Matthew Kay
@mjskay.com
Assoc Prof Computer Science and Communication Studies at Northwestern. Infovis, HCI. Author of tidybayes & ggdist R pkgs. he/him. 🏳️🌈 https://mjskay.com/
Co-director https://mucollective.northwestern.edu
Co-founder https://journalovi.org
Co-director https://mucollective.northwestern.edu
Co-founder https://journalovi.org
Pinned
Matthew Kay
@mjskay.com
· Sep 7
I work in #datavis, best known for uncertainty vis: see my work on election forecast vis (forecasts.cs.northwestern.edu), this talk (youtu.be/E1kSnWvqCw0), or my lab (mucollective.northwestern.edu)
I like writing #rstats 📦s: ggdist (mjskay.github.io/ggdist), tidybayes, ggblend, posterior::rvar...
I like writing #rstats 📦s: ggdist (mjskay.github.io/ggdist), tidybayes, ggblend, posterior::rvar...
Reposted by Matthew Kay
Twitter really let people go feral out there, ready to smash a stranger over the head with a rock over a swollen can of beans.
Elon spent $44 billion to turn Twitter into a goddamn Cormac McCarthy novel
Elon spent $44 billion to turn Twitter into a goddamn Cormac McCarthy novel
October 19, 2024 at 5:54 AM
Twitter really let people go feral out there, ready to smash a stranger over the head with a rock over a swollen can of beans.
Elon spent $44 billion to turn Twitter into a goddamn Cormac McCarthy novel
Elon spent $44 billion to turn Twitter into a goddamn Cormac McCarthy novel
Reposted by Matthew Kay
via The New Yorker, Ellis Rosen cartoon
December 23, 2025 at 5:31 AM
via The New Yorker, Ellis Rosen cartoon
Reposted by Matthew Kay
The full spiked 60 Minutes CECOT package, clean & subtitled. 1/5
December 23, 2025 at 1:28 AM
The full spiked 60 Minutes CECOT package, clean & subtitled. 1/5
Reposted by Matthew Kay
When it comes to the national security implications of windmills, the military has of course a long history of rational suspicion and justified aggression.
December 22, 2025 at 3:59 PM
When it comes to the national security implications of windmills, the military has of course a long history of rational suspicion and justified aggression.
Reposted by Matthew Kay
is there a good citation discussing recent Gelman/Vehtari/etc style choices of prior? like what's on the Stan wiki but in the form of an academic paper? github.com/stan-dev/sta...
Prior Choice Recommendations
Stan development repository. The master branch contains the current release. The develop branch contains the latest stable development. See the Developer Process Wiki for details. - stan-dev/stan
github.com
December 22, 2025 at 12:22 AM
is there a good citation discussing recent Gelman/Vehtari/etc style choices of prior? like what's on the Stan wiki but in the form of an academic paper? github.com/stan-dev/sta...
Reposted by Matthew Kay
My tip is to give generously, without expectation. There cannot be a social network if everyone is coming to extract attention without putting as much in it.
So share cool stuff, repost, comment, like, all in the merriest way. 🎄
So share cool stuff, repost, comment, like, all in the merriest way. 🎄
December 19, 2025 at 7:10 PM
My tip is to give generously, without expectation. There cannot be a social network if everyone is coming to extract attention without putting as much in it.
So share cool stuff, repost, comment, like, all in the merriest way. 🎄
So share cool stuff, repost, comment, like, all in the merriest way. 🎄
Reposted by Matthew Kay
My response to anything over the next two weeks
December 18, 2025 at 6:10 PM
My response to anything over the next two weeks
Reposted by Matthew Kay
Reposted by Matthew Kay
Interested in a fully-funded #datavis PhD with training?
Applications for our 2nd cohort of PhD students at Diverse-CDT open! We're keen to diversify the sector, encouraging anyone with enthusiasm for using 📊 to make change, even if you've not considered PhD study before:
diverse-cdt.ac.uk
Applications for our 2nd cohort of PhD students at Diverse-CDT open! We're keen to diversify the sector, encouraging anyone with enthusiasm for using 📊 to make change, even if you've not considered PhD study before:
diverse-cdt.ac.uk
December 18, 2025 at 10:15 AM
Interested in a fully-funded #datavis PhD with training?
