Jasmine Otto
@jatazak.bsky.social
Visualization researcher in SF Bay, building intelligent interfaces for critical technical practitioners. On the job market.
PhD Computational Media, UC Santa Cruz. https://jazztap.github.io/
PhD Computational Media, UC Santa Cruz. https://jazztap.github.io/
Pinned
Multiplayer Bitsy by jatazak
make bitsy games with friends
jatazak.itch.io
Want to make a game with friends in two hours? Here's a Bitsy for that. Just share the link from your address bar.
jatazak.itch.io/multiplayer-...
jatazak.itch.io/multiplayer-...
Reposted by Jasmine Otto
earlier this summer I published my first paper of my phd! ✨ a qualitative study on how creative writers are using AI in their writing and what their strategies were in order to align with their personal writing values
September 9, 2025 at 8:37 PM
earlier this summer I published my first paper of my phd! ✨ a qualitative study on how creative writers are using AI in their writing and what their strategies were in order to align with their personal writing values
Reposted by Jasmine Otto
It’s easy to see WHY the field of cybernetics was betrayed by the circumstances of its most favored founders and adherents. The early participants invited to the early Macy Conferences were overwhelmingly white and male. It was 1942. Segregation was the norm in New York.
February 16, 2026 at 1:26 PM
It’s easy to see WHY the field of cybernetics was betrayed by the circumstances of its most favored founders and adherents. The early participants invited to the early Macy Conferences were overwhelmingly white and male. It was 1942. Segregation was the norm in New York.
Reposted by Jasmine Otto
"Just as the invention [of industrial automation] had the paradoxical effect of turning more [people] into full-time industrial workers, so has all the software designed to save us from administrative responsibilities turned us into part- or full-time administrators"
— David Graeber
— David Graeber
February 16, 2026 at 5:31 PM
"Just as the invention [of industrial automation] had the paradoxical effect of turning more [people] into full-time industrial workers, so has all the software designed to save us from administrative responsibilities turned us into part- or full-time administrators"
— David Graeber
— David Graeber
Reposted by Jasmine Otto
Reposted by Jasmine Otto
LLMs are worse at telling suspenseful stories than at other writing. IMO, widespread view that this is because they lack “originality” or “artistry” marks a giant failure of 20c lit crit.
In school we learn everything about stories but the main point: which is to entertain readers by misleading. +
In school we learn everything about stories but the main point: which is to entertain readers by misleading. +
February 13, 2026 at 12:02 PM
LLMs are worse at telling suspenseful stories than at other writing. IMO, widespread view that this is because they lack “originality” or “artistry” marks a giant failure of 20c lit crit.
In school we learn everything about stories but the main point: which is to entertain readers by misleading. +
In school we learn everything about stories but the main point: which is to entertain readers by misleading. +
Reposted by Jasmine Otto
Enjoying and admiring this piece from @mjcrockett.bsky.social on 'Empathy, thick and thin' papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
This is my fave kind of review: generous, well-informed, and opinionated. Citing judiciously, cutting through tangles without losing the thread, showing new vistas
This is my fave kind of review: generous, well-informed, and opinionated. Citing judiciously, cutting through tangles without losing the thread, showing new vistas
papers.ssrn.com
February 10, 2026 at 7:16 PM
Enjoying and admiring this piece from @mjcrockett.bsky.social on 'Empathy, thick and thin' papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
This is my fave kind of review: generous, well-informed, and opinionated. Citing judiciously, cutting through tangles without losing the thread, showing new vistas
This is my fave kind of review: generous, well-informed, and opinionated. Citing judiciously, cutting through tangles without losing the thread, showing new vistas
Reposted by Jasmine Otto
& ICYMI, I'm hiring at SF Digital Services! if you are or know an strong eng leader with amazing communication skills & a civic bent (already pursued or nascent!) please read this thread!!
hallo, I am hiring again! - SF Digital Services is looking for a new Engineering Director careers.sf.gov/role/?id=374...
This reports directly to me, & I’m looking for a practical & flexible technical expert with excellent communication & coaching skills, who is excited to do both. More below...
