Joe Bak-Coleman
@jbakcoleman.bsky.social
Research Scientist at the University of Washington based in Brooklyn. Also: SFI External Applied Fellow, Harvard BKC affiliate. Collective Behavior, Statistics, etc..
Little guy got a clean bill of health.
November 8, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Little guy got a clean bill of health.
Reposted by Joe Bak-Coleman
WOW a loggerhead shrike without intense heat distortion, what afind!
November 4, 2025 at 6:16 PM
WOW a loggerhead shrike without intense heat distortion, what afind!
November 5, 2025 at 1:15 AM
Reposted by Joe Bak-Coleman
The Biden administration worked hard to accomplish this new free IRS filing system. It’s astounding that one should have to pay fees in order to pay their taxes. But this rent seeking is entirely consistent with the economic policies of the current administration that benefit the most wealthy.
👀 Scoop: IRS Direct File, the free government-backed program that let you file your taxes for free, is dead.
IRS wrote to state tax agencies saying it would not be operational this coming tax season, per records I've obtained.
IRS Direct File: 2023-2025.
(Story from when the pilot launched.)
IRS wrote to state tax agencies saying it would not be operational this coming tax season, per records I've obtained.
IRS Direct File: 2023-2025.
(Story from when the pilot launched.)
IRS tests free e-filing system that could compete with tax-prep giants
The tax agency has quietly built its own prototype system for filing tax returns digitally and free of charge, according to current and former officials.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 4, 2025 at 10:50 PM
The Biden administration worked hard to accomplish this new free IRS filing system. It’s astounding that one should have to pay fees in order to pay their taxes. But this rent seeking is entirely consistent with the economic policies of the current administration that benefit the most wealthy.
It’s ok, he’ll just fund folks to say the election was p-hacked.
November 5, 2025 at 1:01 AM
It’s ok, he’ll just fund folks to say the election was p-hacked.
Reposted by Joe Bak-Coleman
sorry but mamdani and cuomo should have worn blue and yellow hats, respectively
November 5, 2025 at 12:24 AM
sorry but mamdani and cuomo should have worn blue and yellow hats, respectively
Giving at seminar at Princeton CITP today at 12:15 est. It’s live-streamed to feel free to tune in!
spia.princeton.edu/events/citp-...
spia.princeton.edu/events/citp-...
CITP Seminar: Scientific Barriers to Evidence-Based Tech Policy | Princeton School of Public and International Affairs
Twenty years after Facebook spread across college campuses, its effects on society remain heavily studied and poorly understood. Little consensus exists over whether it promotes or degrades mental hea...
spia.princeton.edu
November 4, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Giving at seminar at Princeton CITP today at 12:15 est. It’s live-streamed to feel free to tune in!
spia.princeton.edu/events/citp-...
spia.princeton.edu/events/citp-...
This paper claims to provide evidence offline networks matter more than online for voting preferences, but winds up mistaking noise for signal and seems to forget that some folks online are quite influential.
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
Physical partisan proximity outweighs online ties in predicting US voting outcomes
Abstract. Affective polarization and increasing social divisions affect social mixing and the spread of information across online and physical spaces, rein
academic.oup.com
November 4, 2025 at 1:24 PM
This paper claims to provide evidence offline networks matter more than online for voting preferences, but winds up mistaking noise for signal and seems to forget that some folks online are quite influential.
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
Best World Series ever. This is insane.
November 2, 2025 at 3:45 AM
Best World Series ever. This is insane.
Meet Fred! You’ll be seeing more of him….
November 1, 2025 at 6:27 PM
Meet Fred! You’ll be seeing more of him….
It’s more pernicious than this because you’re also testing if your model is a perfectly unbiased representation of the data generating process.
But here's, the thing, p values and significance become useless at such large sample sizes. When you're dividing the coefficient by the SE and the sample size is in the tens of thousands, EVERYTHING IS SIGNIFICANT. All you're testing is whether the coefficient is different than zero.
October 31, 2025 at 10:22 PM
It’s more pernicious than this because you’re also testing if your model is a perfectly unbiased representation of the data generating process.
A helpful heuristic for
me is to think of science a bit like data chain of custody. An llm synthesizing data, annotating it or summarizing it breaks the chain from, say, humans to your final statistical inference or graph.
me is to think of science a bit like data chain of custody. An llm synthesizing data, annotating it or summarizing it breaks the chain from, say, humans to your final statistical inference or graph.
the amount of academic research now using llms in research (synthetic data generation, to classify, annotate, or analyse large scale data, etc) is astounding. remember, just cus use of llms in research is becoming normalised does NOT erase the fact it degrades the research & undermine your results
October 30, 2025 at 10:19 PM
A helpful heuristic for
me is to think of science a bit like data chain of custody. An llm synthesizing data, annotating it or summarizing it breaks the chain from, say, humans to your final statistical inference or graph.
me is to think of science a bit like data chain of custody. An llm synthesizing data, annotating it or summarizing it breaks the chain from, say, humans to your final statistical inference or graph.
October 29, 2025 at 10:02 PM
Assessing impact in this way and allocating funding is pretty: “yo dog I heard you like cumulative advantage in science so I added cumulative advantage to cumulative advantage”
October 29, 2025 at 12:56 PM
Assessing impact in this way and allocating funding is pretty: “yo dog I heard you like cumulative advantage in science so I added cumulative advantage to cumulative advantage”
Reposted by Joe Bak-Coleman
the tech industry is a threat to scientific knowledge, academic freedom and evidence-driven industry regulation. the industry systematically captures and/or interferes with and undermines independent knowledge production processes that challenge it
arxiv.org/pdf/2510.19894
arxiv.org/pdf/2510.19894
October 24, 2025 at 4:03 PM
the tech industry is a threat to scientific knowledge, academic freedom and evidence-driven industry regulation. the industry systematically captures and/or interferes with and undermines independent knowledge production processes that challenge it
arxiv.org/pdf/2510.19894
arxiv.org/pdf/2510.19894
Reposted by Joe Bak-Coleman
Similar themes to a paper I gave at UW in April depts.washington.edu/societytech/...
October 26, 2025 at 10:36 PM
Similar themes to a paper I gave at UW in April depts.washington.edu/societytech/...
Reposted by Joe Bak-Coleman
I was pleased to see @olivia.science and @irisvanrooij.bsky.social mentioned in this NYT article (gift link below). But I wish there was more analysis. Boasts and critiques re: #GenAI were strewn throughout, requiring readers to sort the concerns from the hyperbole. For example… (1/2)
Big Tech Makes Cal State Its A.I. Training Ground
www.nytimes.com
October 26, 2025 at 11:57 AM
I was pleased to see @olivia.science and @irisvanrooij.bsky.social mentioned in this NYT article (gift link below). But I wish there was more analysis. Boasts and critiques re: #GenAI were strewn throughout, requiring readers to sort the concerns from the hyperbole. For example… (1/2)
The response to this has been fascinating... plenty of public engagement from outside of the field and lots of private messages from people within it.
It's somewhat telling that there appears to be a "chilling effect" for pointing out concerns over industry funding in the field.
It's somewhat telling that there appears to be a "chilling effect" for pointing out concerns over industry funding in the field.
I'm excited to finally have a preprint of this paper up, a few years in the making.
In it we argue that industry-driven manipulation of social media research is well underway and that norms and institutions in the field are ill-prepared to resist tech's influence.
arxiv.org/abs/2510.19894
In it we argue that industry-driven manipulation of social media research is well underway and that norms and institutions in the field are ill-prepared to resist tech's influence.
arxiv.org/abs/2510.19894
October 25, 2025 at 1:29 PM
The response to this has been fascinating... plenty of public engagement from outside of the field and lots of private messages from people within it.
It's somewhat telling that there appears to be a "chilling effect" for pointing out concerns over industry funding in the field.
It's somewhat telling that there appears to be a "chilling effect" for pointing out concerns over industry funding in the field.
Reposted by Joe Bak-Coleman
This recent preprint on tech industry influence over external research is compelling. Beyond documenting the low rate of industry-funded researchers actually disclosing that fact, the paper points out that journals have routinely waived IRB review for industry work.
arxiv.org/abs/2510.19894
arxiv.org/abs/2510.19894
October 24, 2025 at 4:08 PM
This recent preprint on tech industry influence over external research is compelling. Beyond documenting the low rate of industry-funded researchers actually disclosing that fact, the paper points out that journals have routinely waived IRB review for industry work.
arxiv.org/abs/2510.19894
arxiv.org/abs/2510.19894
Reposted by Joe Bak-Coleman
Let’s not be naive: We need to be very aware of industry influence in computational social science! Through control of data (and experiment) access the situation is even more problematic than in other industries, which makes the data access rights under DSA article 40 particular important!
1. We ( @jbakcoleman.bsky.social, @cailinmeister.bsky.social, @jevinwest.bsky.social, and I) have a new preprint up on the arXiv.
There we explore how social media companies and other online information technology firms are able to manipulate scientific research about the effects of their products.
There we explore how social media companies and other online information technology firms are able to manipulate scientific research about the effects of their products.
October 24, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Let’s not be naive: We need to be very aware of industry influence in computational social science! Through control of data (and experiment) access the situation is even more problematic than in other industries, which makes the data access rights under DSA article 40 particular important!
Reposted by Joe Bak-Coleman
Who today is influencing science a la Big Tobacco or Oil and Gas?
In our new preprint we show how tech companies like Meta are capturing research on their product, using mechanisms that subtly (or not so subtly) shape what science gets produced
In our new preprint we show how tech companies like Meta are capturing research on their product, using mechanisms that subtly (or not so subtly) shape what science gets produced
October 24, 2025 at 2:06 PM
Who today is influencing science a la Big Tobacco or Oil and Gas?
In our new preprint we show how tech companies like Meta are capturing research on their product, using mechanisms that subtly (or not so subtly) shape what science gets produced
In our new preprint we show how tech companies like Meta are capturing research on their product, using mechanisms that subtly (or not so subtly) shape what science gets produced
Reposted by Joe Bak-Coleman
1. We ( @jbakcoleman.bsky.social, @cailinmeister.bsky.social, @jevinwest.bsky.social, and I) have a new preprint up on the arXiv.
There we explore how social media companies and other online information technology firms are able to manipulate scientific research about the effects of their products.
There we explore how social media companies and other online information technology firms are able to manipulate scientific research about the effects of their products.
October 24, 2025 at 12:47 AM
1. We ( @jbakcoleman.bsky.social, @cailinmeister.bsky.social, @jevinwest.bsky.social, and I) have a new preprint up on the arXiv.
There we explore how social media companies and other online information technology firms are able to manipulate scientific research about the effects of their products.
There we explore how social media companies and other online information technology firms are able to manipulate scientific research about the effects of their products.
👀
I haven’t seen stuff involving outside counsel but that doesn’t mean much. I would note the in-house stuff has gotten some attention, including today, when a judge found that some Meta legal docs were not privileged due to the crime-fraud exemption.
news.bloomberglaw.com/litigation/m...
news.bloomberglaw.com/litigation/m...
Meta Lawyers Advised Blocking Teen Harm Research to Avoid Suits
Meta Platforms Inc.'s lawyers advised employees to block or remove portions of internal research on teen mental health harm in order to reduce legal liability, a Washington, DC, court determined Thurs...
news.bloomberglaw.com
October 24, 2025 at 2:55 AM
👀
Reposted by Joe Bak-Coleman
seems like this should be a bigger deal than it currently is:
"Currently, industry-led experiments are publishable without [IRB] approval [39]. There is little reason to exempt
industry from standard journal policies..."
"Currently, industry-led experiments are publishable without [IRB] approval [39]. There is little reason to exempt
industry from standard journal policies..."
1. We ( @jbakcoleman.bsky.social, @cailinmeister.bsky.social, @jevinwest.bsky.social, and I) have a new preprint up on the arXiv.
There we explore how social media companies and other online information technology firms are able to manipulate scientific research about the effects of their products.
There we explore how social media companies and other online information technology firms are able to manipulate scientific research about the effects of their products.
October 24, 2025 at 1:30 AM
seems like this should be a bigger deal than it currently is:
"Currently, industry-led experiments are publishable without [IRB] approval [39]. There is little reason to exempt
industry from standard journal policies..."
"Currently, industry-led experiments are publishable without [IRB] approval [39]. There is little reason to exempt
industry from standard journal policies..."