Applications for our 2nd cohort of PhD students at Diverse-CDT open! We're keen to diversify the sector, encouraging anyone with enthusiasm for using 📊 to make change, even if you've not considered PhD study before:
diverse-cdt.ac.uk
Applications for our 2nd cohort of PhD students at Diverse-CDT open! We're keen to diversify the sector, encouraging anyone with enthusiasm for using 📊 to make change, even if you've not considered PhD study before:
diverse-cdt.ac.uk
Reposted by Matthew Kay
The bear is now one of the renegades of the Intellectual Dark Web
December 15, 2025 at 9:00 PM
The bear is now one of the renegades of the Intellectual Dark Web
Reposted by Matthew Kay
there should be a term for this. over the last 3 years i have seen so many people get negatively polarized by social media into becoming an idiot
The pundit class, the political class… social media has broken so many brains via exactly this mechanism
related to this a lot of people in the pundit class need to learn how to just be annoyed by someone or something without turning it into What’s Wrong With America
December 14, 2025 at 4:22 AM
there should be a term for this. over the last 3 years i have seen so many people get negatively polarized by social media into becoming an idiot
Reposted by Matthew Kay
Everyone needs to stop submitting papers.
Friendly holiday reminder that people rush to submit before the holidays and declined reviews get even worse than usual. And editors want to enjoy holiday time, too. Patience and grace to all (and to all a good night)!
I sent someone a peer review request, and they accepted it within 15 minutes… I could cry. For the last paper I tried to send out, I had to request 14 reviewers to get 2 people to agree, and it took almost 2 months.
December 13, 2025 at 5:53 AM
Everyone needs to stop submitting papers.
This could be very useful for R -> InkScape and R -> Illustrator workflows! #rstats
See the vignette: cran.r-project.org/web/packages...
See the vignette: cran.r-project.org/web/packages...
December 11, 2025 at 2:50 PM
This could be very useful for R -> InkScape and R -> Illustrator workflows! #rstats
See the vignette: cran.r-project.org/web/packages...
See the vignette: cran.r-project.org/web/packages...
Reposted by Matthew Kay
Tbh do not understand these "highest recommendation possible", "strongly recommend", etc. options in graduate recommendations. If anything but the top makes your student rejected, what incentive do people have to report truthfully?
December 10, 2025 at 4:45 PM
Tbh do not understand these "highest recommendation possible", "strongly recommend", etc. options in graduate recommendations. If anything but the top makes your student rejected, what incentive do people have to report truthfully?
Reposted by Matthew Kay
The voters are clear. There is absolutely no reason for the Democrats or any group that cares about democracy to capitulate to radical right and their misogyny, racism, transphobia and homophobia
A huge night for Democrats:
—They flip Miami's mayorship.
—They flip a state House district in Georgia that had voted Trump by 13%.
—They keep Albuquerque's mayorship, while the liberal faction flips city council.
—And they get big overperformances (+18 & +22) in 2 Florida specials.
—They flip Miami's mayorship.
—They flip a state House district in Georgia that had voted Trump by 13%.
—They keep Albuquerque's mayorship, while the liberal faction flips city council.
—And they get big overperformances (+18 & +22) in 2 Florida specials.
December 10, 2025 at 1:18 PM
The voters are clear. There is absolutely no reason for the Democrats or any group that cares about democracy to capitulate to radical right and their misogyny, racism, transphobia and homophobia
strange that people in love with the "metaverse" conveniently forgot the word "gargoyle" coined in the very same book
December 9, 2025 at 5:24 PM
strange that people in love with the "metaverse" conveniently forgot the word "gargoyle" coined in the very same book
Reposted by Matthew Kay
I've been exposed to enough peer review that I think we can look at two classes of reviewers:
1. Constructive peer review
2. Adversarial peer review
I'm looking at this mostly from a psychology/methodology perspective (but wonder what other fields experience)
🧵 1/
1. Constructive peer review
2. Adversarial peer review
I'm looking at this mostly from a psychology/methodology perspective (but wonder what other fields experience)
🧵 1/
December 6, 2025 at 9:27 PM
I've been exposed to enough peer review that I think we can look at two classes of reviewers:
1. Constructive peer review
2. Adversarial peer review
I'm looking at this mostly from a psychology/methodology perspective (but wonder what other fields experience)
🧵 1/
1. Constructive peer review
2. Adversarial peer review
I'm looking at this mostly from a psychology/methodology perspective (but wonder what other fields experience)
🧵 1/
Reposted by Matthew Kay
HEY! YOU! ggdibbler 0.6.1 is finally up on CRAN!
harriet-mason.github.io/ggdibbler/in...
You can now pass random variables to any aesthetic in any ggplot geom/stat. If you can express it as a distribution, ggdibbler can plot it. It also works with ggplot extensions, like gganimate. #rstats
harriet-mason.github.io/ggdibbler/in...
You can now pass random variables to any aesthetic in any ggplot geom/stat. If you can express it as a distribution, ggdibbler can plot it. It also works with ggplot extensions, like gganimate. #rstats
December 6, 2025 at 3:16 PM
HEY! YOU! ggdibbler 0.6.1 is finally up on CRAN!
harriet-mason.github.io/ggdibbler/in...
You can now pass random variables to any aesthetic in any ggplot geom/stat. If you can express it as a distribution, ggdibbler can plot it. It also works with ggplot extensions, like gganimate. #rstats
harriet-mason.github.io/ggdibbler/in...
You can now pass random variables to any aesthetic in any ggplot geom/stat. If you can express it as a distribution, ggdibbler can plot it. It also works with ggplot extensions, like gganimate. #rstats
Modern C++ can be kinda pleasant actually?
Like constexpr, auto almost everywhere + brace initialization, user-defined literals, and concepts all help clean things up a bunch
Like constexpr, auto almost everywhere + brace initialization, user-defined literals, and concepts all help clean things up a bunch
November 29, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Modern C++ can be kinda pleasant actually?
Like constexpr, auto almost everywhere + brace initialization, user-defined literals, and concepts all help clean things up a bunch
Like constexpr, auto almost everywhere + brace initialization, user-defined literals, and concepts all help clean things up a bunch
Reposted by Matthew Kay
Still haven't read the full agreement because I deserve nice things occasionally. But there's really a need for a propublica-type investigation into the social network of these boards, presidents, & donors with the admin. At the same time, exploring the similarities and differences across deals.
November 29, 2025 at 4:59 PM
Still haven't read the full agreement because I deserve nice things occasionally. But there's really a need for a propublica-type investigation into the social network of these boards, presidents, & donors with the admin. At the same time, exploring the similarities and differences across deals.
Reposted by Matthew Kay
I do think formal and informal faculty groups need to be thinking about their boards, how they are constituted, and what routes to change exist. The time of assuming that faculty no-confidence votes mean anything has passed.
November 29, 2025 at 2:17 AM
I do think formal and informal faculty groups need to be thinking about their boards, how they are constituted, and what routes to change exist. The time of assuming that faculty no-confidence votes mean anything has passed.
Reposted by Matthew Kay
Depressing late Friday holiday news dump: Northwestern agrees to pay $75 million to the federal government.
The faculty vote against doing this, @heidikitrosser.bsky.social points out, was 595-4.
That's the kind of margin where going the other way reflects a major failure of university governance.
The faculty vote against doing this, @heidikitrosser.bsky.social points out, was 595-4.
That's the kind of margin where going the other way reflects a major failure of university governance.
Here’s the text of the Northwestern settlement with the DoJ, which includes a $75 million financial component / payoff (cc @profmarkovic.bsky.social):
November 29, 2025 at 12:51 AM
Depressing late Friday holiday news dump: Northwestern agrees to pay $75 million to the federal government.
The faculty vote against doing this, @heidikitrosser.bsky.social points out, was 595-4.
That's the kind of margin where going the other way reflects a major failure of university governance.
The faculty vote against doing this, @heidikitrosser.bsky.social points out, was 595-4.
That's the kind of margin where going the other way reflects a major failure of university governance.
Reposted by Matthew Kay
There are Friday news dumps and then there are 6:20 pm on Thanksgiving Friday news dumps
www.northwestern.edu/leadership-n...
www.northwestern.edu/leadership-n...
Agreement to Restore Federal Funds: Leadership Notes - Northwestern University
Earlier today, the University reached an agreement with the federal government to restore hundreds of millions of dollars in critical research funding.
www.northwestern.edu
November 29, 2025 at 1:00 AM
There are Friday news dumps and then there are 6:20 pm on Thanksgiving Friday news dumps
www.northwestern.edu/leadership-n...
www.northwestern.edu/leadership-n...
Reposted by Matthew Kay
you should support liberal currents!
November 26, 2025 at 4:02 PM
you should support liberal currents!