This reports directly to me, & I’m looking for a practical & flexible technical expert with excellent communication & coaching skills, who is excited to do both. More below...
Engineering Director - Digital Services (0932)
The Office of the City Administrator and its 25+ divisions and departments operate core internal and public-facing services in San Francisco. The Office of the City Administrator’s Mission and Visio...
careers.sf.gov
February 9, 2026 at 3:52 PM
& ICYMI, I'm hiring at SF Digital Services! if you are or know an strong eng leader with amazing communication skills & a civic bent (already pursued or nascent!) please read this thread!!
Reposted by Jasmine Otto
Interesting reflection on the "sentimental" aesthetic of AI agents performing self-consciousness. I like the idea that it can be more interesting to let them be pure theater, i.e., full inhabitation of persona without getting tripped up on self-awareness
Well, I went ahead and wrote it. An attempt to work through the discomfort people feel with AI agents on social media by reframing it as an aesthetic problem.
The marionette theater of AI
Is it funny, or painful, when bots talk about their inner lives?
tedunderwood.com
February 8, 2026 at 11:24 PM
Interesting reflection on the "sentimental" aesthetic of AI agents performing self-consciousness. I like the idea that it can be more interesting to let them be pure theater, i.e., full inhabitation of persona without getting tripped up on self-awareness
Reposted by Jasmine Otto
I drew Ethel Cain in MacPaint from 1984 with a 25 year old mouse
February 5, 2026 at 11:10 PM
I drew Ethel Cain in MacPaint from 1984 with a 25 year old mouse
Reposted by Jasmine Otto
Going to be reupping this periodically over the next month. Have thoughts about traditional craft work? A project on where traditional and platform economies collide? Analog/digital relationship in craft and creative work? Send me an abstract.
Call for papers: for a special issue on contemporary craft work and digital economies. See below and alt text.
January 31, 2026 at 7:27 PM
Going to be reupping this periodically over the next month. Have thoughts about traditional craft work? A project on where traditional and platform economies collide? Analog/digital relationship in craft and creative work? Send me an abstract.
Reposted by Jasmine Otto
As you may know, we are running a conference on games, play, and climate futures in May at the ITU Copenhagen: playingfutures.today
Some news: the deadline for abstracts has been extended to February 20th. Now you have no excuses left not to submit!
Some news: the deadline for abstracts has been extended to February 20th. Now you have no excuses left not to submit!
Playing Futures
Playing Futures is a conference about the role of games and play during and after the impending climate and energy catastrophes. The goal of the conference is to serve as a meeting point for the commu...
playingfutures.today
February 4, 2026 at 10:26 AM
As you may know, we are running a conference on games, play, and climate futures in May at the ITU Copenhagen: playingfutures.today
Some news: the deadline for abstracts has been extended to February 20th. Now you have no excuses left not to submit!
Some news: the deadline for abstracts has been extended to February 20th. Now you have no excuses left not to submit!
Reposted by Jasmine Otto
After four months of edits and multiple mental breakdowns, I am delighted to announce the release of *Logic for Programmers* v0.13! All content is in, all that's left is copyediting (and technical editing and layout and proofreading and)
logicforprogrammers.com
logicforprogrammers.com
Logic for Programmers
The mathematics that will help you in your everyday programming.
logicforprogrammers.com
February 3, 2026 at 4:55 PM
After four months of edits and multiple mental breakdowns, I am delighted to announce the release of *Logic for Programmers* v0.13! All content is in, all that's left is copyediting (and technical editing and layout and proofreading and)
logicforprogrammers.com
logicforprogrammers.com
Reposted by Jasmine Otto
New Post: Magpie (Part One) 🐦⬛
Magpie is my tool for livecoding visuals, made inside #picotron! This post explains what livecoding is (briefly), what Picotron is (also briefly), and shows a bit of what Magpie can do.
www.possibilityspace.org/blog/posts/m...
Magpie is my tool for livecoding visuals, made inside #picotron! This post explains what livecoding is (briefly), what Picotron is (also briefly), and shows a bit of what Magpie can do.
www.possibilityspace.org/blog/posts/m...
