153915013337/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2016-12-01-post-153915013337/What's left?Thu, 01 Dec 2016 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notednot giving uppoliticsfandombuffy the vampire slayerhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2016-11-29-not-giving-up/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2016-11-29-not-giving-up/I visited House Oversight Committee Chair Jason Chaffetz’s office today. If there’s nothing else good to say about him (and there may not be) at the very…Tue, 29 Nov 2016 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedpoliticstaking actionsymbolic gesturesnot giving uphttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2016-07-30-let-s-say/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2016-07-30-let-s-say/Let’s say you’ve got an engineer or other employee who costs you $150,000 a year in salary & benefits. And let’s say they lose just 2 days a year to dealing…Sat, 30 Jul 2016 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedcomputershttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2016-05-20-attention-grabbing/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2016-05-20-attention-grabbing/While I am apparently on a recommendation kick, let me share with you this essay: How Technology Hijacks People’s Minds. Have a handful of thought-provoking…Fri, 20 May 2016 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedtechnologydesignrecommendationshttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2016-05-20-fandom/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2016-05-20-fandom/I’m not usually one for podcasts, but I discovered @fansplaining a few weeks ago and have really been getting a kick out of it. It is a “podcast by, about,…Fri, 20 May 2016 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedfandompodcastsrecommendationlinguisticshttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2016-05-11-a-bit-of-a-scrape/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2016-05-11-a-bit-of-a-scrape/Earlier today a friend/former colleague of mine linked to a dataset on the OpenScienceFramework with the commentary “OKCupid released some of their data!“…Wed, 11 May 2016 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedethicsdata scienceweb scrapingdigital privacyprivacycomputershttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2016-05-02-a-python-testing-demo/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2016-05-02-a-python-testing-demo/The intro to testing session I ran on Saturday went well. Unfortunately the resolution on Hangouts on Air recordings is not good enough to read my code, so…Mon, 02 May 2016 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedpythontestingcodeteachingtutorialsworkshopcomputershttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2016-05-01-for-international-workers-day/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2016-05-01-for-international-workers-day/This was originally posted to my now-offline personal blog on February 15th, 2014. I’m reposting it now in honor of International Workers Day.Sun, 01 May 2016 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedlabor daysick leavebereavement leavehttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2016-04-24-testing-1-2-3/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2016-04-24-testing-1-2-3/This Saturday at 11am EST I’ll be running a remote workshop with PyLadies on getting started with testing. If you’re a lady or genderqueer/non-binary person…Sun, 24 Apr 2016 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedcomputershttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2016-04-19-i-came-up-with-over-a-dozen-app-related-puns-for-this-title-and-they-were-all-ap/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2016-04-19-i-came-up-with-over-a-dozen-app-related-puns-for-this-title-and-they-were-all-ap/Last fall I had a bit of free time and thought I’d try out making apps. It was definitely a learning experience! I got to work with Java for the first time…Tue, 19 Apr 2016 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedprojectshttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2016-04-02-rules-and-values-and-their-discontents/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2016-04-02-rules-and-values-and-their-discontents/I read a comment recently about the rules for bidding on government contracts. This isn’t the comment, but it gets at the same issue, which stuck with me:Sat, 02 Apr 2016 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2016-03-27-hat-cookies-forever/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2016-03-27-hat-cookies-forever/I have never much liked Hamentaschen but it turns out “cookie” and “hat-shaped” are not terribly limiting constraints and much deliciousness can be fit…Sun, 27 Mar 2016 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedrecipespurimhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2016-03-23-conf/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2016-03-23-conf/So, LibrePlanet happened this weekend. It’s one of my favorite conferences, and not just because it’s local. This year Deb Nicholson and I ran a…Wed, 23 Mar 2016 00:00:00 GMTDuly NotedconferencesworkshopstalksFLOSSgood for your teeth and your soulcomputershttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2016-03-04-what-s-a-pirate-s-favorite-programming-language/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2016-03-04-what-s-a-pirate-s-favorite-programming-language/Today I had the pleasure of speaking to a Mozilla study group about The Little R’er. The Little R’er is a project of mine from about a year ago - it’s…Fri, 04 Mar 2016 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedprogrammingstatsrsilent recyclingcomputershttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2016-02-18-debugging-notes/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2016-02-18-debugging-notes/I spent a couple of hours today wrestling with encodings. Writing out the details here to help me remember, and perhaps save someone else from grief.Thu, 18 Feb 2016 00:00:00 GMTDuly Noteddebuggingpythonencodingdeveloper notebookcomputershttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2016-02-10-are-you-anti-oxidant/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2016-02-10-are-you-anti-oxidant/A friend shared this image on Facebook. I thought it was pretty funny, although perhaps not for the reasons its creator thought it was funny:Wed, 10 Feb 2016 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedsciencebiologyi have a love hate relationship with oxygenhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2016-02-07-how-to-find-a-statistically-significant-other/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2016-02-07-how-to-find-a-statistically-significant-other/Modern dating is full of choices, whether between strangers at a bar or profiles on OkCupid. With so many options, it’s important to be rigorous in your…Sun, 07 Feb 2016 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedpunsstatisticsdatinghttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2016-02-03-can-openers-python-imports-and-other-illusions/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2016-02-03-can-openers-python-imports-and-other-illusions/There’s a body of research literature showing that people overestimate how well they can explain phenomena. Ask someone whether they understand how a can…Wed, 03 Feb 2016 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedprogrammingcognitioncan openers are pretty cool actuallycomputershttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2016-01-25-self-and-performance/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2016-01-25-self-and-performance/When David Bowie died two weeks ago, I felt sad, but it was nothing compared to the outpouring of grief and remembrance from friends and from the culture at…Mon, 25 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2016-01-23-that-feeling-when/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2016-01-23-that-feeling-when/That feeling when someone links you to Leslie Odom Jr singing a mashup of the two best musical theater ballads Stars and Wait For It and you spend the next…Sat, 23 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedmusichamiltonles mishttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2016-01-19-another-year-another-mystery-hunt/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2016-01-19-another-year-another-mystery-hunt/Mystery Hunt was this past weekend and as usual I enjoyed the hell out of it. Highlights included Molly’s epic history rap battle, every puzzle name in the…Tue, 19 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedmystery is happeninghttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2016-01-10-to-whom-the-earth-belongs/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2016-01-10-to-whom-the-earth-belongs/Inspired by this letter from Thomas Jefferson to James Madison.Sun, 10 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedwritingspeculative fictionphilosophyjeffersonhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2016-01-03-some-books/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2016-01-03-some-books/I’ve been reading a lot lately, but slowly. My new note-taking system seems to double or even triple how long it takes me to get through a book. Part of me…Sun, 03 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedbooksrecommendationshttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2016-01-02-update/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2016-01-02-update/Whoops I am falling behind on Iron Blogger. I’ve been busy with a lot of stuff, and have yet to master the art of the casual update, apparently.Sat, 02 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedpicturespersonalposts for the iron godhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2015-12-17-stories-we-can-t-stop-telling/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2015-12-17-stories-we-can-t-stop-telling/I’ve seen a lot of trickster villains recently. Of course, tricksters are nothing new under the sun - they’ve been an archetype for a very long time - but…Thu, 17 Dec 2015 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notednarrativestrickstersarchetypeslife storiesspoilersbatmanjokerbbc serlocksherlock holmesmoriartyavengerslokidoctor whothe masterharriet joneshttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2015-12-13-adventures-in-cake/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2015-12-13-adventures-in-cake/For my birthday this weekend I tried to make a Zoetrope cake. I was inspired by Alexandre Dubosc, whose cakes you should definitely look at after this one,…Sun, 13 Dec 2015 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedzoetropecakezoetrope cakekitchen engineeringprojectshttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2015-12-10-this-recipe/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2015-12-10-this-recipe/For the record, this recipe is way easier than it looks, and super tasty.Thu, 10 Dec 2015 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedrecipesbakingtoo pretty to eatjust kidding we ate all of ithttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2015-12-07-two-language-authentication/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2015-12-07-two-language-authentication/Last year I participated in a novel and exciting meta-analysis project called Many Analysts, One Dataset. A single dataset was given to researchers in over…Mon, 07 Dec 2015 00:00:00 GMTDuly Noteddata analysispythonrto test is not enoughtwo language authenticationcomputershttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2015-11-23-romeo-v-juliet/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2015-11-23-romeo-v-juliet/ROMEO Montague, Pitcher for the New York Yankees Jason JULIET, Backup Shortstop for the Boston Red SoxMon, 23 Nov 2015 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedwritingfictionsillinessfandomfilkshttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2015-11-18-1-client/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2015-11-18-1-client/Last month I quietly launched a new company, Galaxy Rise Consulting. Yesterday, my first client Sumana Harihareswara less quietly launched hernew company,…Wed, 18 Nov 2015 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedconsultingweb developmentmobile developmentmilestoneshttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2015-11-17-speaking-goals/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2015-11-17-speaking-goals/Chiu-Ki and Cate from Technically Speaking have challenged people to make and publish a list of public speaking goals for 2016. My goals for this year are…Tue, 17 Nov 2015 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedpublic speakinghttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2015-11-14-bassel-khartabil/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2015-11-14-bassel-khartabil/Earlier this month I participated in a book sprint to raise awareness of the imprisonment of Bassel Khartabil by the Syrian government. Now, it is rumored…Sat, 14 Nov 2015 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedfreebasselprojectshttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2015-11-10-django-girls/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2015-11-10-django-girls/I did an interview with Django Girls. You can read it here.Tue, 10 Nov 2015 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedprogrammingdjangoanywhere but herecomputershttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2015-11-10-sudo-make-me-an-operating-system/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2015-11-10-sudo-make-me-an-operating-system/Yesterday I backed up my entire computer, deleted and resized some partitions, and then attempted to upgrade my operating system from 32-bit to 64-bit. I…Tue, 10 Nov 2015 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedpoof! you're an operating systemsudosysadminpunsfailure is always an optioncomputershttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2015-11-06-the-end-of-an-error-kind-of/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2015-11-06-the-end-of-an-error-kind-of/I missed this paper when it went around last week: The prevalence of statistical reporting errors in psychology (1985–2013). Daniel Lakens has a very good…Fri, 06 Nov 2015 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedsciencereproducibilityarrrrrrrrrcomputershttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2015-11-05-probably-not-the-best-place-for-a-code-snippet/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2015-11-05-probably-not-the-best-place-for-a-code-snippet/Making icons for Android is pretty tedious, until you realize you can manage everything with a shell script:Thu, 05 Nov 2015 00:00:00 GMTDuly Noteddeveloper notebookcode snippetscommand line magiccomputershttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2015-10-30-mobile-debugging/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2015-10-30-mobile-debugging/I recently made myself a new personal website, and I noticed there were a couple of problems with the mobile version: the font-awesome icons weren’t…Fri, 30 Oct 2015 00:00:00 GMTDuly Noteddebuggingdeveloper notebookcomputershttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2015-10-29-partisanship-on-display/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2015-10-29-partisanship-on-display/Note: tumblr ate the initial, more comprehensive version of this post. :( Feel free to ping me for more details.Thu, 29 Oct 2015 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedpoliticscampaign financeslouching towards plutocracylet's take a moment to savor the fact that twilight is the least problematic book on that shelfhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2015-10-27-aunthood/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2015-10-27-aunthood/It’s hard to trick my niece - she wasn’t born yesterday, you know!Tue, 27 Oct 2015 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedpersonalfamilyphotosmetairon bloggerbabies are surprisingly heavyhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2015-10-20-proof-is-the-bottom-line-for-everyone/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2015-10-20-proof-is-the-bottom-line-for-everyone/A few days ago I was playing Set with friends when one of them asked how many cards could be put down without making any sets. Someone else responded that…Tue, 20 Oct 2015 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedlogiccard gamesit's possible that would have gone faster with combinatorics'no more of that game now' tom said unsettledhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2015-10-10-schroedinger-s-scientist/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2015-10-10-schroedinger-s-scientist/The other day, as I was sipping hot chocolate and talking with my college friend Cora about the play Copenhagen, I had a thought:Sat, 10 Oct 2015 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedtheaterphysicsstatisticsyes I have a to-ponder listit's like a to-do list but way more fungo see copenhagen it's fantasticdon't be a player haterokay sorry that was awfulhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2015-10-05-introduction/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2015-10-05-introduction/It’s been about a year since I’ve blogged regularly. My perfectionist tendencies started getting the best of me - every post needed to be essay-like,…Mon, 05 Oct 2015 00:00:00 GMTDuly Notedintroductionsmetairon bloggerkittens!https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-08-05-comprehensive-review-of-uss-clinical-trials-system-needed/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-08-05-comprehensive-review-of-uss-clinical-trials-system-needed/An editorial in Nature by Arthur Ammann points out a number of problems with our current clinical trial system:Mon, 05 Aug 2013 00:00:00 GMTMeta-sciencesource: Natureauthor: Ammannresearch ethicsethnocentrismhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-08-05-daisy-chained-replications/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-08-05-daisy-chained-replications/This is a little old - I’m going through my bookmarks - but:Mon, 05 Aug 2013 00:00:00 GMTMeta-sciencereplicationsopennessjournal: Natureauthor: Kahnemanhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-08-05-these-problems-are-not-new/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-08-05-these-problems-are-not-new/From a paper published in 1945 by Vannevar Bush, head of the U.S. Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD) during World War II:Mon, 05 Aug 2013 00:00:00 GMTMeta-scienceauthor: Bushsource: The Atlanticmeta-analysisorganization of knowledgehttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-08-05-university-of-california-opens-one-door-and-closes-another/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-08-05-university-of-california-opens-one-door-and-closes-another/The recent announcement that the University of California - the world’s largest public university system - will be embracing open access has been meet with…Mon, 05 Aug 2013 00:00:00 GMTMeta-scienceopen accessmoney in scienceauthor: BondGrahamsource: East Bay Expressconflict of interesthttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-06-23-retractions-as-political-statement/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-06-23-retractions-as-political-statement/From Retraction Watch, a story about a retraction is really a story about Nature’s failure to publish a refutation:Sun, 23 Jun 2013 00:00:00 GMTMeta-scienceretractionsjournal: Natureauthor: Vauxeditorial policypublication biashttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-05-19-pressure-to-publish-and-the-prevalence-of-positive-results/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-05-19-pressure-to-publish-and-the-prevalence-of-positive-results/This PLoS One study attempted to look at how pressure to publish might influence the prevalence of positive results. The author, Daniele Fanelli, made an…Sun, 19 May 2013 00:00:00 GMTMeta-sciencejournal: PLOS oneauthor: Fanellipublication biaspublish or perishhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-05-16-solutions-open-science-data-cloud/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-05-16-solutions-open-science-data-cloud/This article about Bionimbus, about an effort to efficiently and securely share cancer genomics data, mentions the Open Science Data Cloud. The OSDC is a…Thu, 16 May 2013 00:00:00 GMTMeta-sciencesolutionssource: phys.orgopen datasecurityplatformshttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-05-09-softer-sciences-publish-more-positive-results/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-05-09-softer-sciences-publish-more-positive-results/A colleague referenced this 2010 paper which measures proportion of positive results by scientific discipline.Thu, 09 May 2013 00:00:00 GMTMeta-sciencejournal: PLOS oneauthor: Fanellipublication biasmeta-analysiscomparing disciplineshttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-04-30-copyleft-for-experimental-data/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-04-30-copyleft-for-experimental-data/A quick note on an interesting point raised by Roger Peng:Tue, 30 Apr 2013 00:00:00 GMTMeta-scienceopen accesscopyleftpre-registrationsource: the scholarly kitchensource: simply statisticshttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-04-27-solutions-p-curves/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-04-27-solutions-p-curves/A paper and associated web-based tool have been proposed to detect publication bias and p-hacking in the literature. From the paper:Sat, 27 Apr 2013 00:00:00 GMTMeta-sciencesolutionspublication biasp-hackingstatisticsstatistical powerauthor: Simonsohnauthor: Simmonshttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-04-26-methods-reporting-in-the-fmri-literature/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-04-26-methods-reporting-in-the-fmri-literature/I spent three years working in fMRI labs. To this day it’s not clear to me if the field has exceptionally ambiguous standards, or if it’s only one of many…Fri, 26 Apr 2013 00:00:00 GMTMeta-scienceneuroimagingjournal: NeuroImagestatistical powerdegrees of freedomresearcher degrees of freedomstandardsmethodshttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-04-16-coding-error-influences-public-policy/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-04-16-coding-error-influences-public-policy/There’s an op ed in the New York Times about how a coding error in an economics article may have had profoundly negative influence on economic policy:Tue, 16 Apr 2013 00:00:00 GMTMeta-scienceopen accessraw datatransparencymethodssource: new york timesjournal: national bureau of economic researchhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-04-10-power-failure/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-04-10-power-failure/There’s a new article out in Nature Reviews Neuroscience about the failure of scientific studies in general (and neuroscience and fMRI studies in…Wed, 10 Apr 2013 00:00:00 GMTMeta-sciencejournal: Nature Reviews Neurosciencesource: National Geographicstatistical errorsstatistical powerpublication biasneuroimagingauthor: Nosekauthor: Ioannidishttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-03-12-fraud-on-the-rise-especially-in-the-united-states-and-in-high-impact-journals/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-03-12-fraud-on-the-rise-especially-in-the-united-states-and-in-high-impact-journals/An article in the Washington Post details an alleged case of Fraud which led to an as-yet-uncorrected Nature paper and a suicide:Tue, 12 Mar 2013 00:00:00 GMTMeta-sciencefraudpublish or perishfundingretractionssource: the washington postjournal: PNAShttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-02-27-avoidable-waste-in-the-production-and-reporting-of-research-evidence/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-02-27-avoidable-waste-in-the-production-and-reporting-of-research-evidence/An opinion article from Iain Chalmers (of the very well regarded though not fully open access Cochrane Collaboration) and Paul Glasziou (of the Center for…Wed, 27 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMTMeta-scienceclinical trialswastestandardsmeta-analysisstudy registrationconflict of interestacademic culturepublish or perishjournal: the Lancethttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-02-24-obama-administration-enacts-qualified-open-access/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-02-24-obama-administration-enacts-qualified-open-access/The Obama administration has announced that all research funded by federal agencies (with R&D budgets greater than $100 million) should be made open access…Sun, 24 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMTMeta-scienceopen accessopen sciencegovernmentfundinghttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-02-21-the-harm-done-by-tests-of-significance/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-02-21-the-harm-done-by-tests-of-significance/An interesting article from Accident Analysis and Prevention from 2004 goes over three case studies where Null Hypothesis Significance Testing may have cost…Thu, 21 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMTMeta-sciencesignificance testingjournal: Accident Analysis and Preventionstatisticsstatistical errorsmeta-analysishttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-02-21-why-paywalls-have-to-go/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-02-21-why-paywalls-have-to-go/On the PLoS blog, an article from Jack Andraka, winner of the 2012 Intel Science prize for the invention of a dip stick test for pancreatic cancer, on…Thu, 21 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMTMeta-scienceopen accesssource: PLoS blogspaywallshttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-02-12-correcting-the-lies-that-data-tell/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-02-12-correcting-the-lies-that-data-tell/Found this interesting paper from a couple years ago: Detecting and Correcting the Lies that Data Tellby F Schmidt.Tue, 12 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMTMeta-sciencestatisticsstatistical errorsstandardsmeta-analysisjournal: PoPShttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-02-12-open-access-and-its-consequences/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-02-12-open-access-and-its-consequences/This post at the Scholarly Kitchen touches on a number of arguments against mandatory CC-BY licensing. They’re all worth talking about, although none seem…Tue, 12 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMTMeta-sciencesource: the scholarly kitchenopen accesslicensingdigital dividehttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-02-11-trials-with-positive-results-published-faster-more-often-than-trials-with-negati/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-02-11-trials-with-positive-results-published-faster-more-often-than-trials-with-negati/A new PLoS one paper looked at the outcome of 1054 trials submitted to the ethics committee of a major Spanish hospital from 1997-2004. This flowchart…Mon, 11 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMTMeta-sciencejournal: PLOS onepublication biasclinical trialshttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-02-06-conflict-of-interest-in-pubmedcentral-indexing/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-02-06-conflict-of-interest-in-pubmedcentral-indexing/It’s been my experience that I wildly disagree with some of the fundamental values of the folks at Scholarly Kitchen, but I get a lot out of their posts and…Wed, 06 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMTMeta-sciencesource: the scholarly kitchencorruptiondatabasesconflict of interesthttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-02-04-ben-goldacres-petition-to-register-all-trials/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-02-04-ben-goldacres-petition-to-register-all-trials/A relevant follow up to the last post. Science critic Ben Goldacre has a new project: a petition to get all trials registered and to enforce reporting…Mon, 04 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMTMeta-scienceclinical trialsstudy registrationsource: Ben Goldacrehttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-02-04-most-trials-subject-to-mandatory-reporting-do-not-report-within-a-year/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-02-04-most-trials-subject-to-mandatory-reporting-do-not-report-within-a-year/An article in BMJ explores how well registered trials adhere to reporting deadlines.Mon, 04 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMTMeta-scienceclinical trialsstudy registrationjournal: BMJcorporationsbig pharmahttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-02-04-no-clear-evidence-on-how-pharmaceutical-promotions-influence-prescribing/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-02-04-no-clear-evidence-on-how-pharmaceutical-promotions-influence-prescribing/A new PLoS Medicine report investigated how pharmaceutical promotions and advertising influence prescriptions:Mon, 04 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMTMeta-sciencebig pharmabiasmeta-analysisjournal: PLoS Medicinehttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-02-01-the-long-way-from-error-control-to-validity-proper/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-02-01-the-long-way-from-error-control-to-validity-proper/Back in November, Perspectives on Psychological Science put out a special issue on replicability. I’ll be attempting to summarize each of the articles in…Fri, 01 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMTMeta-sciencereplicationfalse negativesjournal: PoPSspecial issue projecthttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-01-31-misuses-of-models-overstates-significance/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-01-31-misuses-of-models-overstates-significance/A brief comment points out a major flaw in a published study, in part by using simulations:Thu, 31 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMTMeta-sciencestatistical errorsstatisticssimulationshttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-01-30-most-medical-research-true-or-false/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-01-30-most-medical-research-true-or-false/A friend forwarded me this paper, “Empirical estimates suggest most published medical research is true”, perhaps in an attempt to challenge my cynicism. I…Wed, 30 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMTMeta-sciencefield: medicinepublication biassource: andrew gelmansource: arvixhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-01-30-study-on-data-compliance-unearths-incorrect-analyses/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-01-30-study-on-data-compliance-unearths-incorrect-analyses/A post at Retraction Watch summarizes the situation:Wed, 30 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMTMeta-sciencereproducibilityopen accessraw dataretractionssource: retraction watchhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-01-15-bias-in-reporting-efficacy-and-toxicity-in-breast-cancer-trials/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-01-15-bias-in-reporting-efficacy-and-toxicity-in-breast-cancer-trials/A recent paper did an analysis of breast cancer studies published over the last 16 years. They evaluated 164 trials and looked at whether results re: the…Tue, 15 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMTMeta-sciencesource: new york timesjournal: annals of oncologypublication biashttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-01-15-is-the-replicability-crisis-overblown-three-arguments-explained/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-01-15-is-the-replicability-crisis-overblown-three-arguments-explained/Back in November, Perspectives on Psychological Science put outa special issue on replicability. I’ll be attempting to summarize each of the articles in…Tue, 15 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMTMeta-sciencereplicationjournal: PoPSspecial issue projecthttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-01-03-replicability-in-psychology-research/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-01-03-replicability-in-psychology-research/Perspectives on Psychological Science recently came out with a special issue on replicability in psychology research and its implications for the…Thu, 03 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMTMeta-sciencereplicationreproducibilityjournal: PoPSspecial issue projecthttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-01-03-replications-in-psychology-research-how-often-do-they-really-occur/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-01-03-replications-in-psychology-research-how-often-do-they-really-occur/Back in November, Perspectives on Psychological Science put out a special issue on replicability. I’ll be attempting to summarize each of the articles in…Thu, 03 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMTMeta-sciencereplicationjournal: PoPSspecial issue projecthttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-01-03-science-fraud-faces-legal-threats/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-01-03-science-fraud-faces-legal-threats/Science Fraud faces legal threatsThu, 03 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMTMeta-sciencefraudbacklashhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-01-01-the-academic-cookie-jar/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2013-01-01-the-academic-cookie-jar/This review of Diederik Stapel’s autobiography quotes this interesting passage:Tue, 01 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMTMeta-scienceacademic culturefraudjournal: psychological sciencehttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-12-31-overfitting/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-12-31-overfitting/I found this 2004 article through the footnotes of Nate Silver’s book. Here are the highlights (but I recommend reading it all the way through.)Mon, 31 Dec 2012 00:00:00 GMTMeta-sciencestatisticsstatistical errorsdegrees of freedomhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-12-22-uncited-research/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-12-22-uncited-research/This article raises, for me at least, the interesting question of whether the large amount of research that remains uncited in medical/scientific literature…Sat, 22 Dec 2012 00:00:00 GMTMeta-sciencesource: the scholarly kitchencitationsmetadataacademic culturehttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-12-11-scientists-propose-central-database-for-disclosing-conflicts-of-interest/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-12-11-scientists-propose-central-database-for-disclosing-conflicts-of-interest/Scientists Propose Central Database for Disclosing Conflicts of InterestTue, 11 Dec 2012 00:00:00 GMTMeta-sciencesolutionsconflict of interestjournal: JAMAhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-12-09-the-weirdest-people-in-the-world/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-12-09-the-weirdest-people-in-the-world/This article (warning: pdf) talks in detail about how the psychology community frequently fails to account for the great diversity of cultures in our world.Sun, 09 Dec 2012 00:00:00 GMTMeta-scienceacademic cultureexperimenter biasfield: psychologyethnocentrismhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-12-07-medical-journals-are-an-extension-of-the-marketing-arm-of-pharmaceutical-compani/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-12-07-medical-journals-are-an-extension-of-the-marketing-arm-of-pharmaceutical-compani/From this article in PLoS Medicine:Fri, 07 Dec 2012 00:00:00 GMTMeta-sciencefield: medicinefraudconflict of interestcorruptioncorporationsjournal: PLoS Medicinehttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-12-07-now-is-the-time-for-transparency-and-access-to-clinical-trial-data/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-12-07-now-is-the-time-for-transparency-and-access-to-clinical-trial-data/The lack of access to clinical data has harmed patients, led to additional cost, and is preventing progress in many therapeutic areas. Rofecoxib, a…Fri, 07 Dec 2012 00:00:00 GMTMeta-sciencefield: medicineopen accessbig pharmahttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-12-05-article-level-metadata/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-12-05-article-level-metadata/Article Level MetadataWed, 05 Dec 2012 00:00:00 GMTMeta-sciencediscoverabilitymetadataopen accessopen sciencesource: the scholarly kitchensolutionshttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-11-29-citizen-science/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-11-29-citizen-science/This article focuses on making study results available to patients who are providing the medical data. But it touches on more general themes - on the right…Thu, 29 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMTMeta-scienceopen accesssource: Wall Street Journalsolutionshttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-11-29-stapel-report/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-11-29-stapel-report/Stapel ReportThu, 29 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMTMeta-sciencefraudreplicationreproducibilityacademic cultureopen sciencefield: psychologysolutionsdiedrik stapelhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-11-29-underrepresentation-of-women-in-science/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-11-29-underrepresentation-of-women-in-science/I normally do not post about sexism, racism, and other forms of bigotry in the scientific community here. While I obviously think they exist and am against…Thu, 29 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMTMeta-sciencesexismacademic culturesource: chronicle of higher educationjournal: Naturesource: new york timeshttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-11-13-figshare/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-11-13-figshare/From the copy on their website:Tue, 13 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMTMeta-scienceopen scienceopen accesssolutionshttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-11-06-retractions-stigmatize-scientific-fields-study-finds/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-11-06-retractions-stigmatize-scientific-fields-study-finds/Retractions stigmatize scientific fields, study findsTue, 06 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMTMeta-scienceretractionsfundingreputationhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-11-02-false-positive-psychology/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-11-02-false-positive-psychology/Quoting my own write up:Fri, 02 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMTMeta-sciencepublication biasresearcher degrees of freedomreplicationresearcher biassolutionsauthor: Simonsohnauthor: Simmonsjournal: Psychological Sciencehttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-05-28-i-don-t-really-believe-about-95-of-what-gets-published/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-05-28-i-don-t-really-believe-about-95-of-what-gets-published/Vaughn Bell of Mind Hacks interviews researchers about the problems with fMRI:Mon, 28 May 2012 00:00:00 GMTMeta-sciencesource: the guardianreplicationpublication biasacademic cultureneuroimagingstatisticshttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-05-28-skeletons-standards/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-05-28-skeletons-standards/Dorothy Bishop critiques a 2003 neuroimaging paper:Mon, 28 May 2012 00:00:00 GMTMeta-scienceneuroimagingretractionsstandardsstatisticsjournal: PNAShttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-05-13-a-sharp-rise-in-retraction-prompts-calls-for-reform/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-05-13-a-sharp-rise-in-retraction-prompts-calls-for-reform/[B]efore long they reached a troubling conclusion: not only that retractions were rising at an alarming rate, but that retractions were just a manifestation…Sun, 13 May 2012 00:00:00 GMTMeta-scienceretractionsacademic culturesource: New York Timesjournal: Infection and Immunityjournal: New England Journal of Medicinehttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-05-13-how-many-scientists-fabricate-and-falsify-research/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-05-13-how-many-scientists-fabricate-and-falsify-research/“A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Survey Data”Sun, 13 May 2012 00:00:00 GMTMeta-sciencejournal: PLOS oneacademic culturefraudmeta-analysishttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-05-13-pew-research-center-survey-on-science/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-05-13-pew-research-center-survey-on-science/(Lots of other interesting non-dismal-sciencey results here.)Sun, 13 May 2012 00:00:00 GMTMeta-scienceacademic culturemoney in sciencesource: Pew Research Centerhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-05-13-reforming-science/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-05-13-reforming-science/A pair of articles in Infection and Immunity. In addition to summarizing problems, they offer the following reforms (all greatly abridged in the excerpts…Sun, 13 May 2012 00:00:00 GMTMeta-sciencejournal: Infection and Immunitystatisticsacademic culturepublish or perishcollaboration vs competitionsolutionshttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-05-13-solutions-alternative-forms-of-peer-review/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-05-13-solutions-alternative-forms-of-peer-review/In the first stage, manuscripts that pass a rapid access-review are immediately typeset and published in the discussion forum in an onscreen format. They…Sun, 13 May 2012 00:00:00 GMTMeta-sciencepeer reviewsolutionshttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-05-13-solutions-crossref-org/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-05-13-solutions-crossref-org/As described in this Nature article:Sun, 13 May 2012 00:00:00 GMTMeta-sciencecross-referencingsolutionshttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-05-13-the-trouble-with-retractions/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-05-13-the-trouble-with-retractions/Perhaps surprisingly, scientists and editors broadly welcome the trend. “I don’t think there’s any doubt that we’re detecting more fraud, and that systems…Sun, 13 May 2012 00:00:00 GMTMeta-scienceretractionsjournal: Naturefraudhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-04-21-reproducibility-project/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-04-21-reproducibility-project/Reproducibility ProjectSat, 21 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMTMeta-sciencereproducibilitysolutionshttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-04-11-why-most-published-research-findings-are-false/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-04-11-why-most-published-research-findings-are-false/Why Most Published Research Findings Are FalseWed, 11 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMTMeta-sciencepublication biasmeta-analysisresearcher biasauthor: Ioannidisjournal: PLoS Medicinehttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-04-07-surely-youre-joking-the-oil-drop-experiment/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-04-07-surely-youre-joking-the-oil-drop-experiment/Surely You're Joking... : The Oil Drop ExperimentSat, 07 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMTMeta-scienceacademic culturehttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-04-05-contradicted-and-initially-stronger-effects-in-highly-cited-clinical-research/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-04-05-contradicted-and-initially-stronger-effects-in-highly-cited-clinical-research/Contradicted and Initially Stronger Effects in Highly Cited Clinical ResearchThu, 05 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMTMeta-sciencedecline effecthighly cited resultsjournal: JAMAmeta-analysisnonrandomized studiesreproducibilityhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-04-02-402-citations-questioning-the-indiscriminate-use-of-null-hypothesis/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-04-02-402-citations-questioning-the-indiscriminate-use-of-null-hypothesis/402 Citations Questioning the Indiscriminate Use of Null Hypothesis Significance Tests in Observational StudiesMon, 02 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMTMeta-sciencesignificance testingfurther readinghttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-03-31-the-decline-effect-and-the-scientific-method/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-03-31-the-decline-effect-and-the-scientific-method/The decline effect and the scientific methodSat, 31 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMTMeta-sciencedecline effectpublication biasessaysource: New Yorkerreproducibilityreplicationfield: psychologyfield: biologyhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-03-23-walking-fast-and-slow/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-03-23-walking-fast-and-slow/Walking Fast and SlowFri, 23 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMTMeta-sciencepsychologyexperimenter biasreplicationjournal: PLOS onehttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-03-23-we-must-stop-the-avalanche-of-low-quality-research/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-03-23-we-must-stop-the-avalanche-of-low-quality-research/We Must Stop The Avalanche of Low Quality ResearchFri, 23 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMTMeta-scienceacademic culturepublish or perishhttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-03-15-if-you-want-reproducible-science-the-software-needs-to-be-open-source/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-03-15-if-you-want-reproducible-science-the-software-needs-to-be-open-source/If you want reproducible science, the software needs to be open source.Thu, 15 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMTMeta-scienceopen sciencereproducibilityprogrammingjournal: Naturehttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-03-15-solutions-dryad-data-repository/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-03-15-solutions-dryad-data-repository/Solutions: Dryad Data RepositoryThu, 15 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMTMeta-sciencedatasolutionsreproducibilityopen sciencehttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-03-12-journal-disavows-study-touted-by-abortion-foes/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-03-12-journal-disavows-study-touted-by-abortion-foes/Journal Disavows Study Touted By Abortion FoesMon, 12 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMTMeta-scienceconflict of interestscience and politicsstatisticspoliticized sciencehttps://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-03-11-how-corporations-corrupt-science-at-the-publics-expense/https://blog.shaunagm.net/posts/2012-03-11-how-corporations-corrupt-science-at-the-publics-expense/How Corporations Corrupt Science at the Public's ExpenseSun, 11 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMTMeta-sciencecorruptioncorporationsfraudsuppression of informationghostwritingmoney in science