December 14, 2025 at 12:45 PM
New Post: Magpie (Part One) 🐦⬛
Magpie is my tool for livecoding visuals, made inside #picotron! This post explains what livecoding is (briefly), what Picotron is (also briefly), and shows a bit of what Magpie can do.
www.possibilityspace.org/blog/posts/m...
Magpie is my tool for livecoding visuals, made inside #picotron! This post explains what livecoding is (briefly), what Picotron is (also briefly), and shows a bit of what Magpie can do.
www.possibilityspace.org/blog/posts/m...
Reposted by Jasmine Otto
Three factors matter here: (cognitive) availability means the algorithm is built on concepts users already reason with, (conceptual) compactness means those concepts cohere to a single construct, and alignment means people and the algorithm apply the concept in similar ways.
January 29, 2026 at 6:49 PM
Three factors matter here: (cognitive) availability means the algorithm is built on concepts users already reason with, (conceptual) compactness means those concepts cohere to a single construct, and alignment means people and the algorithm apply the concept in similar ways.
Reposted by Jasmine Otto
I really wish #OpenAI would stop releasing free stochastic parrots in every community they can think of.
They sure look pretty but they are shitting all over the place and you can't have a decent conversation between humans anymore.
They sure look pretty but they are shitting all over the place and you can't have a decent conversation between humans anymore.
January 27, 2026 at 11:13 PM
I really wish #OpenAI would stop releasing free stochastic parrots in every community they can think of.
They sure look pretty but they are shitting all over the place and you can't have a decent conversation between humans anymore.
They sure look pretty but they are shitting all over the place and you can't have a decent conversation between humans anymore.
Reposted by Jasmine Otto
I'm in fruitful debates with colleagues over projects like this. Namely: how much hands-on access to code do we think developers will need in the next generation of tools? How close does it need to be?
I'm in the code-must-be-close camp, at least for the next 2 years. My bias is I do front-end...
I'm in the code-must-be-close camp, at least for the next 2 years. My bias is I do front-end...
January 3, 2026 at 9:02 AM
I'm in fruitful debates with colleagues over projects like this. Namely: how much hands-on access to code do we think developers will need in the next generation of tools? How close does it need to be?
I'm in the code-must-be-close camp, at least for the next 2 years. My bias is I do front-end...
I'm in the code-must-be-close camp, at least for the next 2 years. My bias is I do front-end...
Reposted by Jasmine Otto
Here we go...
Announcing the Visible Zorker Project and Patreon! Remember how I did Visible Zork 1 and 2? I'm going to do Zork 3, and then continue through Infocom's entire canon -- in chronological order, one per month.
blog.zarfhome.com/2026/01/the-...
Announcing the Visible Zorker Project and Patreon! Remember how I did Visible Zork 1 and 2? I'm going to do Zork 3, and then continue through Infocom's entire canon -- in chronological order, one per month.
blog.zarfhome.com/2026/01/the-...
The Visible Zorker Project (and Patreon)
Announcing the Visible Zorker Project and Patreon. The plan: deconstruct every Infocom game, one per month, and make the source code explorable.
blog.zarfhome.com
January 26, 2026 at 11:12 PM
Here we go...
Announcing the Visible Zorker Project and Patreon! Remember how I did Visible Zork 1 and 2? I'm going to do Zork 3, and then continue through Infocom's entire canon -- in chronological order, one per month.
blog.zarfhome.com/2026/01/the-...
Announcing the Visible Zorker Project and Patreon! Remember how I did Visible Zork 1 and 2? I'm going to do Zork 3, and then continue through Infocom's entire canon -- in chronological order, one per month.
blog.zarfhome.com/2026/01/the-...
Reposted by Jasmine Otto
... inevitably end up with institutions, organizations, and systems that cannot advance the interests of living, breathing, people but instead exist solely to perpetuate themselves within capitalism. Institutions spoil, like milk left out in the counter. And while *people* are precious and...
January 24, 2026 at 4:16 PM
... inevitably end up with institutions, organizations, and systems that cannot advance the interests of living, breathing, people but instead exist solely to perpetuate themselves within capitalism. Institutions spoil, like milk left out in the counter. And while *people* are precious and...
Want to make a game with friends in two hours? Here's a Bitsy for that. Just share the link from your address bar.
jatazak.itch.io/multiplayer-...
jatazak.itch.io/multiplayer-...
Multiplayer Bitsy by jatazak
make bitsy games with friends
jatazak.itch.io
January 25, 2026 at 8:54 PM
Want to make a game with friends in two hours? Here's a Bitsy for that. Just share the link from your address bar.
jatazak.itch.io/multiplayer-...
jatazak.itch.io/multiplayer-...
Reposted by Jasmine Otto
an important step in fighting competent yet vapid LLM generated text is getting really cool about the breadth human writing. it's not unprofessional to have dyslexia, write in a non-native language, struggle with spelling. communication is a team sport
January 23, 2026 at 3:47 PM
an important step in fighting competent yet vapid LLM generated text is getting really cool about the breadth human writing. it's not unprofessional to have dyslexia, write in a non-native language, struggle with spelling. communication is a team sport
Reposted by Jasmine Otto
I'm excited to share a complete draft syllabus for my new special topics class at CU Boulder, INFO 4871 Design for Accessibility.
data-and-design.org/classes/4871/
data-and-design.org/classes/4871/
INFO 4871: Design for Accessibility
We are an interdisciplinary research group at the University of Colorado Boulder that uses design to understand and reimagine socio-technical systems.
data-and-design.org
December 18, 2025 at 8:57 PM
I'm excited to share a complete draft syllabus for my new special topics class at CU Boulder, INFO 4871 Design for Accessibility.
data-and-design.org/classes/4871/
data-and-design.org/classes/4871/
Reposted by Jasmine Otto
Very happy to see our latest preprint shared by @cshc-bot.bsky.social with a survey of the LLM-enabled data visualization space featuring a team of amazing authors.
#LLMs
arxiv.org/abs/2601.14943
#LLMs
arxiv.org/abs/2601.14943
January 22, 2026 at 4:16 PM
Very happy to see our latest preprint shared by @cshc-bot.bsky.social with a survey of the LLM-enabled data visualization space featuring a team of amazing authors.
#LLMs
arxiv.org/abs/2601.14943
#LLMs
arxiv.org/abs/2601.14943
Reposted by Jasmine Otto
strudelifying hazel
(internalizing strudel.cc)
(internalizing strudel.cc)
January 17, 2026 at 6:18 PM
strudelifying hazel
(internalizing strudel.cc)
(internalizing strudel.cc)
Reposted by Jasmine Otto
The cruelty of self-promo being central to one's ability to survive as a creative is that most of the creators in my circle (myself included) have ADHD & significant executive dysfunction, especially around any task we aren't hyperfixated on.
All my mind wants to do is make the stuff!
Not sell it.
All my mind wants to do is make the stuff!
Not sell it.
If you’re wondering why a lot of creative types on here have to be in constant self-promo mode, it’s because when we aren’t, sales start to fall and we have to fix that because we enjoy having food and such.
January 15, 2026 at 8:51 PM
The cruelty of self-promo being central to one's ability to survive as a creative is that most of the creators in my circle (myself included) have ADHD & significant executive dysfunction, especially around any task we aren't hyperfixated on.
All my mind wants to do is make the stuff!
Not sell it.
All my mind wants to do is make the stuff!
Not sell it.
Reposted by Jasmine Otto
Call for Papers! We are seeking short papers that center questions and stakes of time in AI models. How do machines encode time & how do they structure our experience of time? For example, work examining the compression of labor & capitalism within AI’s infrastructures and model vectors. Details:
Call for Papers: Temporalities of AI
Job Offer from December 18, 2025
www.biblhertz.it
January 12, 2026 at 5:33 PM
Call for Papers! We are seeking short papers that center questions and stakes of time in AI models. How do machines encode time & how do they structure our experience of time? For example, work examining the compression of labor & capitalism within AI’s infrastructures and model vectors. Details: